CABILE: HISTORICAL …..
In modern study of Ancient Thrace it has been already proved that Cabyle was the most prominent political, economic and religious center from the I-st Millennium BC. The archaeological investigations of the ancient city, that took place in the last thirty years, revealed a great amount of artifacts (stone inscriptions, coins, ceramic ware, remains of building activities) and a large variety olinlbrination for more than a millennium long history. Most ol the discovered artifacts have already been published and used as a data for archaeological and historical studies. It is enough to mention: the exploration of (he historical sources and the epigraphic data (V. Velkov); the coinage of Cabyle (D. Draganov), the amphora trade of the city (I.. Getov), the religious life (V. Naydenova, Zl. Gocheva, T. Stoyanov, K. Rahadjicv), the city's necropoli (L.Getov), the Roman castraa (V. Velkov, N. Tancheva), etc. Thanks to this the study of the Thracian history and culture marks a significant upheaval. Cabyle is situated on one of the most strategic places in Thracian lands - near to one of the meanders of river Tundja (ancient Tonzos), at the place where it changes its direction from East to South. This locality, to a certain extent, defines the fate ol the city with all its vicissitudes in the centuries long history.
The earliest traces of life on this place, archaeologically proved, date to the beginning of Early Iron age (12-11 cent.), when on the eastern height of Za/r/u vrnh, a rock sanctuary has already existed as an integrating center. The earliest living site here can he localized with certainty on the so called Hisarlak within the margins of the later city.
The written sources mention Cabyle with the coloniz ing activities of Philip II and his campaign against Thracein 342-341 BC. The most interesting and much discussed is the evidence of Demosthenes, as well as Theopompos and Anaximenes. The criticism of their information proved that Cabyle has existed as a settlement, probably of the type ,,horion”, a time before the Macedonian conquest, and its central position in thracian land was the reason for its transformation into a stronghold with a military garrison in it.
The Macedonian presence in the city has changed the appearance of the site, thus gradually turning it into a city according to the Hellenic town-planning principles and traditions. The previous outlook, before the Macedonians came, is still not so clear. The archaeological sources from the first half of the 4 st. century BC, although not so numerous, are at its most amphoras that prove its active trade and contacts with the Greek world.
The vigorous growth of Cabyle can be vividly examined for the Hellenistic time (the end of the 4th-3rd cent. BC. The data from the famous inscription from Seuthopolis present it as well arranged town with a central square, a Phosphorion – interpreted in the literature as a temple to Artemis, aswell as an altar to Apollo on the agora. The city, obviously, has been situ ated between the eastern height of Zaichi vrah and the so-called Hisarlak but the data for its planning are still not enough. If it had a regular planning like Seuthopolis (the one called after the name of Hippodamos), the agora should be in some kind of relation to the street that comes from the estern gate, somewhere near the Roman horeum, where the foundations of some buildings from the Hellenistic age have been unearthed, and the cultural layers from this very time are rich in artifacts. Following the logic of planning the other gate of the town should be on the southern fortress wall, somewhere at the place of the early Christian basilica from the 4nd century. A mediate indication for this is the tumular necropolis at a distance of about a kilometer south from the town.
Only apart of the Cabyle's fortification of the Hellenistic age has been studied, but the unearthed parts of it represent some important sections: from the west wall of the city a gate and two rectangular towers have been excavated. They have been discovered and studied by the late M. Domaradzki, who on the basis of the building technique and the artifacts proves the date of the wall between 350-325, a date, which confirms the building activities and the fortification of important town, centers after the Macedonian conquest.
The role of Cabyle in the kingdom of Lysimachus in Thrace is still not clear, but the fact is that it was the capital of the thracian dynasty, one of whose representatives was Spartocos. His political authority is proved in the treaty from Seuthopolis (the inscription that has been discovered there), as well as his coinage - the fact that lie was called a "hilsileos" on his coins is a unique fact for the coin age of Thracian rulers. The short time of the mint that suddenly ceased, may be was due to the invasion of the Celts in Thrace. This event surely was not a fatal one for the city since the greatest flourish in its history lias been examined in the 3"' century BC. It is proved by now with all the archaeological data: the autonomous coinage of the city, the great amount and variety of amphorae imported from different Greek centers of production (wine and oil), luxurious Greek pottery, etc. In the period concerned Cabyle proves to be an ,,open" and stable trade center, not only a consuming one, but with its own part in the international trade.
The next period - the late Hellenislic age (2"ll-lsl century BC) can hardly be traced archaeologically in Cahyle. Obviously it has been a hard time tor (lie city: not so numerous are the artifacts that we can attribute this very period, and we can draw the conclusion that the town has gone through the apogee of its prosperity. The decline is marked finally with the conquest of the city by (lie Roman general Marcus Luculus in 72 BC. Probably the city was devastated too during the campaign of Philip V in Thrace. The lack of archaeological artifacts from that time coin cides with a silence about the city in the written sources, which proves that Cabyle at that time has fallen into decay and has lost its role in the political and economic history of the thracian lands.
A new moment in the history of the site was tlie foundation of a Roman castra on this very place with a military garrison - the Cohors II Lvcenxiiim. According to the hypothesis the Roman Emperor Hadrianus has visited of late Prof. V. Velkov in the year of 124-125 Cabyle and he was the official to decide the place of the custru in Cabyle. The epigraphic evidence concerning the military camp are numerous, even the unique inscription on which the exact date of the foundation is mentioned (tlie year of 135), as well as its first commandant - the praefectus cohortis Claudius Lupus. The military camp was named after the existing site (Castra Cabyle) and has preserved this name at least to the end of the 3rd century. The various inscriptions mention the names and the ranks of many military persons, some of them with thracian names, which proves the peculiar role of the camp in military organization of Thrace as a Roman province.
The exact localization of the military camp is stilluncertain. May be the existing site and the peculiarities of the terrain were the reasons to neglect the obligatory requirements and the contra Cabyle was built on the so called Hisarlak, a high place that was naturally defended from the north. Up till now a huge bath (thermi), a watermain, ,,military barracks", a store-house (horeum) and fortress walls have been studied as evidence for an enormous building activities that took place within the military camp.
The Late-Roman period and Cabyle in the Late Antiquity is well defined archaeologically. In the 4"' century the town marks a significant progress: a reconstruction of its fortification, the building of a new, smaller bath, as well as two early-Christian basilicas. Next centuries were marked with barbarous invasions and dramatic events that mark the end of urban life in Cabyle.
In the beginning of this text the most important studies on problems concerning Cabyle were just briefly mentioned. Here I would like to stress on their value for the study also of ancient history and culture of Thrace. The most evident and important is the progressin the study of the Hellenistic coinage of Cabyle, a result of long years of patient preoccupation done by D. Draganov. His exploration was so significant for the most important period of the city's history, but the problems discussed concern not only the numismatic evidence (chronology of coinage, typology and circulation), he has done a convincing reconstruction of the history of Cabyle and the role it has in thracian ancient history.
Another general exploration concerns the study of the economy and trading contact ofpre-Roman Cabyle with the big producers and commercial centers of the ancient world. It is based on the amphorae and ceramic epygraphy and in it L. Getov has proved that the city was not only a traditional consumer center of the imported production, but also an equivalent partner in the commercial exchange.
The late Prof. V. Velkov brilliantly did the study of written sources concerning the role that Cabyle had in Thracian history. His is also the comprehensive edition of all the known inscriptions on stone - epigraphic data that V. Velkov has used to unveil the history of Cabyle the city and the Roman camp there.
A significant progress has been done in the study of the burial customs of the citizens in the Hellenistic and roman times with the excavations of two tumular necropoli by L. Getov, as well as the study of religious life and the cults of deities that were worshipped in Cabyle done by Zl. Gocheva, V. Naydenova, T. Stoyanov, K. Rabadjiev.
All this written text does not aims at a full account of the almost thirty years of exavations, this has been done each year. This is an attempt to outline the history of this unique city that can be reconstructed with the methods of archaeology. The long history is interpreted more or less convincing, even hypothetically, and these are the questions for the future and troubles for the next generation of archaeologists.

Prof. Dr. Ljudmil Getov
Translated by Dr. K. Rahadjiev (Sofia University)