Roman Emperor’s Medallion With Ancient Greek Writing Found in Bulgaria

A number of valuable items have recently been found in Roman tombs near the village of Nova Varbovka in the Veliko Turnovo region of Bulgaria, including a medallion of the Roman emperor Caracalla, which is inscribed with ancient Greek writing.

Ancient Greek Writing Inscribed on the Roman Emperor’s Medallion Found in Bulgaria

The Caracalla medallion, made of bronze and etched with ancient Greek writing was minted in the ancient Greek city of Pergamon, in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). One side depicts a scene of the emperor’s visit to Pergamon in 214 AD, where he allegedly sought healing from the god of medicine Asclepius.

The Veliko Turnovo Regional History Museum – which has recently displayed the medallion and other items, including funerary objects like jewelry, coins and vessels – said the medallion has a high financial value, but given its size, was likely not used in everyday trade.

How were the Tombs Found?

The Roman graves in Bulgaria were found in autumn last year by accident, when a tractor driver plowing the field hit a limestone slab. From there, archaeologists Kalin Chakarov and Nedko Elenski, alongside museum specialist Michaela Tomanova, carried out fieldwork in December finding objects that date back to the first half of the 3rd century AD.

Fine porcelain plaster lines the tombs’ walls, with one of them shaped like a strange brick pillow on the ground. One of the tombs had a ceremonial ceramic amphora filled with wine on top of it.

The archaeologists said that two adults were buried in one tomb, the man placed around the age of 55 and the woman roughly in her late 40s. Another tomb housed the remains of a child between the ages of one and two.

Nadezhda Atanassova from the National Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology, and Anthropology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science, was able to determine the genders and ages of those buried in the tombs.

Gold women’s earrings, a gilt pendant with a bead, and a silver-plated brooch made from several different types of metal were found in the burial chamber of the man and woman, while on the man’s chest, archaeologists found a silver coin (denarius) minted in the city of Laodicea.

It has subsequently been suggested that the man and woman were wealthy landowners with properties in the territory administered by the ancient city of Nicopolis ad Istrum. In the child’s chamber the archaeologists found gifts, including a pair of small gold earrings, children’s glass bead jewelry, a ceramic amphora for wine, and two glass lacrimaria – vessels used to collect mourners’ tears and afterwards used for fragrant oils.

Pergamon was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia, a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor, during the Hellenistic period it became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon in 281-133 BC, under the Attalid dynasty, who transformed the city into one of the significant cultural hubs of the ancient Greek world.