Sborianovo Archaeological Reserve - the Getty Holy Land

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The Thracian city in Sboryanovo was built in the last decades of the 4th century BC and expands over 90 000m². It was surrounded by impressive stone walls, and functioned as a powerful trading and production centre until its decline in the second half of the 3td century BC.

The finds from Helis boast the largest collection of Hellenistic-period amphora stamps in Thrace - evidence for the active trading links the city maintained with the Hellenistic world, and for its significance as an important political and economic centre. The excavations have revealed workshop spaces for pottery, bone, iron-working, and silver and gold for making jewellery. Some of the dwellings had altars. An inscription in Greek, dedicated to the goddess Phosphoros was found by the south gate of the city.

The excavators interpret this city as the polis Helis, in which the the Getic ruler admitted the defeated Lysimachos in 297 or 294 BC.