The head of the statue of Tyche, the goddess of Philippopolis, has been discovered in the Episcopal Basilica in Plovdiv, said the head of the excavations Lyubomir Merdzhanov. According to him, this is an extremely rare artefact that has been awaited for a long time.

The discovery was made yesterday – the head was found near the temple’s pulpit and was likely used as building material during the construction of the basilica. It is made of high-quality marble in the traditions of Hellenism.

"The size of the head is slightly larger, which leads to the conclusion that the statue was about 2.5 meters tall", said Lyubomir Merdzhanov.

The goddess is associated with an earlier temple located beneath the Episcopal Basilica, which remains almost unexplored to this day. After analysis and cleaning, the artifact will be displayed in the Plovdiv Archaeological Museum.