This program gives everybody the opportunity to participate in an archaeology fieldwork aiming to help and support the team of the local Archaeological Museum in Hisar, Bulgaria in its work on 3 different ancient archaeological sites (all in one session):
1.
Roman baths (thermae complex) in the central city park (Watch LowRes Video - 3MB);
The mineral water health treatment in ancient Hisar has been closely connected with the beliefs in divinities of healing and medicine: Asclepius, Hygeia, Telesphorus and the three nymphs. The remains of the biggest Roman bath situated in Momina Salza city park were found in in 1935. It was built in IV c. Made by mixed masonry with 1-2 meters thickness of the walls. The floor and the walls were mady from white Rhodopian marble. There has been rooms for warm bathing (caldarium) and cold bathing, a place for rest (tepidarium), two pools with size 15 and 5 meters and 1,4 meters deep. In other specially designed rooms the priests have done healing procedures after bathing – massages and greasing with fragrant oils. There has been a nymphaeum attached to the bath – a sanctuary of the nymphs, honored as divinities of the healing spring water. It has existed even before the building of baths as many of the consecrated plates were reused for building the walls of the baths. The cult to the nymphs has been spread among Thracians long before coming of the Romans. Except for healing the warm water was used for heating. Special terracotta pipes led away the warm water under the floor marble slabs and the warm steam has gone up between the double walls thus heating the whole room in a natural way.
2. A Thracian settlement (the last research shows it has been a market-place - emporion) near the village of Krastevich;
3. A religious Thracian center some 700 m away from the settlement.
The two Thracian sites are newly found. The first year of excavation work was 2007. The research shows that the village has been an ancient trading center (emporion) which makes it much more interesting for further study. The nearby sanctuary has served the religious needs of the people of that time. These two sites have a very thin cultural layer which makes the physical work very simple and the research quite interesting.
*In general there will be no hard physical work as laborers will remove bigger earth mass where necessary so the real archaeology work will be carried out by participants and museum staff.
See photos of the 3 sites.
The program sessions in which you can participate will take place in the summer, starting in June and ending in August. Sessions duration is 2 weeks, however those who think 2 weeks are not enough can apply for more time. The excavation work requires no previous experience and will be conducted by a professional archaeologist. Additionally, an interpreter will join the team, so fluent English is the only requirement. The two Thracian sites are situated about 35 km away from Hisar and will be visited with an organized transport. The main work will be concentrated on the Roman baths in the very center of the town, just in five minutes walking distance from the hotel. The rest two sites will be visited as an additional activity in order to enrich your experience as they represent a much earlier and interesting culture. All participants will obtain a fieldwork certificate by the Archaeology museum in Hisar.
For more info, please click here or Agenda & Prices in the website menu.
The town of Hisar
Because of the mineral springs, the town (also spelled as Hissar or Hissarya) was founded thousands of years ago. Some prehistoric remains have been found in what is now the town centre. Later, it became a Thracian city, and when Thrace fell to the Romans and became a Roman province, Hisar became a Roman town - one of the three most important towns in the province. At various times it was called Augusta, Diocletianopolis (after emperor Diocletian) and a couple of other names. It was a famous resort even in those times, which is proved by the fact that emperor Septimius Severus himself visited the city.
Many Roman ruins are still visible everywhere - public buildings, a small amphitheatre, the barracks of the Roman garrison, the foundations of a couple of the oldest churches in Bulgaria, as well as the best preserved Roman fortress in Bulgaria. The southern gate is known as "The Camels", because it had broken in the middle and looked like two camels facing each other, before it was partially restored in the late 20 century.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the prosperous city declined and when it was included within the borders of Bulgaria, it was just a minor fortified town. During the Turkish rule it further declined and at some point the once prosperous city was just a couple of small houses in the midst of many Roman ruins, which peasants from the nearby villages used for a stone quarry, destroying most of them in the process.
After the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Hisarya was included in the province of Eastern Rumelia, and after the Unification of Bulgaria in 1885 it became a part of Bulgaria.
It prospered once again when the mineral springs were re-discovered and the place became the favourite recreation spot for the rich.
After 1945, the summer houses of the rich were nationalised and became spas for the public. The "restitution" after 1992 saw them transferred to the grandchildren of the pre-war rich, who had no money to repair the buildings, so much of the old heritage is now falling into disuse.
Still, with its many functioning hotels and renovated spas, with the enormous parks and the great views and climate, Hisarya is one of the best places to spend your time in Bulgaria.
Text and photo from Wikipedia
History of the town
The region of Hisar has been generously endowed with diverse natural wonders. The favourable climate and warm mineral waters of this district have attracted man since antiquity. People settled here permanently as long as class communities have existed. Prehistoric settlements discovered around the town of Hisar and in its vicinity date from the 5th century BC. In those times, people made their living on agriculture and hunting. The diversity of landscape, ranging from mountains to field-like terrain was an extremely favourable condition for human survival in ancient times. Prehistoric settle ments were built in the southern valley-like side of the Hisar hollow because of the fertile soil and shelterly mountains. Characteristics of the New Stone Age are observed in the
settlements unearthed by archaeological excavations in the town of Hisar and in the village of Chernichevo. The hamlet existed around the hot mineral springs at the current site of the town of Hisar existed through the next millennia. Man estimated the importance and healing effects of the mineral water and made the place surrounding the springs a home very early in time. Thereafter, life around these mineral springs was abundant.
A Thracian tribe named "Bessi" inhabited the hollow of Hisar during the 1st millenium BC. This Thracian hamlet was situated on a sunny platform above the Momina salza spring near the current town of Hisar. Earthenware and coins are the evidence that this hamlet cultivated business with other towns from the Black Sea area and the Aegean area. Another large Thracian settlement was located in the vicinity of the current village of Krastevich. The archaeological excavations in the region discovered imported ceramics from Greece and a coin hoard. The treasure is composed of silver coins that were minted in the town of Kyzikos in Dardanelles and on the island of Tassos. The finding of imported goods is an eloquent testimony to the fact that regular trade routes were established between this settlement and towns in ancient Greece during the 6-4 centuries BC. Thracian settlements in the hollow of Hisar were within the jurisdiction of the Odrysian State.
Imposing temples and tombs near the villages of Panicheri and Starossel prove that favourable geophysical and climatic conditions were highly valued by the Thracians. In 46 AD Thrace was finally conquered by the Romans and became a Roman province. The region surrounding the mineral springs of Hisar was announced an Emperor's possession (domain). A grander town was erected at the place of the Thracian settlement near the spring of Momina Salza. In 293 AD this town was renamed Diocletianopolis after and in honour of Emperor Diocletian [284-305]. The town was arranged according to all of the principles of ancient urbanization. It inherited the distinguishing layout of Roman towns, namely wide and perpendicular streets, plumbing for cold water, architectural ensembles that were proportionally disposed, and an imposing fortification system. This town, made of white marble and famous for its mineral springs, was seen as a dream wrapped in exuberant grandeur. The importance and healing effects of mineral waters gained popularity throughout the antiquity.
In the middle of 3rd century AD Diocletianopolis like most Roman towns suffered devastating Gothic incursions. The town was reduced to ashes. Its recovery began at the end of 3rd and the beginning of 4th centuries. At this time a fortified wall for security surrounded the Roman town. The wall's structure bore a resemblance to the fortifying system of the Roman capital - Constantinople. Diocletianopolis was in the prime of its life in the 5th and 6th centuries. At this time the town expanded beyond the boundaries of the fortified wall. The itinerary, written by the ancient author Hierocles in 528, said that Diocletianopolis was the third largest city in the province of Thrace following only the towns of Phillippopolis, current day Plovdiv and Beroe, current day Stara Zagora at that time. According to the diocesan lists, containing data from the 7-10 centuries, Diocletianopolis was considered to be one of the primaries Episcopal headquarters, subservient to the Phillippopolis metropolitan.
Early Christianity found the optimum condition to propagate its ideology in Diocletianopolis, due to the healing virtue of its mineral waters. These healing virtues were ascribed to the new God, the Healer Christ. Every one of the old pagan temples and sanctuaries were razed to the ground and replaced by new Christian devotional houses, basilicas. Ten basilicas from the Early Christian period were discovered near the current town of Hisar. This fact is an eloquent testimony to the significance that Diocletianopolis succumbed to the propagation of the Christian religion. Early Christian basilicas combined all aspects of Early Christian basilica architecture from the period between the 4th and 6th centuries. One of the highest-ranking officials in the Empire came to Diocletianopolis to undergo treatments. Solomon, the vicarius of Thrace province, who ruled over at the time of Emperor Mauricius [582-602], not merely came here, but what is more, he was berried in one of the necropolis in this Roman town.
After the end of 6th century, the ancient town of Diocletianopolis fell into decay. This was a result of a complete decline of early Byzantine Empire during this period. The numerous devastating invasions of the Avars and Slavs had tottered the foundation of Byzantium. They were not able to defend themselves the consistent barbaric forays. Byzantium suffered from numerous unsuccessful battles, resulting in a lost of property between the River Danube and the Balkan Range. The new state of Bulgaria was founded in this area in the year of 681.
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Medical Treatment, Sport and Entertainement in the Roman Diocletianopolis
The medical and rehabilitation nature of Roman Diocietianopolis was determined by the thermal springs as early as the ancient times. In regard medicine took a key point. At that time medicine was based on the principles of Hypocrate (a medical reformer who lived in the ancient Greek during the years of 460-377) and the Roman medic Galenus (130-200). Cure, prophylaxis and experiment were attached
with very significant importance. The distance between medicine and priesthood's tenets gradually became deeper and deeper. This made the ancient medics look for the reasons that caused illness, rather than its divine origin, despite the fact that almost all of the people believed in the remedial power of divinities. Men often offered sacrifices and mementoes in their honour. The deities Asclepius, Hygia, Telesphor and the three nymphs (the Graces) were held in high respect in Diocietianopolis. There is no doubt that a sanctuary (nympheum) of the Three Graces existed somewhere in the town. The nympheum of Diocietianopolis is presumed to have been situated in one of the Roman thermal baths. Marble plates for consecration engraved with the images of the Graces support this opinion. The excavations of the thermals in park KM Momina salza discovered those plates. The nymphs' sanctuaries often were an integral part of the thermals. A number of these conse cration plates were used as building mate rials for the Roman bath which proves that the nympheum existed at that place prior to the bath's construction. A Greek text engraved in a marble altar, states that certain Andrei made a vow in honour of the Graces because they healed his father. Another text discovered near the southern gate, states that the God Appolo was highly respected as a healer of maternity diseases.
Health services were primarily provided by means of mineral water, which was also used for bathing and drinking. Healthful diet feeding and lifestyle, as well as hygiene were considered to be of great significance. Hypocrate defined the moderate lifestyle and environment influence in his writing "about the air, the water and countryside". He wrote "Attention should be paid to lifestyle that people are most likely to have - are they faithful to drinking, eating and celebrating or do they prefer to deal with physical and labor activities rather than eat and drink." Doctors who practiced were occupied in honourary offices in the town government. Silver surgical instruments were unearthed at the excavation of the Roman bath in Momina salza park. From this we know that surgery was practiced along with traditional medicine. These instruments (cyattis-comele) were used for cleaning and manipulating wounds. One end was shaped like a sharpened spoon [ktopema?] and the other one (the shank) was thick and on its tip had a drain-like probe usually used for swabbing wounds.
Roman Diocletianopolis, famous for its generous thermal fields, was a balneological center of a great significance. The prophylaxis and treatment of different diseases were performed mainly in the thermals. The number of baths and their location testify that thermals were very important for the vitality of Diocletianopolis' guests and citizens. At this point, three public baths, situated above the head of the springs, have been discovered in the Roman town. Two of them are located in a Momina salza park, and the third is situated outside the fortified part of the town. Mineral springs were one of the most bustling places, and they so remain. Many people gathered around, taking sip by sip from the remedial elixir with relish. It is no accident that the Romans erected their most attractive architectural patterns - thermal baths, amphitheatres and impressive residences - near the mineral springs. The biggest Roman bath in the town was erected nearby the spring of Momina salza.
Archaeological research shows that a Roman balneological complex was constructed on the same place. Its total area spread over 1800 sq m. This complex consisted of two parts that shared premise typical for Roman baths. The apodi-terium (the changing room) led to the tepidarium. The tepidarium was a compartment filled with moderately warm air where people prepared their bodies for a hot bathe in a pool full of hot water (caldarium). The washtub (a mobile marble trough) or the pool, where bathing was being done, was the most important element of the cal-darium. Pools were usually supplied with labrum (a solid bronze or marble container used for sousing with water and bathing). Diocletianopolis' thermal complex had two separately built mineral pools - one for men and the other one for women. The kaldarium was also used for common bathing with nonmineral water. The caldarium was fitted with a heating system (hypocaustum). It worked by heated air, which came from a particular, smaller in size premise (prefurnium). Diocletianopolis' balneological complex was also equipped with a heating system. It worked by pumping mineral water between the solid earthen pipes bearing the brick floor. The water vapour was freely circulating in the air space between the walls and the inner marble lining. In this manner, the premises obtained a uniform temperature needed for the balneological procedures by all four walls and the floor.
The thermal complex was one of the most imposing buildings in the town. Nowadays it is displayed in the contiguous park surroundings, and impresses with its efficiency and grandeur.
Another Roman bath stood on the place of today's bath, named Svejest. One part of its ruins was discovered in 1921 when the Turkish bath, built on the same place, was renovated. Regular archaeological excavation has not been done here so it is not yet clear how the premises' disposition was fulfilled. However, it is clear that this bath was considerably smaller in comparison with the baths in the complex. It is presumable that this bath was used for hygienic purposes. It was used by a wide range of people as well as the competitors that took part in the games held in the amphitheatre. Supplying the water for this bath was an ingenious task. The spring that fed this bath was situated near the western gate, which is outside of the borders of the fortified part of the town. The Romans constructed a water-supplying gallery that was about 200 m long and 1.8 m high. It runs deep under the foundation of the fortified wall and this gallery brought mineral water inside of the town. This gallery is used even now for water supplying of the Svejest bath.
The third Roman bath of Diocletianopolis was situated near the Momina Banya spring. An inscription in Latin on the bath wall gives a key information hinting that the erection of this bath had something to do with the activities of the co-emperors Maximilian Gallerius (293-311) and Licinius - Father (308-324). The archaeological and historical information confirms that the erection of this bath lasted a very short period of time, from 11 November until 31 December 308. A commemorative inscription proving this fact was set up in the Momina Banya bath. Roman luxury and sumptuousness, typical for the Roman baths, reigned throughout the area.
New architectural standards were quickly gathered and executed in Diocletianopolis. The progress impacted the heating of buildings most substantially. This type of engineering is common in Roman civilization. Using mineral water to heat the premises was very practical, thus the detached procedure was created out of convenience. The Romans maintained constant heat in the tepidarium by heating the surrounding walls as well. The architectural innovations also made it possible for solar energy to be used for heating. This helped the temperature within the bath to rise to the recommended level. This treatment
allowed the body to get rid of the toxins, making it sweat. By cleaning the body, the mind grew more effectively and was better able to taste culture delights. After the bath, masseurs took care of the enlivening guest's bodies by treating them with fragranced oils. Those moments of complete relaxation and recreation were a great pleasure for every Roman citizen. They were hours spent in enjoyable indolence or in gaining better self-confidence while waiting for the performances in the amphitheatre to begin. Everyone took part in the performances by yelling and gesticulating.
The amphitheatre was one of the most popular places for citizens during the Roman era. It had surrounding walls but it was open from the above. The seats were arranged around an elliptical arena. The term "amphitheatre" originates from the Greeks. Amphitheatre means step-like seats drawn out around an arena for plays or fights. The first Roman amphitheatre was built in Pompey in 70-65 years BC. The archaeological excavations found an inscription naming this amphitheatre "spectacula" or a place where circuses were held. Many amphitheatres were built during the age of the Principate between 1st and 3rd c. Majestic buildings for entertainment including theatres, amphitheatres and stadiums were erected in the capital of Rome as well as in many other big cities in the Roman provinces.
Three amphitheatres existed in the Roman provinces of Thrace and Moesia, nowadays North and South Bulgaria. They were found in the ancient towns of Marcianopolis current day Devnya, Diocletianopolis, current day Hisar and Serdika, current day the capital Sofia.
Balneological treatment, one of the basic functions of Diocletianopolis during ancient times, made the necessary the construction of an amphitheatre.
The magnificient hydropathic center attracted people from all over the Empire, and sport activities and entertainment followed the balneological treatment. This is why the Diocletianopolis amphitheatre was one of the most attended buildings in the town.
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Links to useful websites about Hisar:
1. Imagesfrombulgaria.com - 4 pages of images from Hisar
2. Bgglobe.net
3. Download a full res. Roman Gates image
