Seuthopolis
Seuthopolis is an ancient city located in Thrace, southeastern Bulgaria, believed to have been the capital of the Thracian King Seuthes III during the early Hellenistic period. Established in the 4th century BC, the city was strategically positioned on a terrace bordered by the river Tonzus and one of its tributaries. Notable for its impressive architecture, Seuthopolis featured robust city walls, towers, and a royal palace that included a lavish throne room and a sanctuary dedicated to various deities, including Dionysus. The city was laid out in a rectangular (Hippodamian) street plan, with noble houses displaying elements of Greek architectural influence.
Despite its significance, Seuthopolis faced destruction by the end of the 4th century BC and remained largely forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1940s. Nearby Kazanluk is known for its domed tombs that housed Thracian princes, adorned with intricate wall paintings that reflect both Greek and Eastern artistic influences. The archaeological findings from Seuthopolis and its surroundings offer valuable insights into the urban development and cultural exchanges of the Thracians, highlighting their complex societal structures and interactions with neighboring cultures.
Seuthopolis
(two miles from Koprinka)
A city in Thrace (southeastern Bulgaria), situated on a terrace surrounded on three sides by the river Tonzus (Toundja) and one of its tributaries. Although unmentioned in the literary sources—its name is only known from inscriptions—Seuthopolis appears to have been the capital of the powerful and wealthy Thracian (Odrysian) King Seuthes III, who built it on the site of an earlier settlement during his breakaway from Macedonian rule (330–324), and established a royal mint at the new foundation.
Surviving remains include powerful city walls, towers and gates, in addition to a walled precinct encircling the monarch's residence. This palace (tyrsis) contained a finely decorated throne room and was linked to a sanctuary—with a large cult fireplace—dedicated to the Cabiri and the other Great Gods of Samothrace; the shrine is mentioned in a recently discovered inscription, which also records a temple of Dionysus. Constructed according to a rectangular (Hippodamian) street plan, the town included spacious noblemen's houses—sometimes of Greek types—built round courtyards and revealing traces of colonnades, upper storeys and systems of drainage. The site of Seuthopolis casts much new light on the urban history of the Thracians in the early Hellenistic age. It suffered destruction, however, at the end of the fourth century BC and was not rediscovered until the 1940s.
Kazanluk, five miles away, displays a number of domed tombs designed for the burial of Thracian princes before and after 300 BC. In the most important of these graves, the dome is decorated with wall paintings, executed by a Greek artist. The central group displays the dead man, holding a cup (phiale), symbolic of divinity; seated at a laden table, he is flanked by his wife and a servant girl, sitting and standing respectively. A procession of women, too, is shown bringing gifts to the royal bride. The artistic concepts of these designs are Greek, but the character of the procession, and the difference in size between the figures—indicative of their hierarchic status—are suggestive of eastern influences.