Mesambria- Mesembria-Nesebar Eleni Vakouftsi Monumental Topography of the Black Sea region Mesambria- Mesembria-Nesebar

History of the City Mesambria was between the lower reaches of the river Hadziyska The southern flanks of the Emine Balkans to Drylino pass The Bay of Burgas on the Black Sea coast from the cape Emine to cape Ravda.

Mesambria- Location

History of the name Classical and Hellenistic period Mesambria Roman era Mesembria Late antiquity Mesemvria Modern times Nesebar

Mesambria-Mesembria-Nesebar

Ancient sources Strabo writes that Mesambria took its founder name. Stephanos Byzantios refers that Mesembria took its name from a Thracian man Melsa (who was the founder) Scymnos from Chios states that Mesembria was established by Calchidonians and Megarians Strabo also writes that Mesembria was a Megarian colony

Strabo Strabo: 7.6.1 In the interval between Callatis and Apollonia come also Bizone, of which a considerable part was engulfed by earthquakes, Cruni, Odessus, a colony of the Milesians, and Naulochus, a small town of the Mesembriani. Then comes the Haemus Mountain, which reaches the sea here;11 then Mesembria, a colony of the Megarians, formerly called “Menebria” (that is, “city of Menas,” because the name of its founder was Menas, while “bria” is the word for “city” in the Thracian language.

Strabo Στράβων 7.6.1 Μεσημβριανῶν πολίχνιον: εἶτα τὸ Αἷμον ὄρος μέχρι τῆς δεῦρο θαλάττης διῆκον: εἶτα Μεσημβρία Μεγαρέων ἄποικος, πρότερον δὲ Μενεβρία, οἷον Μένα πόλις, τοῦ κτίσαντος Μένα καλουμένου, τῆς δὲ πόλεως βρίας καλουμένης θρᾳκιστί:

Written sources Herodotus writes that Mesambria was founded by settlers from Calchidona and Byzantium. Herodotus 6.33: Then the fleet departed from Ionia and captured everything which lies to the left of one sailing up the Hellespont; the right side had been subdued by the Persians themselves from the mainland. These are the regions of Europe that belong to the Hellespont: the Chersonese, in which there are many cities; Perinthus, and the forts that lie towards Thrace, and Selymbria and Byzantium. [2] The Byzantines and the Calchedonians beyond them did not even wait for the attack of the Phoenicians, but left their own land and fled away into the Euxine, and there settled in the city of Mesambria. The Phoenicians burnt the aforementioned places and turned against Proconnesus and Artace; after giving these also to the flames they sailed back to the Chersonese to finish off the remaining cities, as many as they had not destroyed at their former landing. 

Ancient Text Ηρόδοτος 6.33: εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ αἵδε τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου, Χερσόνησός τε, ἐν τῇ πόλιες συχναὶ ἔνεισι, καὶ Πέρινθος καὶ τὰ τείχεα τὰ ἐπὶ Θρηίκης καὶ Σηλυμβρίη τε καὶ Βυζάντιον. [2] Βυζάντιοι μέν νυν καὶ οἱ πέρηθε Καλχηδόνιοι οὐδ᾽ ὑπέμειναν ἐπιπλέοντας τοὺς Φοίνικας, ἀλλ᾽ οἴχοντο ἀπολιπόντες τὴν σφετέρην ἔσω ἐς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον, καὶ ἐνθαῦτα πόλιν Μεσαμβρίην οἴκησαν. οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες κατακαύσαντες ταύτας τὰς χώρας τὰς καταλεχθείσας τρέπονται ἐπί τε Προκόννησον καὶ Ἀρτάκην, πυρὶ δὲ καὶ ταύτας νείμαντες ἔπλεον αὖτις ἐς τὴν Χερσόνησον ἐξαιρήσοντες τὰς ἐπιλοίπους τῶν πολίων, ὅσας πρότερον προσσχόντες οὐ κατέσυραν.

Archeological research Second half of the twentieth century proved that before the known Mesembria city was existed a Thracian protopolis. Gulubov, Veneedikov, Velkov, Ognenova- Marinova, Chimbuleva, Kozouharov,Preshlenov