site.btaUPDATED Panagyurishte Gold Treasure to Be Displayed at J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

The Panagyurishte Gold Treasure and exhibits from the Bashova and Mushovitsa mounds will be put on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, USA, as part of an exhibition dedicated to the region of Ancient Thrace. The Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: Treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece exhibition features more than 150 exhibits of fourteen Bulgarian museums and will be on display between November 3, 2024, and March 3, 2025.

Archaeologist Lyubomir Merdzhanov of the Regional Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv told BTA that his museum will participate in the exhibition with three treasures, one of which is Bulgaria’s emblematic Panagyurishte Gold Treasure. It is one of the so-called deposited treasures, which does not consist of tomb artifacts but was hidden for some reason, he explained. The other exhibits are objects from two mounds (Bashova and Mushovitsa) from the iconic necropolis near the village of Duvanlii in the Kaloyanovo Municipality.

The Gold Treasure of Panagurishte

The treasure was discovered by accident in 1949 by three brothers, Pavel, Petko, and Michail Deikov. The treasure was first entered in the inventory books of the Regional Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv and is its property. It is believed that the treasure was made in the Asia Minor town of Lampsacus. The drinking set consists of nine gold vessels - a phiale and eight rhytons depicting various zoomorphic and anthropomorphic images of mythological characters and scenes popular in Thrace during the Hellenistic era. It weighs 6.1 kg. The treasure belonged to a still unknown Thracian ruler of the Odrysian tribe who ruled in late 4th or early 3rd century BC.

The phiale, a shallow metal libation bowl, is decorated with relief images of black men's faces and acorns arranged in concentric circles. It bears two inscriptions showing its weight in units used in the town of Lampsacus (modern Lapseki, Canakkale Province, Turkiye). This vessel is made of gold whose composition differs from the other eight vessels in the set.

Two of the rhytons resemble the heads of deer. One has Athena, Paris, Hera and Aphrodite depicted on its neck. Another, whose handle features a figure of a lion, shows Heracles wrestling the Ceryneian Hind and Theseus hunting the Marathonian Bull.

The handle of the golden rhyton, made like a ram's head, also ends with the figure of a lion. The neck is embossed with the sitting figures of Dionysus and the Bacchante Eriope. Dancing Bacchantes are also depicted on that vessel.

Three rhytons are made to resemble the heads of an Amazon or a goddess. Two of them have their subjects wear a veil in their hair and a necklace. One has a handle with a figure of a sphinx. Sphinxes also decorate the helmet of one of the Amazons.

The gold rhyton, the lower part of which is shaped like the protome of a goat, has the figures of Hera, Artemis, Apollo and Nike in relief on its neck.

The amphora-rhyton has centaurs-formed handles. The central composition on its sides shows five warriors during a battle. Another depicts two warriors during rest reading the future on a liver, while the third one features baby Heracles strangling two snakes in the presence of Silenus.

Treasures from the necropolis near the village of Duvanlii

The other exhibits are objects from the mounds Bashova and Mushovitsa from the iconic necropolis near the village of Duvanlii in Kaloyanovo Municipality.

The Mushovitsa Mound is a cremation burial with a poorly preserved skeleton in a wooden coffin, most likely of a woman. The find includes grave offerings, including a gold breastplate with stylized bird images and a set of three fibulae, two of which have pendants of three acorns. Among the exhibits are also ten earrings, two more earpieces and a fine gold necklace. Other findings include three glass oenochoes and two alabastra for holding perfume. Extremely rare are the terracotta female bust and the black-figure amphora. The amphora, one of the few such found in Bulgaria, depicts two scenes - the struggle of Theseus with Procrustes and a Dionysian scene. The tomb dates to the 6th-5th century BC.

Bashova Mound, which is the site for a man's burial, offered various interesting artefacts, including a silver gilded rhyton shaped like a horse protome and a phiale, about 30 cm in diameter, depicting four chariots going in a circle along the edge. The find also included a kylix with a gilded image of a goddess riding a horse along the seashore, a gold breastplate depicting a mountain lion or wolf, a large ceramic hydria and a bronze hydria (large containers for liquids), a two-piece armour, a silver jug. The word Dedaleme was engraved on the jug, the rhyton and two other vessels after they were made. Merdzhanov noted that while there are many theories about what it could mean, a likely theory and one of the most curious things about the treasure is that it might be someone's name.

The graves, discovered in the 1930s, are part of the so-called Duvanlii necropolis, which is a large Hellenistic necropolis containing rich burials from the Thracian period. Some of the finds are in the Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv, while others are located in the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM-BAS). The famous silver amphora from Kukova Mound is also part of the exhibition in the US but as part of the NAIM-BAS exhibits.

The Duvanlii Mounds are the first extensively studied necropolis in Bulgaria. Archaeologists Ivan Velkov, Vasil Mikov, followed by Bogdan Filov, began experimenting to find out the best way to study such mounds, Merdzhanov said. It was an early period of accumulating empirical knowledge. Interestingly, a significant part of the population of the surrounding villages got involved in the excavations then, as the lack of excavation equipment meant that everything had to be done by hand.

The treasures bear signs of prestige, showing that the Thracian aristocracy was in contact with the Mediterranean world and acquired objects of luxury through trade routes. Many of these objects were not produced locally, Merdzhanov said. The entire necropolis at the village of Duvanlii speaks of a concentration of Thracian aristocracy in the area, however, it is difficult to say which settlement it is associated with. It might be related to Philippopolis, but since the city is quite far away, in all likelihood there was a dynastic centre, a large settlement, or perhaps a residence in the area that is yet to be found. The last archaeological excavations in the area were conducted 20 years ago by Assoc. Prof. Kostadin Kisyov, director of the Regional Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv (RAM - Plovdiv), who explored one of the mounds and discovered yet another rich burial site. There were some 60 mounds scattered between the villages. Most of them have been levelled, and many were looted in the 1990s and have been lost to science.

Archaeological Museum in Plovdiv

RAM - Plovdiv is one of the oldest cultural institutions in Bulgaria. It was officially unveiled in 1882. Its label used to be archaeological-numismatic cabinet until its final establishment as an archaeological museum in 1920. The idea of establishing a museum in Plovdiv came from the prominent Bulgarian revivalist, scribe and statesperson Yoakim Gruev, who held the position Director of National Education in Eastern Rumelia between May 20, 1879, and November 23, 1884. The library and museum were Gruev's responsibility. The museum had three departments - archaeological, numismatic and manuscript. In 1883, the manuscript department became the founding structural part of today's Plovdiv Ivan Vazov Library. The museum boasted a collection of 1,500 coins, ethnographic and historical documents, church plate, printed books from the 17th and 18th centuries, 300 icons and paintings by the Bulgarian artists Stanislav Dospevski, Ivan Lazarov, Tsanko Lavrenov, Nikolay Rainov, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, among others.

On May 1, 1901, archaeologist Boris Dyakovich took over the management of the library and museum and kept his post until 1931. In 1910, he carried out his plans to establish a new museum to house the "antiquities" of a rich area such as Thrace. He inaugurated the museum department, which originally existed as an archaeological and numismatic cabinet under the National Library. The newly reopened museum had six departments - archaeological, historical, ethnographic, ecclesiastical, numismatic and miscellaneous antiquities. 

The museum has a collection of nearly 100,000 exhibits, works of art and everyday life related to the history of the Plovdiv region and the city of Plovdiv, heir to Philippopolis, one of the largest and most important ancient cities on the Balkan Peninsula.

The region of Plovdiv in the 5th - 1st centuries BC was inhabited by the Odrysians, the only one of 46 known Thracian tribes to have created a state organization governed by a royal institution. The Odrysian state spread across the territory of modern Bulgaria, northwestern Turkiye and the northern parts of Greece. Representatives of the Thracian aristocracy were buried in large mounds and stone tombs of various builds.

The earliest tombs with a cist-like layout and polychrome painting from the 5th century BC are located in Kaloyanovo Municipality. They are associated with the descendants of the first Odrysian ruler, King Teres I (480 - 440 BC). In early 4th century BC, during the reign of King Kotys I (383 - 359 BC), monumental walled tombs with a corridor (dromos) and burial chambers with a door for multiple visits became common. This type of tombs is found in the area of Perushtitsa and Brestovitsa, Plovdiv, as well as near the village of Starosel, Hisarya Municipality.