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 coralie.james@louvre.fr

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.