New book, dedicated to ancient Thracians’ treasures

published on 2/10/12 2:58 PM

Photo: Архив

Many Bulgarian archaeologists have dedicated their lives to the seeking of artifacts that support some of the theories for the real existence of ancient Thracians. The gold and silver objects, discovered by scientists attract many visitors from this country and abroad to the halls of historical and archaeological museums in Bulgaria. However, history fans would like to have something more than just a glance through the showcase – and now they can take the album-book, named Thracian Treasuries and the Valley of Thracian Kings. Due to the high quality of the book, the Hermes Publishing House received the special award of the Bulgarian Book Association for contribution to the Bulgarian culture.

“Each subject that we simply relate to Thracian discoveries is actually a small tale about those people,” says Dr. Pavlina Ilieva, author of the book and head of the Funds Dept. with the National Institute of Archeology and Museum with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences /BAS/. “Though we do want to separate mythology from the existence of these treasures, we are bound to discover that it is a part of the rituals, believes and life of ancient Thracians. Thus we find the symbols that they used to worship.”

That is the reason why Dr. Ilieva started the book exactly with the legends and information of the ancient authors.
“Thrace used to be a colorful, vague mosaics of independent tribes until the middle of the first millennium B.C. According to Herodotus Thracians formed the largest people after the one of India,” Mrs. Ilieva says. “This is a state with huge territory. Homer mentioned them for a first time in his Iliad, while telling the story of the legendary war, where they acted as allies of Troy. Greek dramaturgy describes Thrace as a land of rich and militant kings.”

The book has a second part, dedicated to the many treasures, discovered in these lands. Readers can get acquainted in details with less familiar, but important artifacts and not only the famous Valchitran, Rogozen and Panagyurishte Treasures. The Letnitsa Treasure for instance reveals mythological scenes, showing the divine nature of king’s power with ancient Thracians. We are talking about 15 silver applications of horse trappings discovered that are dated to the first half of the 4th century B.C.

The relics, discovered by chance near the village of Borovo, Russe district, have been dated to the same period. The silver rhytons found symbolized power and were used in king’s rituals. The artistic images of a bull, a horse, a sphinx and scenes, related to Dionysus testify about the Thracians’ believe in immortality.

The marvelous photographs give us the chance to enjoy the beauty of objects, discovered by archaeologist Daniela Agre in a ruler’s grave /mid-4th century B.C./ in the so-called Great Mound near the villages of Malomirovo and Zlatinitsa, Yambol district. The parade silver greave of the fully armored ruler, with engraved gold king-rider, the Great Goddess-Mother and fantastic characters attract attention too. The golden wreathe, with Nike, the goddess personifying victory is also impressive.

The album-book is dedicated to the memory of the remarkable Bulgarian archaeologist Dr. Georgi Kitov, who has discovered a series of important monuments of Thracian culture. Some of his most interesting findings are viewed in the third part of the book, for instance the ones from the Valley of Thracian Kings. In 2004 Dr. Kitov discovered a gold mask in a tomb near the village of Shipka, central Bulgaria. The mask thrilled the world. It probably belonged to some Thracian king. A tomb of a popular ruler was identified for a first time in Thracian archaeology thanks to Dr. Kitov.

“It is proved that the glorious temple, situated inside the Golyama Kosmatka Mound was the tomb of the famous Thracian King Seuthes III /330-280 B.C./ It consists of a 13-meter long corridor and three chambers. The funeral of Seuthes was a palatial one – many gold and silver vessels and applications testify for that, along with the full armor of the king. The bronze head of Seuthes III is the most interesting artifact.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Maria Peeva

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New book, dedicated to ancient Thracians’ treasures

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