Zagore

Zagore, also known as Zagora, Zagorie and Zagoria, is the historical name of the region between Sredna Gora to the north, the Chirpan Heights to the west, the Black Sea to the east, and the Rhodope Mountains, Sakar and Strandzha to the south, within modern Bulgaria.

The name is Bulgarian in origin and literally means “beyond the mountain”. In the past, the word gora referred to mountains, but it later acquired its present meaning of “forest”.

The region is first mentioned in Ancient Greek as Ζαγορια, translated from Old Bulgarian Zagoria, in sources describing the treaty between Emperor Justinian II Rhinotmetos and Tervel in 705, under which the territory was ceded to Bulgaria. During the Middle Ages, the region was under Bulgarian or Byzantine rule at different times. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the name Zagora was used as a synonym for the region around Tarnovo, and later as the name of the plain south and east of Stara Zagora. The names of the modern towns of Stara Zagora and Nova Zagora derive from this term.