Archaeologists are looking for the lost temple of the sun and music god Apollo at Sozopol, Bulgaria. In antiquity, the temple was known as “Apollonia on the Black Sea”. Ancient Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote that a 39-foot tower of a high bronze statue of the god Apollo stood at the entrance of the temple built in his honor. The colossal statue was erected in the 5^th century BC and then transported to Rome in 72BC when the city was sacked and the temple was lost forever. The statue stood at the top of Capitoline Hill for years before it too, was lost in history.

The Greek settlement of Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol) in Bulgaria was founded by Miletian colonists during the 7^th century BC and was ruled by Thracian kings. The prosperous city was famous in antiquity for its copper, gold, olives, wine and other goods.

Local coins with the image of Apollo and the remains of the ancient Greek settlement under the early Byzantine basilica indicate that this may indeed be the location of the lost temple.