Free Republic

Armenians, a population in Western Asia historically inhabiting the Armenian highlands, were long believed to be descendants of Phrygian settlers from the Balkans. This theory originated largely from the accounts of the Greek historian Herodotus, who observed that Armenians were armed in Phrygian fashion when serving in the Persian army. Linguists further supported this theory, suggesting that the Armenian language shares ties with the Thraco-Phrygian subgroup of Indo-European languages.But the first whole-genome study challenges this long-held belief, revealing no significant genetic link between Armenians and the populations in the Balkan region. The study compares newly generated modern Armenian genomes and...

According to a report in The Sofia Globe, an intact Thracian temple dated to the third century B.C. has been discovered in a mound in south-central Bulgaria, on the outskirts of the city of Plovdiv. The structure was built with stones and a mortar made of clay and sand when the city was known as Philippopolis, said Kostadin Kisyov of Plovdiv's Regional Archaeological Museum. Pottery and the bones of seven types of domestic animals thought to have been used in rituals were found inside the structure. A later Thracian Christian building and a medieval church dated to the twelfth and...

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient tomb in Topolovgrad, southern Bulgaria. The team led by Dr. Daniela Agre found gold artefacts inside the tomb that are thought to belong to a Thracian warrior.The Thracians were an Indo-European ethnic group which emerged during 3rd millennium BC in the Early Bronze Age. They were situated at Balkan Peninsula and were constituted of different tribes with distinct cultural outlook. The Thracians had interactions with Roman Empire and Greek city-states over time. They became famous for their military prowess during these exchanges. They served as a kind of non-citizen troops in armies of roman empire,...

In Plovdiv, in southern Bulgaria, archaeologists have discovered over 500 ancient coins and a gold template for making jewelry from different periods.The coins were found during salvage excavations at the foot of the Old Town, in the Philipopol-Trimontium-Plovdiv historical zone, which is a group cultural monument. It is located next to the Eastern Gate of Philippopolis, BTA reports.Plovdiv is an ancient city built around 7 hills, in southern Bulgaria. It has been recognized as one of the oldest settlements in Europe, with evidence of habitation reaching as far back as the 6th millennium BC. Until relatively recently in its history,...

Archaeologists from the Haskovo Regional Museum of History discovered a third Thracian tomb with murals the likes of those in Kazanlak and Alexandrovo, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported. The tomb dates from the late 4th and early 3rd century BC.The Odrysian Kingdom was established around 460 BC by the Thracian tribe the Odrysians and lasted until the Roman conquest in 46 AD. The Odrysian Kingdom included the territories of the entire modern-day Bulgaria, Northern Greece, the European part of Turkey, and a small part of Southeastern Romania.Unfortunately, at this point, the Thracian murals in the tomb itself have been damaged;...

Archeologists in Bulgaria haved uncovered a 13th century staked "vampire" at Perperikon, an ancient Thracian site in the south of the country, Archaeology reports. The remains once belonged to a man who was likely in his 40s. An iron rod had been hammered through his chest "to keep the corpse from rising from the dead and disturbing the living," Archaeology continues, and his left leg had also been removed and placed beside the corpse. Clearly, this man's neighbors did not trust his remains to stay put. As Nikolai Ovcharov, the archeologist in charge of the dig, told the Telegraph: "We...

#1. This Ancient Thracian Aristocrat's War Helmet Depicting Trojan War / Iliad Scenes 1st - 2nd century AD, Brestovitsa, Central South Bulgaria Discovered: 2013 A very rare war helmet of a Thracian aristocrat from the 1st-2nd century AD featuring motifs from the story of the Trojan War - made world famous through the Iliad by Ancient Greek poet Homer - was discovered during emergency excavations in Southern Bulgaria in 2013. The Thracian war helmet was found in an Ancient Thracian tumulus (burial mound) known as Pamuk Mogila in Bulgaria's Brestovitsa, and was shown to the public for the first time...

An ancient fortress which is 3,000 - 3,200 years old and was built with the so called Cyclopean masonry has been found by archaeologists in Bulgaria's Rhodope Mountains, near the town of Zlatograd and the border with Greece, and is taken as evidence that Ancient Thrace was part of the Mycenaean Civilization. The previously undetected fortress is roughly dated to 1,200 BC, i.e. to the time of Ancient Troy and the Trojan War. It is located near Zlatograd, Bulgaria's southernmost town, near the southern slopes of the Rhodope Mountains, in an area that is only about 20 kilometers away from...

It's the sort of classic jewellery favoured by modern women except these earrings were worn 2,500 years ago.An archeologist  discovered gold earrings, a ring and other funeral gifts dating back to the 5th century B.C. while excavating  a Thracian tomb near the village of Kushare, about 280km from Sofia, Bulgaria.Some of the oldest examples of gold jewellery and artifacts have been discovered in Bulgaria and it's Black Sea coast is considered the birthplace of  the world's metal production. Thracian bling: The gold earrings discovered during excavations of a tomb in Bulgaria What are Bulgaria's borders today were part of several...

Hopeful eyes look on as thousands of candles and the lighted crosses of a dozen tiny chapels dot the chilly nightscape at Krastova Gora, a holy site high up in Bulgaria's Rhodope mountains."I've had a stroke. That's why I came here. For help!" said Yanko Dimitrov, 65, one of the many who have come to the sacred site... But the big day is September 14 -- the Orthodox Christian feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. According to local legend, spending the night out here on the eve of the feast can do miracles and cure all illness. Mariana...

Orpheus Tomb Discovered? Updated on: 29.06.2007, 17:51 Published on: 29.06.2007, 17:46 Author: Olga Yoncheva Orpheus sanctuary in Rhodope mountains is with thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids. The sensational discovery was made by an archaeological expedition which investigated the temple of the Thracians near the village of Tatul, informed BNT. The scientists found 6000-year old buildings with preserved tools made of semi-precious stones, crockery, animal remains. According to the archaeologists now it can be claimed that this is the Tomb of Orpheus, which has been visited of thousands of pilgrims from around the antique world. The sanctuary is one...

Unearthing Bulgaria’s Golden Age By Nicholas Glass Published: December 2 2005 15:09 December 2 2005 15:09 There was nothing unusual about the village shop in the depths of the countryside, 75 miles east of Sofia. What astonished the young archaeologists wanting cigarettes was the shopkeeper’s jewellery. Her necklace and earrings were exquisite: the beads so small and perfectly worked that her customers assumed they were modern, the gold of a high carat. But how could a shopkeeper afford such trinkets in a country where the average monthly salary is £100? The archaeologists didn’t know it but the shopkeeper’s jewellery was...

East Bulgaria Reveals Minoan Pertainence 18 January 2005, Tuesday. The Eastern Rhodopes revealed an old-times funeral site obviously pertaining to an ancient Crete-Micenae cult dating 3,500 years ago. The demographic researcher Mincho Gumarov of Kardzhali has donated the local museum with unique finds of ceramics, bronze and silver. The artifacts from the late bronze epoch were found in the nearby Samara cave. The find's pertainence to the epoch of legendary Micenae derives from the found labris (short two-face ritual axe, characteristic of that civilisation) and a silver amulet of the cult to Mother Earth, as well as pieces of surgery...

An Ancient Thracian rock step pyramid with a rock sun temple dating back to 2500 BC has been identified in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains in Southern Bulgaria by an expedition of historians and thracologists. The Thracian pyramid in question was shaped out of the natural rocks in the mountain near the town of Kovil, Krumovgrad Municipality, Kardzhali District. It is about 15 meters tall, and consists of five stepped terraces, with the sun temple hacked into the rocks inside it, according to Prof. Vasil Markov, a historian specializing in the civilization of Ancient Thrace. Markov is the head of the University...

Ancient Town 'Sevtopolis', Submerged on a Lake Bottom to be Reconstructed Updated on: 18.02.2008, 18:33 Published on: 18.02.2008, 14:52 Author: Kristalina Ilieva Association ‘Preserve the Bulgarian' starts action for the realizing of ‘Sevtopolis' project. At first the organizators will collect subscription list throughout the whole country, the projects author and major architect Jeko Tilev announced. Sevtopolis or the City of Tracian King Sevt III is capital of the Odyisian state in the end of IV - beginning of III century before Christ. It was found and observed in 1948 - 1954 by the construction works of Koprinka dam like and...

The 1st century AD inscription which has recently been discovered printed (most likely, by accident) on an ancient vessel in an Ancient Thracian burial mound near the town of Tatarevo in Southern Bulgaria has been found out to be a verse from the poem “Prayer to the Muses” by Ancient Greek poet and statesman Solon. The inscription, which was printed on a clay vessel, was found in August 2015 by the archaeologists excavating a Thracian tumulus (burial mound) repeatedly targeted by treasure hunters in the town of Tatarevo, Parvomay Municipality, in Southern Bulgaria. The vessel with the “printed” inscription in...

An ancient fortress unknown to Bulgarian and international archaeology has been discovered in the thick and almost subtropical forests along the Ropotamo River in Southeast Bulgaria, the National Museum of History in Sofia has announced. The discovery has been made by Dr. Ivan Hristov, Deputy Director of the National Museum of History, who has also been excavating several other archaeological sites along Bulgaria's Southern Black Sea coast, including the Talaskara Fortress on Cape Chervenka (Chrisosotira). The previously unknown fortress, which appears to have been inhabited by Ancient Thracians, has been found in "the jungle of the Ropotamo" River, in the...

An Ancient Thracian bronze artifact in the shape of a stork's head described as "the oldest children's toy in Europe" has been identified by Bulgarian archaeologists among archaeological items found by local residents in the area of the southern town of Zlatograd in the Rhodope Mountains. The Thracian toy is made of bronze mixed with some silver, and is dated to the Late Bronze age, about 1500-1200 BC, the period of Ancient Troy and the Civilization of Mycenae. It consists of a tripod holding what appears to be a stork's head which can move and "drink water"; it weighs 30...

Remains of a temple complex dedicated to the cult of Isis and Osiris were discovered in the Paleokastro region in Pomorie. The temple dates back from the second century A.C., announced Burgasinfo. The building was built on the grounds of an ancient Thracian pagan temple, claim the archaeologists. "There are many temples in Bulgaria, connected to Isis and Osiris, but this is the first temple complex, discovered through the means of archaeology", explains Sergey Torbanov, leader of the diggings. During this season the main street in Anhialo was also discovered. The site of the diggings is put under security. The...

Pirot – During the protective archaeological works, carried out in parallel with the construction of Corridor 10, archaeologist Zoran Mitic found the remains of beautifully decorated chariot, assumed to be aged between 3,000 and 4,000 years and to have belonged to a Thracian from the elite of the time. According to Mitic, this an unique and extremely important item, which he found near the village of Stanicenje. “This is a chariot, drawn by two horses. My assumption is that the chariot belonged to a Thracian citizen,” Mitic told Tanjug. He said that this is backed by the fact that, at...