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The Aleksandrovo tomb is a
"The Alexandrovo Tomb and other Recent Discoveries"
Slingshot 216, July 2001, pp 47-50 Looters subsequently entered the tomb, damaging some of its frescoes. In 2001 Bulgarian archaeologist
"The tholos tomb at Alexandrovo: Thracian funerary paintings in a broader context"
, 2005 The fresco in the main chamber depicts a hunting scene where a boar is attacked by a mounted hunter and a naked man wielding a double-axe. The double-axe is interpreted as representing royal power, the naked man as representing
File:Alexandrovo Burial mound.JPG, Alexandrovo Burial mound
File:Museum Center Thracian Art in the Eastern Rhodopes 2011 PD 07.JPG
File:Museum Center Thracian Art in the Eastern Rhodopes 2011 PD 12.JPG
Image:Aleksandrovo grobniza.jpg
Image:Aleksandrovska grobniza.JPG
File:Zalmoxis Aleksandrovo.jpg
The Aleksandrovo tomb is a Thracia
Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek D ...
n burial mound
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
and tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
excavated near Aleksandrovo, Haskovo Province
Haskovo Province ( bg, Област Хасково - ''Oblast Haskovo'', former name ''Haskovo okrug'') is a province in southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece and Turkey to the southeast, comprising parts of the Thracian valley along the river ...
, South-Eastern 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 ...
, dated to c. 4th century BCE.
On December 17, 2000 the tomb was accidentally uncovered by an earth-moving machine.Webber, Christopher"The Alexandrovo Tomb and other Recent Discoveries"
Slingshot 216, July 2001, pp 47-50 Looters subsequently entered the tomb, damaging some of its frescoes. In 2001 Bulgarian archaeologist
Georgi Kitov
Georgi Kitov ( Bulgarian: Георги Китов) (March 1, 1943 – September 14, 2008) was a Bulgarian archaeologist and thracologist. He specialized in Thracian archaeology. He participated in the excavations of many sites including th ...
led a rescue excavation of the tomb, discovering a round chamber of about in diameter, accessible through a small antechamber and a tunnel, approximately long. Both the antechamber and main chamber are decorated with well-preserved frescoes that reflect the artist's knowledge of Late Classical and Early Hellenistic art
Hellenistic art is the art of the Hellenistic period generally taken to begin with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and end with the conquest of the Greek world by the Romans, a process well underway by 146 BCE, when the Greek mainlan ...
.Theodossiev, Nikola"The tholos tomb at Alexandrovo: Thracian funerary paintings in a broader context"
, 2005 The fresco in the main chamber depicts a hunting scene where a boar is attacked by a mounted hunter and a naked man wielding a double-axe. The double-axe is interpreted as representing royal power, the naked man as representing
Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis ( grc-gre, Ζάλμοξις) also known as Salmoxis (Σάλμοξις), Zalmoxes (Ζάλμοξες), Zamolxis (Ζάμολξις), Samolxis (Σάμολξις), Zamolxes (Ζάμολξες), or Zamolxe (Ζάμολξε) is a divinity of the ...
, the Thracian solar god corresponding to Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
.
A graffito in the chamber inscribed with the Thracian name ''Kozemases'' indicates either the tomb's noble patron or its artist.
The Thracian tomb of Alexandrovo is dated at early 4th century BC.The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46 (Men-at-Arms) by Christopher Webber and Angus McBride, 2001, , page 19 Wall paintings exhibit the change in appearance due to Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
influence. In the wall-paintings beards, tattoos, cloaks, boots, hats, top-knots have disappeared. Greek footwear replaces their boots. The tomb may be that of Triballi
The Triballi ( grc, Τριβαλλοί, Triballoí, lat, Triballi) were an ancient people who lived in northern Bulgaria in the region of Roman Oescus up to southeastern Serbia, possibly near the territory of the Morava Valley in the late Iron A ...
.The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC (Hardcover)
by D. M. Lewis, , 1994, page 463
Also other changes are seen such as Thracians wearing gold or bronze torcs around their necks (usually three).
Gallery
See also
* Thracian tomb of Cotys I *Thracian tomb Golyama Arsenalka
Golyama Arsenalka mound is a Thracian burial tumulus with a subterranean stone building near the Bulgarian town of Shipka. It dates from the end of 5th century BCE.
It is composed of a representative façade, a small antechamber and a domed ...
*Thracian tomb Griffins
The Thracian tomb Griffins, found in Bulgaria, has a façade decorated with plastic columns and with a pediment above them. The pediment`s ends are semi-palmettes, the lower leaves of which are elongated and look like heads of griffins. The temple ...
*Thracian tomb Helvetia
The Thracian tomb "Helvetia" mound near Shipka, Bulgaria, was built in the middle of the 4th century BC.
Construction
The walls of the tomb's entrance corridor are made of stone. After this corridor an antechamber is followed by a rectangul ...
*Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak
The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak ( bg, Казанлъшка гробница, ''Kazanlǎška grobnica'') is a vaulted-brickwork "beehive" ( tholos) tomb near the town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria.
The tomb is part of a large royal Thracian necropo ...
*Thracian tomb Ostrusha
The Ostrusha mound is a Thracian burial tumulus near the Bulgarian town of Shipka. It was constructed in the middle of the 4th century BCE. The stone structures under the more than 18 meters high mound form one of the biggest representative to ...
* Thracian tomb of Seuthes III
*Thracian tomb Shushmanets
The Thracian tomb at Shushmanets is a mound located in the Valley of the Thracian Rulers. It was built as a temple in the 4th century BC and later used as a tomb.
Architecture
The temple has a long and wide entry corridor and an antechamber, ...
*Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari
The Thracian Tomb of Svestari (Свещарска гробница, ''Sveshtarska grobnitsa'') is 2.5 km southwest of the village of Sveshtari, Razgrad Province, which is 42 km northeast of Razgrad, in northeast Bulgaria. The tomb is pr ...
*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 ...
*Roman Tomb (Silistra)
The Roman Tomb of Silistra ( bg, Римска гробница в Силистра, ''Rimska grobnitsa v Silistra'') is an Ancient Roman burial tomb in the town of Silistra in northeastern Bulgaria. Dating to the mid-4th century AD, the Roman T ...
Tombs in Bulgaria
Thracian sites
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksandrovo Kurgan Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century BC Thracian sites Archaeological sites in Bulgaria Kurgans 2001 in Bulgaria 2001 in science Buildings and structures in Haskovo Province Tombs in Bulgaria History of Haskovo Province 2000 archaeological discoveries