The Thracians
Long before anyone spoke of Bulgaria, the lands we now call Bulgaria were home to the Thracians – a host of tribes that Herodotus called “the most numerous people in the world after the Indians”. Had they ever united, he wrote, they would have been unbeatable. Luckily for their neighbours, they almost never did.
- Orpheus – the mythical singer who could move even the underworld to tears. The Rhodope Mountains claim him as their own, and the dispute with the neighbours was settled in their favour long ago.
- Spartacus – a Thracian, probably from the Middle Struma region, who led the largest slave uprising against Rome in the 1st century BC.
- The golden treasures – Panagyurishte, Vulchitrun, Rogozen. The Thracians buried their rulers with more gold than most banks hold today.
The Varna Necropolis
The oldest worked gold in the world was found in Varna. It dates from around 4500 BC – older than the Egyptian pyramids. If anyone tells you Bulgaria is a poor country, point them to the Varna Necropolis.
Greeks and Romans
From the 7th century BC the Greeks founded colonies along the Black Sea coast: Apollonia (today’s Sozopol), Mesembria (Nesebar) and Odessos (Varna). The Romans came later and turned the lands into provinces. Serdica – today’s Sofia – became a favourite city of Emperor Constantine. He is said (at least according to legend) to have declared: “Serdica is my Rome.”
Roman baths, amphitheatres and roads are everywhere. In Plovdiv the Roman stadium lies under the main pedestrian street, and in Sofia the ruins of Serdica sit inside the metro. Build something new and you find something old. That is why construction here is always late.