Belintash

Overview

Belintash (Belantash, also known as Bellantash, and as a slightly older form and "Beli Tashi") is a rock in the shape of a small plateau in the Rhodopes, bearing traces of human activity. It is believed to be a cult site dating back to the Eneolithic, which was used for ritual purposes by the tribes inhabiting the area, and its very nature and purpose have not yet been fully elucidated. There are also hypothetical assumptions that in later epochs, when the Thracians inhabited this area of ​​the mountain, the existing ancient sanctuary was dedicated to the god Sabazios. On the upper platform of the rock are carved round holes, gutters, niches and steps, which according to some form a map of the starry sky. The length of the rock platform is about 300 m, with an altitude of 1225 m. It is located 30 km southeast of the town of Asenovgrad. This is the second largest rock-cut sanctuary in Bulgaria (after Perperek), located on an area of ​​approx. 5 decares, on an elongated (north-south) rock plane, with an average slope to the east of about 18 °.

According to one of the most prominent Bulgarian specialists in prehistory, Prof. Ana Raduncheva, the Eneolithic temple complex near the village of Dolnoslav and the sanctuary Belintash are inextricably linked. The temple complex is an integral part of the high mountain system of rock sanctuaries and is its lowest unit. The site functioned as a single complex with the large-scale rock sanctuary Belintash, located above the villages of Dolnoslav and Topolovo.

Both the rock sanctuary Belintash and the temple complex near the village of Dolnoslav fall into a vast and strongly manifested magnetic anomaly. Archaeoastronomical research shows that all the anomalous points in the temple center are located inside the buildings, and altars have been erected in their places.

Belintash means "White Stone" and comes from the adjective "white", which, thanks to the triple membership in the Rhodope dialect, is pronounced "belian, belan" and Turkism "tash" (stone).

According to the interpretation of the local historian Nikola Boev (which is not shared by Bulgarian archaeologists and historians), the toponym Belintash can be translated as "the stone of war". Boev connects the name with the holy war for the main sanctuary of Sabazios / Dionysus in the Rhodopes, led by the ruler priest of the Thracian tribe Bessi - Vologez.

According to folklore, the place bears the name of a companion of Karadja voivode, named Belyo (Belyu) voivode.