Pautaliya

About

Pautalia is one of the great ancient cities of Thrace, now located in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. It was a settlement of the Dentheletae, a Thracian tribe, and had been occupied since at least the Iron Age. It is noted for its temple of Asclepius on the hill of Hissarlaka (Hisarlaka).

The name is Thracian and means "spring city", referring to the hot springs there. The earliest preserved mention of the city is in a list of 135 Roman Municipia in Thrace from 106 C.E. which list included the settlements on the site of today's Sofia, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora.

From the first name of Emperor Trajan Pautalia received its first name — Ulpia Pautalia. During the regnum of the Roman Empire Pautalia minted his own coins, from the time of emperors Antoninus Pius to Caracalla, and possibly into the reign of Elagabalus. The urban planning of Pautalia was similar to that of other ancient Greek and Asia Minor cities.

However, the ancient Pautalia streets are noticeably wider than other ancient cities located in today's Bulgaria. The ancient city was quite large, a number of public buildings, basilicas and baths were portrayed on its coins. In the city there were temples of Asclepius, Zeus, Sabazios, Hera...