Sostra

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Sostra is an ancient Roman fort and town in Bulgaria, near the village of Lomets. It stood on the Via Traiana, the road between Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and Diocletianopolis, linking to the Danube frontier towns. A road station (mansio) appeared there around 100 AD, and the fort was built about 147 AD by Emperor Antoninus Pius. About 1,000 soldiers from II Mattiacorum were stationed there, and a civilian settlement grew around the fort. In 175 AD Marcus Aurelius improved the road, turning it into a paved two‑way highway that boosted trade. A second unit, I Cisipadensium, arrived around 235 AD. The Goths captured the fort in 249; new walls and garrisons followed, lasting into the late 3rd century. The fort burned again in 378. A Christian basilica, St. George, was built in the late 4th century. In the early 5th century eastern barbarians settled nearby, and the site was destroyed by the Huns at the end of the century. Sostra covers about 6 square kilometers. The original fort (147 AD) had no bastions and rounded corners; the later fort inside the walls had bastions. A large nearby mansio, about 500 square meters with walls up to 2 meters high, resembles a luxury complex or a praetorium, and included baths and an indoor pool with heated water. Excavations from 2002–2016 by Ivan Hristov of the Bulgarian National Museum of History uncovered these finds; many are now in the museum at Troyan.