Do you happen to know what “lacrimaria” are? They are small vessels, where during a funeral the mourners collected their tears and then placed them in the tomb together with the other gifts so as to attest their love and respect for the deceased on his eternal road.

The vessels are displayed at the Archaeological Museum in the town of Hissaria. They were found in a Roman tomb, accidentally discovered in 1957. It is the largest tomb in the region and the only one that possesses preserved decorations, meticulously arranged mosaic and murals. These are cues suggesting that it was built for a well-off family. Their bodies were laid onto two tomb beds, placed on both sides of the entrance. While alive, Ancient Romans worshipped the Ancient Greek health-bringing deities: Asclepius – supreme God of medicine, Higia – Goddess of health, Telesphor – God of the healing process. Probably they had ‡ hand in the Romans’ quest for treatment at this place. The town, where there are 22 curative mineral springs today, was established as a Roman settlement in 46 AD after the defeat of the Thracian tribe Bessi.

The Bessis had lived in these lands for almost a millenium prior to their rout. Probably some of them witnessed the Goths destroying the village in 251. Yet, some 40 years later, Emperor Diokletsian ascended the throne. Here he founded a town and called it Diokletsianopol. It was the third biggest and most important in the Roman Province of Thracia. For the sake of its defence, Diokletsian directed that a very large fortified wall be erected around it. It is rectangular in shape, 12 m high, 2315 m long, while its thickness reaches up to 3 m in some places! The impressive ruins of the walls rise majestically even today.

It was probably because of their solidity that Diokletsian felt safe. There are written sources suggesting that he stayed at this curative place twice. He also built a residence next to the spa and there was an amphitheater in the vicinity. A 600-strong cohort of warriors took care of his safety. Of course, it also guarded other distinguished Romans coming to that heavenly place. This was perhaps the reason why the so-called Roman baths were constructed with the utmost care. So far three of them have been discovered – all with unique heating systems called “hypocaust”. Thus, as early as the late 3 c. and early 4 c. Roman tourists were attracted to the local beauty, tranquility and natural resources. Some of them chose to stay for good. The evidence is all around – 5 necropolises, tombs, graves…

“The traces of life in the village go back to 5000 BC,” proudly explains Radka Lankina, guide in the Archaeological Museum. She shows me the oldest findings, dating from pre-Thracian times – stone axes, bone awls, flint knives, fighting stone balls, crockery.

From the marble votive tablets I can feel the stern look of Zeus and Herra, the Three Nymphs, the Thracian Equestrian. I ask him silently if he managed to protect the Thracians in the pagan period (when he was created). He remains silent. Apparently he did not. So he and the Bessis must have ceded territory and subjected their religion to Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgarians. They have all left some proof of their presence in the settlement.

The Roman invasion nearly eradicated paganism. In 5-6 c. it was supplanted by early Christianity, which laid the foundations and completed the construction of 10 churches. It transcended the fortified walls and the settlement, when new residential districts emerged. A separate church was built in each of them. All this grandeur made Diokletsianopol a regional bishopric. A religious centre, where several basilicas were additionally erected to glorify the name of Jesus Christ.

Even he could not ward off the inflow and victory of the Perun and Tangra worshipping Slavs and Bulgarians in the 6-7 c. The settlement was seized, devastated and rebuilt into a new one under the name of Toplitsa (warm). The name sounds typically Slavic, it is preserved in folk legends and is undoubtedly derived from the hot mineral springs running along the soaring Roman fortified walls from the late 14 c. They impressed the new invaders, the Turks, who called it Hissar – fortress.

Thank God, everything has survived in spite of the twists of fortune – the name, the Christian religion, the springs and the walls. In the 1950s Hissaria turned into a first-class resort and a symbol of Bulgarian medicinal bath treatment. Its progress was made in socialist times – it was proclaimed a national, and then an international resort. Since 1976 it is a national archaeological reserve.

“I worry about the financial problem of the protection of cultural monuments in the archaeological reserve, as well as their examination and exhibition,” says the director of the museum Dr. Mitko Vazharov. He is in a hurry for a meeting where he hopes to raise some money. The meager funds granted by the municipality and the National Fund “Culture” are far from sufficient for their protection and the development of tourism. Unlike the invaders, the effects of the weather will eventually destroy the fortified wall. It is obvious. The Ministry of Culture is expected to act adequately in order to preserve the mineral springs and the residence of the Roman Emperor, who not only kept everything intact, but also constructed a lot in this heavenly place. No doubt he had both the brains and the senses to appreciate it. (Rough estimates suggest that in 5-6 years even with the modest 50,000 levs annually the process of disintegration could be checked.)

Diokletsian allocated funds to complete the construction of the conquered town in 3 c. Today, by contrast, the Ministry of Culture does not grant money for archaeological investigations. After all, this is the only civilised way for the state to preserve the cultural heritage of the settlement. Everything is crumbling down. The money shortage stalls the reconstruction of the drainage system of “Roman Hot Mineral Springs” in the town park Momina Salza. The museum exposition cannot be enriched and displayed in a more contemporary way, either. Along this line of thinking, the combat of treasure-hunters seems, to put it mildly, doomed to failure. Unscrupulous robbers do not get frightened by the Thracian Equestrian, Zeus, Jesus, Perun, Tangra or Allah, when they encroach on their territory.

“Unfortunately, the tourist flow to the town has decreased in recent years,” says the town mayor Penka Bankova in a quiet voice. Then she adds that the reason lies in the general economic situation of the population all over the country, even Bulgarian tourists do not come this way. Still there are a lot of things for foreigners to see. Suffice it to mention the Thracian Cultural Centre in the village of Starosel, opened for visitors 4 years ago. It is believed to be the biggest surviving Thracian royal complex in South East Europe. It existed 25 centuries ago! How many countries can offer a route like Hissaria – Starosel in their tourist leaflets?

However, the first thing to do is to reconstruct the road between Starosel and Chernichevo. It is an extremely important 15 km-long stretch, because it connects all the villages to the west of Hissaria.

The 15,000 residents of the municipality would like to reduce the 14% unemployment. It is possible, if the public sewerage system is extended and completed in Momina Salza, Verigovo and Miromir – the three districts of Hissaria, and if the road and street network is reconstructed. The infrastracture was built over 30 years ago. To its dilapidation I would add the malfunctioning street lighting. It is still in the hands the National Electricity Company. The Water Supply and Drainage Co. is the manager of the purifying station, which also needs renovating to meet modern standards.

The equipment and installations built in ancient times have survived for 20 centuries and still look perfect and operative. They have had they heyday and gradual decline. I am asking myself, what small vessels are needed to collect the tears of a whole town. Diokletsianopol, Toplitsa, Hissar… Here the name “lacrimaria” does not matter any more, does it?

Rumen Stoichkov