Lukovit treasure
Encyclopedia
The Lukovit Treasure is a silver Thracian treasure found in 1953 near the town of Lukovit
, Lovech Province
, north-western Bulgaria
. It consists of two groups of objects: plates, applications for horse bridles and vessels, 9 phiales, 3 ewers and a bowl.
The objects are made of silver, some of them gilded in order to reinforce the artistic images and to put emphasis on the ornaments. Phiales and the bowl are richly adorned with ornaments, depicting floral shapes, human heads and other artistic elements. On the applications various animals are portrayed – lion, gryphon, dog, stag and others.
There are also depictions of equestrians, typical for the Thracian art. On two of the plates there is a lion jumping on a deer, kneeling under the weight of the beast. Another plate depicts two horsemen chasing lions, which are already overtaken and fallen under the hoofs of the horses. These scenes in the Thracian art bear a certain social meaning. They are connected to glorifying the royal power. The rulers and their companies did spread by all possible means the legends for their exceptional divine origin and even by the trimming of the horse bridles made the common subjects to have faith and to obey.
The Lukovit Treasure is dated from 4th century BC and was made by different craftsmen. It was most probably buried in the ground during the Alexander the Great's invasion of the north-western Thracian lands.
Lukovit
Lukovit is a town in northern Bulgaria, part of Lovech Province. It is situated on both banks of the Zlatna Panega between the Danubian Plain and the foot of Stara Planina. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 9,630 inhabitants....
, Lovech Province
Lovech Province
Lovech Province is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area is 151,153.-Municipalities:...
, north-western Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. It consists of two groups of objects: plates, applications for horse bridles and vessels, 9 phiales, 3 ewers and a bowl.
The objects are made of silver, some of them gilded in order to reinforce the artistic images and to put emphasis on the ornaments. Phiales and the bowl are richly adorned with ornaments, depicting floral shapes, human heads and other artistic elements. On the applications various animals are portrayed – lion, gryphon, dog, stag and others.
There are also depictions of equestrians, typical for the Thracian art. On two of the plates there is a lion jumping on a deer, kneeling under the weight of the beast. Another plate depicts two horsemen chasing lions, which are already overtaken and fallen under the hoofs of the horses. These scenes in the Thracian art bear a certain social meaning. They are connected to glorifying the royal power. The rulers and their companies did spread by all possible means the legends for their exceptional divine origin and even by the trimming of the horse bridles made the common subjects to have faith and to obey.
The Lukovit Treasure is dated from 4th century BC and was made by different craftsmen. It was most probably buried in the ground during the Alexander the Great's invasion of the north-western Thracian lands.
See also
- Panagyurishte TreasurePanagyurishte treasureThe Panagyurishte Treasure is a Thracian treasure excavated on December 8, 1949 by three brothers, Pavel, Petko and Michail Deikov who worked together at the region of “Merul” tile factory near the town of Panagyurishte, Bulgaria. It consists of a phiale, an amphora and seven rhytons with total...
- Rogozen TreasureRogozen treasureThe Rogozen Treasure , called the find of the century, was discovered by chance in 1985 by a tractor driver digging a well in his garden in the Bulgarian village of Rogozen. It consists of 165 receptacles, including 108 phiales, 55 jugs and 3 goblets. The objects are silver with golden gilt on some...
- Valchitran Treasure
- Borovo TreasureBorovo TreasureThe Borovo Treasure, also known as the Borovo Silver Treasure, is part of the Thracian treasure. It is a set of five silver-gilt items discovered in late 1974 while ploughing a field in Borovo, Bulgaria....