From Bulgaria comes word today of a series of spectacular discoveries at three sites shedding new light on Thracian culture and history.
A team of eight experts from the archaeological institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Science, has unearthed a three-chamber tomb that unites the beehive vault of prehistoric Greece with local architectural styles in an unprecedented way. It contained a delicate two-handled gold drinking cup and three amphoras as well as Sevt's military equipment: 10 spears, a sword, a bronze helmet decorated with gold and silver fittings, a round shield and leg armour.
The portrait head, perhaps the work of the Greek sculptor Lysippus, was ragged at the neck, recalling the ancient Thracian ritual of hacking a hero's body into seven pieces.
Nikolay Ovcharov, also from the Academy's archaeological institute, believes he has identified the oracle of Dionysos at Perperikon, a sprawling hilltop sanctuary surrounded by forest near the town of Kurdzhali in south-east Bulgaria. It was here, he says, that Alexander the Great first learned he would become the conqueror of Asia. Several hundred years later, the Roman general Octavian, later to become the emperor Augustus, was told at Perperikon that he would hold sway over a huge empire.
Prof Ovcharov has also excavated a temple at Tatul, near Bulgaria's border with Turkey. With its distinctive flat summit rising above the forest, the sanctuary is visible from miles away. It may be the site revered in antiquity as the tomb of Orpheus, the legendary Thracian musician who was torn to pieces by frenzied women followers of Dionysos, and inspired one of the most popular religious cults in the ancient world.
Click for the complete story in the Sophia news.
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