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Modern Description: The fortress is built on an inaccessible hill, surrounded to the north by the Baluk Dere (stream), to the south by the Kerechnitsa and to the east by the Arda river, a tributary of the Evros/Maritsa. The fortress walls are up to 2 m thick and follow the configuration of the terrain, enclosing an area of over 1 hectare. The walls are preserved at a height of up to 6 m. From the northeast, a narrow trail climbs to the fortification from what would have been a river port where the two streams join the Arda. The main gate was located most likely in the northwestern part of the fortress wall, flanked west by a rectangular tower. The excavations in this area revealed a large column capital with a relief cross suggesting a large basilica of the 4th to the 6th centuries. In the 9th century the fortress was the southernmost stronghold of the Bulgarian state - only 30 km from Adrianopolis. Until recently, the fort's location in the closed Bulgarian-Greek border zone protected it from treasure hunters. The fort was most probably built at the beginning of the 4th century in connection with the relocation of the capital to Constantinople. The cultural layer is preserved at a depth of 2.20 m and covers the 4th - 13th c. A large public building with thick walls and fragments of marble columns was found in the highest part. A necropolis from the 11th century with rich burials was discovered. The fortress was abandoned in the first half of the 13th century, possibly the result of the long wars between Bulgarians and crusaders. In the scientific literature the fortress is called Baluk dere. The chronicler of the Fourth Crusade, Geoffroy de Villehardouin, writes about a fortress in which King Kaloyan was saved in 1206 from a trap prepared by Baldwin of Flanders and the Count of Bonifacio Monferratz. He reports that Kaloyan slept in the fortress Rodostuik of Arda, suggesting a Bulgarian name - Rodostica. Northeast of the fortress an ancient road crossed the Arda River connecting the Neusetikon Fortress with the Rhodope fortress. After the town of Ivaylovgrad it branched out to Plotinoupolis to the southeast, Traianopolis and Ainos in the south, and Maronea and Komotini to the southwest. (from )
Trismegistos Geo: 58539

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(JBK)

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