Stara Zagora (Turk. Eski-Zagra), the capital of a department of Bulgaria, in Eastern Rumelia, on the southern slope of the Karaja Dagh, 70 m. N.W. of Adrianople, with which it is connected by railway. Pop. (1906), 20,647. It is surrounded by vineyards, and has also cloth and carpet manufactures, copper foundries and tanneries. The production of silk and attar of roses is carried on in the district, which contains numerous mineral springs. The town having been almost wholly destroyed during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, was rebuilt on a regular plan, with wide and broad streets radiating from a fine central square, where are situated the principal public buildings. During the rebuilding, important Thracian, Roman, Byzantine and Turkish antiquities were discovered.
Stara Zagora, founded probably by the Macedonians, was known to the Romans as Augusta Traiana, but afterwards, to distinguish it from a Macedonian town of this name, it was named Beroe or Berrhoea. By the Turks the name was changed in the 17th century to Eski-Zagra or Eski-Zaara, but after 1878 the Bulgarian name of Stara Zagora came into general use.
