Press Release
Exhibition
April 16—July 20, 2015
Richelieu Area
The Saga of the Thracian
Kings Archaeological Discoveries in
Bulgaria
Home to Orpheus and various legendary kings featured in Homer,
Thrace is still a little-known region whose splendors are now being
slowly revealed thanks to recent archaeological research.
During the classical period there emerged a new regional power,
the Odrysian kingdom, on the edges of the Greek world and the
Persian Empire. Numerous graves of kings and aristocrats
uncovered in recent decades have yielded ceramic, bronze, and
golden furnishings that testify to the wealth of Thrace. Located
between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, Thrace was stimulated
by its multifarious contacts with surrounding civilizations. This
exhibition will explore the reality and complexity of the Odrysian
kingdom through artifacts from Bulgarian museums.
Seeking to offer a historical approach to Thrace from the fifth to third
centuries BC, the exhibition focuses on the rise and establishment of a
major political power, namely the Odrysian kingdom. In a region
marked by a multiplicity of political and social centers of gravity, this
dynasty managed to develop its own identity.
Two distinct phases in the construction of the kingdom’s aristocratic
identity are evident in the period between the withdrawal of Persian
troops from Aegean Thrace in 479 BC and the Celtic invasions that
began around 279 BC.
During the classical period, the Odrysian dynasty was a key regional
player in the game of alliances being conducted by Macedonians and
Athenians around their northern Aegean colonies. During the
Hellenistic period, the Odrysae came face to face with other modes of
rule as manifested not only by the kingdom of Macedonia but also by
the powers they encountered on expeditions to the Orient alongside
Alexander the Great.
The reality of the Odrysian world will be presented in the global
context of the ancient world, involving contact with other regional
entities, such the autonomous Thracian tribes of the Getae and Triballi,
as well as Greek city-states. Recent archaeological discoveries show
how this local power appropriated a varied range of glamorous items
originating from differing geographical regions—Achaemenid Asia
Minor, Greek city-states, and the Macedonian kingdom—which, rather
than diluting Thracian identity, were reformulated into a discourse that
shaped Thrace’s own fully autonomous identity.
Exhibition curators:
Supervisory curator: Jean-Luc Martinez, Director, Musée du Louvre.
French curators: Alexandre Baralis, Department of Greek, Etruscan,
and Roman Antiquities, Musée du Louvre; Néguine Mathieux, History
of the Louvre Division, Research and Collections Department, Musée
du Louvre.
Bulgarian curators: Totko Stoyanov, Saint Kliment Ohridski
University, Sofia, and Miléna Tonkova, National Archaeological
Institute and Museum, Sofia.
Practical information
Location
Richelieu area, Richelieu wing
Opening hours
Every day from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except
Tuesday. Night opening until 9:30 p.m. on
Wednesdays and Fridays.
Admission
Included with museum ticket: €12
Free for visitors under the age of 18, 18-25
year-old residents of the European Union,
holders of a valid "Pass Education" card,
unemployed individuals, holders of the
Family, Youth, Professional, and Ami du
Louvre cards, and on the first Sunday of each
month from October to March.
Further information : + 33 (0)1 40 20 53 17 /
www.louvre.fr
The leading sponsor of this exhibition is
Head of Seuthes III. Golyama Kosmatka. Bronze. National Institute of Archaeology and museums,
Sofia © National Institute of Archaeology and
museums, SofiaABS / Ivo Hadjimishev
Musée du Louvre - External Relations Department Press Contact
Anne-Laure Béatrix, Director Coralie James
Adel Ziane, Head of Communication Subdepartment [email protected]
Sophie Grange, Head of Press Division Tél. : +33 (0)1.40.20.54.44
In partnership with the Bulgarian
Ministry of Culture and Institut Français
in Bulgaria.
Thrace in ancient and modern imagination
A number of mythological figures still familiar to modern minds
are in fact linked to ancient Thrace, thus the first section of the
show—on “Legendary Thrace”—reappropriates these
unconscious cultural landmarks. The well-known figure of
Orpheus logically opens the exhibition, accompanied by works
evoking portraits of Thracian kings, some of whom were part of
the Homeric saga (Rhesus, Tereus, Diomedes, Phineus, and
Lycurgus). Visual artworks both classical and modern—the
products of a Greek mythological world in which Thrace long
represented a geographic and imaginative frontier—are
presented along medieval manuscripts that illustrate the
transmission and transformation of these various myths. Given
ongoing echoes between ancient visual media (vases) and
medieval and modern depictions (in manuscripts and paintings),
the persistence of emblematic scenes reveals the timelessness of
the Thracian world.
In contrast to major mythological figures, depictions of
anonymous Thracian men and women offer gender-based
insight into a highly standardized repertoire. Thus Thracian
women, although wearing Greek dress, are recognizable by their
tattoos—that ethnic marker par excellence—while Thracian men
are inevitably depicted as the famous mercenary warriors known
as peltasts.
The rise of a Thracian aristocracy and the assertion of
local power
Recent archaeological discoveries offer new insight into the
reality of the aristocratic milieu, as seen through the lens of
grave goods. Following the departure of Persian troops, the
elaboration of a new mode of ceremonial entertainment was
based on the accumulation of exotic objects, themselves vectors
of prestige linked to their place of origin yet testifying to the
emergence of a specifically Thracian identity.
Major sets of funerary furnishings from the fifth, fourth, and
third centuries BC, displayed in their totality for the first time,
make it possible to grasp the subtle balances governing the role
of each object, pointing to the structure and evolution of an
aristocratic protocol. Two tombs—Mushovitsa and Chernozem-
Kaloyanovo (discovered in 2005)—illustrate the differences
between male and female graves in the Duvanli necropolis in the
early classical period. The impressive furnishings of the
Zlatinitsa-Malomirivo burial mound (unearthed in 2005) are
emblematic of an aristocratic grave of the fourth century BC,
while the items in the so-called tomb of Seuthes III (discovered
in 2004)–Kazanlak, Goyamata Kosmatka—reveal the various
developments of the Hellenistic era.
The Department of Greek, Etruscan, and
Roman Antiquities collects works from all
three civilizations, documenting artistic
activity in a vast region stretching from
Greece and Italy to the entire
Mediterranean basin, over a period
extending from the Neolithic era (fourth
millennium BC) to the sixth century AD.
The department holds items from the first
excavation at Apollonia by Alexandre
Degrand, French consul in Plovdiv, which
were divided with Bulgaria’s National
Archaeological Institute. One particularly
fine object, an archaic piece of
architectural decoration of fired clay from
the late sixth century AD showing a
procession of soldiers, will be featured in
the show along with new pieces uncovered
during excavations in 2009–2010. France
and the Archaeological Institute renewed
their cooperative efforts in 2002, and the
dig at Sozopol (Apollonia) has been piloted
by the Louvre since 2014.
Pair of shin guards. 350–300 BC. Bronze. Iskra History Museum, Kazanlak © Iskra History Museum / Todor
Dimitrov.
The organization of Odrysian government
The organization of Odrysian royal government and of an entity
associated with the new ruling class can be measured by the
yardsticks of the Thracian language and of writing, that tool
indispensible to the establishment of an administrative chancery.
Several objects—a ring, a funeral stele, and bilingual potsherds
from the temple at Zone—testify to the existence of a Thracian
language written with the Greek alphabet.
The circulation of Greek-made items is evidence of extensive trade,
yet the existence of tools and dies indicate that local Thracian
workshops also thrived at the same time. Trade and production
centers concretized the development of commercial policies based
on alliances or on Odrysian domination over Greek city-states on
the coast.
A composite region
The question of the role and history of the famous “Thracian
treasures” remains completely open: were they diplomatic gifts, or
tribute paid by Greek city-states, or perhaps royal commissions?
Whatever the case, such goods are often heterogeneous collections
that were buried at some difficult moment. Perhaps they were gifts
redistributed in turn by Odrysian monarchs to political leaders of
the neighboring Triballi and Getae peoples. Despite the uncertainty,
these “treasures” feature highly lavish banqueting services
produced by goldsmiths in Greece and the Ionian coast of Turkey
as well as in local workshops. They point to the adoption of new
ways of socializing. The selection of objects, for that matter,
indicate various influences from different spheres successively
including the Achaemenid Empire, the Scythian peoples along the
coast of Dobruja, Athens and the Greek world, and finally
Macedonia, which became increasingly powerful from the reign of
Phillip II onward. The composite nature of Thrace is evoked
through the diversity of neighboring powers such as the Getae and
Triballi, and in particular the coastal Greek city-states whose
presence contributed to the circulation of items and fashions
throughout Thrace. The material reality of Greek city-states
contrasted with Thracian society, underscoring the singularity and
originality of each world. Urban society differed from Thrace’s
aristocratic world, as seen in monumental architecture, sculpture,
crafts, and religious funerary rites.
Religion: syncretic and original
Interaction between these two societies is viewed here through the
lens of religion: names and images of Greek and Thracian gods
traveled between both worlds, which might indicate either
superficial adoption (never integrated into the local sacred
repertoire) or else the more coherent incorporation of a deity and its
associated cult, as was the case with the goddess Bendis in Athens.
This latter case illustrates Thrace’s ties to its world and the very
real influence it could exercise in turn. Far from being a passive
recipient, Thrace became an active player.
Panagyurishte treasure. Late 4th century BC. Gold. Regional Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv © Regional
Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv / Todor Dimitrov.
Polychrome lekythos, tomb 4. 4th century BC. Fired clay. Archaeological Museum, Sozopol
© Archaeological Museum, Sozopol / Todor
Dimitrov.
Phiale, Hercules and Augeas, Rogozen. 4th century BC. Silver. Regional Historical Museum, Vratsa
© Regional Historical Museum, Vratsa / Todor
Dimitrov.