2nd century statuette of Roman goddess Cybele found in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 27, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Archaeologists working at the Forum site in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv have found a marble statuette of the Roman goddess Cybele, according to Bulgarian news sources.

Credit: The Sofia Globe

The statuette is believed to date from the second century CE and was part of the pantheon of Philippoupolis, the Greek name of Plovdiv, in ancient times.

The archaeological team headed by Maya Martinova-Kutova and Bilyana Grueva-Zdravcheva made the find.

In Roman mythology, Cybele was the universal mother, not only of the gods, but also of all humans, animals and plant life. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Cybele was worshipped in large parts of Asia Minor as well as in Thrace.

“The newly discovered statuette complements the series of pedestals for statues and reliefs found in the north of the Forum,” Martinova-Kutova said.

“In the northern part of the Forum, where the statuette was found, public life was flowing, people were flocking here, religious and other rituals were performed, so there is a lot of concentrated information about the history of ancient Philippopolis,” he said.

Recently, the same team of archaeologists discovered a marble plaque inscribed in Ancient Greek in the northern part of the Forum, which was part of an imperial letter written in response to a request on behalf of the city or the Thracian koinon, a union of cities.

Source: The Sofia Globe [October 27, 2019]

2nd century inscription found at ancient Philippopolis

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 05, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Archaeologists have found a marble slab, dating from the end of the second century CE, during excavations at the Roman Forum site in the ancient city of Philippopolis in Bulgaria.

Credit: 24 Hours

Representing part of an imperial letter, the Greek text is believed to refer to a fine imposed on Philippopolis – the ancient name of Plovdiv – by Emperor Septimius Sever for having supported his rival to the throne, Pescennius Niger.

Septimius Sever was Roman emperor from 193 to 211, having seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. Pescennius Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia.

The inscription on the marble slab found at the site in Plovdiv was deciphered by graphologist Nikolay Sharankov.

Sharankov told Radio Plovdiv that the eight lines on the slab were the end of the letter, of which the beginning was missing. The name of the emperor was missing but by the form of the letters and content, it could be deduced that the emperor was Septimius Severus.

Credit: 24 Hours

The inscription says that the fine for Philippopolis should be paid by one of its prominent citizens, who had previously borne the expenses of the city.

The find was made on a part of the square that until recently was fenced off and marked as private property, as part of a long-standing dispute over the price to be paid for it. Plovdiv municipality’s purchase of the small plot enabled archaeological work to go ahead.

The site, adjoining Plovdiv’s Central Square, contained a number of public buildings in ancient Roman times, including the Odeon, a library and the treasury.

Source: The Sofia Globe [October 05, 2019]

15 early Byzantine gold coins found in Bulgaria

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 01, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Archaeologists have found a valuable gold treasure in the town of Devnya, about 25km from Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Varna.

Credit: Novini

Fifteen gold coins were found on September 29, along with more than 20 bronze coins, and another gold coin, with the image of Emperor Theodosius II and dating from the fifth century, was found on September 30.

This brings to 16 the number of Theodosius II gold coins that have been found. Also found was a gold coin with the image of the emperor’s cousin Valentinian III.

It is though that the hoard was hidden during an attack by the Huns on the ancient city of Marcianopolis in the fifth century, according to Dr Hristo Kuzov of the Regional History Museum in Varna, a statement by the municipality of Devnya said.

Credit: Novini

Security staff have been deployed at the site and video surveillance has been installed. This is the second major find of gold treasure found by archaeologists at Devnya.

In 1929, one of the largest ancient treasures found anywhere in the world was discovered there, consisting of 100 000 silver gold coins, weighing together about 350kg, from the time of Roman general Mark Anthony.

The coins found in September 2019 are in extremely good condition, making dating them easier, according to the archaeological team.

Source: The Sofia Globe [October 01, 2019]

1,800-year-old head-shaped balsamarium found in Bulgaria

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 30, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

The skeleton of an ancient sports fan was discovered alongside an 1,800-year-old jar shaped like the head of a wrestler or boxer who may have had his nose broken, archaeologists reported.

Dating back about 1,800 years, the brass balsamarium shows the head of a man wearing a cap made from the skin of a feline [Credit: Daniela Agre]

The "spectacular" balsamarium — a jar used to store liquids such as balm or perfumes — was found in a grave in southeastern Bulgaria (ancient Thrace).

It dates to a time when the Roman Empire controlled Thrace — an ancient area that encompassed parts of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.

Made of brass, the balsamarium depicts a man with a goatee and a nose that looks crooked or bent as if it had been broken and not fully healed. The man is wearing a cap made from the skin of a feline, likely a panther or leopard, the archaeologists wrote in a paper published in the October issue of the American Journal of Archaeology.

Examples of balsamariums that have similar features, such as a crooked or bent nose, have been found elsewhere in the Roman Empire and are often interpreted as depicting boxers or wrestlers.

Front and back views of the balsamarium [Credit: Daniela Agre]

The feline cap worn by the man may be an allusion to a Nemean lion, a creature that the Greek god Hercules fought and defeated, according to ancient mythology.

"It is probable that the representation of the athlete's cap as the skin of a savage feline was meant to suggest the athlete's similarity to Hercules and, in this way, to signify the heroic power and courage possessed by the athlete," the archaeologists wrote in their paper.

The skeleton that was also found in the grave belonged to a man who died when he was about 35 to 40 years old. Also buried with the remains, the team found a blade used to scrape sweat and dirt from the skin.

The balsamarium was found beside the burial of a man who died between 35 and 40 years old [Credit: Daniela Agre]

"In our opinion, the grave belongs to a Thracian aristocrat, who has practiced sport in his everyday life, rather than to a professional athlete," Daniela Agre, an archaeologist at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who led archaeological work at the site, told Live Science.

The man's grave is part of a larger burial complex that was found within a 9.8-foot-high (3 meters) burial mound called a tumulus.

"We think that the tumulus was used as a family necropolis and the deceased was a part of this family," Agre said. Excavations were carried out at the tumulus in 2015.

Author: Owen Jarus | Source: Live Science [September 30, 2019]

Archaic Greek bronze statuette of ram’s head found on Bulgaria’s Cyricus island

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 10, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Greece, Southern Europe

Archaeologists have found a bronze statuette of a ram’s head, said to date from the sixth century BCE, on St Cyricus Island off the coast of the town of Sozopol on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.

Credit: BNT

The statuette, the only one of its kind found there to date, was brought by the founders of Apollonia, the ancient name of Sozopol, according to a report by Bulgarian National Television.

Archaeologists have reached a layer that dates from the time of the first Apollonians. The town was founded in the seventh century BCE by Greek colonists from Miletus.

The head of the dig team, Associate Professor Krustina Panayotova of the National Archaeological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, said that the statuette was found in a pit where ritual drinking vessels were found, evidence that the first generations of Apollonians offered gifts to their gods at the spot.

Although Apollonia has been studied for many years in dozens of archaeological expeditions, no bronze objects have been found so far. Bronze from later eras has not been found, even though there were copper mines nearby, used by the first settlers, the report said.

Panayotova said that bronze was a metal that was much used. It is believed that the statue of Apollo, which was 12 metres high and from which the town took its name, may have been smelted for use to make cannons in later centures.

She said that the ram was a sacrificial animal, offered as a gift to the gods. “It is quite possible that the statuette was brought here from Miletus.”

Along with the bronze head, many drinking vessels and jars made of fine ceramics have been found.

Apart from the workmanshop, the wild goats painted on them accurately suggest the date, and the place where the first settlers came from, the report said.

Research fellow Professor Margarit Damyanov said that the artefact was northern Ionian. There was also hand-made ceramics, characteristic of the Thracian style, he said.

“Although attracted by the copper mines and natural resources of the area, the first settlers in Apollonia apparently worked and lived in harmony with the local Thracians,” Damyanov said.

Source: The Sofia Globe [September 10, 2019]

Marble slab with Greek inscription dedicated to Virgin Mary found in Bulgaria

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 25, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

A marble slab, divided into four fragments, with a text in Greek in the Homeric style, was discovered next to the early Christian basilica, located two kilometers east of the village of Shkorpilovtsi, Dolni Chiflik municipality, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

Credit: bnr

This was announced to Radio Varna by Dr. Hristo Kuzov, the head of the excavations, which were resumed after a 40-year hiatus.

Dr. Kuzov explained that the inscription was posted on the cult of the Virgin Mary and is an address by Euphemia, the daughter of Emperor Marcian. Kuzov told the BNR that this inscription is a rarity in the late antique era.

The slab will be restored and displayed at the Regional History Museum in Varna. Archaeologists hope to find other epigraphic monuments near the Basilica in Shkorpilovtsi.

Source: Novinite [August 25, 2019]

Fragment of Roman bronze military diploma found in Bulgaria

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 21, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

A fragment of a Roman military diploma has been discovered during excavations in the central part of the Roman city of Deultum near the village of Debelt in Bulgaria’s Sredets municipality.

Credit: Deultum Archaeological Reserve

The director of the archaeological reserve, Krassimira Kostova, described the find as “unique”.

It was the first such discovery in close to 40 years of archaeological excavations of the site of the former Roman colony, Kostova said.

Deultum, about 10km west of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Bourgas, was annexed to the Roman Empire in 46CE and became part of the province of Thrace. After the civil war of 69CE, a colony was built there for military veterans.

The colony was built during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, and was named Colonia Flavia Pacis Deultensium, or Colonia Flavia Pancensis Deultum.

The August 2019 find is of part of a bronze plaque, of a kind issued to auxiliary soldiers who had served at least 25 years and were rewarded with full Roman civil rights.

“The fragment is extremely valuable to us, and although it is only four square cm, it is informative enough,” Kostova said.

She said that graphologist Professor Nikolai Sharankov had examined the fragment and established that the diploma contained an excerpt from a decree of the Roman Emperor Adrian, issued on July 17 122, which dismissed serving soldiers from auxiliary units in the Roman province of Lower Dacia.

Analysis shows that half a century after the colony was founded, Roman emperors continued to settle veterans in the city and thus maintain the Roman spirit of Deultum.

Currently, a team headed by Associate Professor Hristo Preshlenov is examining the site and will be seeking to find where the forum of the Roman colony was. The assumption is that it was south of the spa.

Source: The Sofia Globe [August 21, 2019]

Results of 2019 excavations at Bulgaria’s Yunatsite Tell

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 17, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Archaeological excavations at the Yunatsite Tell in 2019 have yielded extremely interesting results, the Regional History Museum in the Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik said.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Pazardzhik

Yunatsite Tell is about eight kilometres west of Pazardzhik. Standing about 12m above ground level, it has been the scene over the years of finds from the Copper Age, Early Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and mediaeval eras.

Archaeological surveying of the site has established that the settlement from the Chalcolithic era had a much larger area than the later settlement on the mound, about 10 hectares, the museum said. Layers studied over the past 10 years had contained successive structures of wood and clay.

In a building of more than 100 square metres, with various rooms, an extensively burnt skeleton of a baby had been found, lying among scattered grains and seeds, beneath burnt and broken vessels, with debris covering the entire floor of the room.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Pazardzhik

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Pazardzhik

So far, 168 finds have been made, including ornamental bone and clay anthropomorphic figurines, animal and bird clay figurines (one of them a red-headed bird with two heads), ornaments made from Mediterranean shells Spondylius and Dentalium, and tools made from copper, stone and bone.

The museum said that the size of the settlement in the early Bronze Age was significantly larger than previously thought, extending outside the boundaries of the settlement on the mound.

Source: The Sofia Globe [August 17, 2019]

Palaiologos signet ring found in Bulgaria

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 15, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a previously-unknown 14th-century aristocrat, a descendant of the Byzantine Greek Palaiologos dynasty, at the Kaliakra fortress on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, the National History Museum said on August 15.

The tomb’s occupant was identified by a gold signet ring inscribed with his name: Georgi Palaiologos [Credit: National History Museum]

The tomb was found by a team headed by the National History Museum’s director, Associate Professor Boni Petrunova, who has led digs at the Kaliakra site since 2004.

Previous excavations have yielded many other rich tombs of Kaliakra noblemen, but this was the first time that archaeologists found a descendant of the Palaiologos dynasty, identified as Georgi Palaiologos.

Although there were no other historical records of this person, archaeologists believed that he could have been a relative of Balik and Dobrotitsa, who ruled the independent Despotate of Dobroudja – with Kaliakra as its capital – in the middle of the 14th century.

Glass goblet of mourners' tears [Credit: National History Museum]

The tomb featured rich burial gifts, including luxurious fabric to cover his face and a glass vessel. Most notably, archaeologists found a massive gold signet ring with the nobleman’s name and the Palaiologos family crest, which allowed to identify the aristocrat, the museum said.

The digs, funded this year by grants from the Culture Ministry and Kavarna municipality, are scheduled to continue until the end of the month.

Last year’s digs at Kaliakra also yielded a major discovery of hundreds of gold and silver coins, with the museum planning to publish a catalogue of the findings later this year.

Source: The Sofia Globe [August 15, 2019]

Roman-era statuette of prancing horse found at Bulgaria’s Rusokastro Fortress

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 14, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Researchers at the Rusokastro fortress have discovered a rare find during the course of this season's archaeological dig. During the excavation of the monumental building with stone pillars in the castle, a small statuette was found depicting a horse moving forwards.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Burgas

The right foot is raised, bent at the knee, and the head is turned to the right. Brace, head and body of the horse are extremely exquisitely shaped. The back legs and part of the tail are missing.

The statuette is cast in Bronze and exquisitely well crafted. It 5cm in length by 4.8cm in height, and dates back to the 2nd-3rd century AD. Thought to be a gift left in a shrine and temple, the find may indicate the existence of a yet to be discovered Roman-era sanctuary in the immediate vicinity of the fortress.

The excavations of the Rusokastro fortress are conducted by a team of the Regional historical museum Burgas and have been funded by the Municipality of Kameno and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Source: Regional Historical Museum Burgas [August 14, 2019]

Three silver Venetian coins found at Bulgaria’s Rusokastro Fortress

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 12, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Excavations at Bulgaria’s Rusokastro Fortress site have revealed three silver Venetian coins in very good condition, the Regional Historical Museum in the Black Sea city of Bourgas said.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Bourgas

These are coins known as “matapan”. Two of them were minted during the rule of the Venetian doges, Raniero Zeno (1252 – 1268) and Giovanni Soranto (1312 – 1328). The third coin is lined, which makes it difficult to determine its exact dating.

One side of the coin depicts Jesus sitting on a throne and the other St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice, together with a Venetian Doge holding a long-handled flag.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Bourgas

The coins were discovered during examination of a building, the purpose of which is not yet known, which was found during the current archaeological season at Rusokastro. Currently, the valuable coins are being cleaned in a restoration workshop.

The excavations of the medieval town of Rusokastro are managed by the Regional Historical Museum Bourgas, and are financed for a consecutive year by the municipality of Kameno and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Credit: Regional Historical Museum Bourgas

Rusokastro is the largest medieval fortress in southern Bulgaria, similar in size to Tsarevets, Trapezitsa, Cherven and Kaliakra. The walls are more than five metres high. The Rusokastro medieval fortress was built at a strategic location, with a complex fortification system, meant as an impregnable defence of the border with Byzantium.

Source: The Sofia Globe [August 12, 2019]

Bulgarian team finds parts of Serdica’s northern fortification walls

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 09, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Parts of the northern fortress walls of Serdica, an ancient name for Sofia, have been discovered by a team of archaeologists from the city’s Regional History Museum, Sofia municipality said in a press release. The find was made on private property on Exarch Yosif Street in the centre of the Bulgarian capital city.

Credit: Sofia Municipality

Serdica was very solidly reinforced, with the system of fortification walls beginning to be built as early as the second century CE. A preserved section was discovered from the main fortress wall as well as from the outer second fortress wall, called proteihism, which is extremely well preserved with a length of about 30m and a height of about 2.5m, Sofia deputy mayor Todor Chobanov said during an on-site inspection of the archaeological dig.

During the exploration of the site, a coin-cutting matrix from the time of Emperor Septimus Severus, a figurine of Eros with a torch, a patera (used for religious purposes, a special type of circular dish with a handle decorated with a pig’s head), among other items, were found, which will be exhibited at the Sofia Regional History Museum. Archaeologists noted that the patera was unusual, because such vessels usually were decorated with heads of predators or horned creatures – not with pigs.

Credit: Sofia Municipality

Plans are for a hotel to be built on the site, but the project is being held off pending archaeological excavations.

Financing from the Sofia Municipality this year is enabling continuation of the archaeological dig at the site of the Neolithic settlements in Slatina, where some of the largest dwellings of the Neolithic period, of an area of about 300 sq m, have been found.

Work is also underway near the village of Mirovane in Sofia, where one of the most notable Roman villas with a massive fortress wall is located.

“These are important sites for the city that give us a picture of life in ancient Sofia from different eras. Our big mission is to study and preserve the cultural heritage of our city,” Chobanov said.

Source: The Sofia Globe [August 09, 2019]

An ancient Egypt-to-Black Sea route? Adventurers to test theory

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 31, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Egypt, Europe, Near East, Southern Europe

Were the ancient Egyptians able to use reed boats to travel as far as the Black Sea thousands of years ago?

Goerlitz and his team say they drew inspiration for the design of the 14-metre boat from ancient rock drawings from upper Egypt and the Caucasus [Credit: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]

A group of adventurers believe so, and will try to prove their theory by embarking on a similar journey in reverse.

In mid-August the team of two dozen researchers and volunteers from eight countries will set off from the Bulgarian port of Varna, hoping their Abora IV reed boat will take them the 700 nautical miles through the Bosphorus, the Aegean and as far as the island of Crete.

The team is specifically seeking to prove a hypothesis lent credence by Herodotus, the expedition's German leader, Dominique Goerlitz, told AFP.

Large bundles of totora reed were lashed together with ropes to form the main body of the vessel before it was equipped with a wooden mast and two reed compartments for sleeping [Credit: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]

The ancient Greek historian wrote: "Egyptians sailed through the Black Sea to get materials that they could not have from the east Mediterranean."

Goerlitz, 53, and his team say they drew inspiration for the design of the 14-metre (46-foot) boat from ancient rock drawings from upper Egypt and the Caucasus.

The construction was carried out with the help of volunteers and two members of the Aymara indigenous community from Bolivia's Lake Titicaca, Fermin Limachi and his son Yuri.

Graphic of the reed boat and map of the route planned by a group of adventurers who will attempt to prove ancient Egyptians sailed as far as the Black Sea to trade [Credit: Simon Malfatto/AFP]

It is no accident that the Abora IV bears a striking resemblance to the famous Ra II reed boat that Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl used in his 1970 attempt to cross the Atlantic -- Limachi's father helped build that vessel too.

Large bundles of totora reed were lashed together with ropes to form the main body of the vessel before it was equipped with a wooden mast and two reed compartments for sleeping.

In all, 12 tonnes of totora reed and two kilometres (a mile) of rope went into making the boat, which will have two sails -- measuring 62 square metres (670 square feet) and 40 square metres (430 sq ft), Fermin said.

"I am 100 percent sure that this ship will never sink. And as long as the ship is floating we have a safety raft here," said volunteer Mark Pales, a 42-year-old electrician from the Netherlands [Credit: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]

"The main question of all is whether this boat... is able to cross the difficult island shelfs of the Aegean Sea," Goerlitz said.

Reaching the Cyclades islands and then Crete will be crucial for proving his initial hypothesis, he added, as the Minoan civilisation which flourished there from 2,700 to 1,200 BC was long proven to have traded with Egypt.

Once hoisted into the water on Thursday, the boat will need two and a half weeks to soak, taking in between five and 10 tonnes of water.

The construction was carried out with the help of volunteers and two members of the Aymara indigenous community from Bolivia's Lake Titicaca, Fermin Limachi and his son Yuri [Credit: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]

Thanks to the billions of air chambers inside its porous construction material, the boat cannot crack or sink, according to Goerlitz.

During his last such expedition, the Abora III in 2007, he set out from New York bound for southern Spain in a bid to prove that Stone Age man made similar trans-Atlantic journeys.

Goerlitz's team sailed for 56 days before a storm ripped apart his boat 900 kilometres (560 miles) short of Portugal's Azores Islands.

Reaching the Cyclades islands and then Crete will be crucial for proving his initial hypothesis, Goerlitz says, as the Minoan civilisation which flourished there from 2,700 to 1,200 BC was long proven to have traded with Egypt [Credit: Nikolay Doychinov/AFP]

"I am 100 percent sure that this ship will never sink. And as long as the ship is floating we have a safety raft here," said volunteer Mark Pales, a 42-year-old electrician from the Netherlands.

Another volunteer, Heike Vogel, a parcel company employee from Germany, was looking forward to her first time sailing, after helping on two previous expeditions without venturing on board.

"It will be a new situation for me," said Vogel, 35.

In order to communicate with large cargo vessels on their way -- a major danger on the high seas -- Goerlitz's crew will have modern satellite and radio communication equipment on board.

"Of course, it would be totally arrogant and stupid (not to use modern equipment). It is an experiment of science and not of risk," he said.

Author: Diana Simeonova | Source: AFP [July 31, 2019]

Third-century Greek inscription with names of Dionysus cult found in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 13, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Archaeologists working at the Episcopal Basilica site in Bulgaria’s second city Plovdiv have found a large stone slab, estimated to date from the third century, inscribed in Greek with the names of 44 members of the Dionysus religious grouping.

Credit: podtepeto.com

The marble slab had been used as part of the flooring in the atrium of the Episcopal Basilica, which was built in the fifth century. The slab had been part of an earlier building at the site.

The inscription is in honour of the god Dionysus, referred to as the leader of the Thracians, while the members of the mystical grouping also dedicated it to the emperors Varelian and Gallien.

Credit: podtepeto.com

The find was made by the dig team headed by Zheni Tankova and was examined by epigraphist Professor Nikolai Sharankov.

Sharankov said that the find provided a wealth of information and was one of the most interesting ever made in Plovdiv.

Credit: podtepeto.com

While more precise dating is pending, a reference expressing gratitude for surviving the Gothic invasion of the mid-third century is crucial to placing it in the history of Plovdiv, then known as Philippopolis.

The inscription reads: “For the victory, the health and the eternal existence of the emperors, Publius, Licinius Valerian and Gallien Augustin and for their whole house, for the holy senate and Roman people, and for the council and people’s assembly of Philippopolis – the Thracian leader Dionysus dedicated the surviving mysteries, while the leader of the mysteries and eternal priest was Aurelius Mukianid, son of Mukian”. This is followed by a list of all 44 members of the mystical society, several with the positions they occupy.

Credit: podtepeto.com

“What is interesting is that the positions of members in the organisation are also listed, and they are very diverse. There are several heads of mysteries, different kinds of priests, people who have an obligation to wear specific sacred objects. We see a very complex structure of this association that we do not have in other inscriptions. This is yet to be studied,” Sharankov said.

For example, the list of names includes two with the title used for the one who carried the emperor’s image. That there are two names perhaps is because of the two emperors.

Credit: podtepeto.com

“From this epoch, after the Gothic invasion, we have almost no inscriptions. So far, we had two inscriptions from Philippopolis from the second half of the third century. This is the third, largest and most meaningful, with the most information,” Sharankov said.

Those who were members of the association may have been immigrants from Asia Minor, where such cult practices were common at the time.

Credit: podtepeto.com

Their names were proof that they had survived the Goth invasion, in which almost the entire city’s population was killed or captured. Thanking Dionysus for their rescue, they erected the monument and asked the god to take care of the new emperors, mindful of the Gothic threat and the continuing instability in the empire at the time.

Source: The Sofia Globe [July 13, 2019]

Remnants of Roman dwelling found in centre of Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 11, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

A team from heating energy distribution firm EVN Toplofikatsiya has found remnants of a Roman dwelling with a clay pipeline, as well as a grave, during excavations in the centre of Bulgaria’s second city Plovdiv, the company said in a media statement early this week.

Credit: EVN

The find was made in Plovdiv’s GM Dimitrov Street, near the intersection with Tsar Assen Street. According to experts, the archaeological find dates from the second to the fourth century CE, EVN said.

The company said that the excavation work was being done to connect a building to the heat transmission network. The site is to be examined by experts from the Ministry of Culture. Work on the construction of the heating pipeline may continue if the ministry’s experts issue a permit.

Credit: EVN

The examination of the site is being done under the guidance of archaeologist Maya Martinova from the Regional Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv. This is not the first time that Plovdiv-headquartered EVN Toplofikatsiya has made a significant archaeological discovery.

In 2012, a team from the company uncovered an early Christian tomb, dating from the fourth century CE, with frescoes depicting Jesus.

EVN Toplofikatsiya financed archaeological work on the site, and the ancient tomb can be seen at the Regional Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv.

Source: The Sofia Globe [July 11, 2019]

Ancient church found at Bulgaria’s Misionis site

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 10, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

Remnants of a church estimated to date from the end of the First Bulgarian Kingdom – about the 11th century – have been found at the Misionis fortress site near Turgovishte in north-eastern Bulgaria.

Credit: targovishte.tv

Also found were fragments of frescoes. Dig team head Professor Nikolai Ovcharov said that he believed that the building was the personal chapel of the bishop of the ancient city.

Misionis is believed to have been the capital of the Roman province of the same name in about the fourth to fifth centuries. It was destroyed by Ottoman invaders in the 14th-15th centuries.

Ovcharov said that given the frescoes that had been found as the church was uncovered in recent days, it was hoped that images of saints also would be found.

Archaeologist Angel Konakliev told Bulgarian National Television said that mortar had been used to construct the church and it had been laid with tiles, brought to the location from elsewhere. Its entire floor had been paved.

Credit: targovishte.tv

Visitors to the site may now see the baptistery that was found at the Misionis site in 2018. The baptismal font has been covered with a transparent protective covering to protect it from the weather.

Turgovishte mayor Darin Dimitrov said: “It is important not only to carry out excavations, but also to preserve the finds for all the generations to come”.

A sum of 50 000 leva (about 25 000 euro) has been provided by Turgovishte municipality and donors for the summer 2019 archaeological dig season as Misionis.

In 2018, a bishop’s residence, estimated to date from the fifth century, was found at the Misionis site.

Previous excavations have uncovered the remains of fortress walls of about three to four metres in height, the remains of a large Christian church, a guardroom and residential buildings. Also found at the site were Roman ceramics and ancient burial places.

Source: The Sofia Globe [July 10, 2019]

Fragment of statue base with Greek inscription from 2nd century found in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 12, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Bulgaria, Europe, Southern Europe

A fragment with a Greek inscription, dating from the first decades of the second century CE, has been found at the Great Basilica site in Bulgaria’s second city Plovdiv.

Credit: podtepeto.com

The dig team headed by Zheni Tankova found a total of three fragments that probably were part of a large statue dedicated to a distinguished resident of Philippopolis (today's Plovdiv).

In the late fourth or early fifth centuries, with the construction of the Basilica, the pedestal of the statue was re-used, broken up to become part of the support of the main paving of the atrium.

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Epigraphist Professor Nikolai Sharankov, who examined the lettering on the stone slab, said: “It is very interesting that for the first time we have an inscription mentioning the ancient theatre directly. Prior to this, another inscription was found linking the Basilica to the theatre – a list of members of the Elders’ Council, including the name of its treasurer who built a loggia in the theatre,” Sharankov said.

He said that the new find was the second link between these two most significant sites in Philippopolis: “Fortunately, of the inscription, ‘ΘΕΑΤΡΩ[’ survived. Otherwise, it was part of a large masonry pedestal for a statue in honour of a prominent citizen of Philippopolis, honoured for his beneficence to the city. What can be seen is that he organised some celebrations in honour of all gods and goddesses and was probably honoured with a statue in the theatre,” Sharankov said.

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The inscription dates from the first decades of the second century CE, the time of emperor Trajan or Hadrian, and was done in the same workshop that produced all the official inscriptions for the city during that time.

It can be concluded that this inscription, in honour of one of the most prominent citizens of the city, stood somewhere nearby before it was re-used during the construction of the Basilica in late antiquity.

“We hope there may be more fragments of the text in order to try to restore it more fully, as well as to understand the name of this person, about whom we have only two letters for now,” Sharankov said.

Source: The Sofia Globe [June 12, 2019]