Part of Burgas Province and administrative centre of the homonymous Sozopol Municipality, as of December 2009, the town has a population of 5,410 inhabitants.

The busiest times of the year are the summer months, ranging from May to September, as tourists from around the world come to enjoy the weather, sandy beaches, history and culture, fusion cuisine (Balkan and Mediterranean), and atmosphere of the colourful resort.

Undersea explorations in the region of the port reveal relics of dwellings, ceramic pottery, stone and bone tools from that era.

[2][3] The town established itself as a trade and naval centre in the following centuries and became one of the largest and richest Greek colonies in the Black Sea region.

[5] It kept strong political and trade relations with the cities of Ancient Greece – Miletus, Athens, Corinth, Heraclea Pontica and the islands Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, etc.

[citation needed] Apollonia did not recover from the disaster, remaining a small town without any significant trade or cultural importance during the Roman period (1st to 3rd centuries AD).

The Tabula Peutinger shows Apollonia; but the "Periplus Ponti Euxini", 85, and the Notitiæ episcopatuum have only the later name Sozopolis.

Ruled in turn by the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman Empires, Sozopol was assigned to the newly independent Principality of Bulgaria in the 19th century.

A group of Polish Armenians, expelled by the Ottoman occupiers from Kamieniec Podolski in 1674, stayed in the city for a single winter before returning to Poland.

[6] At the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence (1821) prominent local personalities like Dimitrios Varis were arrested and executed by the Ottoman authorities due to participation in the preparations of the struggle.

In 2011 the remainings of an ancient Greek settlement, part of Apollonia, were excavated in the small island of St. Kirik (Saint Cerycus) off Sozopolis.

[10] Since 1984 Sozopol hosts the Apollonia art festivities every September, which include theatre shows, exhibitions, movies, musical and dance performances, book presentations and other cultural events.

Recent excavations have revealed parts of the ancient city including:[14] In addition, archaeologists discovered a Greek bucranium amulet from the 5th century BC.

At least eight bishops are known:[20] Athanasius (431), Peter (680), Euthymius (787) and Ignatius (869); Theodosius (1357), Joannicius, who became Patriarch of Constantinople (1524), Philotheus (1564) and Joasaph (1721).

Believed to be a very cruel person, the locals made sure that he would not come back to haunt the city after his death by piercing him with an iron bar in the chest.