Settlements > Callatis

Callatis

The Greek town Callatis existed until mid 7th century under this name. Life in the town resumed from 10th century. In the 13th century Callatis came to be known as Pangalia [3] The Vlachs called it Tomisovara[4] and the Greeks - Panglicara.[4] From 16th c. the town had acquired its present name Mangalia. A Greek colony named Callatis was founded in the 6th century BC by the city of Heraclea Pontica.[5] Its first silver coinage was minted approximately 350 BC. In 72 BC, Callatis was conquered by the Roman general Lucullus and was assigned to the Roman province of Moesia Inferior. Throughout the 2nd century AD, the city built defensive fortifications and the minting of coinage under the Roman emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla continued. Callatis suffered multiple invasions in the 3rd century AD but recovered in the 4th century AD to regain its status as an important trade hub and port city.[6] From 7th to 11th century the city was under the rule of the First Bulgarian Empire.The city has been well known in recent years as the place where one of the largest summer festivals in Romania takes place: Callatis Festival;The Scythian tomb discovered in 1959 where archaeologists unearthed fragments of a papyrus in Greek, the first document of this kind in Romania;The incineration tombs (the necropolis of the Callatis citadel, dating back to the 4th-2nd centuries BC);The ruins of the Callatis citadel (6th century BC);The Turkish Mangalia Mosque(Esmehan Sultan Mosque) (16th century);The Archaeology Museum which shelters a rich collection of amphorae and sculptures from the Hellenistic epoch, fragments of stone sarcophagi;Mangalia Marina

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