Greek city of Odessos in Thrace
 Bronze 20mm (8.28 grams) Struck circa 270-188 B.C.
Reference: Moushmov 1527; Topalov, Odesos pp. 177-8, 3 and 5 var.; SNG Stancomb 264 var.
Laureate head of the Great God Derzelas right.
 Heros, the Rider God of Odessos, riding right on high stepping horse, OΔHΣITΩN in exergue.

Odessos, also called Odyssus and Odissus at a later time, a Greek town in Thrace (in the later Moesia Inferior) on the Pontus Euxinus nearly due east of Marcianopolis, was founded by Milesians in the territory of the Brobyzi in the reign of Astyages, king of Media (B.C. 594-559). The town possessed a good harbor, and carried on an extensive commerce.

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Derzelas (Darzalas) was a Dacian or Thracian chthonic god of abundance and the underworld, health and human spirit’s vitality, probably related with gods such as Hades, Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis.

Darzalas was the Great God of Hellenistic Odessos (modern Varna) and was frequently depicted on its coinage from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE and portrayed in numerous terra cotta figurines, as well as in a rare 4th century BC lead one (photo), found in the city. Darzalas was often depicted in himation, holding cornucopiae with altars by his side. There was a temple dedicated to him with a cult statue, and games (Darzaleia) were held in his honor every five years, possibly attended by Gordian III in 238 AD.

Another temple dedicated to Derzelas was built at Histria (Sinoe) – a Greek colony, on the shore of the Black Sea in the 3rd century BC.

Darzalas Peak on Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica is named after the god.

The region of ancient Thrace was populated by Thracians by 1000 BCE. Miletian Greeks founded the apoikia (trading post) of Odessos towards the end of the 7th century BC (the earliest Greek archaeological material is dated 600-575 BCE), or, according to Pseudo-Scymnus, in the time of Astyages (here, usually 572-570 BCE is suggested), within an earlier Thracian settlement. The name Odessos was pre-Greek, arguably of Carian origin. A member of the Pontic Pentapolis, Odessos was a mixed community-contact zone between the Ionian Greeks and the Thracian tribes (Getae, Krobyzoi, Terizi) of the hinterland. Excavations at nearby Thracian sites have shown uninterrupted occupation from the 7th to the 4th century and close commercial relations with the colony. The Greek alphabet has been applied to inscriptions in Thracian since at least the 5th century BCE; the city worshipped a Thracian great god whose cult survived well into the Roman period.

Odessos was included in the assessment of the Delian league of 425 BCE. In 339 BCE, it was unsuccessfully besieged by Philip II (priests of the Getae persuaded him to conclude a treaty) but surrendered to Alexander the Great in 335 BCE, and was later ruled by his diadochus Lysimachus, against whom it rebelled in 313 BC as part of a coalition with other Pontic cities and the Getae. The Roman city, Odessus, first included into the Praefectura orae maritimae and then in 15 CE annexed to the province of Moesia (later Moesia Inferior), covered 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century AD, now the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria (the building was 100 m (328.08 ft) wide, 70 m (229.66 ft) long, and 25 m (82.02 ft) high) and fourth-largest known Roman baths in Europe. Major athletic games were held every five years, possibly attended by Gordian III in 238 CE.

Odessus was an early Christian centre, as testified by ruins of ten early basilicas, a monophysite monastery, and indications that one of the Seventy Disciples, Ampliatus, follower of Saint Andrew (who, according to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church legend, preached in the city in 56 CE), served as bishop there. In 6th-century CE imperial documents, it was referred to as “holiest city,” sacratissima civitas. In 442 CE, a peace treaty between Theodosius II and Attila was done at Odessus. In 513, it became a focal point of the Vitalian revolt. In 536, Justinian I made it the seat of the Quaestura exercitus ruled by a prefect of Scythia or quaestor Justinianus and including Lower Moesia, Scythia, Caria, the Aegean Islands and Cyprus; later, the military camp outside Odessus was the seat of another senior Roman commander, magister militum per Thracias.

It has been suggested that the 681 peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire that established the new Bulgarian state was concluded at Varna and the first Bulgarian capital south of the Danube may have been provisionally located in its vicinity-possibly in an ancient city near Lake Varna’s north shore named Theodorias (Θεοδωριάς) by Justinian I-before it moved to Pliska 70 kilometres (43 miles) to the west. Asparukh fortified the Varna river lowland by a rampart against a possible Byzantine landing; the Asparuhov val (Asparukh’s Wall) is still standing. Numerous 7th-century Bulgar settlements have been excavated across the city and further west; the ; the Varna lakes north shores, of all regions, were arguably most densely populated by Bulgars. It has been suggested that Asparukh was aware of the importance of the Roman military camp (campus tribunalis) established by Justinian I outside Odessus and considered it (or its remnants) as the legitimate seat of power for both Lower Moesia and Scythia.