A Roman temple to Apollo in Bulgaria?

Bulgaria’s ancient sacred site of Perperikon may have had a Roman temple dedicated to Apollo, archaeology professor and Perperikon dig team leader Nikolai Ovcharov said on June 17 2015.

Soon after the start of this year’s archaeological excavation season at Perperikon, the team found a 10cm bronze figurine of Apollo.

It was found about a metre from the foundations of a public building that experts believe had been a Roman temple.

Explaining his assertion that there may have been a temple to Apollo on the site in the third century CE, Ovcharov said that the figurine was of exceptionally high quality and thus differed from the cruder figures widespread among finds in the Rhodopes.

He said that there appeared to have been a local production facility, given that archaeologists had found a number of exquisite bronze figures in the Perperikon area over the years.

Apart from the figurine, a sixth century gold coin weighing 1.5 grams and minted during the time of Justinian the Great had been found.

Ovcharov said that the finding of two silver coins from the time of the first minting in the Ivan Alexander era was extremely important.

History recorded that the summit had been conquered by Bulgarian forces in 1343 and it was possible that the silver coinage had been used to pay the Bulgarian soldiers.

(pic/source: sofiaglobe.com/2015/06/17/professor-perperikon-may-have-had-a-roman-temple-to-apollo/ )