Rhodope (province)

Rhodope (Greek: Ῥοδόπη) was a late Roman and early Byzantine province, situated on the northern Aegean coast.

A part of the Diocese of Thrace, it extended along the Rhodope Mountains range, covering parts of modern Western Thrace (in Greece) and south-western Bulgaria.

The province was headed by a governor of the rank of praeses, with Trajanopolis as the provincial capital.

According to the 6th-century Synecdemus, there were six further cities in the province, Maroneia, Maximianopolis, Nicopolis, Kereopyrgos (unknown location) and Topeiros (mod.

The theme of Boleron covered most of the area in later Byzantine times.