We’ve now reached the Afterlife section. Here you can see some objects that were found in the top part of a necropolis that existed in this region. The objects include tools, food, jewelry, utilities, and weapons. Through Thracians’ burial practices we can notice their religious beliefs and cult to the afterlife. They left objects that were vital for the deceased and which they can take with them, as they pass on to a better place.
Moving to the right there is a vast collection of marble tombstones. What’s curious about them is the engraved faces of different family members – the mother, the father, their children. Usually, the tombstones were ordered by wealthier families and created way before every member died. Such tombstones are typical of southwest Bulgaria during the Thracian-Roman period and give insight into the anthropological features of that time.
Some items – like the urn down in the middle – were influenced by other cultures. Judging by its form and decorations, this urn was especially influenced by ancient Greece. It also shows that funeral practices did not include only burials, but also a cremation.
But unlike most funeral practices now, back then people celebrated one’s passing away with lots of festivities because they believed the person’s journey to the afterlife is a new beginning. That is shown on some of the tombstones with engraved scenes of gatherings and feasts.
Apart from honoring the deceased, people used consecrated stones connected to occult practices. They portrayed their religious beliefs and worldview by engraving gods and goddesses, like the goddess Bendida, the hunter among the forest, Heracles with the lion skin and scepter. There’s also the Thracian horseman on a hunt and the three Moiras, each with a thread in her hand.
