Mechka

The village of Mechka was named after of the Roman border Castle Ursus, which in translation of modern Bulgarian language is exactly “a bear”. The village is located in a lowland formed due to the folding and the meeting of the three rounded hills called by the Romans – Trimamium. The ancient Roman map Tabula Noi Tengeriana, in the 1st century also called military route map “Tabula Poytengeriana” marks this area with the name of the Roman Limes Castle “Ursus”. The castle was built in the 1st century, when Emperor Vespasian laid the foundation of the Roman fortification border system “Danubius limes”. Ursus existed during the Roman, early Byzantine and Old Bulgarian eras, just like the other fortresses: Sexaginta Prista (Ruse) and Yatrus (Krivina village). Burned and destroyed several times, these fortresses were restored in the 6th century for the last time by Justinian the Great. In the 7th century the Avars and the Slavs destroyed it once again and the new medieval Bulgarian village Mechka aroused on the ruins of the old settlement Trimamium and was named after the castle and its locality. According to the legend, the flag of the fortress has a head of a bear, symbolizing power and might.