За мистериозните острови Милос и Гата край Созопол

The mysterious islands Milos and Gata near Sozopol, Bulgaria

Abstract

Nowadays in the aquatory of Sozopol, ancient Apollonia Pontica, on the Southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast exist three islands – St. Ivan, St. Peter and St. Kirik. Some scholars describing Sozopol and its environment in the late 19^th century mention another two islets – Milos and Gata. Today they no longer exist. This paper addresses the questions of where these were located, and what was their fate. The research is based on a number of articles concerning the history, archaeology and geography of Sozopol and its area, naval and military maps, pilots and itineraries from the 19^th – early 20^th centuries, old pictures, and interviews with local anglers. The conclusions are that Gata is comprised of shallow reefs in the aquatory between the north-eastern shore of St. Kirik island and Sozopol peninsula and Milos was the name given to reefs in the aquatory south of St. Kirik island. Today these rocks are partly covered by an artificial road and island extension build in the 20^th century.