Qualla: Roman Forum of Philippopolis

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: Introduction

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Realsteel007, CC BY 4.0. A construction crew was digging a foundation for the central post office of Plovdiv in 1971 when they hit marble. Then more marble. Then a Doric column drum. Then a Corinthian capital. By the time the archaeologists arrived, the workers had stumbled into the largest Roman forum ever found in Bulgaria, a twenty-hectare civic square that had been the political and commercial heart of ancient Philippopolis. The post office got built anyway, planted directly on top of the western quarter of the forum. The eastern, northern, and southern sections were excavated, and today they stretch open beneath the modern pedestrian streets, a layer of empire interrupted by 1980s Brutalism.

Image: Realsteel007 | CC BY 4.0

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: Vespasian's Plan

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rjdeadly, CC BY-SA 4.0. Construction began in the 1st century AD during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, when Rome reorganized Philippopolis according to the standard imperial template. The cardo and decumanus maximus, the two main streets that defined every Roman city's grid, intersected just outside th...

Image: Rjdeadly | CC BY-SA 4.0

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: Four Phases of Marble

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gitanes232, CC BY-SA 4.0. Archaeologists have identified four distinct construction phases in the forum's stratigraphy, each with different floor levels, building materials, and architectural orders. The first laid the basic urban grid. The second raised everything by introducing a Doric sandstone colonna...

Image: Gitanes232 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: Civic Life and Gladiator Tickets

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. This was where Philippopolis governed itself. An exedra, a curved platform for orators, held formal speeches. Pedestals carried bronze statues of magistrates and emperors. An altar inscribed with dedications to Demeter and her daughter Kore (Persephone) hosted civic religion. Ins...

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: Going Silent

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Realsteel007, CC BY-SA 4.0. The forum went quiet in the middle of the 5th century. Wave after wave of Goth, Hun, and other barbarian incursions made the lower city untenable. Residents abandoned the plain and retreated to the more defensible acropolis on Nebet Tepe and the surrounding hills. The shops empti...

Image: Realsteel007 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Roman Forum of Philippopolis: An Open-Air Map of Empire

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit OpenStreetMap contributors, CC BY-SA 2.0. What remains today is a sort of partial open-air museum threaded through the modern city center. You can stand at the eastern entrance where the cardo crossed the decumanus, look toward the north and trace the outline of the city library, watch tourists eat ice cream on the stylo...

Image: OpenStreetMap contributors | CC BY-SA 2.0