Athena Review Image Archive ™
Ancient Thrace: Silver-gilt pectoral from tomb (340-330 BC)
Silver-gilt pectoral from a Thracian tomb (photo: Georgiev).
A
spectacular collection of gold and silver items has been recovered from
tombs in Bulgaria, the ancient region of Thracia. About 15,000 such
massive ground barrows are still visible today in the hills and
flatlands of the Balkan Range, anciently called Haemus. Thracian rulers
and members of the nobility were buried in monumental stone tombs,
known as heroons.
Most Thracian gold and silver items in these
tombs were manufactured between the 5th and 3rd century BC, when
craftsmen from Thrace and northern Greece used refined repousee or
hammered metal-working techniques to produce mythological and other
traditional designs. Thrace was also well known for its silver and gold
mines, including the Pangeion gold mines near the Strymon delta,
captured by Philip II in 348 BC.
Copyright © 1996-2019 Athena Publications, Inc. (All Rights Reserved).