The Thracian Way Of Death
The Bulgarian countryside is dotted with Thracian burial mounds, or mogili , the majority of which remain unexcavated. They were erected by a society which set great emphasis on the role of the tomb, both in providing the deceased with a lasting memorial and in creating a focus for the ancestor-worship cult which flourished in this culture. Some tombs served as family mausoleums, containing the bones of several generations. Principal tombs that are open to the public can be found near Kazanlak and Sveshtari; otherwise, most Bulgarian museums house Thracian burial finds of one sort or another. According to Herodotus , deceased Thracian nobles were laid out for three days, during which time a short period of mourning was held, followed by a great communal feast. The body was then either buried or cremated, with a tumulus raised over it, and a series of athletic games and contests were begun, the biggest prizes being awarded for single combat. Herodotus also notes that amongst those tribes where polygamy was practised, the wives of a dead warrior would compete vigourously for the honour of being declared his favourite, and so be slaughtered and buried alongside him. This assertion is partly borne out by the evidence of some of the excavated tumili, where the bones of young females have been found lying next to those of the chieftain. In many cases, however, the deceased made do with the company of his favourite horse. Modern archeological evidence points to a rich funerary culture , full of symbolic actions whose meanings can only be guessed at. Many tombs were regularly reopened so that sacrifices and other rituals could be caried out, suggesting that burial places served as cultic centres for the surrounding settlement. In some areas, the body was disinterred and moved to another location, either within the tomb or elsewhere, pointing to ritual reburial as an important part of funerary practice. Each season of excavation reveals yet stranger rites: one of the Sveshtari tombs was found to contain half the skeleton of a large dog - the other half had been buried outside, possibly a ritual means whereby the spirit dog would guard the approaches to his master's tomb, as well as keeping by his side. Indeed, hunting dogs may well have accompanied tribal chieftains into the afterlife, the existence of which the Thracians took for granted, although it's unclear as to whether life beyond the grave was enjoyed by all, or merely the elite group of nobles and priest-kings. However, Herodotus relates how certain tribes mourned the birth of children, thinking of the sufferings they would endure through life, and would celebrate "with merriment and rejoicing" the death of one of their number, who could no longer by touched by pain or sorrow. Thracian beliefs about the immortality of the soul undoubtedly spread southward to Greece, where they contributed to the development of mystery cults such as Orphism .
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