The legend is a literary work that tells the story of past events, often exaggerated and decorated with strange fictions. It is usually passed on by word of mouth and is constantly changed to make it even more interesting.
Such is the legend about the origin of Plovdiv. It may have nothing to do with reality, and settlement probably occurred quite naturally due to the movement of people in search of more fertile territories. But the fairytale elements surround it with a kind of mystique and mystery that make the oldest living city in Europe even more attractive to tourists and residents.
It was believed that thousands of years ago the Thracian Plain was much larger and vast than the territory we attribute to it today. In the mountain, south of the flat field, lived a beautiful girl named Rhodope, who often stood on the banks of the river with the giant Hemus, who worshiped her. One day the sea god Poseidon swam on the water and as soon as he saw the beauty, he immediately fell in love with her.
For the subsequent development of events, as is typical of legends, we have two different versions.
In one, Rhodope and Hemus had a son Evmolpias, who Poseidon, after being fed up with the beauty - kidnapped. Hemus the Giant tried to stop him and threw several huge stones to block his path. Poseidon became angry and turned Hemus into a mountain, and the stones remained sticking out like mounds in the field on the south bank of the Maritsa River. When Evmolpias grew up, he returned to look for his mother, but found only a beautiful mountain named after her. He settled on the hills by the river and there raised the city of Evmolpia, today's Plovdiv.
The other states that Poseidon offered his love to Rhodope and soon a son was born to them - Evmolp. However, the god of the sea got bored and simply decided to leave one day, taking his heir with him. Then, to support the mother in her grief, Hemus came to the rescue, throwing a huge rock at Poseidon in anger. It didn’t reach the goal, as it was broken by the trident into seven separate pieces. Mad with rage, the god decided to punish them both by turning them into mountains. Years later, little Evmolp returned to look for his mother, but instead found a vast plain surrounded by mountains, and in the lowlands rose seven huge hills. Here he settled with his descendants, and the settlement, which has not ceased to exist since then, was called Evmolpia.
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