Chipper-Bird, Frock-Feather, and Fire-Tail: Ancient Birds Speak
Birds were held in high esteem in ancient times. Parakeets were kept as pets by many. Guinea fowl, pheasants, and mallard ducks roamed the gardens of prominent citizens, while peacocks could only be seen in the courtyards of the nobility. The peacock symbolized the immortality of the soul, which is why we find peacock images in the Bishop’s Basilica of Philippopolis in Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city. Every discovery from the era adds new pieces to the grand puzzle that is Antiquity, enriching our knowledge of the tastes and beliefs of the ancients. The Bishop’s Basilica and its mosaics, dating back to the 4th–6th centuries AD and rediscovered during construction work in the 1980s, are a treasure trove of information that holds the key to many secrets of that fascinating time. The Basilica is the largest early-Christian temple found in Bulgaria and probably among the first built after the legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire in 313 AD. After seventeen centuries of oblivion, the Basilica is welcoming visitors again. Its restoration was a seven-year effort brought about through a public-private partnership between the America for Bulgaria Foundation, Plovdiv Municipality, and the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture as well as the support of countless volunteers.
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