Roman Empire Map

Roman Bulgaria Map

Which parts of Bulgaria were inside the Roman Empire, and when. Use the slider to step through the key dates.

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AD 1180about 591,029 km²Manuel I Komnenos dies; the empire has lost the Anatolian interior but holds the Balkans
Key

Territory

  • Roman Empire Territory at the chosen date
  • Eastern empire From AD 395, the part later called Byzantine
  • Western empire AD 395 and, as reconquests, AD 565

Layers

  • Province border Where provinces are shown, AD 200 outlines
  • Roman city Pleiades places attested in the period
  • Main Roman road Itiner-e, about AD 150 (not tied to the date)
  • Modern country border Today’s borders, for comparison

Borders are approximate and debated. Frontier zones were not hard lines, and client kingdoms are not counted unless the source map includes them. Outlines for 133 BC, 44 BC, AD 14 and the later dates are rebuilt from the province outlines of AD 200, so early frontiers look more settled than they were. 264 BC and the Byzantine dates follow modern regional boundaries and are coarser still. 753 BC is a symbolic dot on Rome.

Roman Bulgaria at a glance

Bulgaria was at least partly inside the Roman Empire at 10 of the 13 key dates on this map, between 133 BC and AD 1180. At AD 1180 the whole of Bulgaria (112,760 km²) lay inside the outline. Today's Bulgaria overlaps 4 Roman provinces or province groups on the AD 200 map.

The map above opens on AD 1180, when the most of Bulgaria was inside.

  • 133 BCfirst key date inside
  • AD 1180last key date inside
  • 100%most inside, at AD 1180
  • 102Roman-period settlements in Pleiades

Roman provinces in Bulgaria

Today's Bulgaria overlaps 4 Roman provinces on the AD 200 map:

Bulgaria inside the empire, date by date

DateShare of Bulgaria insideArea inside (km²)
753 BCoutside0
264 BCoutside0
133 BC2.2%2,504
44 BC6.4%7,265
AD 1448%53,973
AD 11799%111,824
AD 21199%111,824
AD 39599%111,365
AD 47699%111,365
AD 56599%111,365
AD 100047%52,462
AD 1180100%112,760
AD 1453outside0

A country counts as inside only above 1% of its area or 500 km², because the ancient and modern coastlines do not match exactly. Borders are approximate and debated.

Roman cities in Bulgaria

Pleiades lists 102 Roman-period settlements in Bulgaria. The best attested include:

Names and attestation from Pleiades (CC BY 3.0).

See the Roman roads of Bulgaria on romanroadsmap.com →

Related countries

All countries · All key dates

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