Ralph Hoddinott
Ralph F. Hoddinott, author of Early Byzantine Churches in
Macedonia and Southern Serbia, has worked and travelled widely in
central and south-east Europe and the Middle East during the last 35 years,
including periods of study at the British School at Athens and at the
British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara. Working on the art and
archaeology of the Early Byzantine period with especial reference to the
origins, he visited Bulgaria in 1964. The relatively unknown monuments of
earlier Antiquity he saw there led him to investigate, by research and by
further independently undertaken journeys, the archaeological heritage of
the country. Accompanied by his wife Barbara, whose interests include the
study of Slav and other languages and of Thracian burial rituals, he has
travelled all over Bulgaria, visiting every relevant museum and almost all
the sites described which are still visible, as well as many others.
Bulgaria in Antiquity
An Archaeological Introduction
R. F. Hoddinott
This is the first book in English on the art and archaeology of Antiquity in
what is now Bulgaria and the first in any language to treat this period here
as an entity. Written sources, inscriptions, and coins have been drawn upon
to place the main archaeological sites and monuments within their social and
historical setting.
Beginning with the Ionian arrival about 600 b.c., Mr. Hoddinott deals first
with the Black Sea colonies and the effect of Greek and other civilizations
on the native Thracian culture. He then assesses the consequence of
absorption into the Roman Empire—the legionary headquarters and fortified
settlements of the Danubian limes and the Romano-Hellenistic cities,
villages, and villas of the interior; the major pagan cults are also
described. Finally he examines the churches and fortifications— Byzantium’s
linked spiritual and secular defences—of the fifth and sixth centuries and
the barbarian pressures which eventually brought about a new dark age— from
which the first Bulgarian state was to emerge.
Extensive research has been carried out in Bulgaria to supplement the study
of excavation and other reports, normally published only in Bulgarian. Most
of the plans and splendid photographs of art treasures will be new to
readers in the West, including site photographs taken by the author
especially for the book.
£7.50 net
FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS NOT FOR SALE IN U.S.A
ISBN O 510-08281-8
Printed in Great Britain