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Treasures of Bulgaria
Perperikon
Treasures of Bulgaria
Perperikon – messages from the beginning of time
Eastern Rhodope, Bulgaria
Perperikon – a big megalithic sanctuary,
that has evolved into a holy city, and later into a medieval fortress.
Did the god of stone, Per, give the name Perperikon?
Or did the medieval gold coin “perpera” (“zlatica”)
give the name of the place?
Is it the ancient temple of Dionysus,
where the Thracian tribe Satri performed religious rituals?
The ancient complex consists of four sections, set up in the Ist century AD,
at the time when the Roman Empire conquered ancient Thrace.
The first section is an impressive strong fortified wall.
ВThe second one is Acropolis – huge stone blocks on top of the hill.
The third section is a palace, carved in the rock covering an area of 10,000 sq. m.
The fourth and final section includes north and south suburbs -
residential buildings, temples and streets, carved into the rocks.
Geography and road
Perperikon is situated in Eastern Rhodope,
15 km northeast of today’s city of Kardjali.
It is a rocky peak, 470 m high.
It can be reached via Asenovgrad or Haskovo in direction to Kardjali.
The village of Gorna Krepost lies at its foot.
The Perperishka River runs by the village and flows into the Studen Kladenec Dam Lake.
Over the millenniums the river has formed a fertile valley
with a length of approximately 10 km and width of 3-4 km.
The convenient river valley and the favorable mild climate have created
excellent conditions for settling since ancient times.
The area is rich of archeological sites of different ages,
whose natural center is Perperikon.
History
At the dawn of humanity Perperikon was a huge rocky massif.
People have been attracted by its mystery for centuries,
and have deified the spectacular rock formations.
In Eastern Rhodope people created megalithic culture,
which precedes with millenniums the Thracian culture.
The earliest traces of life date back to late Neolithic,
around the end of the VIth and the beginning of the Vth millennium BC.
Traces of Neolithic ceramics are found on the surface of the rocks,
deposited in natural crevices.
People perfected their tools over the centuries, and this allowed
them to take larger and larger surfaces of the stone massifs.
This resulted, however, in destroying the traces of earlier cultures.
Late cuts erased the remains of the early civilizations of Perperikon.
Traces have been found of Stone–Copper Age (Eneolithic period) as well,
more precisely of its last stage at the end of the Vth and the beginning of the IVth millennium BC.
Perperikon experienced its first great zenith in the XVIIIth-XIIth BC,
at the time of Cretan-Mycenaean civilization and the one of Troy.
On the rocks you can see the carved image of the Proto-Bulgarian Goddess of fertility, Umay.
In the Middle Ages, in the XIIIth-XIVth century the fortress was a regional
and episcope center in Byzantium.
The holy millennial city was destroyed by the Turks in the middle of the XIVth century.
In 1346 the fortresses in Eastern Rhodope sank into oblivion.
Perperikon – archeological complex
The medieval church was discovered during fieldworks in 2007
and is situated at the foot of the hill.
The temple was near the outskirts of the city,
and next to it there is a necropolis.
The rocky throat with a length of 100 meters leads the visitor
to the archaeological complex itself – to the palace-sanctuary and the Acropolis.
It was probably a natural formation which was additionally processed by humans.
The rocky passage ends with an impressive fortified wall,
which is about 2.5 meters tall.
On the left (west) you pass through the First Gate,
and from there you can enter the center of the complex.
The hall with five step staircase, as well as the other premises in the complex,
are carved in the rock.
A throne with armrests and footrests is also carved in the rock.
We are still not sure what it served for.
The small and large tombs (crypt) surround the throne hall.
The altar of the Temple of Dionysus is over the Large crypt.
The staircase from the south side leads to the Acropolis and the Small Palace.
The Acropolis and the Small Palace were built at the same time as the streets,
the houses and the temples, cut in the rocks.
The Small Palace consists of 17 rooms,
corridors, inner courtyards and two entrances.
A second tank is carved in the stone – a water reservoir for the people of Perperikon.
You can also see the eastern wall of the medieval fortress,
behind which is the second basilica with the altar.
A Roman neighborhood is situated in the northwestern section of the complex.
It is surrounded with strong fortified wall.
Recent discoveries
In the autumn of 2011 the archeologist prof. Nikolaj Ovcharov declared that
they had discovered a second large ancient temple in Perperikon.
According to prof. Ovcharov we can now have an idea of how the ritual of warship was performed there.
It is a classic ancient temple – a room measuring 5.5 to 5 meters,
whose first section was carved in the rocks, while the other one is built of stone walls.
Perperikon continues to reveal its mysteries.
Perperikon – messages from the beginning of time
English subtitles, translated by Mariana DELOVA
Author: Valentin Petkov www.vpetkov.dir.bg
Perperikon, September, 2011