Dating back 1,800 years, the brass balsamarium shows head of a man wearing a cap made from the skin of a feline.(Image: © Daniela Agre)
The skeleton that was found in the grave belonged to a man who died when he was about 35 to 40 years old. Also buried with the remains, the team found a blade used to scrape sweat and dirt from the skin. Along side it rested the 1800 year old balsamarium:
The balsamarium resembles a man with a goatee and a nose that looks to be broken or bent as if it had been injured and not fully healed. The man wears a cap that is made from the skin of a feline, probably a leopard, as archaeologists wrote in a paper published in the October issue of the American Journal of Archaeology.
Many balsamariums have near identical features, such as a crooked or bent nose, have been found elsewhere in the Roman Empire and are often interpreted as depicting boxers or wrestlers.
"In our opinion, the grave belongs to a Thracian aristocrat, who has practiced sport in his everyday life, rather than to a professional athlete," Said Daniela Agre - archaeologist at the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who led archaeological work at the site.
The grave of the sports man or enthusiast will allow many researchers to have a better understanding of life in Thrace during the Roman Empire. It shows that at least the local elite have acquired many practices from the Romans. This find shows how popular the sport was in these regions.