Българската народна култура и тракийското изворознание (Методологически бележки)
The Bulgarian Popular Culture and the Sources about Ancient Thrace (Methodological Notes)

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the possible methods of studying the Bulgarian popular culture and the sources for the Thracian culture. Two basic methods – the structural-functional and the cultural-historical – are suggested in this respect. The author underlines that, from the point of view of source history, ancient art (Thracian art inclusive) does not present art proper but rather a specific language providing information about a cosmologic structure and a mythological system. On this basis a concrete analysis is made of a cup (made of clay) which was found in 1887 in the necropolis by the north front of the Serverin bank. The cup is dated back to the 3rd century A. D. and is being kept in the Roman-Germanic museum in Cologne. On the slightly concave base of the cup there is a depiction of Orpheus who is surrounded by animals arranged in nine rows. The author offers a new interpretation of this effigy in view of the cosmogonic model structured in it.

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