The
rock city of Perperikon is located in the Eastern
Rhodopi mountains, 20 km to the North East of the town of
Kardzhali. This is an unique landmark in world megalith
culture. Everyone is simply amazed by the thousands of tons
of rock, which had been excavated, by the streets cut in
the rocks, by the preserved buildings, temples and palaces,
trough the doors of which you could walk in even nowadays.
As
a result of large-scale archaeological researches was found
that people used to worship the barren rock peak as early
as the Stone – Copper Age, 5000 y.B.C. Back then and in
the Bronze Age the ancient people placed gifts on the rocks,
for instance ceramic vessels with food, idols and cult objects.
Maybe
most important about this megalith temple were the excavations
of the impressive megalith sanctuary, comprising a large
oval roofless hall and a 100-meter passage chiseled in the
rock, leading to the hall. A 3-meter round altar, 2 meters
in diameter, rose in the center of the hall. Its surface
had been burned as a result of a great number of sacrifices.
According to the information in antique sources, telling
of one of the wonders of the Ancient world – the temple
of Dionysus in the Rhodopi mountains, the archaeologists
hope that it might been exactly on Perperikon.
In the era of the Roman conquest a fortified Acropolis was
added to the palace – temple and enormous suburbs grew chiseled
in the rock. After Perperikon was conquered and burned down
by the Goths in the second half of 4th century, in the beginning
of 5th century the city was restored and became an Episcopal
center of the newly adopted religion – Christianity.
In the Middle Age era Perperikon became the center of the
Eastern Rhodopi region, which was the personal domain of
the Emperor of Constantinopol. In the second half of 14th
century the city was destroyed and abandoned after the Ottoman
invasion.
Today
the impressive monument is opened for visits for these who
wants to feel themselves a part of the civilization of the
rock people.
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Madara Horseman is an early medieval large rock
relief carved on the Madara Plateau east of Shumen in northeastern
Bulgaria, near the village of Madara. The relief depicts a
majestic horseman 23 m above ground level in an almost vertical
100-metre-high cliff. The horseman, facing right, is thrusting
a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet. An eagle is
flying in front of the horseman and a dog is running after
him. The scene symbolically depicts a military triumph.
The
monument is dated back to circa 710 AD and has been on the
UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979. The dating means the
monument was created during the rule of Bulgar Khan Tervel,
and supports the thesis that it is a portrayal of the khan
himself and a work of the Bulgars, a nomadic tribe of warriors
which settled in northeastern Bulgaria at the end of the 7th
century AD and after merging with the local Slavs gave origin
to the modern Bulgarians. Other theories connect the relief
with the ancient Thracians, claiming it portrays a Thracian
god. |
