Seuthopolis (
Ancient Greek,
Se???p????)was an ancient
hellenistic[1] type city founded
[2] by the
Thracian king
Seuthes III, and the capital of the
Odrysian kingdom.The city was founded sometime from since
325 BC to
315 BC[3]. It was a small city, built on the site of an earlier settlement, and its ruins are now located at the bottom of the
Koprinka Reservoir near
Kazanlak,
Stara Zagora Province, in central
Bulgaria.Seuthopolis was the only signifigant town in Thrace not built by Greeks
[4] though it was built on a
Ancient Greek plan
[5].
Seuthopolis was not[6] a true polis, but rather the seat of Seuthes and his court. His palace had a dual role, functioning also as a sanctuary of the Cabeiri, the gods of Samothrace[7]. Most of the space within the city was occupied not by homes but by official structures, the majority of the people living outside the city.It had Thracian and Greek populace[8].At 281 BC it was sacked by Celts[9]
The dual role of Seuthes' palace (royal court and sanctuary) indicates that Seuthes was a priest-king the high priest of the Cabeiri among the Odrysian Thracians. A hearth altar stood in the center of the Cabeiri sanctuary, the Cabeiri being associated with fire and metallurgy and with the smith-god Hephaestus.
The cemetery of Seuthopolis included a number of brick tholos tombs, some covered by tumuli, in which the upper-class were interred, sometimes along with their horses. The less affluent were cremated, with modest grave goods laid alongside.
