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Quelques Remarques sur les Origines de l’Art Figuratif Thrace (VIe–Ve s.)

Author(s): Jan Bouzek / Language(s): French Issue: 19/2011

In the spirit of the studies conducted by Prof. Ivan Venedikov on Thracian art and its links with Persian, Greek and Scythian art, the author of this paper offers his contribution to the research issues on the basis of more recent archaeological discoveries. In his opinion, similar to the evolution of Etruscan art, the historical periods connected with the artistic style in Thrace do not succeed one another with clearly marked transitions. In order to understand the specificities of the “archaic” style in Thracian art (late 6th – early 5th century BC), it is necessary to take into consideration the political situation and the import of Greek works of art in Thrace. The author defends the view that archaic Thracian art can be perceived only in the context of the relations and cultural exchanges with Macedonia, Greece, Persian and Ionian Anatolia, and Scythia. He has illustrated his study with numerous examples from the Thracian lands: the objects found in the necropolis from Duvanlii, the little deer from Sevlievo, the matrix from Garchinovo, the belt from the village of Lovets, the ring from Brezovo, as well as imported painted Attic pottery. During the archaic stage Thracian art borrowed from neighbouring lands, while preserving certain specificities inherited from the geometric and “Orientalising” periods. At the same time, it laid the foundations for the development of the classical period in its two main regions: Odrysian and Danubian.

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„Задушница“ в системе болгарских народных обычаев

Author(s): Valentina Vasseva / Language(s): Russian Issue: 19/2011

The paper presents in detail and on a territorial principle the specificities of the custom of the Bulgarians connected with All Souls’ Day. It involves commemoration of deceased relatives, which is performed every year on specific days at their graves. The author claims that the custom is a relict of the cult of the dead and that it plays a concrete social role, being performed at the cemetery where all deceased individuals from a certain territorial community are buried. The custom is assumed to have a dual nature. On the one hand, it is part of the burial rites and can be perceived as their continuation, in functional terms the custom is close to calendar rites and in most cases it is characterised by the spirit and specificities of the festive cycle to which it is attributed. A specificity of the Bulgarian All Souls’ Day is the abundance of food in honour of the dead and the food served at the feast.

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The Sword God

Author(s): Maya Vassileva / Language(s): English Issue: 19/2011

The paper offers an analysis and reinterpretation of relief No 82 displayed in hall B of the most famous Hittite rock complex-sanctuary near Yazılıkaya. The relief, which represents a human head and body formed by lion protomes complemented with two more vertical lion’s images with heads downwards, shapes the grip of a sword. A part of its blade is also depicted below the described composition. The author proposes instead of the generally accepted identification of the sword figure with Nergal to perceive the image as Ullikummi – a monstrous stone giant in Hurrian mythology – whose functions are semantically close to those of Ubeluri, and a parallel is proposed with Atlas in Greek mythology. The cosmogonic elements in the figure of the mediator Ullikummi are indicated, as well as the structure of the stone relief from Yazılıkaya, which is developed in three zones: a human head at the tip of the grip, lion’s figures shaping the actual grip, and the blade that is presented as if struck into the ground. In conclusion, emphasising the parallels between ancient Greek and Middle East mythologies, the author recalls the information in Herodotus about the Thracian and Scythian Ares worshipped as iron sword.

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Обредите на Бромиос според епиграфски сведения

Author(s): Rossitsa Gicheva-Meimarie / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 19/2011

The study presents a multi-faceted and detailed analysis of the ritual practices in honour of Bromios and the beliefs connected with them. Bromios is a popular epithet of Dionysos in the ancient written and epigraphic monuments dated between the 6th century BC and the 4th century. The epithet Bromios (“Noisy”) has different interpretations that usually follow the link to the noise of the Dionysian festivities proposed by Diodorus (I, 61), but there are also opinions that it was an epiclesis of Dionysos. The author of the present study supports the theory of a possible cult use of the name. The analysis of the texts containing the name Bromios indicates that most of them mention Bromios in an unambiguous ritual context. The proposed analysis focuses on the reconstruction of elements of the rituals connected with Bromios on the basis of epigraphic evidence as a relatively direct source on the cult reality. Arguments are presented in support of the idea of associations of Bromios rites and beliefs with other mysterial cults, above all with the Orphic rites and with the cult of the Kabeiroi, emphasising that it is possible to identify separate elements that are specifically characteristic of the Bromios mysteries. One of their most important specificities is that the mysterial logos and rite were apparently not subject to such a strict secrecy, unlike the Orphic, Eleusinian and Cabiric mysteries.

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Encore une Fois sur la “Déesse de Razgrad” et les Plus Anciens des “Cavaliers Danubiens”

Author(s): Zlatozara Gočeva / Language(s): French Issue: 19/2011

In the proposed text the author examines and analyses three tablets with images of the so-called “Danube Horsemen” and tablets from Razgrad featuring an anonymous goddess, placing them in a broader cultural and historical context. A critical survey of research conducted so far on the theme was made in the course of the study. The author believes that the origin of the iconography of the Danube Horsemen” can be sought in the Thracian Horseman. As regards the tablets from Razgrad with the image of the goddess, their cult character is beyond any doubt: the Thracian Great Goddess-Mother is depicted on them. A comparative analysis is made with the phalerae from the village of Galiche and with other monuments. The same local Thracian goddess offering a wreath to the ruler is depicted in the scene from the tomb in the village of Sveshtari, which is also in the Razgrad region. In conclusion, the view is accepted that the examined goddess and horsemen present a local Thracian cult connected with Asia Minor.

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Thracian Beliefs in Afterlife

Author(s): Peter Delev / Language(s): English Issue: 19/2011

The study focuses on the considerable diversity and heterogeneity of the Thracian notions of death and life after death, known to the ancient tradition. Pomponius Mela, as well as Solinus, inform that the Thracians welcomed death willingly as a result of their different beliefs: some imagined that the soul of the deceased individual would return, others believed that the soul does not die, but does not return either, passing to a better life, while a third group believed that the soul dies and that this is better than to continue living. Each of these concepts is examined in detail with additional source data. The author recalls that the concept of the soul of the deceased individual is mentioned in connection with Thrace only by relatively late authors: Pomponius Mela, Solinus and Iamblichus. It is emphasised that the specificities of the Thracian burial practices and their millennial evolution suggest parallel existence of different ritual and – accordingly – ideological traditions, whereby direct association of certain burial practices with concrete beliefs is unjustified. The existing ancient evidence on the Thracian notions of eternal happiness and the “good things” that they receive after death are linked with feasts, hunting and horses, a loving wife, servants and wealth, all of which are of a markedly aristocratic nature.

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Греко-скифские отношения в Нижнем Побужье V в. до н.э. (О начале реколонизации сельской округи Ольвии Понтийской)

Author(s): Konstantin K. Marchenko,Yuri A. Vinogradov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 19/2011

The paper examines the direct connection of Olbia Pontica with the events taking place in the steppe regions of the Northern Black Sea coast. It is emphasised that the most salient proof of that dependence can be seen in the establishing and development of its chora. According to the authors, one of the most characteristic manifestations of that dependence is the termination of the existence of the predominant part of the agrarian settlements from the archaic periods along the lower course of the Bug river at the end of the first third of the 5th century BC. Numerous archaeological examples illustrating that process are presented. The authors assume that the Scythians and the emerging animosity to the Greeks were the most probable reason for those radical changes. It is assumed that the end of the first quarter of the 5th century BC marked the beginning of the decomposition of the big tribal union of the Scythians, which occurred in response to the Scythian march of Darius. Thucydides focuses attention to the lack of unity among the Scythians, which was the reason for the transformation of a large part of the territory of the Northern Black Sea coast into an arena of conflicts and wars. The situation in the steppes improved gradually in the second part of the 5th century BC, which was visible in the intensive activities along the lower course of the Bug river from the last third of the 5th century BC onward, and the recolonisation of the territory of Olbia and of the coasts of the Dniepr-Bug liman started at the beginning of the next century, i.e., simultaneously with the emergence of the first Scythian settlements along the Northern Black Sea coast, which turned half a century later into the most important economic and political centres of Great Scythia.

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Вуиновое перо Девы-юнака

Author(s): Yosif Moroz / Language(s): Russian Issue: 19/2011

The paper examines the folklore motif in the epic tradition of the Southern Slavs concerning the maiden-hero and her arrows with feathers, who put Krali Marko and his confreres to the test. The author explains the meaning of vuina as juniper and spruce for the Bulgarians, and as fir in the Russian language, and recalls the semantic closeness between cedar and cypress – the trees symbolising Artemis and Aphrodite, being associated later with the Virgin Mary. The role of the maiden-hero, who is often depicted dancing and the feather is seen not only on her arrows, but also as a part of her garments – above all as head-dress – was associated with the idea of fertility and with the archetypal image of the Great Goddess. The colour of the feathers and their number appears to be of essential importance to the magic power of the arrow that the maiden-hero (samovila) shoots against the hero, while – on the other hand – the hero manages to kill the maiden (samovila) precisely with such an arrow. The feather motif is known in another semantic order as well: the hero’s fight against a mythological dragon-monster, in which he is victorious owing to a feather from the mythical bird Noah (known among the different peoples as Nog, Nogot, Nagar-tur, Nogarshin, Cher-nogot, Cher-nagar, Astratir, Ostrafil, etc.). The different notions about that mythical bird are united by common iconographic features: huge size, radiance, living at the end of the world in a cave, or on top of cliffs, or on a sacred tree. In conclusion, the author stresses that the diversity of feathers in folklore is connected with their magic properties, whereby the emphasis changes depending on their function and origin (from vuina, from a bird or from a mythological creature.

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On Some Discoveries of the Warsaw University Expedition at Novae (1960–1983)

Author(s): Ludwika Press / Language(s): English Issue: 19/2011

The text offers a survey of the results of the archaeological explorations of the Bulgarian-Polish expedition, which started in 1960 on the territory of the Roman city of Novae, on the right bank of the Danube, near Svishtov. The localisation of the settlement became possible owing to the data from the Roman itineraries, different ancient written evidence and finds on the surface: mostly inscriptions and building ceramics with a seal bearing the name of the First Italic Legion, which was known to have been stationed in Novae. The shape of the fortification was confirmed based on archaeological data, the fortress walls and towers were traced, as well as the city gates, which were found to have undergone several successive phases of reconstruction. The principia with its two building phases was localised in the city’s central part. The building was demolished in the early 4th century, and then new habitation followed, this time of a civilian nature. A marble head of Caracalla was found in the stratum of the demolition, and in some of the rooms from that period – bronze ingots, lead pipes and a coin hoard. It is assumed that the accumulation of metal objects was connected with the smelting of metal. Five or six street levels were found by means of drilling not far from the principia. Ruins from the military hospital that had been built in the early 2nd century were unearthed in the northwestern part of the fortress. Inscriptions dedicated to Asclepius and Hygeia were found and the building was apparently heated by means of the hypocaust system. The forum was localised and close to it a large Christian basilica was explored.

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Montemno – Temenites Mons – Света Гора

Author(s): Tosho Spiridonov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 19/2011

The paper presents an analysis and an attempt at identification and localisation of the oronym Temenites mons, which appeared on maps from the 16th–19th century. In some cases it was placed to designate a small mountain separated from the main body of the Hemus mons between the sources of the Yantra and Ossam rivers in the Troyan part of the Balkan Range, while on other maps it is placed near a settlement named Ternoua. In conclusion, the author stresses the uncertainty in the interpretation of the oronym. On the one hand, it is possible to assume a connection with the toponym Montemno (Roman road station on the road from Oescus to Philippopolis localised near Beklemeto) and it may designate a mountain between the Yantra and Ossam rivers (probably Vassilyovska mountain). The second possibility is connected with literal translation of the oronym as Sacred Mountain related to the Sacred Mountain of Tarnovo, hence on some maps the oronyms is placed close to Tarnovo.

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КНИГА МЕРТВИХ НА СТЕЛАХ НОВОГО ЦАРСТВА

Author(s): Kristina Masalova / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 2/2016

The purpose of the research. This research is devoted to the significant phenomenon of locating individual parts of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead on the unusual type of sources. Attention is focused on the previously unexplored phenomenon of the Book’s of the Dead text and/or illustrations placement on the funerary stelae – commemorative plates, installed in the tombs and funerary temples of individuals. The place of this type of the sources in the context of the entire volume of the Book of the Dead is considered. The chronological framework of the existence of stelae with text/images from the Book of the Dead is described: all currently known stelae are exemplified. The integration of the main plot into the system of funerary stelae is described. The research methodology applied to this study is the use of the comparative method. Without a comprehensive analysis of the exact sources it made possible the consideration of the phenomenon as a whole. Scientific novelty of the article consists of studying of the fact of placing text and/or illustrations from the Book of the Dead on the funerary stelae. This research helped to trace the way of integration of the Book’s of the Dead motives into the funeral cult system of the stelae owners. Conclusions. This research helped to identify the most popular scene from the Book of the Dead, which was integrated into the funeral stelae system during the New Kingdom. It was determined that the motive of the scene corresponds well to the funeral stelae role and thus, substantiates the usage of this sort of sources for the placement of the Book’s of the Dead vignettes.

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ИМПЕРИЯ И ПОЛИС В ТРАКИЯ, ЕЛАДА И РИМ (в контекста на държавите от Източното Средиземноморие (VІ/V в. пр.Хр. – І/ІІ в.сл.Хр.)

Author(s): Kalin Porozhanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

During the centuries of pre-Hellenism (mid-6th century BC until the ’thirties of the 4th century BC), the two most important characteristics of the period developed, namely those of polis and of empire. Both state forms – polis and ethnos – tried to act as empires. The picture of Thracian society in Southeastern Europe during the period of Hellenism (the ’thirties of the 4th century BC until 27 BC) and post-Hellenism (late 1st century BC – end of 2nd century AD) was different compared to known pictures in Macedonia and Hellas. The main difference consists in the fact that in Thrace – in addition to the monarchic early class empires like the kingdoms of the Odrysae and of the Getae – there were many more ethnic communities (of the Bessi, Dardanioi, Maidoi, etc.), who tried to be an integral part of the historical period by constantly trying to become early class monarchic empires. The transition of Thrace from Antiquity to Middle Ages was facilitated because despite the existence of free people and slaves, the prevalent part of its population had various forms of dependences. The transformation of society occurred in the 4th and 5th centuries, when free men and slaves became dependent and that marked the end of the history of ancient Thrace as a part of the history of the Old World.

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ПОЛИС И ЕТНОС ПО ЗАПАДНОТО ЧЕРНОМОРИЕ (ІІІ в. пр.н.е. – І в.)

Author(s): Kalin Porozhanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

During the 3rd century BC – first half of the 1st century AD, Thrace and its Black Sea coast continued the tradition established in the 5th-4th century BC, consisting in mutually beneficial coexistence and cooperation between polis and ethnos states, with definite domination of the Thracian rulers over the Greek poleis. However, the Greek states preserved their autonomy to a great extent. That line of behaviour in the relations between polis and ethnos, which had become traditional, was to end with the liquidation of the Thracian states by Rome and their transformation into Roman provinces.

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КЪМ НЯКОИ ПРОБЛЕМИ ОТ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАТА ИСТОРИЯ НА ТРИБАЛИ, ИЛИРИ И КЕЛТИ ПРЕЗ III – I В. ПР. ХР

Author(s): Plamen Petkov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

During their military and political culmination, the Skordiskoi bordered on the Triballoi and the Moesians, but the Celts penetrated towards Illyria, Paionia and Thrace, spreading their hegemony deep into those areas. The Triballoi, the Moesians, the Krobysoi and the Troglodytai inhabited the lands around Kallatis, Tomis and Histria, but after the ’eighties of the 1st century BC, the Triballoi and the Moesians moved to the west under pressure from the Bastarnae, because the Skordiskoi were already suffering blows from Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenes, after which they were exposed to the aggression of Burebista’s state agglomeration. In this way, until the ’eighties of the 1st century BC, the Oskios River was the western border between the Celts and the Triballoi. After the ’eighties of the 1st century BC, the hegemony of the Skordiskoi was already abolished and hence the sources mention the Illyrians. Those Illyrians were the Dardanioi. Strabo shows very well how the Triballoi and the Moesians, pressed from the east and from the north, sought salvation to the south and to the west of the Istros. After the decline of the Skordiskoi and after the disintegration of Burebista’s state union, the Triballoi, under the pressure of the Bastarnae and Sauromatai, crossed the Oskios and reached the Ciabrus River, whereby those who headed to the west of the Oskios had a military confrontation with the Dardanioi (Illyrians). The last historical evidence about the Triballoi belongs to Cassius Dio. After the military and political offensive of Marcus Licinius Crassus in 30–29 BC, nothing was to be heard of the Dardanioi, Triballoi and Moesians. Only the Skordiskoi were noted around 16 BC, when – together with the Denteletai – they made an incursion into the Macedonia Province and devastated it. It was the Skordiskoi who benefited briefly from the defeat that Marcus Licinius Crassus inflicted upon the Bastarnae and the Dacians. The domination of Rome loomed clearly on the horizon.

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РИМСКОТО ЗАВОЕВАНИЕ И НАЧАЛОТО НА РИМСКАТА ВЛАСТ В ТРАКИЙСКИТЕ ЗЕМИ. II: LIVIUS, PERIOCHAE 134-142 И ПОХОДЪТ НА ЛЕНТУЛ СРЕЩУ ДАКИТЕ

Author(s): Kalin Stoev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

The campaign of Cornelius Lentulus is mentioned in the Epitome of the 2nd century historian Florus, but is missing in the Periochae of T. Livius. The article opens the notion that the reason for is that Florus neglects Tiberius’ victories in the Danube lands. Most probably Lentulus was commander under the high command of Tiberius and as such conducted punitive expeditions against the Dacians around 10 BC. Considering the fact that the last decade of Livius has been very briefly described in the Periochae, we might conclude that the action of Lentulus had been mentioned in the summary of the deeds of Tiberius in Book 141 of Livius’ History.

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MESAMBRIA PERSICA (ad Arr. Anab. (Ind.) 8, 39, 2-4)

Author(s): Miroslav Izdimirski / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

The paper addresses the issue of the toponym Mesambria mentioned by Flavius Arrianus as the name of a peninsula in the Persian Gulf (pers. Bushehr). Arrian followed the narratives of Nearchos above all, but also of Onesikritos and Androsthenes, who also took part in the expedition of the Macedonian fleet across the Indus River and across the Persian Gulf to the Euphrates River. After source-critical analysis both of Arrian’s text and of the ancient geographers Eratosthenes, Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Claudius Ptolemy, the conclusion reached is that in all probability Arrian presented a passage from Nearchos’ periplus. It is important to specify that the toponym Mesambria was part of Arrian’s information sphere, because before Anabasis he wrote his Periplus Ponti Euxini. On the other hand, an analysis is made also of the information in the Persepolis fortification tables related to the working population kurtaš in the royal farms in Persis and Elam. There, in Taoka, close to the peninsula referred to as Mesambria/Bushehr by Nearchos/Arrian, there were workers – Skudrians – who are considered to have been recruited migrants from the “Thracian-Phrygian culture zone.” This leaves a possibility the toponym Mesambria to have been transferred to Persia from Southeastern Europe.

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АНТОНИЯ ТРИФЕНА ОТВЪД АНОНИМНОСТТА В ЛИТЕРАТУРНИТЕ ИЗВОРИ

Author(s): Ruja Popova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

The theme of the last kings who ruled Thrace before it was officially annexed as a Roman province evoked new interest in the past several years. After the distant 1752, when F. Cary performed the primary systematisation of the Thracian dynastic history and linked the representatives of the Thracian and Bosporan dynastic homes, that last stage in the relative autonomy of the Thracian kingdom, as well as its link with the Northern Black Sea region, attracted sustainable research interest. A new – Sapaian – dynasty was introduced in circulation at the end of the 19th century, being defended or refuted over time, and relatively many stemmata presenting the genealogy of the last representatives of Thracian rule were constructed. An attempt is made in this text to look at that part of Thracian history through the image of a woman who had remained anonymous for the ancient authors, but has been amply attested through epigraphics and numismatics. Antonia Tryphaina is consistently represented in seven epigraphic monuments as the daughter of kings (Polemon I of Pontos and Pythodoris І), as Kotys’ wife and hence “herself queen”, as “mother of kings” next to her sons. In numismatics she is known from being presented as “queen” on coins dating from the period of her autonomous rule, as well as from her joint rule with her son Polemon. Antonia Tryphaina benefited from the privileges of her origin and marriage to become involved in the political life during the first half of the 1st century AD and to introduce her children into its intricacies. Being the representative of two ages, through the noble origin of her family from the Hellenistic/Hellenised Anatolia, she represented the declining Hellenistic tradition in Asia Minor. On the other hand, through the limitations that the desire to participate in the political life in her time imposed upon her, she was under the direct influence of the imperial family and turned into the ideal image of an amica populi Romani.

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ЕВРИПИДОВАТА ТРАГЕДИЯ ХЕКУБА: МЕТАМОРФОЗА И РИТУАЛНО ПРОСТРАНСТВО

Author(s): / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

The topic considered is the motive of regressive metamorphosis of the Trojan queen Hecuba as an essential element for the identification and reconstruction of the ritual space of dramaturgical eventfulness in Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba. Metamorphosis is considered generally as a non-traditional solution of the tragic conflict. One of the few known precedents is the lost Sophocles’ tragedy Tereus, which places the dramaturgical ritual space – on the analogy to Euripides’ tragedy Hecuba – in the mythological topos of the ancient Thracian world. These paradigmatic associations determine the specific functionality of ancient Thrace in seeking for theatrical Otherness of Athenian democracy and the ritualising of overcoming its own problems and conflict situations.

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РЕЗОС – ЛИТЕРАТУРЕН ОБРАЗ ИЛИ ЛИТЕРАТУРИЗИРАНА ПРЕДСТАВА ЗА КОННИКА ХЕРОЙ НА ТРАКИТЕ

Author(s): Valeria Fol / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 22/2017

The paper analyses the written sources and the hypotheses expressed in favour or against a developed cult of Rhesos as a hero. The evidence on Rhesos shapes three images, each with its specificities. The idea of the Hero in Hellas and its “encounter” with the notion of the Thracians of the heroic are examined. Some authors accept that the image of Rhesos belonged to the Achaean mythological cycle. Most Bulgarian authors prefer the opinion expressed 100 years ago by W. Leaf, based on Cicero’s evidence (Cic. De natura deorum III, 45) that the tragedy Rhesos was born from poetic fancy, which is seriously criticised in Western specialised literature. The evidence shows that the socium in the region of the Rhodope Mountains overcame the conflict between the disappearance and the preservation of the cultural memory, and the defining of yesterday and today through a folklore narrative and rites connected with the image of the Horseman Hero, probably Rhesos. In the different cultures – of polis and ethnos types – the individual who had passed “beyond” can become unforgettable and divine protector of the socium in different ways, Euripides (Eur. Rhes.) and Philostratus sensed the different notion and understanding of a divine protector among the Thracians, which led to the confusing use of theos, heros and anthropodaimon, which is confusing to us, as the authors have tried to come maximally close to the way of thinking of the bearers of the faith-ritual related to Rhesos, i.e., to the Thracian world outlook and way of preservation of the cultural memory. The reference to Rhesos as anthropodaimon, daimon and heros can also be interpreted as defining of different recognised ideas in the “culture of death” of the Thracian aristocratic faith-ritual whose aim is the immortalisation and the preservation of the link with the deceased who had gone to the World Beyond, profanated and rendered as folklore during the Late Antiquity.

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Herodotus’ Renaissance return to Western-European culture

Author(s): Michal Habaj / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Herodotus can be counted among the most important ancient historians. Indeed, his Histories represent the main source for the Graeco–Persian wars. However, the reception of his work has undergone many changes since the time it was written. The following study deals with Herodotus’ reception in the time of the Renaissance. The author tries to answer and explain two basic questions that are narrowly connected with his name. The first problem relates to his veracity. The study addresses the question of how he was accepted by humanists — was he considered a faithful historian or a less trustworthy storyteller? The second problem relates to him as a pagan author being accepted by Christians. The author focuses on the mechanism which enabled this unusual combination.

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