On October 13, a photograph that appeared on Reddit of a 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot buried beside the remains of a dog and two horses went viral and has garnered over 71,000 likes so far. One poster explained that part of the novelty of this photograph lies in the fact that four-wheeled chariots are not a very frequent find and that this chariot is also rare because of the enormous diameter of its wheels which measure nearly four feet.

But besides the relative rarity of four-wheeled chariots, what is the history behind this particular chariot which has gripped the imaginations of so many people on the Reddit post?

Thracian chariot burials like the 2,000-year-old one on Reddit were actually once extremely common in Bulgaria, especially among the noblemen of society. These men were frequently buried next to their beloved chariots in a tradition that began around 2,500 years ago, according to archaeologist Veselin Ignatov.

Ignatov published a paper on the subject in the journal Archaeologia Bulgarica and explained that these chariot burials were at the height of their popularity during the Roman Empire, around 2,100 to 1,500 years ago, as Live Science reports. However, leaving the bodies of these noblemen in graves next to their chariots was “by far most popular and long-standing in Thrace. In all cases, the chariots represent prestige, power and authority.”

A photograph has gone viral on Reddit of the burial of a 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot with horses and a dog. [Image by Petar Petrov/AP Images]

The story of the 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot burial which has become an overnight sensation on Reddit originally began in 2008, when Veselin Ignatov led a group of archaeologists in Bulgaria and came across the spectacular chariot. This chariot was once covered in artwork featuring scenes straight out of Thracian mythology, although today these scenes are relatively obscured and hard to see.

Similar to Egyptians being buried beside their beloved prized goods in life to help them in the afterlife, Ignatov has said that men would have also been buried next to their chariots so that they could continue to use them in the next life. It is believed that after the death of the man who once owned this Thracian chariot that his horses would also have been killed so that they could be buried with him.

The Story Behind That 2,000-Year-Old Thracian Chariot You Saw on Reddit https://t.co/qV8uJi66kI pic.twitter.com/XbEx3nloNL — Live Science (@LiveScience) October 14, 2017

After the slaughter of the nobleman’s horses, it is also extremely like that other animal sacrifices would have been made to appease the gods. Sheep, pigs, deer, and also dogs were common animals to slaughter, which might explain the presence of the dog skeleton that was found with the chariot.

It is reportedly quite common in Bulgaria for treasure hunters to seek out burials like the 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot so they can loot them and sell anything of value that they discover there. Because of this, archaeologists will frantically try to perform their excavations as quickly as possible to prevent looters from appearing on the scene.

The nobleman who once owned the 2,000-year-old Thracian chariot may not have been able to take it to the afterlife with him, but the memory of his life still exists thanks to photographs on Reddit.

[Featured Image by Petar Petrov/AP Images]