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Stefan Arteni

The East-Central
European
Cultural Model
VIII

SolInvictus Press 2009


Orpheus, Roman mosaic and detail, Sepphoris (Zippori)

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Stefan Arteni

The East-Central European


Cultural Model
(a revised and illustrated version
of the essay published in
www.asymetria.org , 2009)
VIII

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Bendis painter, Artemis Bendis, Apollo, Hermes and a young warrior (side A of
an Apulian red-figure bell-shaped krater), 380–370 BC

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Stefan Arteni
Excursus IV. The Thracians.

A Thracian (relief from the eastern stairs of the Apadana at Persepolis)

Artemis Bendis, Piatra Rosie, Romania


(http://oceanospotamos.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/bustul-de-bronz-de-la-
piatra-rosie.jpg )

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(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ThracianTribes.jpg )

(from http://www.dracones.ro/ )

Thracian tribes

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Thracian Chersonesus and Troas

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Darius Painter, Odysseus and Diomedes stealing the horses of the Thracian king
Rhesus, side A of the Rhesus krater, Apulian red-figure krater, c 340 BC

Homer's Iliad (X, 434-441):

"The Thracians came on their own and lay separately from the others.
Their king was Rhesus, descended of Eioneus.
Ne'er did I see such great and magnificent steeds as his,
Whiter than snow and swift as the rushing wind.
His chariot was a splendid construction of gold and silver,
And as he approached we beheld with awe his mighty weapons of gold and
silver.
Surely no mortal man could bear such arms,
They could only be intended for immortal gods".

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Thracian horse trappings discovered in Bulgaria

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Thracian horse trappings discovered in Bulgaria

Thracian gold fitting, 4th century BC

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The Phrygians (initially called Bryges, according to Herodotus) originated from
the Thracian Danube area, from where they migrated into Anatolia at the very
end of the Hittite empire. Gordion (Gordium) became the capital of the kingdom.
Cimmerian attacks destroyed the Phrygian kingdom and culminated in the
suicide of the legendary Phrygian king Midas in 696 BC.

Rhyton discovered in Gordion (Gordium)

Phrygian mosaic discovered in Gordion (Gordium)

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The Odrysian kingdom was a union of Thracian tribes that endured between the
5th century BC and the 3rd century BC…In the 4th century BC, the kingdom split
itself in…smaller kingdoms.
(adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Odrysian_kingdom.JPG )

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Gold funerary mask discovered in 2004 near the Bulgarian town of Kazanlak,
most probably belonging to the first ruler of the Thracian Odrysian Kingdom,
Teres I (c 480 – c 440 BC)

Thracian gold funerary mask from Topolchane, Bulgaria

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The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

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The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Letnitza Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

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The Rogozen Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Rogozen Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

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The Rogozen Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

The Rogozen Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

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The Panagyurishte Thracian treasure, Bulgaria

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The Panagyurishte Thracian treasure, Bulgaria, rython

The Panagyurishte Thracian treasure, Bulgaria, rython

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Thracian rider, Istanbul Archeological Museum

Thracian rider, Stobi, Macedonia

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Thracian rider, Histria, Romania

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Sabazius stela, Roman era Thracian rider, Histria, Romania

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The Burgas Thracian rider, Yambol, Bulgaria

Thracian rider, Museum of the Madara Archaeological Complex, Bulgaria

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Thracian rider, Varna, Bulgaria

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Thracian rider, Bulgaria

Thracian rider, 1st -2nd centuries

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The Thracian King, Seuthes III, from a tomb near Kazanlak in the Valley of the
Thracian kings; it is supposed that the head was from an effigy buried in lieu of a
body.

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Seuthes III Temple and Tomb in the Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Kazanlak, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Bulgaria

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Fresco, Hellenistic period, Thracian tomb (Ashtrusa mound), Valley of the
Thracian Kings, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

Fresco, Hellenistic period, Thracian tomb (Ashtrusa mound), Valley of the


Thracian Kings, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

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Solar symbol in two squares, Thracian tomb (Ashtrusa mound), Valley of the
Thracian Kings, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

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Sun symbols, Valley of the Thracian Kings, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Alexandrovo, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Alexandrovo, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Alexandrovo, Bulgaria

Thracian tomb, Alexandrovo, Bulgaria

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Thracian tomb, Alexandrovo, Bulgaria

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Orpheus among Thracians, terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and
water), c 440BC?

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Death of Orpheus, Greek red-figure vase

The so-called “Tomb of Orpheus”, the Orpheus Sanctuary near the Bulgarian
village of Tatul

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Thracian helmet

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Decorated “Phrygian” type Thracian helmet, 4th century BC, discovered in
Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria

Thracian helmet with mask, History Museum, Silistra, end of the 1st century AD

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Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria, 3rd century BC (scholars hypothesize that the tomb
was intended for the king of the Getae, Dromichaites, and his wife - daughter of
Lysimachos, king of Macedonia)

Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria

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Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria

Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria

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Thraco-getic ceramic vessel

Thraco-getic lamp
(http://www.geocities.com/cogaionon/pictures.htm )

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Thraco-getic silver beaker

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Agighiol treasure, Romania, Thraco-getic silver beaker

Agighiol treasure, Romania, Thraco-getic silver libation bowl (phiale)

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Agighiol treasure, Romania, Thraco-getic greaves (knemidae)

Agighiol treasure, Romania, Thraco-Getic helmet

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Thraco-getic appliqué

Thraco-getic appliqué

Thraco-getic appliqué

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Thraco-getic appliqué

Thraco-getic appliqué

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Peretu Thraco-getic treasure, Romania, silver libation bowl (phiale)

Peretu Thraco-getic treasure, Romania, partially gilded silver libation bowl


(phiale)

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The Cotofenesti Thraco-Getic gold helmet, Romania
(http://coifuri.blogspot.com/search?q=coif )

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The Dacians, a martial brotherhood

According to Strabo, the original name of the Dacians was daoi. A tradition
preserved by Hesychius informs us that daos was the Phrygian word for "wolf.”
P. Kretschmer had explained daos by the root *dhäu, "to press, to squeeze, to
strangle." Among the words derived from this root we may note the Lydian
Kandaules, the name of the Thracian war god, Kandaon, the Illyrian dhaunos
(wolf), the god Daunus, and so on. The city of Daous-dava, in Lower Moesia,
between the Danube and Mount Haemus, literally meant "village of wolves.”
Formerly, then, the Dacians called themselves "wolves" or "those who are like
wolves," who resemble wolves. Still according to Strabo, certain nomadic
Scythians to the east of the Caspian Sea were also called daoi. The Latin
authors called them Daliae, and some Greek historians daai. In all probability
their ethnic name was derived from Iranian (Saka) dahae, "wolf." But similar
names were not unusual among the IndoEuropeans. South of the Caspian Sea
lay Hyrcania, that is, in Eastern Iranian "Vehrkana," in Western Iranian
"Varkana," literally the "country of wolves" (from the Iranian root vehrka, "wolf”).
The nomadic tribes that inhabited it were called Hyrkanoi, "the wolves," by
Greco-Latin authors. In Phrygia there was the tribe of the Orka (Orkoi)…

We return to the Dacians: it seems probable that their ethnic name ultimately
derives from the ritual appellation of a brotherhood of warriors. The stages of the
process by which the ritual appellative of a group became the name of an entire
people, is still unknown… As we have said, the root *dhäu, " to strangle”, is found
in the Phrygian word for wolf, daos…

[adapted from: Mircea Eliade, DE ZALMOXIS À GENGIS-KHAN, 1970 Payot,


Paris – Mircea Eliade, Zalmoxis: The Vanishing God (translated by Willard R.
Trask, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1972) - Mircea Eliade, De la
Zalmoxis la Genghis-Han, 1959 (translated by Maria Ivănescu and Cezar
Ivănescu, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, 1980) –
http://romania-mare-trecut-si-viitor.blogspot.com/2008_12_28_archive.html ]

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Dacian sun stone at Sarmisegetuza, Romania

Dacian sanctuary at Sarmisegetuza, Romania

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Dacian sanctuary at Sarmisegetuza, Romania

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The Dacian wars and the Roman conquest, Trajan’s Column, Rome, Italy

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Dacian weapons including the falx, Cluj National History Museum, Romania

Dacian weapons including the falx, Cluj National History Museum, Romania

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Dacian warrior armed with the falx (a member of the drapanai contingents,
Dacian shock infantrymen), Tropaeum Traiani, Adamclisi, Romania

Dacian warriors armed with the falx (apparently komatai, Dacian skirmishers,
who fought bare-headed to assure the gods of their fervor),Trajan’s Column,
Rome, Italy

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Dacian Wolf flag (top right), Trajan’s Column, Rome, Italy

Dacian wolf flags - the Dacian Draco was adopted by Roman cavalry as a
standard borne by a draconarius
(photo by mhoratius on http://www.flickr.com/photos/piscinus/2769233390/ )

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Roman Draco found in Niederbieber, Germany

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Villages, Thracian and Roman epochs

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Roman administration of the conquered Danubian area

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Tombstone of the Roman Auxiliary Cavalry Officer, Longinus Sdapeze,
discovered in Colchester, England. Longinus died in 49 AD, soon after the
invasion in 43, suggesting that he may have come to Britain with the invasion
force of Claudius. The inscription reads: Longinus Sdapeze, son of Matygus,
duplicarius from the First Cavalry Regiment of Thracians, from the district of
Sardica (Sardica is modern Sofia in Bulgaria), aged 40, of 15 year's service, lies
buried here: his heirs under his will had this set up.

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Nicopolis ad Istrum (Bulgaria) was a Roman town founded by Emperor Trajan
around 101-106, at the junction of the Iatrus (Yantra) with the Danube, in
memory of his victory over the Dacians.

Roman mosaic, National Museum of History, Sofia, Bulgaria

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Roman mosaic fragments, Stara Zagora Regional Museum of History, Bulgaria

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Roman mosaic fragment, Stara Zagora Regional Museum of History, Bulgaria

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Roman mosaic, Tomis (Constanţa), Romania

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Roman votive relief dedicated to Diana (Artemis), Romania, 2nd-3rd centuries

Roman bacchic scene, Romania, 2nd-3rd centuries

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The Nymphadium (the sanctuary to the Nymphs and Aphrodite), Bulgaria, was
built between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD by a retired Thracian general in the
Roman Army on a place where there was an ancient Thracian temple

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Inscriptions in the Nymphadium (the sanctuary to the Nymphs and Aphrodite),
Bulgaria, built between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD by a retired Thracian
general in the Roman Army on a place where there was an ancient Thracian
temple

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Perperikon, a Thracian city in the Rhodope mountains, Bulgaria

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The Western crypt, Perperikon, Bulgaria

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Thracian artifacts, Perperikon, Bulgaria

Perperikon, the Christian basilica, 4th-5th centuries

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The Biertan Donarium - an early Christian votive object of the early 4th century,
unearthed at Biertan, near Sibiu, in Romania. It reads EGO ZENOVIUS VOTUM
POSUI, "I, Zenovius, offered this gift" (from Wikipedia)

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Palaeochristian basilica and martyrion, Niculiţel, Romania, 4th century

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