Rhodope Mountains in Antiquity, Book I: Rhodope as Reality in the ancient world Abstract: The proposed first book of the series, entitled „Rhodope Mountains as Reality in the Ancient World”, consists of 3 parts: I. Introduction Here is presented an overview of all available sources about the history of Rhodope Mountains in antiquity. They are differentiated in such categories as: - Literary dates, founded in the works of some ancient writers; - Archaeological materials, enriched with every archaeological season; - Epigraphic monuments, which are remarkable with their monotype character; - Roman military diplomas, whose number is still very small; - Numismatic information, a large part of which is not yet pub-lished; - Postantique evidences. II. The ancient concepts about Rhodope It is noted that the name ‘Rhodope’ can be found in 143 passages of the ancient writers, whose Bulgarian translation is presented in the last part of this book. Most of them are dated to the Roman imperial times (54 %) and the late antiquity (35 %). In the first case that can be explained with the presence of the name in the Roman poetry mostly for euphony, while in the second case with the presence in the various late Roman lists as province in the dioceses of Thrace. For the very first time ‘Rhodope’ was found as personal name in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, dated to the middle of the 6th c. BC. As mountains’ name it figures for the first time in the Herodotus’ Histories. In 297 AD is dated the first mention of the late Roman province. In antiquity this name has had various expressions, which can be differentiated in three groups: (1) literary heroines; (2) Rhodope Mountains in Thrace; (3) late-Roman province. Than purely literary images, there are also some remarkable visual images of ‘Rhodope’, such as a painting on ancient ceramic, coin-images, and a drawing in Notitia Dignitatum. In the text are collected also the epigraphic evidences on the spread of the name in the Greco-Roman world. The presented in the book information shows that with the name ‘Rhodope’ in antiquity were designated a significant number of characters. At the same time we know only one etiological legend, saved by Pseudo-Plutarch (On Rivers, 11) and ascribed to Thrasyllus of Mendes (Fragment 1). Important attention is paid to the ancient concepts about the territorial scope of Rhodope Mountains. Their recovery is done by tracking the relationships between the realities in every one ancient work, in which such an action is possible. III. Rhodope in the ancient literature The third part of the book consists of 143 passages of ancient writers, translated in Bulgarian and presented in chronological order.