<< Our Photo Pages >> Tatul Thracian Temple - Ancient Temple in Bulgaria
Submitted by ivanjohnson on Tuesday, 15 April 2008 Page Views: 6004
Multi-periodSite Name: Tatul Thracian TempleCountry: Bulgaria Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Momchilgrad Nearest Village: Tatul
Latitude: 41.542100N Longitude: 25.545600E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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I have visited· I would like to visit
quetzalcoatl visited on 1st Jan 2015 - their rating: Cond: 2
The Tatul temple site includes a stone structure of large ashlar masonry and a very striking hilltop monumental tomb or grave at its summit carved from the solid rock. It has been proposed that it may be the ritual tomb of the deified King Rhesus of Thrace, mentioned in Homer's "Illiad" fighting on the side of Trojans in Book 10, and in the play "Rhesus" by Euripides based on that book (Trojan War is 12th cen. BC). It is possible that the site may also have been a sanctuary of Orpheus. A small ancient votive figurine of a nude man holding a harp has been found there.
Tatul (Bulgarian: Татул, the local name for Datura stramonium) is a village in Momchilgrad municipality, Kardzhali Province located in the Eastern Rhodopes in southern Bulgaria. It lies 15 km east of Momchilgrad. In the 2000's Bulgarian archaeologists discovered an ancient Thracian surface tomb and sanctuary in the immediate proximity of the village, and it was soon recognized as an important religious centre in the region. Archaeological finds date the earliest settlement to 4000 BC. The site is the sanctuary and tomb of an influential Thracian leader who was deified after his death. It is linked with the cult of Orpheus. The ancient sources describe the ritual of burying leaders overground, on the top of a hill (as opposed to in a mound), as extremely rare, mentioning only Orpheus and Rhesus as two of the leaders who were buried this way[citation needed] and as Orpheus was buried in Leibethra close to Olympus, Greece, it only leaves Rhesus as a candidate though both of the characters are mythological and may have never existed. Around 30 clay altars and other items from the 19th-18th century BC have been excavated, as well as an idol, a nude male figure from the Iron Age, proving the sanctuary was used without interruption in the period. A stone wall was erected surrounding the hill between the 4th and the 1st century BC, and the temple was constructed shortly thereafter, with the religious complex gradually expanding and the religious activity worshipping the man buried in Tatul shifting to the mausoleum that was built. Several new buildings were constructed in the 2nd-3rd century AD and the Christianization of the Rhodopes in the late 4th-early 5th century resulted in the conversion of the complex into a local ruler's domain featuring a defensive tower. The complex also suffered from two earthquakes, once in the 12th century BC and once in the 14th century AD.
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