Bulgaria is a country with very ancient culture that went through many metamorphosis during the centuries. On its lands were found some of the earliest and most interesting and significant findings in Europe and in the whole world, although many of them were stolen, sold abroad, and many of them are still not at all researched. One of the most famous Bulgaria's treasure from Ancient Thrace was found in 1949 by three brothers digging for clay close to Panaguyrishte town. They thought at first that the objects were some gypsy musical instruments, brought them to the mayor and the treasure was exposed in a towel factory in the town for several weeks, then sent in a backpack to a museum in Plovdiv and since then it was featured in hundreds of exhibitions around the world
It consists of a phiale, an amphora and seven rhytons from with a total weight of 6,164 kg of 24 karat gold. It is dated to the IV-III centuries BC, and is thought to have been used as a royal ceremonial set by the Thracian king Seuthes III
The phiale, a shallow drinking bowl with a hemispherical divot in the middle, was the vessel that was actually brought to the drinker’s lips. The single phiale in the set is about 25 cm in diameter, and its bottom symbolizes the sun, ringed with 24 acorns (matching the crown of Seuthes III which consisted of acorns and oak leaves), and three concentric rings of 24 Ethiopian heads each used to ward off evil.
The amphora is the most fascinating vessel in the set, also the heaviest. Depicting seven warriors, it was used as a ceremonial vessel of peace. With a single entry point at the top and two libation holes, it was used to simultaneously pour wine into the phiales of two kings as a sign of peace. This had a practical implication as well, as drinking from the same sanctifying vessel eliminated the possibility that one king might poison the other
The Museum in Panagyurishte houses the real treasure for around a month every year, otherwise it is in the National history museum in Sofia, and in Panagyurishte there is an non-distinctive from the original treasure replica. There is also one replica for that museum in Sofia, for when it travels around the world and the historical museum in Plovdiv also has one.
The Ancient Thracians were an ethno-cultural group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting much of Southeast Europe from about the middle of the second millennium BC to about the 6th century AD on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia.
The Odrysian Kingdom was one of the two most powerful states of the Ancient Thracians. The treasure was found on the lands of the Odrysian Kingdom. It existed from the unification of many Thracian tribes by a single ruler, King Teres, in the 5th century BC till its conquest by the Romans in 46 AD on the territory of most of modern-day Bulgaria, Northern Greece, Southeastern Romania, and Northwestern Turkey.
This is an inscription from King Kotis, the son of king Тeres, in memory of his father in the museum.
