Apollo Cendrisus (or Cendrissenus) was the main deity of Philippopolis. The name and the patronymic of the dedicant – Bithys and Cotys – are among the most frequent Thracian names.
Georgi Mihailov suggests that the original location of the monument was on Dzhendemtepe hill where the sanctuary of Apollo Cendrisus was situated.
This little altar is the only known monument of the cult of the Syrian Goddess in the province of Thrace. The Syrian Goddess, or Atargatis, was a cult worshipped in Northern Syria; however, her priest in Philippopolis bears Thracian names and is not a migrant from the East. From the lands of today’s Bulgaria, there is only one more uncertain dedication to the Syrian Goddess by settlers from Asia Minor in the province of Moesia Inferior (IGBulg 8 bis from Bizone/Kavarna).
