The Mogilanskata Tumulus is located in the center of the town of Vratsa, in northwestern Bulgaria. The tumulus is about sixty meters in diameter and about seven meters high. Excavations in 1965 and 1966 revealed three burial chambers.' The earliest one, Tomb I, was built at the level of the ancient terrain early in the second quarter of the fourth century BC; it had a circular plan and was built of unwrought stones. Disturbed human remains were discovered in it together with four ceramic vases and the skeletons of four sacrificed dogs. This earliest structure was covered by the original mound.
Several decades later, Tomb Il was added to the southern periphery of the tumulus. It cannot be reconstructed in its entirety, but numerous iron spikes indicate the existence of a rectangular wooden structure, around which stone walls were built. The tomb collapsed under the mound's weight on top of the rich grave goods. In the antechamber the remains of a cart were discovered, along with the skeletons of a young male and a saddle horse with a bridle decorated with elaborate silver fittings. In the chamber, a woman, younger than twenty years old, was laid out with a magnificent gold laurel wreath and exquisite gold earrings. Gold appliqués, possibly from a richly decorated veil, as well as pendants and buttons, attest to her elevated status. Other objects in Tomb Il, however—including iron knives, a sword in a scabbard, a quiver of arrows, fragments of a bronze helmet, and a gilded-silver greave—are typical of a warrior's burial. The finds suggest that a local ruler was buried here along with his wife, who was killed during the funerary ceremony, a practice vividly described by Herodotus.
Tomb Ill, the latest chamber, was built in the southern periphery of the mound at the end of the third quarter of the 4th century BCE. It was a rectangular structure with a transverse wall dividing it in two, built of unwrought river stones without binding material. Again, iron spikes and nails were used for a wooden construction. In the antechamber a disturbed horse skeleton was discovered, and the remains of a man, also disturbed, were uncovered in the main chamber. Next to him there were two small jugs, one gold (above) and one silver. A quiver with arrows was also discovered.
The remarkable gold jug from Tomb III has a spherical body, short neck, and flaring rim (cat. 51d). The handle is open-work, made of two gold rods in the form of a Herakles knot, a motif that became particularly popular in the Early Hellenistic period. The rim is decorated with Ionic and Lesbian cymation, and a band of linked palmettes runs around the shoulders. The body of the jug is decorated with two antithetical depictions of two-wheeled winged chariots drawn by four horses each, separated by a large palmette. The charioteers are male, short-haired, and possibly wearing scale armor. While the shape resembles that of a Pheidias mug-an Athenian shape that was popular in Thrace in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE (cats. 47e, 47f) - and the scene is clearly influenced by Greek iconography, the jug is undoubtedly of local Thracian workmanship. Its manufacture in gold suggests that it had special functions, possibly related to ritual.
-- Nartsis Torbov, Associate Professor, Department of Culture, Heritage, and Tourism, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia.
ca. 350-300 BCE, Thracian, from Tomb III in the Mogilanskata Tumulus, Vratsa, Bulgaria (excavated 1965-66).
Vratsa, Regional Historical Museum (B 391)
_____
Photographed at the Getty Villa Museum, part of the 'Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece' exhibition.
