Razhevo or sometimes Ruzhevo (, ; spelled until 1945; meaning "Rye village") is a village in central Bulgaria, part of Kaloyanovo Municipality, Plovdiv Province.
Geography
The village is located 30 km north of Plovdiv and is 30 km south of Karlovo. It is on the left, depressed bank of the river Stryama, the left tributary of the Maritsa river. It is in the center of one of the flattest places in Bulgaria and in cloudy weather the Thracian plain can be seen in all directions, except for the blockage of an occasional hill. When it is sunny, Sredna Gora and Stara Planina can be seen further back.
The climate in the region is humid continental, the winter is mild, and the summer dry and hot, as the temperatures often pass 40 °C (105.8 °F). The plain on which the village was built is alluvial. Near the village, the so-called "Mayor's River" (), a canal from Maritsa, runs.
Transportation
Razhevo has three exits—the asphalt road from the village Razhevo Konare (3 km away) from the south, the asphalt road to the village Chernozemen to the west, and the paved road to the villages Begovo (3 km) and Suhozem (5 km) going northeast.
Razhevo has a bus route to Plovdiv—the buses come from the bus station "Sever." Another way to get to the village is by train (which arrives at the central station or Filipovo station) from Plovdiv to Karlovo or vice versa, leaving from the train station in Chernozemen, which can be reached by bus from Plovdiv. After crossing a bridge over the Stryama, Razhevo can then be seen.
History
Etymology of the Name
The local legends say that the village was founded by Baba Razha (Bulgarian: Баба Ръжа, or a variant Ружа)—she had been running from the Turks. However, it can be argued that the name of the village actually comes from rye, and thus rye bread is extensively popular in the region. Others believe that the name developed from the Bulgarian word for "weapon" (, orazhie) as
A subdivision of the village Bratya Daskalovi has the same name as Razhevo. Villages with similar names include Razhena in Madzharovo Municipality; in Kazanlak Municipality, Razhenovo; and in Ruen Municipality, Ruzhitsa. In North Macedonia, there are two villages named Ruzhanichino and Arzhanovo.
In Antiquity and the Middle Ages
In antiquity, the land known today as Razhevo was part of the land of an ancient Thracian tribe. Today signs of this tribe remain in Thracian villages and hillside necropoleis. The oldest archeological item found near the village was 1 km south of the village on the right-hand side of the rode to Razheno Konare. It was a rock scepter composed of the head of a horse and part of its neck. The scepter is the first of its kind found in Bulgaria and dates towards either the end of the Chalcolithic and beginning of the Bronze Age or the early Iron Age.
Around 2 km north of Razhevo, in the Yamachkata (or Rogachev Kladenets) area, where the Chernozem-Begovo road currently runs, there are traces of the largest settlement of the tribe in the region, which existed even during the Roman period. In it, silver, billon and copper Roman coins from the second and third century, as well as ceramics were found. The necropolis of the settlement is made of 13 mounds. Another settlement's necropolis was discovered in the Dervishova Mogila area. The discovery of these (currently destroyed) necropoleis gives evidence that Razhevo was constructed on the remains of an old Thracian settlement. The second largest settlement is southwest of Razhevo with a necropolis made of 7 mounds. Remains of a Roman community can be found in the Barata area.
In the surrounding areas near Suhozem, a Roman army diploma to a Thracian named Doles was discovered. He served in Syria under Emperor Vespasian (69-79 CE), which gives evidence of the widespread knowledge in Roman times of the region between Razhevo and Suhozem.
In the land surrounding the village there are several Christian places—"Saint Iliya" near Popska Mogila, "Saint George" in the Old cemetery, "Saint Mary" in the southeastern end of the village, and "Saint Nicholas" east of the village, to the right of the road to Razhevo Konare and Krasta.
In the Ottoman Empire
Information about Razhevo as "Varzhova" or "Virizheva" is contained in Ottoman registers from 1562 and 1576. The village shows up as the only Christian village in the northern part of the large waqf of the Plovdiv Shahbettin Imaret Cami (). The mosque was established in the 15th century by the Beylerbey of Rumelia, Shahbedin Pasha. В джелепкешанския регистър на Мехмед Чауш от 1576 година селото е споменато като Вирижева и е едно от 8-те християнски села от 54-те села в Стремската долина.