Tatul is a stone sanctuary built by the inhabitants of the Eastern Rhodopes – the Bessi tribe around VI – I millennium BC. It is believed that a Thracian king, who lived 3,500 years ago, was buried there, whose tomb later began to serve as a place of worship for the Thracians. Over time, the place became sacred to the people of the region, who worshiped their singer and prophet Orpheus – destined by his mother to “not to lay in the black earth but to be the prophet of Dionysus”.
And here comes an unexpected discovery from our era. One day a group of archaeologists going to the sanctuary for excavations noticed a large oak tree with a vine wrapped around it, laden with grapes. The discovery was totally unexpected, as grapes are not grown anywhere within a radius of tens of kilometers from the sanctuary. The professionals quickly came to the truth – the vine has grown from a seed of a grape, served by the Thracians during one of their rituals, in which grape and wine invariably participate. The DNA analysis of the genetic material proved that the vine is of an indigenous cultivar variety aged 3000 years – now called “The Tears of Orpheus”.
