THRACIANS and PHRYGIANS: Problems of Parallelism Proceedings of an International Symposium on the Archaeology, History and Ancient Languages of Thrace and Phrygia Ankara, 3-4 June 1995
Edited by Numan Tuna, Zeynep Aktiire and Maggie Lynch
Centre for Research and Assessment of the Historic Environment
METU, Faculty of Architecture Press Ankara
TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Tables Editor's Note
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Introduction on behalf of Centre for Research and Assessment of the Historic Environment (TACDAM) at Middle East Technical University
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Ankara, TURKEY
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Numan TUNA, the Director Introduction on behalf of the Institute of Thracology
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Sofia, BULGARIA
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Kiril YORDANOV, the Director and Dr. Maya VASSILEVA Opening Speech on behalf of Scientific Institutions Prof .Dr. Machteld J. MELLINK Thracian-Phrygian Cultural Zone Maya VASSILEVA
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Sofia, BULGARIA
Megaliths in Thrace and Phrygia
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Valeria FOL Sofia, BULGARIA
Early Iron Age in Eastern Thrace and the Megalithic Monuments Mehmet OZDOGAN
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Istanbul, TURKEY
Some Connections Between the Northern Thrace and Asia Minor During the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Attila LASZLO
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/aji, ROMANIA
Bryges and Phrygians: Parallelism Between the Balkans and Asia Minor Through Archaeological, Linguistic and Historical Evidence
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Eleonora PETROVA Skoplje, MACEDONIA
Sabas/Sabazios/Sabo Alexander FOL Sofia, BULGARIA
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Burial Rites in Thrace and Phrygia Roumyana GEORGIEVA
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Sofia, BULGARIA
Die Ausgrabung der Megalithischen Dolmenanlage in Lalapasa MuratAKMAN
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Istanbul, TURKEY
The Early Iron Age Settlement on Buyiikkaya, Bogazkoy: First Impressions Jiirgen SEEHER
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German Institute of Archaeology, Istanbul
The Early Iron Age at Gordion: The Evidence from the Yassihoyuk Stratigraphic Sequence Robert C. HENRICKSON and Mary M. VOIGT
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Philadelphia, USA
Roman Phrygia D.H. FRENCH
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Waterford, UK
Phrygia: Linguistics and Epigraphies Petar DIMITROV
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Sofia, BULGARIA
Phrygian and the Southeast European Namebund Adrian PORUCIUC
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/a?i, ROMANIA
Une Inscription en Langue Inconnue Catherine BRIXHE et Thomas DREW-BEAR
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Lyon, FRANCE
Conservation and Reconstruction of Phrygian Chariot Wheels from Mysia Hande KOKTEN
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Istanbul, TURKEY
Microstructural Studies on Some Phrygian Metallic Objects Macit OZENBAS. and Levent ERCANLI
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Ankara, TURKEY
Panel Discussions
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BURIAL RITES IN THRACE AND PHRYGIA Roumyana GEORGIEVA Sofia, BULGARIA
The burial rites of the population that inhabited southeastern Europe and Asia Minor during antiquity had many common features, which are explained with a shared Indo-European origin, with tribal kinship and with territorial proximity which presupposed intensive contacts. Comparisons between Thrace and Phrygia usually concentrate on the tumuli, rock tombs and megaliths, common for both areas (Venedikov, 1976: 14; Sandars, 1974: 196-199; Vassileva, 1994a: 63-67). Added to these, suggestions from the ancient written tradition about the genetic kinship between Thracians and Phrygians (Venedikov, 1982: 74-82; Vassileva, 1993: 11-25) create the temptation to seek similarities in the burial rites as well. Rituals accompanying every funeral undoubtedly symbolize the transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead; and they are subordinated to notions about death, about the world beyond and the deceased person himself, these being usually directly dependent on the social and property status of the deceased. According to Herodotus, rich Thracian burials followed a strictly defined sequence: laying of the deceased in state for three days, lamentations, a funerary feast, inhumation or cremation of the body and funerary games (Her. 5.8). This pattern was hardly completely valid for Phrygia, but many of its elements are clearly attested in Phrygian necropolises, and this has stimulated the reconstruction of some elements of the ancient Phrygian burial ritual proposed below. It should be pointed out from the start that an amazing variety of sepulchral monuments existed in the period between the late second and the middle of the first millennium BC: dolmens, rock and built tombs, ordinary grave pits, etc. Inhumation and cremation burials were practiced simultaneously-either in tumular, or in flat necropolises (Gergova, 1989: 231-240). Compared with those of Thrace, Phrygian funerary practices demonstrated an almost canonic uniformity in this respect. The dead were buried below tumuli or in rock tombs, the initial practice being of inhumation, with cremation being introduced as well after the seventh century BC (Kohler, 1980: 65-70). There exists an opinion that the tumulus was a form introduced in Anatolia or influenced by Balkan burial traditions, while the appearance of cremation burials is explained with the intensified influence of the Eastern Greek lands. Wooden tombs remained unchanged and continued to be built according to the Old-Phrygian custom (Kohler, 1980: 65-70). It seems that in Phrygia, as in Thrace, the grave was considered to be the home of the deceased, an allusion which can be perceived in the tombs that resemble houses, and in their "furnishing" with numerous objects from everyday life: tables, chairs, fabrics, vessels, etc..
ROUMYANA GEORGIEVA The Thracians did not perceive the actual process of dying as something particularly painful, because for most of them it was an act that preceded bliss in the world beyond and immortality. Immediately after the death occurred, the eyes of the deceased were closed, the body was washed in a ritual bath, the limbs were tied together with a towel or a string in certain positions (crossed, bent, etc.) before the body became completely cold. The head was raised slightly in order to avoid the opening of the jaws (Georgieva, 1995a). These acts were undoubtedly broadly performed as they were rooted in IndoEuropean burial practices. It is quite probable that they marked the beginning of the Phrygian burial ritual as well (Ivanov, 1990: 5-7). It is a much more important fact that in Thrace the deceased was specifically prepared for the period during which the body was laid in state, a duration that was strictly stipulated, as was mentioned already. Special attention was devoted to the clothing of the deceased. Women were dressed in their best clothes together with the usual articles of adornment and accessories: belts, fibulae, appliques, etc. Men were most frequently buried in their warrior's attire and full armour. Sometimes the garments were complemented with objects of a ceremonial nature (diadems, wreaths or pectorals), believed to be power insignia or symbols of immortality (Georgieva, 1995a). It is more than evident that the Phrygians also adorned their dead. The evidence from Phrygian tumular necropolises testifies to the fact that the dressing of the deceased was an extremely important element in the burial ritual. However, it is not possible to say whether it was connected with some form of burial ceremony, or with notions about the fate of the deceased after his death. The dead were dressed in ceremonious clothing, which is evidenced by the splendid belts from tumuli P and MM in Gordion and from one of the tumuli in Antalya (Young, 1981: 17-20,147-154,236-240 ;Ozgen, 1988: 44), the linen garments with the purple strips from tumulus No 3 in Gordion (Koerte, 1904: 46), as well as the numerous fibulae discovered in situ in the graves (Young, 1981: 156172,239-249). Incidentally, the fibulae suggest that dressing the deceased was preferred to simply wrapping the body in cloth. The marked presence of belts in this type of clothing could have more than practical significance. In many cultures the belt is associated with power or with a post, and the actual process of putting on a belt was considered to be preparation for a long journey. Finally, the belt forms a magic circle around the body of the deceased, separating him from the living and at the same time protecting him from evil (Fol, 1995: 109-129). It was mentioned already that Thracians obligatorily lamented their dead. For them weeping was not only a manifestation of grief, but also a way of telling in words and melody something about the past life of the deceased person and about the life beyond that awaits him. Sometimes the lamentations were with flute accompaniment (Georgieva, 1995a). The Phrygians, together with the Mysians, were the most famous mourners in antiquity. The early scholia to Aeschylus's Persians mention that Phrygian weeping was accompanied by piercing wails (Aesch. Pers. Schol. ad 938, 1057). It is not clear whether this was only an emotional manifestation of grief, or was similar to Thracian funerary chanting with words. However, one thing is certain: both Thracians and
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BURIAL RITES IN THRACE AND PHRYGIA Phrygians perceived the lamentations as a means of facilitating the transition of the deceased person to the world of the dead. Another important element of the Thracian burial practices was the slaughtering of sacrificial animals and making a feast with their meat. Some of that meat was left aside for the deceased, who was considered to be the host and table companion during the funerary feast. Remains of these meat dishes have been discovered in graves, on funerary pyres or among bones collected after cremation (Georgieva, 1995b). The animal bones found in some Phrygian cremation graves (e.g., cattle and sheep remains in tumulus No II in Gordion, dated to the seventh to sixth century BC (Korte 1904: 107) can be considered evidence that the Phrygians were familiar with the custom of "feeding the deceased". Indirect evidence of the existence of this custom can also be perceived in the existence of tables and trays for meals, various vessels and the large cauldron for beer that were left even in the earliest graves (Koerte, 1904: 67 sq.; Young, 1981: 176-186). Evidence of feasts connected with the deceased or in commemoration of him can be found in the embankments of some tumuli as well, e.g., tumuli No.s I, II and IV in Gordion (Koerte, 1904: 99, 108, 131-132) and of one of the tumuli near Ankara (Asian, 1989: 65-66), which-like tumuli in Thrace-contains ceramic fragments, spots of cinders and ash, as well as animal bones. The Thracians offered an additional sacrifice at the site of the burial. Horses and/or dogs were ritually killed there and were buried simultaneously with and next to the deceased person. This sacrifice is believed to have been connected with notions about the roles of the animals as mediators between the worlds of the living and of the dead, as well as with the perception of them as symbols of power and immortality (Georgieva, 1995b). These sacrifices, which were practiced on a mass scale in Thrace after the seventh to sixth century BC, have analogies in tumuli from Gordion, the earliest of which (KY) is dated to the end of the eighth century BC (Young, 1956: 266). The motives for horse sacrifices here are probably close to those in Thrace, because in both places this practice undoubtedly had Indo-European roots (Ardzinba, 1982: 68; Toporov, 1990: 12-47). They also testify to common characteristics of ideology in both societies (Vassileva, 1994b: 221-227). The listed common elements in the burial rites of Thracians and Phrygians (burying of the deceased person in his best clothes, lamentations, feeding of the dead, horse sacrifices, piling of tumuli, etc.) testify to the existence of similar notions about death, the deceased person and his fate after death. These common notions seem to stem not only from their common Indo-European roots and cultural interrelations, but also from similarities in the social and political structure of the two societies and in their ideology.
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ROUMYANA GEORGIEVA References Ardzinba, V.G., 1982. Rituals and Myths of Ancient Anatolia. Moscow (in Russian). Asian, M., 1989. Rescue Excavations at the Phrygian Tumulus in Mama Greek. Museums, No 1: 65-66. Fol, V., 1995. Jewellery. Ethno-Cultural Problems in South-Eastern Europe (Middle of the 2nd - Beginning of the 1st millennium BC), pp. 109-129 in Ethnography of European Traditional Cultures - Their Role and Perspectives in a Multicultural World. European Seminar Proceedings. Athens. Georgieva, R., 1995a. The Thracian burial. Thracian Ethnology: Problems. Sofia (forthcoming, in Bulgarian). 1995b. Opfergabe von Tieren im thrakischen Bestattungsbrauchtum. Prahistorische Zeitschrift7Q,No 1 (forthcoming). Gergova, D., 1989. Thracian Burial Rites of Late and Early Iron Age, pp. 231-240 in Thracians and Mycenaeans. Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Thracology. Rotterdam 24-26 September 1984. Leiden/Sofia. Ivanov, V.V., 1990. A Reconstruction of the Structure of Symbols and Semantics of Indo-European Burial Rite, pp. 5-11 in Studies in Balto-Slavic Culture Burial Rite. Moscow (in Russian). Kohler, E. L., 1980. Cremations of the Middle Phrygian Period at Gordion, pp. 65-89 in From Athens to Gordion. The Papers of a Memorial Symposium for Rodney S. Young. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Koerte, G. and A., 1904. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung im Jahre 1900. Jahrbuch des Keiserlich Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts. Funftes Erganzungsheft. Berlin. Ozgen, E. and I. (eds.), 1988. Antalya Museum Catalogue. Ankara. Sandars, N.K., 1974. Thracians, Phrygians and Iron. Thracia 3. Serdicae: 195-202. Toporov, V.N., 1990. Horse Races at the Funerals, pp.12-47 in Studies in Balto-Slavic Culture. Burial Rite. Moscow (in Russian). Vassileva, M., 1993. Thrace and Phrygia in the Ancient Greek Written Sources. Thracia 10. Serdicae: 5-37. , 1994a. Phrygian Tumuli: An Argument for Thracian-Phrygian Kinship?, pp. 63-67 in Seuthopolis: Burial Tumuli in the South East of Europe. First International Symposium. Kazanlak, Bulgaria, 4-8 June 1993. Veliko Tarnovo. , 1994b. Thrace and Phrygia: Some Typological Paralles, pp. 221-227 in Europa-IndoEuropea. Atti del VI" Congresso Internazionale di Tracologia e del VII" Simposio Internazionale di Studi Traci. Palma de Mallorca, 24-28 Marzo 1992. Roma. Venedikov, I., 1976. Rock Tombs, pp.82-127 in Thracian Monuments I . Thracian Megaliths 1. Sofia. , 1982. Thracian Toponymy in Motion. The Population of South-Eastern Thrace, pp. 32-170 in Thracian Monuments 3. Thracian Megaliths 2. Sofia (in Bulgarian). Young, R.S., 1956. The Campaign of 1955 at Gordion: Preliminary Report. AJA 60, No 3: 249-266. , 1981. Three Great Early Tumuli. The Gordion Excavations Final Reports, I. University of Pennsylvania.