Seuthopolis (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

: Σευθόπολις) was an ancient

hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

-type city founded by the

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

king Seuthes III between 325–315 BC and the capital of the

Odrysian kingdom The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria an ...

. Its ruins are now located at the bottom of the

Koprinka Reservoir Koprinka ( bg, Копринка) is a reservoir and dam in the Rose Valley, central Bulgaria. Its construction began after 1944 and was finished in 1956. It was built on the Tundzha river at 7 km to the west of the city of Kazanlak near t ...

near

Kazanlak Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлък , Thracian and Greek Σευθόπολις (''Seuthopolis''), tr, Kazanlık) is a Bulgarian town in Stara Zagora Province, located in the middle of the plain of the same name, at the foot of the Balkan mountai ...

, Stara Zagora Province, in central

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Several kilometres north of the city is the

Valley of the Thracian Rulers The Valley of the Thracian Rulers is a name which was made popular by the archaeologist Georgi Kitov and describes the extremely high concentration and variety of monuments of the Thracian culture in the Kazanlak Valley. It is believed that there ...

where many magnificent royal tombs are located. Seuthopolis City Plan

Seuthopolis was not a true

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

, but rather the seat of Seuthes and his court. His palace had a dual role, functioning also as a sanctuary of the

Cabeiri In Greek mythology, the Cabeiri or Cabiri ( grc, Κάβειροι, ''Kábeiroi''), also transliterated Kabeiri or Kabiri, were a group of enigmatic chthonic deities. They were worshiped in a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephae ...

, the gods of

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki, el, Σαμοθράκη, ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,859 (2011 ...

. Most of the space within the city was occupied not by homes but by official structures, the majority of the people living outside the city. It had Thracian and Greek populace. In 281 BC it was sacked by

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

. The dual role of Seuthes' palace (royal court and sanctuary) indicates that Seuthes was a priest–king: the high priest of the Cabeiri among the Odrysian Thracians. According to Seuthopolis’ sign, the sanctuary of

Dionysius The name Dionysius (; el, Διονύσιος ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; la, Dionysius) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name ...

Sabazios Sabazios ( grc, Σαβάζιος, translit=Sabázios, ''Savázios''; alternatively, ''Sabadios'') is the horseman and sky father god of the Phrygians and Thracians. Though the Greeks interpreted Phrygian Sabazios as both Zeus and Dionysus, ...

was situated on the square. The cemetery of Seuthopolis included a number of brick tholos tombs, some covered by

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

, in which the upper-class were interred, sometimes along with their horses. The less affluent were cremated, with modest grave goods laid alongside. SeuthesIII tumba Kazanlâk 0771a

The ruins of the city were discovered and excavated in 1948 by Bulgarian archeologists during the construction of the

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...

(later renamed Koprinka) Reservoir. However, it was decided to continue with the construction and flood the dam, leaving Seuthopolis at its bottom. Despite the importance of the discovery, the government gave the archaeologists 6 years to research and preserve as much of the city as they could. Explore the Valley of Thracian Kings – Bulgaria's Thracian Heritage https://www.rosefestivalkazanlak.com/valley-thracian-kings-bulgarian-heritage/#seuthopolis One of the most important archaeological finds is the so-called "Great inscription" found in 1953 in the palace-citadel. It is written in Greek, which indicates that Thracians were already hellenised in the 3rd century BC. In 2005, Bulgarian architect Zheko Tilev proposed a project to uncover, preserve and reconstruct the city of Seuthopolis (the best-preserved Thracian city in Bulgaria) by means of a dam wall surrounding the ruins in the middle of the dam, enabling the site's inscription as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

and making it a tourist destination of world importance. Tourists would be transported to the site by boats. The round wall, 420 metres in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid f ...

, would enable visitors to see the city from 20 metres above and would also feature "hanging gardens", glass lifts, a quay, restaurants, cafés, shops, ateliers, etc. It would be illuminated at night. The project was donated by the architect to Kazanlak municipality and funds are being raised to begin construction. According to Tilev, it would cost minimum

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

50 million.
/sup> Lead serpent from Seuthopolis, Kazanlak region, Bulgaria

Sevtopolis Peak Sevtopolis Peak ( bg, връх Севтополис, vrah Sevtopolis, ) is an ice-covered peak of elevation 300 m in Dryanovo Heights, Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Surmounting Teteven Glacier to the west, north a ...

on Greenwich Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named for Seuthopolis. Artificial lake kazanlak

References

External links

Zheko Tilev's project to uncover Seuthopolis

Site about the international initiative of National Unity "Treasure the Bulgarian Heritage" about Zheko Tilev's project to uncover Seuthopolis

{{authority control Thracian sites Thracian towns Archaeological sites in Bulgaria History of Stara Zagora Province Geography of Stara Zagora Province Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century BC Former populated places in Bulgaria Buildings and structures in Stara Zagora Province Submerged places Populated places in ancient Thrace Odrysian kingdom

See also

References

External links