MONUMENTAL TOMBS, TOMB PAINTINGS AND BURIAL CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT THRACIAJulia Valeva The emergence of different Thracian states, the oldest one being the state of the Odryssai (since the very end of the 6th century BC), engendered a further development of the memorials meant to glorify the powerful Thracian rulers. The huge mounds that insured so far their eternal memory, now sheltered built chamber tombs, filled with precious funerary gifts. Tomb Architecture The tombs were of two types, according to their plan. The first one included tombs with rectangular chamber, ante-chamber(s) and dromos. The roofing was generally corbelled, a technique, familiar in Thrace from hoary antiquity. The rectangular type developed from local or earlier imported forms, among them cist- and sarcophagus-shaped tombs (found in the necropoleis of Duvanli and Dalboki in the region of Plovdiv). The second type groups tombs with circular burial chamber covered with corbelled dome and often provided with dromos and antechamber. The question of the origins of this type (called tholos tombs) and the various forms of corbelled vaults is still matter of discussion. The idea that their form was inspired by ,Mycenaean constructions, first formulated by the Bulgarian scholar Bogdan Filov in the 30-ies, is backed up today by new archaeological evidence. Thracian culture of the Late Bronze Age is conceived as closely related to the Mycenaean koiné. On the other hand, the political and social structure of Thrace was conservative enough for to keep important elements of the political tradition up to the middle of the 1 st millennium BC. Why did some of the Thracian rulers prefer the tholos-shape tomb and not the rectangular one? The tectonic reason is clear: a corbelled vault combined with a circular plan resists more steadily to the pressure of the mound. But technical reasons solely would not fulfil the ideological meaning and the propaganda purpose of the monumental tombs. Their tectonic stability happily agreed with the symbolical meaning of the circle that expressed both the boundlessness and completeness, the cyclic recurrence of life and death, the female principle as a projection of Earth. This cosmic, harmonious and cultural (in opposition to the chaotic) meaning of the circle makes it a preferred form for settlement as well as for necropoleis planning. We are also told by Macrobius about a Thracian sanctuary on the Mount Zilmisos having a round plan and an opening in the roof (Sat. I, 18,11). This source, together with archaeological evidence from Macedonia suggests that the round form was perceived in the Balkans as particularly suitable for some forms of sacred architecture. The newly discovered tombs near Shipka, which shape is so far unique for Thrace, raise the problem of the cultural relationship between Thrace and Asia Minor. The sarcophagus-type form of the central funerary chamber reminds us of the tomb of the Persian king Kyros the Great (559-529) in Pasargadae. Other details call other Anatolian parallels: e.g. the denticulate ornament of the lid is paralleled by Lydian, Lycian, Phrygian, Carian examples in funerary architecture, and the shaping of the extremities of the bed is the same as in some Lydian beds. In this relation we have to discuss to what degree the Persian presence in the Aegean had an impact on the culture of the indigenous peoples. This presence was direct during the Graeco-Persian wars (517-515) and later, indirect, based on trade with the Persians (up to Alexander) and the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. It seems now possible to conclude almost with certainty that rich Thracian tombs were usually built in groups or at least were conceived as central points within tumular necropoleis intended for sub-ordinates. The tumuli near Sveshtari were grouped in five necropoleis. Necropolis-type arrangements of tumuli are reported for Duvanli, Strelcha, Iankovo, Kabile, etc. However, the problem of tombs built in isolation, probably in private domains, is still open to discussion. A Iink existed between settlements and their tumular necropoleis (e.g. in Seuthopolis, Sveshtari, Kabile, Vetren-Pistiros), but only for the Hellenistic period. There is an opinion that up to that period the Odryssaean kingdom had no settled capital. Like in Persia or in Macedonia, the Thracian kings (basileis) and their courts moved within the country, ruling from different fortified centres. The archaeological investigations show the scattered and non-centialized nature of the settlement system in Thrace before the Hellenistic period. Tomb Painting The earliest wall paintings, that have survived in Thracian tombs date back to the 4th century. Some have been created in the first half of the century, but the majority comes from the Early Hellenistic period. All are strongly influenced by Greek aesthetics and iconography. Funerary art iconography is relatively limited. Nevertheless, the rare examples of original Greek or Hellenistic painting provoke a burst of enthusiasm each time the archaeologists uncover them for modern public. Thracian tomb paintings belong to this treasury of genuine Greek pictorial style, described in ancient written sources and known to us till recently only through Roman copies. It is also true that often the style of the funerary paintings is not of the best quality. Our interest however justifies our indulgence and is highly rewarded by magnificent wall paintings like the Rape of Persephone in the Macedonian tomb of the Princess in Vergina or the Achilles cycle in Ostrusha tomb near the Bulgarian town of Shipka. The simplest way to decorate the interior of a tomb was to paint it in one colour. Red painting has been reported for tombs in Scythia but in Thracian tombs only white color is known so far, e.g. in the tomb near the village of Vetren or in the tomb beneath Shushmanets tumulus in Shipka. We lack written sources explaining the symbolism of the white colour in funerary context. But we find the white colour in Greek descriptions of the world beyond as well as in Greek burial rite. In the Odyssey Hermes is described as leading the suitors slain by Odysseus by a land route that takes them along the dark, mouldy ways. They arrive at the streams of Okeanos, and we learn of a white rock, the gates of Helios, and the region of dreams. The Greek poet Hesiod (8th century BC) tells us that Hades contains echoing icy halls (which means cold and white). And finally, in a gold lamella from Pharsalos, found in a grave dated c. 350-320 BC, it is written: You will find on the right in the house of Hades a spring, and standing beside it, a white cypress. We should neither forget that the colour of the Attic grave lekythoi was also white. Thus it becomes clear that for the Greeks white color connoted death. On the basis of the frequent use of the white colour in the Thracian tombs we can assume a similar symbolism in the Thracian beliefs about the topography of the world beyond, despite the risks of the comparative method in this case. There is a meaningful monument in this respect:the Magliz tomb. It is of the enfilade type, its very long dromos reminding of the dark and mouldy way to Hades, and the antechamber, coated white, of its echoing and icy halls. The funerary chamber itself was decorated in the Architectonic Zone Style, the upper zone containing a beautiful frieze of pseudo-Panathenaic amphorae and palmettes. Above the entrance, there were paintings of a quiver and a leather helmet of the so-called Phrygian / Thracian type. Being a price for winning athletes, the Panathenaic amphora in the funerary context should be interpreted as a symbol of the victory over death. The biga conducted by a Nike, painted on the body of the central amphora, bears the same meaning. The Greek motifs in the Magliz tomb witness a deep interest of the Thracian nobleman for Greek art and ideas. Meanwhile, the typical Thracian form of the monument and its situation under tumulus, implies a strong local atmosphere to the whole complex. Recent attempts to reconstruct Thracian religion and mythology have paid much attention to Orphic iueas. The Thracian tumulus and the tomb ullderneath are considered as images of both horizontal and vertical structure of the Universe. The horizontal model conveys the chthonic realm dominated by the Great Goddess. If we accept this interpretation we should see the dromos as a symbol of the dark route to the chthonic kingdom of the Goddess, the only one that accepts the dead and insures the resurrection. We suppose that the Great Goddess in the iconographic type of Persephone is painted in Kazanlak tomb. The decorative program of this remarkable monument is much appreciated both for its clarity and superb composition. Its most important part is the scene of the funeral banquet and procession. There are several interpretations of the scene. Some scholars believe that it is a picture of a sacred wedding (hierogamia) and investiture. The Japanese scholar Namio Egami suggests a reading according to Herodot's text, which relates that the beloved spouse of the dead Thracian ruler is being killed for to accompany him in the world beyond. The scene can also be interpreted as a funeral banquet of the couple. The discrepancy of opinions is caused by the fact that Greek iconography has been used for translating Thracian religious and mythological beliefs . We can not be sure whether the Greek meaning corresponds to the Thracian one, or the well-known Greek artistic idiom hides a different, Thracian world of ideas. Of special interest, and much easier to read, are the paintings in the dromos. It is a historical scene, showing the meeting of Thracian and Macedonian armies. Specific elements of local military costumes can be seen, but the iconography as a whole is traditional and refers, to mythological battle scenes. Another extraordinary Thracian tomb has been found in Sveshtari, a village in North-East Bulgaria. The relief decoration of its burial chamber is designed in Doric order. There are four Doric tangent half columns, an architrave with regulae and a frieze with metops arid triglyphs crowned with a taenia. The comice is of lonic type and there is a Corinthian coltimn ih the middle of the North-West wall. The most original part of the sculptural decoration is the frieze of panels with ten caryatids in relief, introduced above the orthostats. The figures are about 1.20 m. high. They are represented in a frontal hieratic posture, dressed in chitons, girded with narrow belts below the breasts. The deep apoptygma has the form of a calyx made up of three acanthus leaves. The caryatids support the architrave, resp. the vault with their hands and the kalathoi on their heads. Their hair, eyes, and parts of their clothing and shoes are painted red, blue, purple-violet, yellow and dark-brown. The faces are individualized and sorrowful. The main funeral bed was concealec behind a naiskos, whose facade consists of three stones doors, disposed between pilasters crowned with sofa capitals and a red-painted pediment with a gorgon's head in relief in the middle of the tympanum. The naiskos reached the high of the cornice that separates the wall from the vault. Initially it was hiding apart the bed, three of the caryatids and the Corinthian column, thus creating a closed sacred space. An eight-figure scene is depicted on the lunette above the naiskos. The representation has been interpreted as heroization /deification of a noble Thracian. The late ruler, depicted as a horseman. is being given a corona by the Goddess, thus being raised to the status of Heros. The motif of the triumphant rider has been probably introduced in royal iconography through the silver tetradrachme of Philip of Macedon. In Thracian coins the horseman appeared during the reign of the Odryssean ruler Sparadokos (445-435). The iconography of the horseman is similar to the one on the obverse of coins minted by the Macedonian king Alexander I(ca.465) thus indicating the likeness between the Thracian and Macedonian emissions even in those early times. Coins of the ambitious Thracian king Kotys I(ca.383/382-359) depict the triumphant element - the hand raised for salutation. This element has parallels neither in the earlier Macedonian royal coinage nor in the coins of the Persian satraps. These examples indicate that both Thracian and Macedonian coinage had paved the way to the appearance of the triumphant horseman on the coins of Philip II. The historical portrait was contaminated by the mythological image of the Heros in order to emphasize the idea of the royal power and divine auspices. The Thracian king Seuthes III(ca.325-295) also minted coins with representations of his portrait and a horseman (the horse in a slow pace heading right), which is evidence that the motif was firmly established in ruler's symbolism in early HeHenism. An important detail in the Sveshtari painting is the curving horn appeating behind the horseman's ear. Alexander the Great was depicted with a similar horn (of Anunon) on coins of Lysimachus which appeared after the battle at Ipsus, i.e. after 301 BC. On this basis we have ground to suppose that the portrayed person at Sveshtary is Alexander himself. The Thracian ruler might have chosen to have the representation of the deified Alexander instead of his own in order to stress the fact that he is the legal heir of the great general in these territories. On the other hand, this horn might be not the horn of Ammon but a symbol of power and divine auspices, like the horn of Poseidon's bull, placed on the head of Demetrios Poliorcetes or Seleukos I Nicator. In this case we should assume that the Thracian ruler considered himself equal to the great Diadochi. One of the last sensational archaeological discoveries in Bulgaria was the painted tomb beneath the Ostrusha tumulus near the road that connects the towns of Kazanlak and Shipka. The tumulus Ostrusha is situated in the valley of Kazanlak, famous for its rose fields but also for its Thracian heritage, the Kazanlak Hellenistic tomb being the best known. The funeral chamber is built out of two monoliths in the shape of a sarcophagus. The inside surface of the lid is carved in the form of 43 painted coffers. The picture in the central circle is lost, but we can decipher the representations in the triangular compartments around as Sirens and Nereids riding hippocampi(sea horses) and bringing the arms of Achilles. Two series of six coffers each flank the central group. The coffers contain alternatively 6 heads or 6 flowers. Only one head is entirely preserved - a young beautiful woman with gold necklace. The interpretation of these heads is perplexing: we should, however, consider them as divine creatures rather than portraits of the dynast family. The bigger coffers (18×18cm.) that go round the ceiling, contain mythological scenes. Unfortunately about half of the compositions is destroyed. The paintings show Greek heroes of different generations. Bellerophon on the winged horse Pegasus and killing the Chimaira is clearly visible, while the scenes on both sides are difficult to read. They may represent participants in the Dionysiac thiasos. The coffers boarding the north wall represent moments of Achilles story. It begins with Thetis in Hephaistos forge and goes on with representations of Achilles, alone or with other heroes. Despite the lacunae we can suggest a reconstruction of the ceiling decoration, on the ground of combination of heroic and Dionysiac iconography. The chthonic Dionysos whom we see in other contemporary creations related to sepulchral art, is meant to protect the dead Thracian prince, who in lifetime was considered equal to Achilles and like him would go to the Island of the Blessed. The illustration of Greek mythology and epic heroes reveals the high level of hellenisation of the Thracian nobles. Even more suggestive in this sense is the Late Classical style of the paintings. (Julia Valeva)
Pomponius Mella narrates that it would be easy for any scrupulous student of the most powerful tribes in Europe to note that the barbarian Thracians disregarded death probably because of some natural wisdom. All the Thracians unanimously respected the willing death and some of them believed that the souls of the deceased did not perish and that they were even more blissful than during life-time. Such an attitude of the Thracians, the most numerous people after the Indians, according to Herodotus, towards the most exciting question, that of death and life, has left its mark on the overall appearance of their culture. It is no accident that the most impressive monuments left by the Thracians are those of the sepulchral architecture with the imposing tumuli piled above. The Thracians enter a new phase in their social relations, cult and funerary practices in the second half of the 2nd millenium B.C., a period of great migrations and introduction of the iron metallurgy. Tumuli now appear all over the Thracian lands, and their locations on high hills indicate that they were deliberately selected to be as visible and significant as possible. Sanctuaries are found at the most prominent and picturesque places, near water springs or at strategic crossroads. They often form large cult-funeral complexes with the tumuli and play important role also as political centers during the whole Iron Age. Rock-cut tombs and niches, caves and rock altars are other elements of these vast cult-burial complexes around which the first towns in Thrace appear in the second half of the 1st mill.B.C. Hoards of bronze, silver and gold objects consisting of ornaments for a female ritual dress and horse-harnesses as symbols of a female deity and the sun, or vessels for religious rites are buried in sacred places like the golden treasures from Vulcitran and Panagyurishte, the drinking set from Rogozen or the belt pieces from Letnitza treasures, among the tumuli or under their embanknent after religious and funeral ceremonies. The jug from Borovo represents the Kabeiroi mystical rites. From this time on cremation, inhumation, partial burial and reburials coexist in single, double and group graves of diverse type. Central tumuli of male and female ihdividuals usually form the center of the cemeteries. Female graves are rich of ornaments, magic objects and sometimes weapons, male ones of weapons, armour and horsebits. Burials of women in sitting position surrounded by male individuals indicate their special status in the social and spiritual life of the society. Animal and bird sacrifices, ritual facilities indicate the function of the tumuli as heroa. The earliest dolmen appear under some of the tumuli and continue to be used for centuries. Usually without burials but with broken vessels in front of the facade, they raise a question, which concerns also the later tombs in Thrace and remains one of the most intriguing questions of the Thracian burial rites. Plundered or places for mystical burial rites were the magnificent Thracian tombs without burials in their primary form or totally empty? Death had become one of the greatest mysteries. These aspects of their cult and funeral practices the Thracians preserve during the whole first millenium, participating in the creation or adopting the best architectural and artistic achievements of their contemporary world for the needs of their spiritual life. Some of the most interesting data about the burial rites come from the lands of the tribes of the Odrysian kingdom - the greatest of all European powers between the Ionian gulf and the Euxine, according to Thukydides, and of the Getae, the most just among the Thracians in NE-Bulgaria. Recently discovered tombs confirm the enigmaticy of the burial rites of the Thracians. Under the Ostrusha tumulus, in the area of Shipka-Shejnovo, near the town of Kazanlak, the empty sarcofagus-like tomb is in a complex with a circular and square constructions, one of them keeping a set of silver gilt appliques of horsetrappings. In front of the tomb many fireplaces, architectural details and broken vessels have been found. There are many tombs, Iike that near Strelcha with an empty chamber but with a horse burial in front of the tomb and traces of repeating openings of their sliding doors. Other examples show the burial of bones in two places. One of the three tumuli near the town of Haskovo in SE-Bulgaria dated to 5th-4th century B.C. covers a rare key hole shaped tomb. Its round western part was piled over a rectangular funerary pyre of a male individual, cremated with his horse and armour, while the trapezoidal embanknent covered a pit with another part of the ashes. A rectangular pillar was raised and a stone layer covered the whole tomb before the tumulus was piled above this interesting grave construction. In NE-Bulgaria, around the middle of the 4th century B.C. the Getae raised the highest tumuli near their old sanctuaries - now the Sboryanovo reservation - dedicated to the cult of the Great Mother Goddess - Artemis and Apollo. This Getic center - the most thoroughly investigated in Bulgaria - is identified with Dausdava, or the City of the wolves on Tabula nona of Claudius Ptolemaeus or with the residence of the Getic king Helis. It is situated near the town of Isperih and about 120 km from the Black sea coast. Plato's description of a vaulted tomb, covered by tumulus as the most perfect grave construction for the most dignified citizens of his ideal state, was an idea borrowed also from the lands to the North of Greece, from Orphic Macedonia. The biggest one - the royal Sveshtari tomb, declared as a world heritage monument by the Unesco - is the most magnificent Thracian tomb construction found till now. More than 100 tumuli, surrounding the residence, the sanctuaries and the Hellenistic town from all sides in equal distance of 2000 m to the North and to the South were grouped in clusters. Surrounded by ditches, the groups of tumuli represented the mirror images of the brightest stars in such constellations as Canis Maior, Canis Minor, Orion, Saggitarius and in general - the Milky Way. United under the signs of different constellations and erected in a period of about 100 years, the tumuli from each group were evidently bound by a common funeral ritual system. The excavations of the Northern group of the Eastern cemetery, identified with Canis Maior, Iead to the discovery of an architectural complex of three vaulted tombs. The axis of the Sveshtari royal tomb, oriented like all tombs in Thrace to the SE was parallel to the line of the winter sun rise on 22nd of December in 4th c.B.C. It contained the skeletons of a royal couple as well as burials of horses and other sacrificial animals. After an earthquake a later burial of a man was made and then the tomb was finally covered by soil. Clay altars and horse burials were found also in front of the facade. The two smaller tomb-twins had sliding doors, a feature known only from the Carian-Lycian area in Asia Minor which for a certain period were wooden and were also opened many times. In the tomb under tumulus N.13, human and animal bones and gifts were buried in two groups inside and outside the tomb. Part of the bones of three human skeletons, half of the skeletons of a dog, and of a rooster and a golden bead were found inside, while the other half with fragments of destroyed guild pectoral was found in front of the tomb near a pit dug into a stony layer. The other tomb, strongly destroyed by an earthquake had preserved small fragments of the skeletons of three couples, of animals as well as the fragrnents of a set of clay vessels. One human rib was laying on the thresholds of the two small tombs, reminding the Biblical idea about the Adams rib. Each one of the other tumuli around the three tombs contained a male burial in stone cist with walls painted red, cremated bones of a woman placed on the ancient ground level with rich offerings and golden ornaments, a silver phiale with sheep bones, a central horse burial with scattered human bones around it and one of them was empty. Excavations of other groups of tumuli show even greater diversity - inhumations, double male-female burials by cremation in urns, cremated young men in pithoi, burials of single human bones, of sacrificial animals, mainly horses and dogs in simple or double pits. Some tumuli were piled above clay altars or only on fragments of pottery. Precious ornaments and vessels, mirrors, pottery, magic objects and Orphic symbols from the Greek arid Asian Hellenistic as well as from the Celtic world could be found in these tumuli. Thus the groups of tumuli united under the signs of the constellations reflected indisputable hierarchical relationships between the dead in the group. The most magnificent tombs always remained connected with the most enigmatic and complicated rites of separation and reburial of the bones, of intentional destruction, and of postburial sacrificies. A unique golden vessel in the shape of the protome of Pegasus has been found in the area of this cemetery, and among the interesting other examples is a set of five silver vessels from the territory of another huge cemetery near the town of Borovo, NE-Bulgaria. One of the interesting examples of a ritual tumulus is that near Kapinovo, near the town of Veliko Tarnovo. A set of a bronze cauldron and two silver cups, golden jewellery. broken clay cups and phiale, animal bones and ritual pits with stones, were covered by the tumulus without human burial. The inscription on one of the stones of the ritual circle SKIAS, meaning a place where Dionysos rests, indicates its connection with the mysteries of the god of wine. What was the idea which stood behind this diversity of rites? This was the doctrine of the god-poet and son of Apollo - Orpheus. According to the tradition he ruled over Odrysia and Macedonia and participated in the expedition for the Golden fleece initiating all his mates in the mysteries of the Kabeiroi. After the death of Eurydike he made a journey to Hades to take her back. His teaching about the immortality of the soul considered the body as its prison. Liberated, it could fly to become one with the divine. When Orpheus died dismembered in his hall for mysteries by the Bassarides, his head was buried in a heroon, his bones into an urn on a column. Touched by the sun rays they could obtain magic power. His lyre became a constellation set among the stars by Zeus. His shadow merged with that of Eurydike in the realm of Hades. Orpheus suffered the death of Dionysos. Torn to pieces he resurrected again. Similar was the death of other heroes connected with the Sun-god like Linos and the Etruscan Aeneus. These rites of the immortalization of the soul were practised by the Getae. Orpheus hymns were inspiring Zalmoxis, the man, the daemon and the god of the Getae. He lived according to Herodotos before Pythagoras and was teaching them that they would never die. But it seems that their most mystical part was connected with the rites that helped the soul to become free from the prison of the body, these of destroying the material. The mystery of the immortalization and the journey of the soul to the perfection required perfect stone constructions, ideally shaped mounds. That is why, in an Orphic tradition, the tombs in Thrace were these Orphic halls for mysteries in which the most sacral part of the rites of the immortalization were taking place before the final burial. The main chamber of the Sveshtari tomb with the ten images of the Mother Goddess with different faces and the stone naiskos in front of the central bed - a prototype of the later altar walls in the Christian churches - hiding the area for the resurrection, demonstrates the most advanced interior of a tomb-temple of the Goddess, in which the soul was merging with its divine essence. The journey beyond needed also the company of the most beloved and honoured among his wives, personification of the same female divine principle, of the Mother Goddess. Herodotos relates about the voluntary sacrifice of the Thracian women on the graves of their husbands. Traces of this rite, practiced also in Northern Europe and India, or of the idea itself, have been found in many tumuli. Anthropologists suggest that the skull of the young woman buried in the royal tomb near Sveshtari with a hole made by a piercing weapon could be an evidence for the Herodotos story. The numerous double graves of couples in the Thracian tumuli also show that this practice, or the idea of the sacred marriage behind it was an essential part of the rites of the immortalization. It had its deep roots in much earlier Thracian burial customs. Clay models of the Great Mother Goddess on a throne found with tables, chariots, boats and water birds in the cremation burials from the Late Bronze Age in the Danubian area and female burials in sitting position from the Early Iron Age precede the image of the woman on the throne from the main scene in the Kazanlak tomb. The rare cremation burials on thrones in soine Macedonian tombs also belong to women, indicating the importance of the female principle in the religious life and in the rites of the immortalization. The idea that man could become a demon and a god, the idea about the wandering soul which needed to be liberated from the prison of the material, certainly stood behind the principle of the piling of the tumuli above the tombs in three phases. During the first one, connected with the piling of layer of stones over and in front of the tomb and the second - connected with the piling of a truncated tumulus different rites were performed and the tomb could be entered. The access to it was sometimes connected with the elongation of the dromos of the tomb in the process of the construction of the tumulus. The construction of the tumulus in three phases, corresponding to the purification, the transience and the apotheosis, was another sacral act in the rites of the immortalization. May be this was the reason why the piling of a tumulus by Alexander the Great near Bukhara was remembered as performed in a Macedonian manner. Thus surrounded by relatives, warriors and servants, by the sacrificed horses - aristocratic solar symbol and means in reaching the world of the death-, by dogs-, wolves-symbols of the warlike and aristocratic world of justice, regulated cannibalism and voluntary death, which could shelter a human soul, by raising of altars and burning cult objects, the Thracians were immortalizing themselves accprding to strict mysterial rules. Astronomy, mathematics, architecture and arts were used for the creation of a microcosmos on the earth, symbolizing the participation of the man in the circle of the nature and the movement of the soul to the stars. For the Greeks the idea of the soul-wandering was alien to their own tradition and looking for its homeland in Egypt or in Asia, they were connecting it most of all with the land of Thrace. The stories about Orpheus were circulating in the centuries of the Early Iron Age, in the first half of the Ist mill. B.C. The metempsychosis was Orphic doctrine. This idea with its rites and mysteries, architecture and arts emerged and became dominant in Thrace already in the end of the Bronze and the beginning of the lron Age. It spread in several places in the Mediterranean world together with some of its most characteristic monuments and symbols. An Orpheus motif in the Japanese mythology, the story of lzanagi and lzanami shows that the myth about Orpheus and Eurydike penetrated also far to the East of Asia. It certainly happened in the transitional centuries to the metal age, around the middle or in the second half of the 1st mill. B.C. Some of the most characteristic funeral monuments in Southeast Asia and in Japan in the centuries after that and especially in the Kofun - Period - tombs with corbelled, lantern or vaulted roofs, with scenes of banqueting couples on their walls and constellations on their ceilings, covered by enormous key-hole tumuli as a Pythagorean symbol of the immortality and of the mother-goddess bear the main features and the spirit of the microcosmos of one and the same idea - equally unique and universal which persisted through the millenia - that of the immortality of the soul. (Diana Gergova)
■ BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. Archibald,The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace. Orpheus Unmasked (1998) |
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