Bronze Head of Thracian King Seuthes III to Be Shown in J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles after Bulgaria’s Louvre Exhibit
The bronze head of King Seuthes III, ruler of the Ancient Thracian Odrysian Kingdom in 331-300 BC, (left) will be shown in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles as part of the “Power and Pathos” exhibition of ancient bronze sculptures. Photo: Bulgaria’s Ministry of Culture
The main symbol of Bulgaria’s Ancient Thracian exhibition in the Louvre Museum in Paris – the bronze head of Odrysian King Seuthes III – will become part of the exhibition “Power and Pathos. Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World” in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
The Bulgarian exhibition on Ancient Thrace in the Louvre Museum in the French capital started on April 15, 2015, and is due to end on July 20.
According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, the exhibit entitled “Thracian Kings’ Epic. Archaeological Discoveries in Bulgaria” (also translated as “The Saga of the Thracian Kings”; in French: L’Épopée des rois thraces Découvertes archéologiques en Bulgarie) has been a great success.
As of July 28, 2015, the focal point of the Bulgarian exhibit in the Louvre – the bronze head of King Seuthes III (r. ca. 331 BC to ca. 300 BC), the ruler of the most powerful Ancient Thracian state, the Odrysian Kingdom, will be on display in Los Angeles as part of the ancient bronze sculpture exhibition in the J. Getty Museum.
The unique item was found in the Ancient Thracian tumulus (burial mound) Golyama Kosmatka in 2004 by late Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Kitov (1943-2008).
Here is a description of the exhibition “Power and Pathos. Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World” in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles where the American audience will be able to see the bronze head of Thracian King Seuthes III:
“During the three centuries between the reigns of Alexander the Great and Augustus, artists around the Mediterranean created innovative, realistic sculptures of physical power and emotional intensity. Bronze—with its tensile strength, reflective effects, and ability to hold the finest detail—was employed for dynamic compositions, dazzling displays of the nude body, and graphic expressions of age and character. This unprecedented international loan exhibition unites about fifty significant bronzes of the Hellenistic age.
This exhibition is organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington with the participation of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.”
Check out our stories about Bulgaria’s Ancient Thracian exhibit in the Louvre Museum in Paris:
Bulgaria’s Ancient Thrace Exhibition in Paris Enjoying ‘Enormous Success’, Louvre Director Says
Louvre Museum Extends Advertising Campaign in Paris Metro for Bulgaria’s Ancient Thracian Exhibit
Bulgaria, France Open Long-Awaited Ancient Thrace Exhibit in Louvre Museum in Paris
Bulgaria Anticipates Opening of Ancient Thracian Treasures Exhibit in Louvre Museum in Paris
Louvre to Showcase Bulgaria’s Top Archaeology Treasures from Ancient Thrace
The Ancient Thracians were an ethno-cultural group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting much of Southeast Europe from about the middle of the second millennium BC to about the 6th century AD on the territory of modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia.
The Odrysian Kingdom is a union of Thracian tribes dominated by the tribe of the Odrysians (also known as Odrysea or Odrusai bearing the name of a mythical ruler, Odryses or Odrisis, (ca. 715 – ca. 650 AD), was the most powerful state of the Ancient Thracians. It existed from the unification of many Thracian tribes by a single ruler, King Teres, in the 5th century BC till its conquest by the Romans in 46 AD on the territory of most of modern-day Bulgaria, Northern Greece, Southeastern Romania, and Northwestern Turkey.
King Seuthes III was a king of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from ca. 331 BC to ca. 300 BC, at first tributary to Alexander the Great of Macedon. In 2004, as part an expedition dubbed TEMP, late Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Kitov discovered Seuthes III’s tomb on the Golyama Kosmatka Mound near his capital Seuthopolis (close to today’s towns of Kazanlak and Shipka), part of the Valley of Thracian Kings. The impressive finds included the famous lifelike bronze head of Seuthes III, his golden laurel wreath, golden kylix (ancient drinking cup), among others.
In 2015, the bronze head of King Seuthess III was shown in the exhibition in the Louvre Museum in Paris entitled “Thracian Kings’ Epic. Archaeological Discoveries in Bulgaria” (also translated as “The Saga of the Thracian Kings”; in French: L’Épopée des rois thraces Découvertes archéologiques en Bulgarie), and in the exhibition in J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles entitled exhibition “Power and Pathos. Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World”.
