Alexander Fol (1933-2006), DrHist, was Professor of Ancient History, founder of the Institute of Thracology (1972) and of Thracology as academic interdisciplinary domain. He taught at the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and the New Bulgarian University. The author was Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres - France (1998), he was awarded the highest academic distinction with the image of St. Cyril of the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, he was Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, Corresponding Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the Romanian Institute of Thracology, etc. He was invited as visiting professor in a number of universities in Europe, USA and Japan. Alexander Fol was the initiator and co-organiser of the International Congresses of Thracology between 1974 and 2005, as well as of the Bulgarian exhibition of Thracian treasures.
The book The Thracian Dionysos. Naming and Faith is the third volume in a series devoted to faith and rites connected with the god Dionysos in the non-literary Thracian society, and the fifth volume out of six in a series studying Thracian religiosity in a broad Mediterranean context.
