Ihtiman

Ihtiman
Ihtiman Location of Ihtiman Show map of Bulgaria Ihtiman Ihtiman (Balkans) Show map of Balkans
Coordinates: 42°26′N 23°49′E / 42.433°N 23.817°E / 42.433; 23.817
Country	Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)	Sofia Province
Government
• Mayor	Kaloyan Iliev
Elevation	658 m (2,159 ft)
Population  (13.09.2005)
• Total	14,525
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal Code	2050
Area code	0724

Ihtiman (Bulgarian: Ихтиман [ixtiˈman]) is a town in western Bulgaria, part of Sofia Province. It is located in the Ihtiman Valley of the Ihtimanska Sredna Gora mountain range and lies in a valley 48 km from Sofia and 95 km from Plovdiv, close to the Trakiya motorway.

Formerly a Roman defensive station guarding the important roads to the Bosphorus, Ihtiman was then called Stipon. It continued to play this role under the Byzantine Empire and later under the First and Second Bulgarian Empires, with the main defensive centre in the region of the Gate of Trajan hill pass. In 986 the Bulgarian Emperor Samuel dealt a crushing defeat on the Byzantines in the battle of the Gates of Trajan.

Following the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria in the 14th century, the town's name was changed to Ihtiman, which is thought to be of Ottoman Turkish origin.

The traditional and dominant religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Ihtiman Hook on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Ihtiman.^[1]