site.btaDecember 10, 1974: Borovo Silver Treasure Is Discovered  

The Borovo Silver Treasure was discovered fifty years ago today in the village (now town) of Borovo, Ruse region. A ploughing tractor unearthed five silver gilt vessels. The plow damaged some of the objects, but after extensive restoration work, the damage is barely visible.

The Thracian treasure of Borovo is displayed in the National History Museum in Sofia, but it is rarely to be found there as it often travel around the world as part of various exhibitions. It is currently on a tour of North America as part of an exhibition of Bronze Age treasures.

The treasure consists of a table set of three rhyta, a bowl, and a rhyton jug. The rhyta are adorned by protomes (half figures) of a sphinx, a horse, and a bull. The bowl, a large, two-handled vessel is decorated with a relief of a deer being attacked by a griffin. The rhyton jug displays images of gods at a feast; images of Dionysus and Heracles, satyrs, griffons, and sphinxes.

The largest rhyton bears an inscription mentioning Cotys and the town of Beos. It suggests a place of making (the town of Beos, southeastern Thrace on the coast of Sea of Marmara). And a dating - on the assumption that the treasure belonged to the Odrysian king Cotys (383-360 BC). 

The name of Cotys appears on artefacts from the Rogozen Treasure too and the objects may have been an Odrysian gift to some ruler of the Getae. 

Knowledge about Thracian states, tribes, rulers, way of life, and culture is so limited that many issues are subject to speculations and guesses.

Questions are more numerous than the answers when historians deal with Thracian artefacts - and Borovo treasure is no exception. For instance, archaeologists, inspecting the site of the discovery didn’t find any traces of a burial - as if the vessels have been hidden with unknown purpose and under unknown circumstances.

As is the case with other Thracian artefacts, it is debatable whether the objects were used for ritual purposes or in everyday life. The ornamentation of the artefacts is so rich in mythology, afterlife beliefs and religious perceptions that Thracian imagery is mostly interpreted from ritual point of view, rather than from the point of view of everyday life and mundane activities like eating and drinking. Scholars focusing on ancient Thrace interpret most figures as “visible myth”, to quote one of the most prominent experts, prof. Ivan Marazov. And many elements of these myths are now completely lost.

A contemporary observer, expecting idols and heavy stylization from ancient artefacts, is amazed to see high-level artistic realism. The scene on the bottom of the bowl (griffin attacking a doe: a motif known from other Thracian monuments) reflects perfectly animals’ movement dynamics. And figures displayed on the rhyton jug could convince even a non-expert that the figures are indeed feasting...

Whatever the purpose and meaning of Thracian toreutic relics, they impress our modern taste with refinement and with attention to detail that make of kitchen utensils pieces of jewellery. Enough is to mention the careful depiction of the plaited horse mane (made in gold) or the tiny holes in the ears of the winged sphynx (suggesting missing earrings). 

It is for a reason that replicas of Borovo treasure artefacts are frequently used for gifts for distinguished guests.