The Valley of the Thracian Rulers () is a name which was made popular by the archaeologist Georgi Kitov and describes the extremely high concentration and variety of monuments of the Thracian culture in the Kazanlak Valley in central Bulgaria, also known as the Rose Valley. It is believed that there are over 1500 tumuli in the region, with only 300 being researched so far.
The Kazanlak Tomb was discovered in 1944. Between 1948 and 1954 the ancient town of Seuthopolis was studied. Between the 1960s and the 1980s people made researches of the mound necropolis which belonged to residents of Sevtopolis. Another two brick tombs were found there. The Maglizh and Kran tombs were discovered in 1965. The 60s also marked the research of Thracian tombs from the Roman era in the regions of the villages of Tulovo and Dabovo, made by Prof. L. Getov. During the 70s M. Domaradski, Ph. D., researched a habitation and its surrounding necropolis in the Atanastsa region, village of Tazha.
The period between 1992 and 2006, with short interruptions, marked the research made by Senior Research associate G. Kitov, Ph. D., and the expedition TEMR (Thracian Expedition for Mound Research) led by him. As a result of their activity over 200 mounds, which represent funeral practices of the Thracians during the Iron and Roman Eras in the Kazanlak Valley, were studied. Among all the monuments one can distinguish over 15 tombs in a different stage of preservation, 3 masonry graves, a lot of rich funerals, etc.
In recent years, work by archaeologists has been going on successfully with the research of tombs near the villages of Dolno Izvorovo and Buzovgrad.
Seuthopolis
The city was situated on a low terrace downstream the Tundzha river which surrounded it to the South and South-West, while the town was surrounded to the East by the Goliama Varovita river, a feeder of the Tunzdha river. Sevtopolis was found during construction works of the Koprinka Reservoir (former Georgi Dimitrov dam), with research taking place between 1948 and 1954. Excavation works were led by Prof. D. P. Dimitrov and Prof. M. Chichikova. The city now lies at the bottom of the lake.
Sevtopolis has an irregular pentagonal form and is situated over a surface of 50 decares. Its fortress wall is 890 meters long with rectangular towers and bastions being located along it, mainly to the North-West and North-East. The wall is 2 meter thick with a fundament of crushed stones, while the superstructure was made of adobe leveled by wooden beams.
The town construction was done at a single stage while preserving the principles of orthogonal design (the so-called “Hippodamus system”). The two gates were located to the North-West and South-West and represented a starting point of the main streets which crossed each other under right angle at the square (the “Agora” Greek άγορά). Another street was used to pass through the inner side, along the whole fortress wall. The town was equipped with a water and sewerage system while several wells satisfied the citizens’ needs for fresh water. The Agora took central place and, according to Sevtopolis’ sign, Dionysius's sanctuary was situated there. All important social buildings were situated around the Agora.
The Northern sector of the town contains the citadel, surrounded by an independent fortress wall, also reinforced by towers. A monumental entrance – propylon (Greek πρόπυλον) represented the transition to the inner yard. To the far side of the yard there was a representative building which was identified as one of the King's residences. It had a wide antechamber, probably with a colonnade, behind which there was a big hall of rendering, colored in the so-called “structural style”, and residence sectors. It is believed that ordinary citizens lived beyond the fortress walls where workshops were also located. An indirect proof of that are numerous artifacts found during the excavation works of the town – ceramic materials, various instruments for stone processing, wood processing and metal processing.
A significant portion of all goods were imported – amphora tare, imported Greek ceramics, luxury goods, coins, etc. The most common were stamps from Thassos island, followed by stamps from Sinope, Rhodes and Chios. Black-firnis ceramics are a proof of connections to the coastal areas. As far as coins are concerned – they represented Macedonian rulers (Philip II, Alexander III, Cassander, Lysimach, etc.) together with single coins from towns such as Messambria, Apollonia Pontica, Enos, Lysimachia.
The town's coin production is entirely dynastical, i.e. it belongs to the town's founder Seuthes III. The small par of the coins is a proof that they served the local coin circulation, while the range in which those coins were used, defines the territories controlled by Seuthes III.
The town existed for a relatively short period of time – from the beginning of the last quarter of the 4th century BC to the middle of the 3rd century BC, while there is also some evidence that its existence continued a little longer.
Simultaneously with the research of the town, excavation works of the nearby mound necropolis in the Nine Mounds area and partial excavation works of the surrounding flat necropolises were also performed. Results from those excavation works provide important evidence about specific features of the Thracians’ funeral rituals, in particular – about the funeral rituals of Sevtopolis’ inhabitants.
Tomb of Seuthes III
The monument in Golyama KosmatkaTomb of Seuthes III: http://www.muzei-kazanlak.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=88&lang=en mound was found in the autumn of 2004 during regular archaeological excavations, performed by TEMP-expedition led by Georgi Kitov.
Seuthes III was the King of the Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace from c. 331-300 BC.
The mound was piled up as a sacred hill in the first half of the 5th century BC. Probably in the second half of the century a monumental temple was built, consisting of a representative façade and three rooms - a rectangular one with a double-pitch coverage, a round one with a dome-shaped coverage and a sarcophagus-like chamber, made of a 60 t granite block.
At the beginning of 3rd century BC in the central chamber the building was transformed into a tomb for a Thracian aristocrat. In the first chamber a horse sacrifice was made.
At the façade a 13m long corridor with stone walls and a wooden roof were built. On closing the tomb the corridor was burnt down and filled with mound earth deposits. 7m to the south of the entrance there is a head of a bronze statue - probably a portrait of a Seuthes III.
The inventory is exceptionally rich, presenting personal and grave goods made of gold, silver, bronze, alabaster, glass, clay, leather. Among the findings three subjects were of special interest – a bronze helmet, a silver jug and a silver cup, upon which one can read the name ΣΕΥΘΟΥ / the name of Seuthes/. This fact, the finding of three bronze coins with the image of Seuthes III at the beginning of the corridor and the extraordinary similarity of the bronze head with the images on the coins of this Thracian ruler are the reasons why the discoverer G. Kitov makes the assumption that this is the tomb of the founder of Sevtopolis.
Kazanlak tomb
The Kazanlak Tomb was found accidentally on 19 April 1944 by soldiers who were digging for entrenchment against aircraft. The Tomb was constructed on the same level as the surrounding terrain and is oriented to the north–south direction with its entrance to the South. It consists of a corridor, a rectangular pre-funeral chamber and a circular funeral chamber.
The scheme, construction, style and technique of the wall paintings, as well as the objects found nearby date the Kazanlak Tomb back to the first half of 3rd century BC.
The common concept between the architecture and the wall paintings, the painters’ unique style and workmanship have turned the Kazanlak Tomb into one of the masterpieces of Thracian art and the antique cultural heritage. In 1979 the Tomb was pronounced a monument of global significance and was put under UNESCO’s custody.
Maglizh tomb The tomb was found and studied in the summer 1965 by Prof. L. Getov. It consists of a small antechamber, flanked at both sides by a single rectangular premise, a long two-sector corridor (dromos Greek Δρόμος), two rectangular sections and a funeral chamber.
The funeral chamber and its constructively connected II compartment were built from bricks, while the rest of the premises were built from crushed stones of various dimensions, which were connected to each other with mud solution. While the roof construction of the corridor and the I compartment were made of wooden beams, the II compartment and the chamber had a fake arch formed by the sloping of the internal surfaces of the bricks. At the far side of the funeral chamber there are remains from a broken brick funeral bed. The walls of the premises were plastered with clay coating that has absorbed a huge amount of moisture with time which, in turns, has led to the disappearance of most of the wall paintings. On the Eastern wall of premise II there is a frieze part, which consists of rhythmically alternating four palmettes and three amphorae. Upon each amphora one can see Nike, the victory Goddess, standing on a chariot (“biga” from Latin bīga) and galloping to the left. On the triangular section above the funeral chamber's entrance one can see images of arms objects – a quiver with a bow and arrows which has a freely falling mantle from its upper end.
The tomb was long used as a family tomb, the proof of which comes in the form of additional reconstructions and amendments both to the scheme, and the decorations. It dates back to the middle of the 3rd century BC.
Ostrusha
The facilities under the mound were discovered in 1993 and represent a funeral-cult complex expanded on a surface of 100 square meters. They consist of six premises, one of which is a sarcophagus-like chamber. Under the complex there was a ritual piling of a lot of crushed ceramic utensils and architectural details.
Three different periods of utilization of the facilities were defined. The first period dates back to the middle of the 4th century BC when a monolithic chamber with a funeral bed and roof paintings was mounted over a stereobat of huge stone plates. The latter had a cassette-like construction on three levels. All sections were decorated with wall paintings in blue, red, yellow and green. The central circle was covered with golden foil, while the rest of the sections were painted with scenes of human and animal images as well as plant and geometrical ornaments.
At a later stage, the remaining 5 premises were built to the central chamber. During the third period at the end of the century a sarcophagus-like grave was built in front of the entrance while no funeral took place in it. It was probably at that time when the trizna (remains of commemoration eating/table) in front of the facilities was performed. Finally, the complex was buried. Its raid took place in the 4th century AD and it was probably at that time when most of the wall paintings were destroyed with the South-Western chamber remaining the only one to be intact.
Golyama Arsenalka
The mound is situated 2 km to the South-West of the town of Shipka. The tomb was found after preliminary geophysical research on 31 August 1995 during regular archaeological excavations under Senior Research Assistant Georgi Kitov, Ph. D.
The tomb consists of a façade and two chambers, with the entrance pointing to the South. The façade was built from eight rows of processed granite blocks. The entrance was equipped with a two-wing stone door.
The first chamber has a rectangular form and was also built from granite blocks. The floor was built from compressed soil, while the roof is double-pitched.