Stipon

Stipon stood in the wooded hills overlooking the Ihtiman basin, on the route between Sofia and the Thracian plain. The nearby pass known as the Gates of Trajan was a strategic crossing through the mountains. Here in 986 Bulgarian forces under Samuel defeated the retreating army of the Byzantine emperor Basil II, turning a difficult passage into the scene of a celebrated victory.

The fortified settlement was taken during the Ottoman advance in the fourteenth century. A new town, Ihtiman, grew nearby around the charitable foundation of the Mihaloğlu family, while old Stiponje continued as a Christian settlement. In 1570 its inhabitants were recorded in 148 households. The older settlement survived for centuries but disappeared amid the disturbances around 1800, leaving the newer town as the principal centre of the basin.