ПЕЙЗАЖ И ВЯРА
LANDSCAPE AND FAITH

Summary/Abstract: Light, lightning effects and fiery dramaturgy during rites and while creating a sacral space are among the least studied phenomena in Thracian culture. The paper analyses three examples of creating a sacral landscape through light – real and imaginary space according to: the text of Arist. Mir. Ausc. 842a 122 about the fiery oracle of Dionysos in Krestoria; according to the archaeoastronomical explorations of a subtumular construction in the Golyama Arsenalka tumulus in the Kazanlak Valley; escharae found in a burial context. In the first example the light of the fire models the imaginary sacred landscape and the divine epiphany in a round space without a roof. In the second example, in the architecturally modelled sacred space, the blending of light and darkness creates the landscape for the creation during the winter solstice, of divine power in the days of the summer solstice and of the start of the journey to the World Beyond. The third example is the materialised blending of the cosmic fire symbolised by the solar ornamentation of the escharae, and the terrestrial fire symbolised by the file lit in the hearth made of clay. The technology for building escharae requires the use of water. All ritual acts are performed in the open. The magic act (building, libations and offering of gifts) could be interpreted as the blending of the buried individual with the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. Certain individuals had the privilege of being sent in this way to the World Beyond, while in the case with the two escharae in the tumular embankment of the tomb built near the village of Buzovgrad, which is isolated for the time being, the deceased was of exceptional importance to the socium. The tomb is in the region in which the megalithic solar door is located, towards which the entrance to the heroon of Seuthes III in the Golyama Kosmatka tumulus is very accurately directed. For the time being, we can only guess whether the actual landscape suggests a link between the heroon of Seuthes III and the tomb near Buzovgrad. The three examples examined give grounds to assume that the Thracians, owing to their faith in the solar deity and its projection on earth – the sacred fire, deliberately used light to model a real or imaginary space in various rites.

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