The village's name first appears in sources in a 7th-century Medieval Greek text as Στοβων. It was also mentioned in a charter of Byzantine EmperorBasil II from 1019 after the conquest of the First Bulgarian Empire. The first reference in Old Bulgarian dates to 1378, when it appears in the Rila Charter of Bulgarian EmperorIvan Shishman as the "town of Stob". The charter emphasizes the Rila Monastery's independence from nearby Stob, among other privileges, and notes that the monastery's lands and properties bordered the town. A hagiography of Saint John of Rila from the 15th century refers to the village uniquely as Stog. However, a chronicle of Serbian monarchs from the 15th–16th century reiterates the name Stob, as does an Ottoman source from 1570. An Ottoman document from 1576 spells the name as Istob and Istub. The name Stob is thought to derive from the Proto-Indo-European root*sto-bh-:*stei-, as retained in the Bulgarian word стобор stobor and akin to words meaning "pole, pillar" in other Slavic languages. The etymology may reflect the features of the surrounding terrain. The erroneous listing Stog is possibly explained by a false etymology linking the name to the presumably more popular term стог stog, from the related Proto-Indo-European*stogh-.
Geography
The village is located south-southwest from the capital Sofia and north of Blagoevgrad, next to the road to the town of Rila and the Rila Monastery. Stob lies between the small towns of Rila and Kocherinovo at the foot of the highest mountains in Bulgaria, the Rila mountains, and is crossed by the Rilska River. At the northeast end of Stob is the village's Eastern Orthodox church, the Church of Saint Procopius. Stob's church is reportedly the only church in Bulgaria dedicated to this saint. The village's feast day is 17 July.
Stob Earth Pyramids
The Stob Pyramids are a natural rock phenomenon located to the northeast of the village. The pyramids have been under state protection since 1964 as a protected site encompassing. The pyramids are rock formations up to high and around thick at the base. They vary in shape from sharp through conical to mushroomlike. Some of the columns are topped by flat stones. Groups of individual pyramids have been named the Towers, the Pinnacles and the Samodiva Chimneys. According to a popular local legend, the pyramids are in fact wedding guests who were petrified because the bride was so beautiful that the best man attempted to kiss her. Based on the legend, the local population has identified some of the pyramids as the best man, the groom, the bride and other attendants of the wedding ceremony.
