The Thracian states emerged early, but they can be traced only after 5th – 4th century BC. The structures created before the names of the royal-priestly ruling dynasties: Bessi, Triballoi, Getae and Edonoi. According to Herodotus, the Thracians were the most numerous people in the world after the Indians, but they never managed to unite in one state. During the 5th – 4th century BC, the kingdom of the Odrysae stretching in the lands between the Black Sea, the Danube and the Rhodope Mountains became most powerful. The ruins of its capital Seuthopolis are near the present-day town of Kazanluk.

The most famous kings of the Odrysae were Teres (490-464 BC) and Sitalkes (464-424 BC), who were among the prominent historical figures of their time. The important archaelogical discoveries made near the village of Starosel, Kazanluk area, are associated precisely with them. A peculiar temple-tomb was found there in an enormous mound, possibly intended for King Sitalkes.

The construction consists of two seccessive chambers: one square and the other one round. There is an impressive ritual platform in front of them, to which monumental staircases lead from three sides. Both chambers are decorated with geometric motifs in beautiful colours, imitating the architectural elements of a Greek temple. The inner chamber, 6m in diameter, is the key element in the configuration. Its walls are decorated with half-columns. The tomb had been plundered repeatedly, but the scanty remaining pieces of a gold funerary wreath, gold buttons and beautiful ancient Greek pottery testify to the missing rich grave offerings. The skeletons of two horses that were killed so as to accompany their master in his journey to the world beyond were discovered in the antechamber. The entire tumulus is surrounded by a fortification wall of massive and smoothly hewn stone blocks.
The Peychova Mogila tumulus in which a stone royal grave was also discovered is located at a distance of several metres in front of the monumental construction. It is not as impressive as architecture, but at least it was not plundered. The objects discovered are amazing: a gold wreath, a shield, a helmet and combat swords, gold, silver and bronze objects, and appliques from horse-trappings. Two years later, archaeologists unearthed yet another temple-tomb with a magnificent colonnade in another tumulus in the neighbourhood.The temples-tombs near Starosel illustrate the power of the Odrysian kings. They have beautifully shaped facades that originally jutted before the tumular embankment. The traces on their massive doors show that they had been opened repeatedly. Hence researchers assumed that these were peculiar mausoleums where the bodies of the deceased rulers were laid so that everyone could see them and were subsequently buried elsewhere.

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» Tatul - the possible tomb of Orpheus
» Thracian Tomb near the village of Dolno Lukovo, Ivailovgrad municipality Bulgaria