The newly found inscription stone discovered in the ancient Theatre in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, moves the date of construction of the Roman building from 116 AD to the 90s of the first century AD.

The inscription was found on a part of a statue of the heir of last Thracian kings. It is dated to the the 1st century AD, meaning that the theatre’s construction did not begin at the time of Emperor Trajan but about three decades earlier. The artefact containing the inscription is a part of a column and was found in a stairwell of Plovdiv’s Ancient Theatre, and on which the statue originally would have stood. The text is written in Greek and refers to Titus Flavius Cotis, who was the first priest of the imperial cult in the province of Thrace, and who was a descendant of the last Thracian kings, who ruled Philippopolis at the time of Emperor Domitian. The name of the creator of the column is missing, with the only clue to his identity being a fragment reading, “…son of Sustran called Puglia“.

(after The Sofia Globe & Podtepeto)