THRACIAN MYTHOLOGY, FUNERARY RITES, MYSTERY CULTS, AND MEGALITHIC STRUCTURES
This is an excerpt from my post, ‘THRACIANS, REAPERS OF THE BALKANS’
Orpheus: descent into the underworld, mystery cults and escaping the mortal coil:
The woman Ares bore four sons to (Mygdon, Edonus, Biston, and Odomas) was named Calliope, one of the wisest muses. She had two other sons named Linus and Orpheus, the latter became known as the greatest poet and musician. Orpheus’ mother taught him how to write in verses, his brother Linus taught him musical melody and rhythm while Apollo (a god of poetry, music and the arts in general) taught him how to play a golden lyre (little harp) he gifted him. So great was his skill with the lyre that “with his songs, Orpheus, the bard of Thrace, allured the trees, the savage animals, and even the insensate rocks, to follow him” (Metamorphoses by Ovid, 11.1).
When voyaging with Jason and the Argonauts, Orpheus was able, by means of his harp, to dispel the allure of the sirens who were trying to lead the sailors to their doom. He was also able to tame beasts like lions, tigers, Cerberus (three-headed hound of Hades), and (possibly) put the sleepless Colchian dragon that was guarding the golden fleece to sleep. Orpheus also taught order and was said to civilize savages and cannibals.
After the sudden death of his beloved wife (Eurydice) he fell into mourning and played grief stricken songs which made man, nymphs and gods weep. Orpheus delved into the underworld in an attempt to retrieve his lost love, tamed the three-headed beast named Cerberus who guarded the entrance into the underworld. After entering into the underworld Orpheus’ music warmed the hearts of Hades and Persephone, swaying them into allowing him to take Eurydice back to the world of the living. The one condition Orpheus had to comply with was that while Eurydice followed him he must never look back until reaching the world of the living. While just a few steps from the world of the living Orpheus couldn’t hear her behind him so fear, doubt and curiosity fell on him, pressuring him into looking back to see if she was still behind there. Orpheus looked back and Eurydice was behind him but since he failed to comply by this one condition she was dragged back to Hades, forever lost to Orpheus.
^ Orpheus and Eurydice by Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein (1806).
Other than this myth, Orpheus is also known for establishing a few mysterious religious cults. These mysterious cults were centered on individuals who had been in the underworld and were able to return to the world of the living like Dionysus and Persephone (Hades wife, goddess of spring). Persephone’s mother Demeter (goddess of harvest, agriculture and fertility) was also included as her despair cause the world to become barren enough to alert Zeus and cause him to intervene, Persephone would remain chained to the underworld but could return to her mother for a few months which would result in Demeter revitalizing the world (spring, summer).
Orpheus promoted the belief that one could escape the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation, sneaking their way into living eternally with heroes. Orpheus even taught people something similar to the Egyptian Book of the Dead which was used to instruct the diseased over obstacles.
One of the obstacles faced was when the diseased arrived at the “scorching heat to the plain of Lethe (“Forgetfulness”), which was a barren waste destitute of trees and verdure” (The Republic by Plato, Book 10) and were obliged to drink from the River of Lethe (“forgetfulness, oblivion”) from which “each one as he drank forgot all things. Now after they had gone to rest, about the middle of the night there was a thunderstorm and earthquake, and then in an instant they were driven upwards in all manner of ways to their birth, like stars shooting.” (The Republic by Plato, Book 10). Those who drank from the Lethe river would have no memory of their past lives when they were reincarnated. Orpheus, however, advised that the diseased should avoid this river in favor of the River of Mnemosyne (“Memory”).
Access to the River of Mnemosyne was protected by guards. “Ahead you will find from the Lake of Memory, cold water pouring forth; there are guards before it. They will ask you, with astute wisdom, what you are seeking in the darkness of murky Hades” (Gold tablets imprinted with the Orphic and Bacchic ritualistic texts). When the diseased was before these guards they were to recite the following: “I am a son of Earth and starry sky. I am parched with thirst and am dying; but quickly grant me cold water from the Lake of Memory to drink” (Gold tablets imprinted with the Orphic and Bacchic ritualistic texts). After reciting this text, you were allowed to drink from the river of memory, retain your memory and remain in the underworld where they would “tread in glory, after that you will rule amongst the other heroes” (Gold tablets imprinted with the Orphic and Bacchic ritualistic texts).
^ “I am a son of Earth and Starry Heaven. I am thirsty. Please give me something to drink from the Fountain of Memory.” – Da Vinci’s Demons (T.V. series) constantly quoted this throughout the series, one which links the saying to the fictional ‘Sons of Mithras’. The show’s ‘Sons of Mithras’ cult is based on the real-life historic worship of a divinity of truth, covenants, promises and oaths named Mithra (Mitra). Worship of Mithra originated with the Indo-Iranian (Persians, Medes) followers of Zoroastrianism but later became popular in Greece and the Roman Empire (1st-4th century CE), especially among the Roman army. It was Hellenized and Romanized to the point of bearing few similarities to its Persian progenitor. It took on some of the features of the Orphic mystery cults. Some see Mithraism as either a rival of early Christianity or at least a competitor.
Sabazios, the god of tits and wine:
The Thracians also believed in a sky god named Sabazios (zios and Zeus, “god, sky”) who is depicted as a horseman who holds a scepter in his hand, at the tip of said scepter was a hand. The Thracians crafted ‘Hand(s) of Sabazios’ and used them for ritualistic purposes. The hand forms a specific gesture similar to the Christian gesture of benediction: the pinky and ring fingers are bent, the index and middle fingers form a peace sign and the thumb stands upright. On said artifacts the Thracians inscribed several symbols of cryptic significance. A common symbol was that of a serpent (or pair of) which wraps around the wrist then rises above the bent pinky and ring fingers, the serpent in this context is said to symbolize the underworld. The back of the hand and the palm were decorated with the images of serpent-coiled trees (similar to the caduceus, symbol of health), a woman and child (Dionysus’ wife, Ariadne), perched eagles, lizards, rams, turtles, bulls, sacrificial knives, a set of scales, vessels, the thyrsos (phallic symbol of Dionysus) and the customary image of the Mounted Thracian Heros.
^ One bronze ‘Hand of (Jupiter) Sabazios’ had a bracelet from which figures of animal and human penises would hang. Musée de Picardie à Amiens (Museum of Picardy in Amiens).
Sabazios shared the most parallels with the Greek god Dionysus (Roman Bacchus), several ancient sources state the two are one in the same and that the Greek god Dionysus was originally the Thracian deity Sabazios. Sabazios was associated with beer since the Thracians (barley beers) and Phrygians (rye beers) were known to have consumed beer known as bryton, bryttion or brūtos while the Paeonians (Thraco-Illyrians) drank a millet beer known as parabias. They are described as drinking beer through a reed-like straw.
One of the most common features on the ‘Hand of Sabazios’ artifacts is an object which rests on the tip of the thumb or in between the thumb and the index finger. This object is identified as an orphic egg, a pinecone (symbolizing fertility), a hops flower or barley (both used for making beer). As the worship of Sabazios passed onto the Greeks, who were known to love wine, his Greek version Dionysus became the god of wine, grapes and the vine. Wine was seen by to the Greeks to be the preferred beverage of the civilized while beer was consumed by foreigners and the uncivilized: Thracians, Illyrians, Paeonians, Phrygians, Celts, Scythians, Egyptians, Nubians, and Armenians. Beer was also referred to as ‘sabaia’ (sabaium by the Illyrians), while beer drinkers or makers were referred to as ‘sabaiarius’
Other than beer or wine, Sabazios and Dionysus were both gods of intoxication, ecstasy, fertility and orgies. Dionysus’ followers were called the thiasus, a group of intoxicated merrymakers who were involved in his processions which later inspired Roman triumphs. The word triumph (Latin Triumphus) itself came from ‘thriambos’, another name for Dionysus as well as a hymn sung to him during processions. Victorious Roman military commanders would be awarded with a triumph, as said general led their celebratory procession they were also symbolically taking the place of Dionysus.
“Thriambus is a name that has been given him, they say, because he was the first of those of whom we have a record to have celebrated a triumph (thriambos) upon entering his native land after his campaign, this having been done when he returned from India with great booty.” – The Library of History by Diodorus Siculus, 4.5.2.
^ A symbolic phallus at the entrance of temple of Dionysus in Delos, Greece.
Devotees may have also taken part in a communion-like ceremony in which a bull (symbol of Dionysus) would be killed then by drinking the blood and eating the flesh of the sacrifice the maenads were also symbolically consuming Dionysus and became possessed by him. Dionysus inspired the Roman god Bacchus and his festival known as the Bacchanalia. The most famous of Dionysus’ followers were the satyrs (woodland fertility deities with animalistic features) and the maenads (“maddening/raving ones”). The maenads were female devotees (both mythical nymphs and mortal followers) who would dance to the sound of music, become intoxicated and fall into an ecstatic state of frenzy or hysteria which they believed would temporarily free their souls to commune with Dionysus.
“Dionysus holds this office, to join in dances, to laugh with the flute, and to bring an end to cares, whenever the delight of the grape comes at the feasts of the gods, and in ivy-bearing banquets the goblet sheds sleep over men.” – Bacchanals by Euripides, 380.
“The god, the son of Zeus, delights in banquets, and loves Peace, giver of riches, goddess who nourishes youths. To the blessed and to the less fortunate, he gives an equal pleasure from wine that banishes grief.” – Bacchanals by Euripides, 420.
The Thracian tribe known as the Satrai possessed “the place of divination sacred to Dionysus” (Herodotus, 7.111.1-2) and may have been a possible inspiration for the satyrs. A clan of the Satrai, known as the Bessi, “are the prophets of the shrine; there is a priestess who utters the oracle, as at Delphi; it is no more complicated here than there” (Herodotus, 7.111.2). The great Athenian orator Demosthenes (384-322 BCE) accuses a rival orator named Aeschines of practicing the same religious rites as his mother, thereby insulting him as being feminine or womanly.
“On attaining manhood, you abetted your mother in her initiations and the other rituals, and read aloud from the cultic writings. At night, you mixed the libations, purified the initiates, and dressed them in fawnskins. You cleansed them off with clay and cornhusks, and raising them up from the purification, you led the chant, “Here I leave my sins behind, here the better way I find.” – On the Crown by Demosthenes, 18.259
“In the daylight, you led the fine thiasos through the streets, wearing their garlands of fennel and white poplar. You rubbed the fat-cheeked snakes and swung them above your head, crying “Euoi Saboi,” and dancing to the tune of “hues attes, attes hues.” Old women hailed you as “Leader,” “mysteries instructor.” “ivy-bearer,” “liknon carrier,” and the like.” – On the Crown by Demosthenes, 18.260.
The followers of Sabazios would let out ritualistic cries known as ‘Sabasmos’, the euoi in the text is a cry of joy expressed by revelers at festivals to Sabazios or Bacchus.
^ Bacchus by Caravaggio (one of my favorite painters, made c.1595)).
Bendis, goddess of the wildlings:
Artemis, Greek goddess of the wild and the hunt, was actually adopted by the Greeks from the Thracians and their goddess of the hunt and the moon named Bendis. Bendis also shows parallels with the great mother goddess Cybele who was worshiped by the Phrygians (Thracians of Asia Minor), the two may have been one and the same before the Phrygian migration. Like Sabazius she too was accompanied by satyrs and maenads.
“I can say of my own knowledge that there is a custom like these offerings; namely, that when the Thracian and Paeonian women sacrifice to the Royal Artemis, they have straw with them while they sacrifice.” – The Histories by Herodotus, 4.33.5.
^ Ceramic red-figure bell krater ([krater, “mixing vessel”] mixing bowl used to watering down wine) manufactured in Apulia, southern Italy (c.370–360 BCE). Left to Right: Bendis, Apollo and Hermes. “Bendis stands to the right with a spear held vertically in her right hand. She wears yellow earrings, yellow necklace, embades, a chiton, a yellow belt, a Phyrigian cap, embroidered trousers, and a sleeved tunic - appropriate garb for a goddess from barbarian Thrace. Bendis offers a drink from a yellow phiale in her left hand to a hare held by Apollo, who is seated to the left on a folded cloak” (Source).
Thracians were known to have inhabited Athens and the nearby port city of Piraeus as migrants, bodyguards or policemen. In 430/429 BCE the Athenians inaugurated the cult of Bendis, created an annual springtime festival in her honor (the Bendideia) and later on a temple was built to her. The great Athenian philosopher Socrates was at the inauguration of the festival of ‘Bendideia’. According to Plato’s Republic (1.327a-328a) there was a “night festival which will be worth seeing”, “procession of the citizens (Athenians)”, a “marching of the Thracian contingent” and “a torchlight race this evening on horseback in honor of the Goddess” where “they carry torches and pass them along to one another as they race with the horses”. The latter event, the horsemen passing torches, is often equated with the symbolic passing on or transmission of a metaphorical torch of life.
“The nations wax, the nations wane away; In a brief space the generations pass, and like to runners hand the lamp of life one unto other.” – On the Nature of Things by Lucretius, 2.
“Therefore the married pair must leave their own houses to their parents and the bride’s relations, [6.776b] and act themselves as if they had gone off to a colony, visiting and being visited in their home, begetting and rearing children, and so handing on life, like a torch, from one generation to another, and ever worshiping the gods as the laws direct.” – Laws by Plato, 6.776a-b.
Kotys and Pleistoros, gods of war:
The Thracian war goddess Kotys (“war, slaughter”) was worshipped even at Athens, Corinth and Chios as well as Sicily and Magna Graecia in Italy. The spread of Thraco-Phrygian deities was done for the purpose of improving commercial and diplomatic ties with the Thracians and Phrygians but Athens also had a reputation for their acceptance of foreigners and foreign gods. Worship to her involved ‘baptai’ (baptisms) before the commencement of her festival (Cotyttia) and her priests were referred to as baptes (“washers, bathers, dippers”). During her festival of Cotyttia there would be a feast where ‘hemigynoi’ (“half-women”, men dressed as women) would dance to the sounds of a reed-like flute (bombyces), cymbals (cotylae), drums and stringed instruments. These festivities and the orgies that ensued were, according to the Greeks, representative of Hades’ (god of the underworld) abduction of Persephone (Greek goddess of vegetation) and the subsequent themes of seasonal fertility of the earth and its inhabitants.
Most of the above was also representative of the Phrygian (Thracian Bryges in Asia Minor) cult of Cybele so it is thought that the two may have been one in the same before the Phrygians moved into Asia Minor and adopted local deities and religious beliefs. The name Baptae is also thought to have derived from a word meaning “dye” since the devotees would paint their eyelids and cheeks. Worship to her was done at night and in private with the festivities being notoriously mentioned to have been of a orgiastic, debaucherous, dissolute, indecent, licentiousness, and obscene nature. Associations with her mysterious cult could result in some derogatorily inferring your promiscuity and effeminacy. The Athenian poet Eupolis used his satirical comedic plays to openly attack Socrates (famed Athenian philosopher), Cimon (famed Athenian victor over the Persians at Salamis), Cleon (famed Athenian general), and Alcibiades (famed Athenian statesman and general). The latter of which supposedly founded the baptae and was attacked in Eupolis’ play, ‘Baptai’. As revenge Alcibiades ordered his men to drown Eupolis in the sea on their way to Sicily.
Pleistoros was another Thracian god of war whose worshipers were called ‘pleistoi’ and whose priests were recruited from the nobility and took part in sacrificing humans. The Thracian Apsinthii are the ones noted as worshiping him and from fear of attacks from these Thracians the famed Athenian general Miltiades (victor over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon) had a wall built.
“(Miltiades’) first act was to wall off the isthmus of the Chersonese from the city of Cardia across to Pactye, so that the Apsinthians would not be able to harm them by invading their land.” – The Histories by Herodotus, 6.36.
“As Oeobazus was making his escape into Thrace, the Apsinthians of that country caught and sacrificed him in their customary manner to Plistorus the god of their land; as for his companions, they did away with them by other means.” – The Histories by Herodotus, 9.119.
Matrimony and Funerary rites:
According to Herodotus (The Histories, 5) a common practice among a Thracian group “who dwell above the Crestonaeans” was the practice of polygamy (“Each man has many wives”) and after the husband’s death, his wife and “nearest of kin” were killed then buried (inhumation) or cremated “over the tomb” then “buried with the husband”. To be chosen as the wife that would be sacrificed was seen as a great honor so “there is both great rivalry among his wives and eager contention on their friends’ part to prove which wife was best loved by her husband”. The rest “of the wives (who aren’t chosen) are greatly displeased by this, believing themselves to be deeply dishonored”.
“Not even in the case of women does the mind shirk its duty. They consider it the greatest obligation to be killed over the corpses of their dead husbands and to be buried along with them. Because individual men have several wives at once, their wives compete in a great contest to be the one to have this honor, and they compete before those who will make the decision.” – Description of the World by Pomponius Mela, 2.2.19.
“The wealthy have the following funeral practices. First they lay out the dead for three days, and after killing all kinds of victims and making lamentation, they feast. After that they do away with the body either by fire or else by burial in the earth, and when they have built a barrow, they initiate all kinds of contests, in which the greatest prizes are offered for the hardest type of single combat. Such are the Thracian funeral rites.” – The Histories by Herodotus, 5.8.
“Among the rest of the Thracians, it is the custom to sell their children for export and to take no care of their maidens, allowing them to have intercourse with any man they wish. Their wives, however, they strictly guard, and buy them for a price from the parents.” – The Histories by Herodotus, 5.6.
There were also some who committed to a life of celibacy, the ctistae. From Strabo’s, Geography (7.3.3) we read that:
“He adds, that there are amongst the Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known by the name of Ctistæ. These are considered sacred and worthy of honor, and live in great freedom.”
“These he designates as ‘without life,’ more particularly on account of their living without wives, considering their solitary state as but a half-life”
According to Pomponius Mela (2.2.16), Thrace was a cold and infertile region (save for the coast) which builds tough and strong men. Beliefs in the afterlife vary. Some, like the Getae, believe in immortality while others believed in reincarnation or a heavenly afterlife.
“Therefore childbirth is mourned among certain Thracians, and newborns are wept over. Funerals, in contrast, are festive and are celebrated, just like their sacred rites, with singing and gamboling”. – Description of the World by Pomponius Mela, 2.2.18).
Man-eating horses:
There were two Thracian Kings who were eaten by Man-eating horses, Lycurgus and Diomedes. The latter was king of the Thracian Bistones and supposedly another son of Ares. Diomedes enjoyed feeding prisoners and foreigners to his horses. The famed Heracles’ eight labor (of twelve) was tasked with capturing the Mares of Diomedes.
“Heracles, in order to control them, threw to them their master Diomedes, and when he had satisfied the hunger of the animals by means of the flesh of the man who had taught them to violate human law in this fashion, he had them under his control. [4] And when the horses were brought to Eurystheus he consecrated them to Hera, and in fact their breed continued down to the reign of Alexander of Macedon.” – The Library of History by Diodorus Siculus, 4.15.3-4.
King Lycurgus of the Thracian Edonians expelled Dionysus from Thrace and took Dionysus’ followers (Satyrs and Bacchanals/ maenads) captive. To avenge this massive disrespect Dionysus cursed the land to become barren until Lycurgus’ death so the Thracian Edonians “led him to Mount Pangaeum and bound him, and there by the will of Dionysus he died, destroyed by horses” (Library by Apollodorus, 3.5.1). Some believe that these myths may allude to an actual ritualistic custom among the Thracians: the sacrifice of human victims (possibly by being stomped over by horses), their dismemberment, and the scattering of the remains to fertilize the land.
Stairway to Heaven:
Polyaenus, a 2nd century CE Macedonian writer, mentions a tradition among two Thracian tribes (the Cebrenii and Sycaeboae) to elect priests of Hera (possibly a Thracian equivilant) to act as both priest and general. He goes on to mention that there was a priest named Cosingas who was elected for said position but was not supported by the army irself so:
“To suppress the rebelliousness that had taken hold of the troops, Cosingas built a number of long ladders, and fastened them one to another. He then put out a report, that he had decided to climb up to heaven, in order to inform Hera of the disobedience of the Thracians. The Thracians, who are notoriously stupid and ridiculous, were terrified by the idea of their general’s intended journey, and the resulting wrath of heaven. They implored him not to carry out his plan, and they promised with an oath to obey all of his future commands.” – Strategems by Polyaenus, 7.22.
MEGALITHS
^ Throughout southeastern Thrace there were megaliths (Greek, “big-stones”). The majority of these can be found throughout the Sakar, Strandzha, and eastern Rhodope Mountains.
Dolmen:
One of the top two most common megalithic structures were dolmen (Cornish tolmen. Something like “enormous stone slab set up on supporting points”), a tomb consisting on several vertical rock slabs which were topped up by a horizontal slab. These dolmen were usually rectangular in shape with one of the largest dolmen measuring more than 6.56 ft. in height, 9.19 in length and 7.87 ft. in width. These dolmen were usually made up of granite slabs but were also known to have been of gneiss or limestone marble. Some of the walls of these dolmens have been found to have been inscribed with decorative spirals, cones and other symbols. Within the outer facade is a burial chamber and sometimes a narrower antechamber and a corridor (dromos) that lead to the burial chamber.
^ Dolmen from pg.129 of ‘A Companion to Ancient Thrace’. Edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, Denver Graninger.
The entrance to these dolmen were usually faced southward and, less often, east or west. In front of the entrance are found high concentrations of artifacts representing possible commemorative or funerary rites and rituals performed before the dolmen, with some objects datting centuries older than others signifying that some were left there as gifts by later generations. Artifacts found consists of rings, earrings, bracelets, fibulae (brooch or clasp) and pottery. Surprisingly no weapons have been found. Within the burial chamber archaeologists have found that these dolmen were not sites for the burial or a single person but was reused for the subsequent burials of others, with as many as 14 partial remains of human skeletons being found in a two sites. This leads many to believe that in these functioned more so like ossuaries (a container or room into which the bones of dead people are placed.) where entire aristocratic families would be buried.
Dolmen were built atop very visible locations like crests and atop mountains. Over 600 dolmen have been found in the Sakar Mountains, more than 100 on the Rhodope mountain, while some were even discovered on the Greek island of Samothrace. Smaller dolmens are usually found clustered close to one another, numbering two to six per group, while the larger ones are usually more isolated. Some of these dolmen were also covered in earth so they formed the appearance of a mound, presumably to aid in keeping the structure intact longer. In all, the Thracian dolmen date from the early Iron age to the late Iron age (11th-6th cent. BCE) with one rare dolmen being used as late as the early 3rd century BCE.
Cromlech:
Other than the dolmen, another type of polyith (Greek, “many stone”) was the cromlech(Welsh, crom llech “curved/bent/bowed/arched slab”), essentially a stone cirle. Thracian cromlechs are rare, with one particular one being known as the ‘Bulgarian Stonehenge’. This cromlech is dated to the 6th century BCE and consisted of 24 (2 missing) rock slabs erected into a circular formation measuring 6 meters in diameter. It is believed to have been used by the Odrysians who buried it in earth to form a mound 45 meters in diameter. This cromlech was used as an ancient Thracian observatory which they used as a calendar which conveyed to them time of the timing of the solstices, equinoxes, phases of the sun, and the passing of the year. This Bulgarian Stonehenge was an important staple of Thracian religion and mystery cults as it was very close (6.21 m.) to yet another important site, the Thracian cult temple complex at Starosel. Though rare in the north, similar cromlechs of lesser importance have been found to the south in the Strandzha Mountains and eastern Rhodope Mountains.
^ Cromlechs from pg.131 of ‘A Companion to Ancient Thrace’. Edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, Denver Graninger.
^ The 6th century BCE ‘Staro Zhelezhare cromlech’ is known as the Bulgarian Stonehenge. This megalithic observatory is just 10 km (about 6.21 miles) away from the Thracian cult center of Starosel temple so it is believed that the two were connected and that the Bulgarian Stonehenge was used as an astronomical observatory from which they could measure the year’s cycles, and discern when solstices and equinoxes were to occur. For some reason, the Thracians later covered the site with enough earth to turn it into a hill known as Cholakova Mogila.
Menhir:
Conical monoliths (Greek monolithos, “one-stone”) called menhir (Breton menhir; Welsh maen hir, “stone tail/long”), though less common, were also known to have been used by the Thracians. Till this day Bulgarians use these ancient Thracian sites as part of their local Christian celebrations and festivals.
^ The ‘Chuchul kamak’ menhir, located near the village of Ovcharovo in the western Sakar Mountain of Bulgaria.
Rock-cut:
^ Rock-cut tombs from pg.131 of ‘A Companion to Ancient Thrace’. Edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, Denver Graninger.
Also, common among the Thracians of the eastern Rhodope Mountains were elaborate rock-cut tombs (about 50 have been discovered here), rock-cut graves (smaller and simpler) or rock-cut niches (higher and out of reach), all of which were carved into the very faces of outcrops or cliffs.
Head over to my post, ‘THRACIANS, REAPERS OF THE BALKANS’, to learn about their culture, weaponry, armors, battle tactics, and their influence on the ancient world. You can read up on their history as well, from the tales in the Iliad to the era of the Greco-Persian Wars, the rise of Macedon under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, and the Roman conquests of the Balkans.
