City (pop., 2001: 340,638), south-central Bulgaria.
It is situated on the Maritsa River , north of the Rhodope Mountains. In 341 BC it fell to Philip II and was renamed Philippopolis. From AD 46 it was called Trimontium and was the capital of the Roman province of Thrace . It changed hands repeatedly during the Middle Ages until 1364, when it was captured by the Turks. After the Russo-Turkish Wars (187778), it became the capital of Turkish Eastern Rumelia, which united with Bulgaria in 1885. It officially assumed its present name after World War I. It is a major railroad junction and a food-processing centre with diversified industries.