HISTORY

The Thracians are an Indo-European Nation, the history of which can be traced from the beginning of the 3^rd millennium B. C. until the 6^th century A. D. on the territory of South-Eastern Europe and Northwestern Asia Minor.

The Thracian political life and the Thracian culture flourished between 6^th and 3^rd century B. C. In Thrace, which is enormous. The most famous kingdoms are those of the Triballians, Getai, Besses, and, primarily, the Odrysians. We are currently located in their territory. The kernel of the Odrysian Kingdom lies in the valleys of Maritza and Tundzha rivers and includes the Strandzha and Sakar mountains, as well as the Sredna gora from Kabile near Jambol up to the Eastern mountain border of the Sofia field.

The greatness of the Odrysian Royal household had been described in short stories by ancient writers. However, it is being represented much more descriptively by the under-mound tombs and temples in the “Valley of the Kings” from Kazanluk on westwards, as well as by the splendid objects made of gold and silver. Some of them have Royal inscriptions.

The archaeological data are the most certain proof that after the murder of the Odrysian king Kotys I (383-359), neither Philip the Macedonia, nor his son Alexander the Great could conquer the Odrysian land, ruled by Seuthes III, who was most probably Kotys’ son.

Despite the constant contact with the Greek and Asia Minor’s cultures, the Thracian is quite different because of the belief in immortality. There are two ways of achieving immortality – through the belief in the always dying and re-born Thracian God Zagreus (a God from Dionysos type), and the other one is accessible only through the aristocrats who are initiated into the mysteries and who perfect themselves with the belief that they will become anthropodaemons after their death.

Some of the under-mound constructions in the Valley of the Kings are exactly temples for initiation of the aristocrats-orphics and for their anthropodemonization, others play the role of an entrance to the underworld, and not of a tomb.

The Kazanluk tomb is one of the nine UNESCO monuments in Bulgaria. It is though to be the tomb of  Odrysian king Seuthes III.

(The thracian tomb near Sveshtari, the Madara horseman, the Boyana church, the rock-cut churches near Ivanovo, the old town of Nesebar, the Rila monastery, the Natinal park Pirin, the Srebarna rezervation - ornithological park).

Even before Alexander the Great’s death in Babylon in 323 B. C., Seuthes occurs on the political horizon. He established his rule with an iron fist. A skillful diplomat and an excellent warrior, he uses the competition between Alexander the Great’s heirs and defends his kingdom. His opponent is the Lysimachos, the brilliant commander from the Alexander the Great’s army. Lysimachos receives Thrace when the Alexander the Great’s empire is divided. Sometimes Seuthes chooses to fight together with the Greek cities on the Black Sea’s shore, but sometimes he fights alone, in duels with an equal. During the last 20 or so years of the 4^th, and the beginning of the 3^rd century B. C. Lysimachos is in a military conflict with Seuthes III, but loses his positions and is forced to limit his rule to the Black Sea shore.

The famous proof of the force and dignity of Seuthes III are three monuments, all of them possessing world fame.

The capital of the Odrysian Kingdom at the end of the 4^th and the beginning of the 3^rd century is Seuthopolis. The King builds it as a typical Thracian Royal city-residence with a palace and sanctuary in the inner castle, which nowadays lies at the bottom of the “Koprinka” dam lake between Tundja and Sredna Gora. The city is constructed at the same level with the architectural achievements of the early Hellenistic era.

The early Hellenistic golden set, discovered in Panagjurishte and dated after Alexander’s death in 323 B. C. and before the invasion of the Celts in 280 B. C., consists from 9 pieces with a total weight of 6 ½ kg. of pure gold. It had been a gift-sacrifice of Seuthes III to the Great Mother-Goddess as Earth. The King puts the treasure in order to commit his own merging with the “Queen-Earth” and after dying in her to be re-born from her.

The beehive tomb in Kazanluk is the masterpiece of architecture and painting from the very beginning of the 3^rd century B. C. At the same time it is a very expressive document of the faith of the Thracian Kings-Orphics in immortality. This faith consists of the mysterial knowledge for the path to the world beyond, which is knowledge for the life of the Universe and for the energy of the initiated orphic in it.