The exact origin of the Thracians is uncertain, but it is believed that Thracians like other Indo-European speaking groups in Europe descended from a mixture ofProto-Indo-Europeans andEarly European Farmers.[3]
During the 5th and 4th millennium BC, the inhabitants of the eastern region of theBalkans became organized in different groups ofindigenous people that were later named by theancient Greeks under the single ethnonym of "Thracians".[4][5][6][7]
TheThracian culture emerged during the earlyBronze Age, which began about 3500 BC.[4][8][9][10] From it also developed theGetae, theDacians and other regional groups of tribes. Historical and archaeological records indicate that the Thracian culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.[4][11][12] Writing in the 6th century BC,Xenophanes described Thracians as "blue-eyed and red-haired".[13]
According to ancient Greek andRoman historians, the Thracians were uncivilized and remained largely disunited, until the establishment of their first permanent state theOdrysian kingdom in the very beginning of 5th century BC, founded by kingTeres I, exploiting the collapse of thePersian presence in Europe due to thefailed invasion of Greece in 480–79.[14] Teres and his sonSitalces pursued a policy of expansion, making the kingdom one of the most powerful of its time. Throughout much of its early history it remained an ally ofAthens and even joined thePeloponnesian War on its side. By 400 BC the state showed first signs of fatigue, althoughCotys I initiated a brief renaissance that lasted until his murder in 360 BC. Around 340 BC, the Odrysian kingdom lost independence toMacedon and became incorporated into the empire, but it regained independence followingAlexander the Great's death. A much smaller Odrysian state was revived in around 330 BC bySeuthes III, who founded a new capital namedSeuthopolis.
In the mid-2nd century BC, the Thracians faced gradual conquest by the Romans, under whom they faced internal strife.[ambiguous] They composed major parts of rebellions against the Romans along with the Macedonians up until theThird Macedonian War. The Odrysian kingdom was attacked by the Roman Republic in the late 1st century BC, when the Odrysian heartlands eventually became known as theSapaean kingdom, a client state of the Roman Republic, which was finally abolished and converted into aRoman province of Thracia in 45-46 AD.
Thracians were described as "warlike" and "barbarians" by the Greeks and Romans since they were neither Romans nor Greeks, but in spite of this they were favored as excellent mercenaries. While the Thracians were perceived as unsophisticated by the Romans and Greeks, their culture was reportedly noted for its sophisticated poetry and music.[15] Since the 19th century-early 20th century, Bulgaria and Romania have usedarchaeology to learn more aboutThracian culture and way of life.
The first historical record of theethnonymThracian is found in theIliad, where the Thracians are described as allies of theTrojans in theTrojan War against the Ancient Greeks.[19] The ethnonymThracian comes from Ancient GreekΘρᾷξ (Thrāix; plural Θρᾷκες,Thrāikes) or Θρᾴκιος (Thrāikios;Ionic: Θρηίκιος,Thrēikios), and the toponymThrace comes from Θρᾴκη (Thrāikē; Ionic: Θρῄκη,Thrēikē).[20] These forms are allexonyms as applied by the Greeks.[21]
InGreek mythology,Thrax (his name simply the quintessential Thracian) was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the godAres.[22] In theAlcestis,Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was "Thrax". Since Ares was regarded as the patron of Thrace his golden or gilded shield was kept in his temple at Bistonia inThrace.[23]
The origins of the Thracians remain obscure due to the absence of written historical records before they made contact with theGreeks.[24] Evidence of proto-Thracians in the prehistoric period depends on artifacts ofmaterial culture.Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with themulti-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancingtimber grave culture, also known as the Srubnaya. It is generally proposed that a Thracian people developed from a mixture ofindigenous peoples andIndo-Europeans from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in theEarly Bronze Age[25] when the latter, around 1500 BC, mixed with indigenous peoples.[26] According to one theory, their ancestors migrated in three waves from the northeast: the first in theLate Neolithic, forcing out thePelasgians andAchaeans, the second in the Early Bronze Age, and the third around 1200 BC. They reached theAegean islands, ending theMycenaean civilization. They did not speak the same language.[24] The lack of written archeological records left by Thracians suggests that the diverse topography did not make it possible for a single language to form.[24]
Ancient Greek and Roman historians agreed that the ancient Thracians were superior fighters; only their constant political fragmentation prevented them from overrunning the lands around the northeasternMediterranean.[27] Although these historians characterized the Thracians as "primitive" partly because they lived in simple, open villages, the Thracians in fact had a fairly advanced culture that was especially noted for its poetry and music. Their soldiers were valued as mercenaries, particularly by the Macedonians and Romans.[27]
According toEthnica, a geographical dictionary byStephanus of Byzantium, Thrace—the land of the Thracians—was known as Perki (Περκη) and Aria (Αρια) before being named Thrace by the Greeks,[29][30] presumably due to the affiliation of the Thracians with the godAres[31] and Perki is the reflexive name of the god Ares as *Perkʷūnos.[32]
Thucydides[31] mentions about a period in the past, from his point of view, when Thracians had inhabited the region ofPhocis, also known as the location ofDelphi. He dates it to the lifetime ofTereus – mythological Thracian king and son of the god Ares.
Due to the lack of historical records that predateClassical Greece it's presumed that the Thracians did not form a lasting political organization until theOdrysian state was founded in the 5th century BC. In the 1st century BC, duringKing Burebista's rule, emerged the powerful state ofDacia.
Currently, there are about 200 identifiedThracian tribes.[33] Thracian peoples fromMoesia achieved significant importance during Roman rule.[34] Some peoples from Moesia practicedvegetarianism, feeding themselves on honey, milk, and cheese.[35]
Tribes inDacia during the reign ofBurebista (82/61 BC – 45/44 BC)
Thracians were regarded by ancient Greeks and Romans as warlike, ferocious, bloodthirsty, and barbarian.[36][37][38]Plato in hisRepublic groups them with theScythians,[39] calling them extravagant and high spirited; and in hisLaws portrays them as a warlike nation, grouping them withCelts,Persians, Scythians,Iberians andCarthaginians.[40]Polybius wrote of Cotys's sober and gentle character being unlike that of most Thracians.[41]Tacitus in hisAnnals writes of them being wild, savage and impatient, disobedient even to their own kings.[42] The Thracians have been said to have "tattooed their bodies, obtained their wives by purchase, and often sold their children".[38] French historianVictor Duruy further notes that they "considered husbandry unworthy of a warrior, and knew no source of gain but war and theft".[38] He also states that they practicedhuman sacrifice,[38] which has been confirmed by archaeological evidence.[43]
Thracian Helm, Bronze and Silver
Polyaenus andStrabo write how the Thracians broke their pacts of truce with trickery.[44][45] Polyaneus testifies that the Thracians struck their weapons against each other before battle, "in the Thracian manner".[46]Diegylis, leader of theCaeni, was considered one of the most bloodthirsty chieftains byDiodorus Siculus. AnAthenian club for lawless youths was named after the Thracian tribeTriballi[47] which might be the origin of the wordtribe.
According to ancient Roman sources, theDii[48] were responsible for the worst[49] atrocities in thePeloponnesian War, killing every living thing, including children and dogs inTanagra andMycalessos.[48] TheDii would impale Roman heads on their spears andrhomphaias such as in theKallinikos skirmish at 171 BC.[49] Strabo treated the Thracians as barbarians, and held that they spoke the same language as theGetae.[50] Some Roman authors noted that even after the introduction of Latin they still kept their "barbarous" ways.[38]Herodotus writes that "the Thracians sell their children and let their maidens commerce with whatever men they please".[51]
The accuracy and impartiality of these descriptions have been called into question in modern times, given the seeming embellishments in Herodotus's histories, for one.[52][53][54] Archaeologists have attempted to piece together a fuller understanding of Thracian culture through the study of their artifacts.[55]
Several Thracian graves or tombstones have the nameRufus inscribed on them, meaning "redhead" – a common name given to people withred hair[56]–and consequently the Romans came to associate the name with slaves.[57] Ancient Greek artwork often depicts Thracians as redheads.[58]Rhesus of Thrace, a mythological Thracian king, was so named because of his red hair and is depicted on Greek pottery as having red hair and a red beard.[58]Ancient Greek writers also described the Thracians as red-haired. A fragment by the Greek poetXenophanes describes the Thracians as blue-eyed and red haired:
...Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair.[59]
Nevertheless, academic studies[citation needed] have concluded that people often had different physical features from those described by primary sources. Ancient authors described as red-haired several groups of people. They claimed that allSlavs had red hair, and likewise described theScythians as red haired. According to Beth Cohen, Thracians had "the same dark hair and the same facial features as theAncient Greeks."[65] However, Aris N. Poulianos states that Thracians, like modernBulgarians, belonged mainly to the Aegean anthropological type.[66]
The earliest known mention of Thracians is in the second song of Homer'sIliad, where the population inhabiting theThracian Chersonesus is said to have participated in theTrojan War, which is believed to have taken place around 12th century BC. This population is referred to with the following name:
"...And Hippothous led the tribes of thePelasgi, that rage with the spear, even them that dwelt in deep-soiledLarisa; these were led by Hippothous and Pylaeus, scion ofAres, sons twain of Pelasgian Lethus, son ofTeutamus. But the Thracians Acamas led andPeirous, the warrior, even all them that the strong stream of the Hellespont encloseth."[67][68][69]
The firstGreek colonies along the Thracian coasts (first theAegean, then theMarmara andBlack Seas) were founded in the 8th century BC.[70] Thracians and Greeks lived side-by-side. Ancient sources record a Thracian presence on theAegean islands and inHellas (the broader "land of theHellenes").[71]
At some point in the 7th century BC, a portion of the ThracianTreres tribe crossed theThracian Bosporus and invadedAnatolia.[72] In 637 BC, the seventh year of the reign of the Lydian kingArdys, the Treres under their king Kobos (Ancient Greek:ΚώβοςKṓbos;Latin:Cobus), in alliance with theCimmerians and theLycians, attackedLydia.[73] They defeated theLydians and captured the Lydian capital,Sardis, except for its citadel, and Ardys might have been killed in this attack.[74] In another Cimmerian attack on Lydia, Ardys's son and successor,Sadyattes, might also have been killed.[74] Soon after 635 BC, with Assyrian approval[75] the Scythians under Madyes entered Anatolia. In alliance with Sadyattes's son, the Lydian kingAlyattes,[76][77] Madyes expelled the Treres from Asia Minor and defeated the Cimmerians, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia[78] until they were themselves expelled from Western Asia by the Medes in the 600s BC.[73]
Relief of Thracian Warriors from 6th-5th century BC, Reign ofDarius I
In the 6th century BC thePersianAchaemenid Empire conquered Thrace, starting in 513 BC, when the Achaemenid kingDarius I amassed an army and marched from Achaemenid-ruled Anatolia into Thrace, crossing theArteskos river and then proceeding through the valley-route of theHebros river. Darius sought to create a new satrapy in the Balkans, and had sent emissaries to many Thracian tribes on the path of his army and elsewhere. Many Thracians, including the Odrysae, submitted to Darius until his army reached the territory of theGetae who lived just south of the Danube and who vainly attempted to resist Achaemenid conquest. After the Getae were defeated and were forced to provide the Achaemenid army with soldiers, all the Thracian tribes between theAegean Sea and theDanube river had been subjected by the Achaemenid Empire. Darius crossed the Danube andcampaigned against the Scythians, after which he returned to Anatolia through Thrace and left a large army in Europe under the command of his generalMegabazus.[79]
Following Darius I's orders to create a new satrapy for the Achaemenid Empire in the Balkans, Megabazus forced the Greek cities who had refused to submit to the Achaemenid Empire, starting withPerinthus, after which led military campaigns throughout Thrace to impose Achaemenid rule over every city and tribe in the area. With the help of Thracian guides, Megabazus was able to conquerPaeonia up to but not including the area of Lake Prasias, and he gave the lands of thePaeonians inhabiting these regions up to the Lake Prasias to Thracians loyal to the Achaemenid Empire. The last endeavours of Megabazus included his the conquest of the area between theStrymon andAxius rivers, and at the end of his campaign, the king ofMacedonia,Amyntas I, accepted to become a vassal of the Achaemenid Empire. Within the satrapy itself, the Achaemenid king Darius granted to the tyrantHistiaeus ofMiletus the district ofMyrcinus on the Strymon's east bank until Megabazus persuaded him to recall Histiaeus after he returned to Asia Minor, after which the Thracian tribe of theEdoni retook control of Myrcinus.[79] The new satrapy, once created, was namedSkudra (𐎿𐎤𐎢𐎭𐎼), derived from Scythian the nameSkuδa, which was the self-designation of theScythians who inhabited the northern parts of the satrapy.[80] Once Megabazus had returned to Asia Minor, he was succeeded inSkudra by a governor whose name is unknown, and Darius appointed the generalOtanes to oversee the administrative division of the Hellespont, which extended on both sides of the sea and included theBosporus, thePropontis, and theHellespont proper and its approaches. Otanes then proceeded to captureByzantium,Chalcedon,Antandrus,Lamponeia,Imbros, andLemnos for the Achaemenid Empire.[79]
Skudrian (Thracian) soldier of the Achaemenid army,c. 480 BC.Xerxes I tomb relief.
The area included within the satrapy ofSkudra included both the Aegean coast of Thrace, as well as its Pontic coast till the Danube. In the interior, the Western border of the satrapy consisted of theAxius river and theBelasica-Pirin-Rila mountain ranges till the site of modern-dayKostenets. The importance of this satrapy rested in that it contained theHebros river, where a route in the river valley connected the permanent Persian settlement ofDoriscus with the Aegean coast, as well as with the port-cities ofApollonia,Mesembria andOdessos on the Black Sea, and with thecentral Thracian plain, which gave this region an important strategic value. Persian sources describe the province as being populated by three groups: theSaka Paradraya ("Saka beyond the sea", the Persian term for allScythian peoples to the north of theCaspian andBlack Seas[81][82]); theSkudra themselves (most likely the Thracian tribes), andYauna Takabara. The latter term, which translates as "Ionians with shield-like hats", is believed to refer toMacedonians. The three ethnicities (Saka, Macedonian, Thracian) enrolled in theAchaemenid army, as shown in the Imperial tomb reliefs ofNaqsh-e Rostam, and participated in theSecond Persian invasion of Greece on the Achaemenid side.[83]
When Achaemenid control over its European possessions collapsed once theIonian Revolt started, the Thracians did not help the Greek rebels, and they instead saw Achaemenid rule as more favourable because the latter had treated the Thracians with favour and even given them more land, and also because they realised that Achaemenid rule was a bulwark against Greek expansion and Scythian attacks. During the revolt, Aristagoras of Miletus captured Myrcinus from the Edones and died trying to attack another Thracian city.[79]
Once the Ionian Revolt had been fully quelled, the Achaemenid generalMardonius crossed the Hellespont with a large fleet and army, re-subjugated Thrace without any effort and made Macedonia full part of the satrapy ofSkudra. Mardonius was however attacked at night by theBryges in the area ofLake Doiran and modern-dayValandovo, but he was able to defeat and submit them as well. Herodotus's list of tribes who provided the Achaemenid army with soldiers included Thracians from both the coast and from the central Thracian plain, attesting that Mardonius's campaign had reconquered all the Thracian areas which were under Achaemenid rule before the Ionian Revolt.[79]
When the Greeksdefeated asecond invasion attempt by the Persian Empire in 479 BC, they started attacking the satrapy ofSkudra, which was resisted by both the Thracians and the Persian forces. The Thracians kept on sending supplies to the governor ofEion when the Greeks besieged it. When the city fell to the Greeks in 475 BC,Cimon gave its land toAthens for colonisation. Although Athens was now in control of the Aegean Sea and the Hellespont following the defeat of the Persian invasion, the Persians were still able to control the southern coast of Thrace from a base in central Thrace and with the support of the Thracians. Thanks to the Thracians co-operating with the Persians by sending supplies and military reinforcements down the Hebrus river route, Achaemenid authority in central Thrace lasted until around 465 BC, and the governorMascames managed to resist many Greek attacks in Doriscus until then.[79]
Around this time,Teres I, the king of the Odrysae tribe, in whose territory the Hebrus flowed, was starting to organise the rise of his kingdom into a powerful state. With the end of Achaemenid power in the Balkans, the ThracianOdrysian kingdom, theKingdom of Macedonia, and theAthenian thalassocracy filled the ensuing power vacuum and formed their own spheres of influence in the area.[79]
The Odrysian Kingdom was a state union of over 40 Thracian tribes[84] and 22 kingdoms[85] that existed between the 5th century BC and the 1st century AD. It consisted mainly of present-dayBulgaria, spreading to parts of SoutheasternRomania (Northern Dobruja), parts of NorthernGreece and parts of modern-dayEuropean Turkey.[citation needed]
By the 5th century BC, the Thracian population was large enough thatHerodotus called them the second-most numerous people in the part of the world known by him (after theIndians), and potentially the most powerful, if not for their lack of unity.[86] The Thracians in classical times were broken up into a large number of groups and tribes, though a number of powerful Thracian states were organized, the most important being theOdrysian kingdom of Thrace, and also the short livedDacian kingdom ofBurebista. Thepeltast is a type of soldier of this period that originated in Thrace.[87]
At this time, a subculture ofcelibateascetics called the "ctistae" lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers, priests and prophets. They were held in a place of honor by the Thracians, with their lives being dedicated to the gods.[88]
After the Persians withdrew from Europe and before the expansion of the Kingdom of Macedon, Thrace was divided into three regions (east, central, and west). A notable ruler of the East Thracians wasCersobleptes, who attempted to expand his authority over many of the Thracian tribes. He was eventually defeated by theMacedonians.[citation needed]
The conquest of the southern part of Thrace byPhilip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC made the Odrysian kingdom extinct for several years. After the kingdom was reestablished, it was a vassal state of Macedon for several decades under generals such asLysimachus of theDiadochi.[citation needed]
In 336 BC,Alexander the Great began recruiting Thraciancavalry andjavelin men in his army, who accompanied him on his continuousconquest to expand the borders of theMacedonian Empire.[93] The strength of the Thracian cavalry quickly grew from 150 men, to 1000 men by the time Alexander advanced intoEgypt, and numbered 1600 when he reached the persian city ofSusa. The thracian infantry was under the command of the Odrysian princeSitalces II who led them in the siege ofTelmissus and in the battles ofIssus andGaugamela.[93]
In 279 BC,Celtic Gauls advanced intoMacedonia, southern Greece andThrace. They were soon forced out of Macedonia and southern Greece, but theyremained in Thrace until the end of the 3rd century BC. From Thrace, three Celtic tribes advanced intoAnatolia and established the kingdom ofGalatia.[citation needed]
As evident from the archaeological findings of pits and treasures, spanning from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century BC in northwestern Bulgaria and northeastern Serbia,Scordiscian communities lived next to the Thracian ones.[94]
Slave raids were a specific form ofbanditry that was the primary method employed by theancient Greeks for gathering slaves. In regions such asThrace and the easternAegean, natives, or "barbarians", captured in these raids were the main source ofslaves, rather thanprisoners of war. As described byXenophon, andMenander inAspis, after the slaves were captured in raids, their actual enslavement took place when they were resold throughslave-dealers toAthenians and otherslaveowners throughoutGreece. The fragmentary list of slaves confiscated from the property of the mutilators of theHermai mentions 32 slaves whose origins have been ascertained: 13 came fromThrace, 7 fromCaria, and the others came fromCappadocia,Scythia,Phrygia,Lydia,Syria,Ilyria,Macedon, andPeloponnese. The names given to slaves in thecomedies often had a geographical link, thus Thratta, used byAristophanes inThe Wasps,The Acharnians, andPeace, simply meant a Thracian woman. Theethnicity of a slave was a significant criterion for major purchasers: Ancient practice was to avoid a concentration of too many slaves of the same ethnic origin in the same place, in order to limit the risk ofrevolt.
During theMacedonian Wars, conflict between Rome and Thrace was unavoidable. The rulers of Macedonia were weak, and Thracian tribal authority resurged. But after theBattle of Pydna in 168 BC, Roman authority over Macedonia seemed inevitable, and the governance of Thrace passed to Rome.[citation needed]
Initially, Thracians and Macedonians revolted against Roman rule. For example, the revolt ofAndriscus in 149 BC drew the bulk of its support from Thrace. Incursions by local tribes into Macedonia continued for many years, though a few tribes, such as the Deneletae and the Bessi, willingly allied withRome.[citation needed]
The next century and a half saw the slow development of Thracia into a permanent Roman client state. TheSapaei tribe came to the forefront initially under the rule ofRhascuporis. He was known to have granted assistance to bothPompey andCaesar, and later supported theRepublican armies againstMark Antony andOctavian in the final days of the Republic.[citation needed]
The heirs of Rhascuporis became as deeply enmeshed in political scandal and murder as were their Roman masters. A series of royal assassinations altered the ruling landscape for several years in the early Roman imperial period. Various factions took control with the support of the Roman Emperor.[citation needed]
AfterRhoemetalces III of the Thracian Kingdom ofSapes was murdered in AD 46 by his wife, Thracia was incorporated as an official Roman province to be governed byProcurators, and laterPraetorian prefects. The central governing authority of Rome was inPerinthus, but regions within the province were under the command of military subordinates to the governor. The lack of large urban centers made Thracia a difficult place to manage, but eventually the province flourished under Roman rule. However, Romanization was not attempted in the province of Thracia.[citation needed]
Roman authority in Thracia rested mainly with the legions stationed inMoesia, though the province's rural nature and distance from Roman authority complicated the maintenance of that authority. Over the next few centuries, the province was periodically and increasingly attacked by migratingGermanic tribes. The reign ofJustinian saw the construction of over 100legionary fortresses to supplement the defense.[citation needed]
Repeated invasions of the Balkans byRomans,Celts,Huns,Goths,Scythians,Sarmatians andSlavs, accompanied by,hellenization,romanization and laterslavicisation, remade the ethnicity, language, and culture of Thrace. Regardless, writers continued to speak of a separate Thracian nationality until theEarly Middle Ages.[95] Towards the end of the 4th century,Nicetas the Bishop ofRemesiana brought the gospel to "those mountain wolves", theBessi.[96] Reportedly his mission was successful, and Christianity eventually replaced the worship of Dionysus and other Thracian gods.
In 570, Antoninus Placentius said that in the valleys ofMount Sinai there was amonastery in which monks spoke Greek, Latin, Syriac, Egyptian and Bessian. The origin of the monastery is explained inSimeon Metaphrastes's medievalhagiographyVita Sancti Theodosii Coenobiarchae, which says thatTheodosius the Cenobiarch founded a monastery on the shore of theDead Sea with four churches, in each of which a different language was spoken, Bessian being one of them. The site of the monastery was called "Cutila", which may be a Thracian name.[97]
The further fate of the Thracians is a matter of dispute. German historian Gottfried Schramm speculated that theAlbanians descended from the Christianized Thracian tribeBessi, after Bessi remnants were allegedly pushed bySlavs andBulgars westwards during the 9th century into modern dayAlbania.[96] There is no archaeological evidence, however, of a 9th-century migration of any population, such as the Bessi, fromwestern Bulgaria to Albania.[98] There is likewise no linguistic support for Schramm's hypothesis. Little comparative linguistic material is available (the Thracian language is attested only marginally, while the Bessian is completely unknown), but the phonetic history ofAlbanian and Thracian indicates different sound developments inconsistent with Schramm's thesis. Furthermore, the Christian vocabulary of Albanian is mainlyLatin, which speaks against the construct of a "Thracian-Bessian church language".[99] Most likely the Thracians were assimilated into Roman and Byzantine society, becomong one of the ancestral groups of modern Southeastern Europeans.[100]
The last mention of Thracians, in the 6th century, coincides with the first mention ofSlavs, when the Slavic tribes inhabited large territories of Central and Eastern Europe.[101] After the 6th century Thracians who weren't already assimilated in theByzantine Empire, were incorporated in the slavic speakingBulgarian Empire.[102]
A recent Bulgarian study on the heritage of Thracian mounds in Bulgaria claims historical, cultural and ethnic links between Thracians andBulgarians.[106][105] Genetic studies on modernBulgarians show that approximately 55% of Bulgarian autosomal genetic legacy is of Paleo-Balkan and Mediterranean origin which can be attributed to Thracians and other indigenousBalkan populations predatingSlavs andBulgars.[107][108][109][110]
The records of Thracian writing are very scarce. There are only four inscriptions that have been discovered. One of them is a gold ring unearthed in the village ofEzerovo, Bulgaria. The thracian inscription is written using the Greek script and consists of 8 lines. Attempts to decipher the inscription have proven inconclusive.[111]
Bronze hand used in the worship of the Thracian godSabazios. 1st-2nd century AD. Sabazios became popular inthe Roman Empire and had connections withJupiter andDionysos.
One notable cult that existed inThrace,Moesia,Phrygia and the lands of theDacians and theGetae (Scythia Minor, nowDobrudja) was that of the "Thracian horseman", also known asSabazios or "ThracianHeros" known by aThracian name as HerosKarabazmos, a god of theunderworld, who was usually depicted on funeral statues as a horseman slaying a beast with a spear.[112][113][114]Getae and Dacians potentially had a monotheistic religion based on the godZalmoxis, though this is heavily debated in the anthropological community.[115] The supreme Balkan thunder godPerkon was part of the Thracian pantheon, although cults ofOrpheus and Zalmoxis likely overshadowed his.[citation needed]
The Thracians are considered the first to worship the god of wine calledDionysus in Greek orZagreus in Thracian.[116] Later this cult reached Ancient Greece.[117][118] Some consider Thrace as the motherland of wine culture.[119] The works ofHomer,Herodotus and other historians of Ancient Greece also refer to theancient Thracians' love for winemaking and consumption, also related to religion[120] as early as 6000 years ago.[121]
The male Thracians were polygamous.Menander puts it: "All Thracians, especially us and theGetae, are not much abstaining, because no one takes less than ten, eleven, twelve wives, some even more. If one dies and has only four or five wives he is called ill-fated, unhappy and unmarried."[122] According to Herodotus virginity among women was not valued, and unmarried Thracian women could have sex with any man they wished to.[122] There were men perceived as holy Thracians, who lived without women and were called "ktisti".[122] In myth,Orpheus rebuked the sexual advances of theBistones women after the death ofEurydice, and was killed for not engaging in the activities promoted by the followers ofDionysus.
The Thracians were a warrior people, known as both horsemen and lightly armed skirmishers with javelins.[123] Thracianpeltasts had a notable influence in Ancient Greece.[124]
The history of Thracian warfare spans from c. 10th century BC up to the 1st century AD in the region defined by AncientGreek and Latin historians as Thrace. It concerns the armed conflicts of the Thracian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans and in the Dacian territories. Emperor Traianus, also known as Trajan, conquered Dacia after two wars in the 2nd century AD. The wars ended with the occupation of the fortress ofSarmisegetusa and the death of the kingDecebalus. Besides conflicts between Thracians and neighboring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Thracian tribes too.[citation needed]
A genetic study published inScientific Reports in 2019 examined themtDNA of 25 Thracian remains inBulgaria from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. They were found to harbor a mixture of ancestry fromWestern Steppe Herders (WSHs) andEarly European Farmers (EEFs), supporting the idea that Southeast Europe was the link between Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.[3]
A Bulgarian study from 2013 claims genetic similarity between Thracians (8-6 century BC), medieval Bulgarians (8–10 century AD), and modern Bulgarians, highlighting highest resemblance between them and Romanians, Northern Italians and Northern Greeks.[125]
Examinations of Iron Age and ancient Thracian remains in Bulgaria were found to mainly carry the Y-DNA haplogroupE-V13.[126] The tested samples were further specifically listed as: E-BY3880 x 3, E-L618 x 2, E-M78 x 2, R-Z93, E-CTS1273, E-BY14160.[126]Six of the samples were predicted for having brown eyes while two for having blue eyes, while majority of the samples were predicted for an intermediate skin color and hair color prediction ranged from majority brown on detailed, to light and dark.[127]
Spartacus, Thracian gladiator who led a large slave uprising in south Italy in 73–71 BC and defeated several Roman legions in what is known as theThird Servile War
The branch of science that studies the ancient Thracians and Thrace is calledThracology. Archaeological research on theThracian culture started in the 20th century, especially afterWorld War II, mainly in southernBulgaria. As a result of intensive excavations in the 1960s and 1970s a number of Thracian tombs and sanctuaries were discovered. Most significant among them are: theGetic burial complex and theTomb of Sveshtari, theValley of the Thracian Rulers and theTomb of Kazanlak,Tatul,Seuthopolis,Perperikon,Tomb of Aleksandrovo in Bulgaria,Sarmizegetusa in Romania and others.[citation needed]Also a large number of elaborately crafted gold and silver treasure sets from the 5th and 4th century BC were unearthed. In the following decades, those were exhibited in museums around the world, thus calling attention to ancient Thracian culture. Since the year 2000, Bulgarian archaeologistGeorgi Kitov has made discoveries in Central Bulgaria, in an area now known as "The Valley of the Thracian Kings". The residence of theOdrysian kings was found inStarosel in theSredna Gora mountains.[142][143] A 1922 Bulgarian study claimed that there were at least 6,269necropolises[clarification needed] in Bulgaria.[144]
The dominant stance of history and archaeology as the two main disciplines dealing with the Thracians as a subject of research has been succeeded by a clear shift towards new multidisciplinary and more inclusive scientific perspectives. An example of this new trend was the large-scale multidisciplinary project "Thracians – Genesis and Development of the Ethnos, Cultural Identities, Civilization Relations and Heritage of the Antiquity", launched in 2016 in Bulgaria. The project was the first comprehensive study of the Thracian heritage including 72 scholars from 18 institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Science, as well as researchers from Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan and Switzerland. The project studied 13 scientific themes among which: formation of the Thracian ethnos, outlining of its ethno-cultural territory, continuity of the gene pool and related DNA studies, architectural, botanical, microbiological, astronomical, acoustic and linguistic aspects, mining and ceramics technologies, food and drink customs, that resulted in an extensively illustrated book including 33 scientific articles.[145]
^abWebber 2001, p. 3. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betweennorth-eastern Greece, Romania, and north-western Turkey. They shared the same language and culture. There may have been as many as a million Thracians, divided among up to 40 tribes."
^Modi et al. 2019. "One of the best documented Indo-European civilizations that inhabited Romania, Bulgaria is the Thracians..."
^Rehm, Ellen (2010). "The Impact of the Achaemenids on Thrace: A Historical Review". In Nieling, Jens; Rehm, Ellen (eds.).Achaemenid Impact in the Black Sea: Communication of Powers. Black Sea Studies. Vol. 11. Aarhus University Press. p. 143.ISBN978-87-7934-431-0.In 470/469 BC, the strategist Kimon, mentioned above, defeated the Persian fleet at the mouth of the Eurymedon river. Subsequently, it seems that the royal house of the Odrysians in Thrace gained power and in about 465/464 BC emerged from the Persian shadow. The Odrysians became aware of the power vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the Persians and claimed back supremacy over the region inhabited by several tribes. From this period onwards an indigenous ruling dynasty is comprehensible.
^Garašanin 1982, p. 597. "We have no way of knowing what the Thracians called themselves and if indeed they had a common name... Thus the name of Thracians and that of their country were given by the Greeks to a group of Hellenic tribes occupying the territory...".
^Lemprière and Wright,[full citation needed] p. 358. "Mars was father of Cupid, Anteros, and Harmonia, by the goddess Venus. He had Ascalaphus and Ialmenus by Astyoche; Alcippe by Agraulos; Molus, Pylus, Euenus, and oThestius, by Demonice the daughter of Agenor. Besides these, he was the reputed father of Romulus, Oenomaus, Bythis, Thrax, Diomedes of Thrace, &c."
^Euripides,Alcestis p. 95. "[Line] 58. 'Thrace's golden shield' – One of the names of Ares was Thrax, he being the Patron of Thrace. His golden or gilded shield was kept in his temple at Bistonia there. Like the other Thracian bucklers, it was of the shape of a half-moon ('Pelta'). His 'festival of Mars Gradivus' was kept annually by the Latins in the month of March, when this sort of shield was displayed."
^abcSchütz, István (2006).Fehér foltok a Balkánon [White spots in the Balkans](PDF). Balassi Kiadó. p. 57.
^Eliade, Mircea; Culianu, Ioan Petru; Wiesner, Hillary S (1993).Dicţionar al religiilor [Dictionary of religions] (in Romanian). Humanitas. p. 267.ISBN978-973-28-0394-3.OCLC489886127.
^Schütz, István (2006).Fehér foltok a Balkánon [White spots in the Balkans](PDF). Balassi Kiadó. p. 58.
^Head, Duncan (1982).Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars, 359 BC to 146 BC: Organisation, Tactics, Dress and Weapons. Wargames Research Group. p. 51.ISBN978-0-904417-26-5.
^Plato.Republic: "Take the quality of passion or spirit;--it would be ridiculous to imagine that this quality, when found in States, is not derived from the individuals who are supposed to possess it, e.g. the Thracians, Scythians, and in general the northern nations;"
^Plato.Laws: "Are we to follow the custom of the Scythians, and Persians, and Carthaginians, and Celts, and Iberians, and Thracians, who are all warlike nations, or that of your countrymen, for they, as you say, altogether abstain?"
^Tacitus.Annals: "In the Consulship of Lentulus Getulicus and Caius Calvisius, the triumphal ensigns were decreed to Poppeus Sabinus for having routed some clans of Thracians, who living wildly on the high mountains, acted thence with the more outrage and contumacy. The ground of their late commotion, not to mention the savage genius of the people, was their scorn and impatience, to have recruits raised amongst them, and all their stoutest men enlisted in our armies; accustomed as they were not even to obey their native kings further than their own humour, nor to aid them with forces but under captains of their own choosing, nor to fight against any enemy but their own borderers."
^Tonkova, Milenka (2010). "On human sacrifice in Thrace (on archaeological evidence)". In Cândea, Ionel; Sîrbu, Valeriu (eds.).Tracii şi vecinii lor în antichitate. Ed. Istros a Muzeului Brăilei. pp. 503–514.ISBN978-973-1871-58-5.OCLC844101517.
^Herodotus (trans. G.C. Macaulay).The History of Herodotus (Volume II). "Of the other Thracians the custom is to sell their children to be carried away out of the country; and over their maidens they do not keep watch, but allow them to have commerce with whatever men they please, but over their wives they keep very great watch."
^Ode 18, Dithyramb 4, verse 51, quoted inBacchylides: a selection By Bacchylides, Herwig Maehler, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 191.
^Hecataeus mentions a Thracian tribe called theXanthoi (Nenci 1954: fragment 191 ) apparently named for their fair (red) hair (Helm 1988: 145), quoted inIndo-European origins: the anthropological evidence Institute for the Study of Man, John v. day, 2001 p. 39.
^Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924: at2.581
^abSpalinger, Anthony J. (1978). "The Date of the Death of Gyges and Its Historical Implications".Journal of the American Oriental Society.98 (4):400–409.doi:10.2307/599752.JSTOR599752.
^Phillips, E. D. (1972). "The Scythian Domination in Western Asia: Its Record in History, Scripture and Archaeology".World Archaeology.4 (2):129–138.doi:10.1080/00438243.1972.9979527.JSTOR123971.
^Williams, Mary Frances (2004). "Philopoemen's Special Forces: Peltasts and a New Kind of Greek Light-Armed Warfare (Livy 35.27)".Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte.53 (3):257–277.JSTOR4436729.
^Garašanin 1982, p. 612. "Thrace possessed only fortified areas, and cities such as Cabassus would have been no more than large villages. In general the population lived in villages and hamlets.".
^Garašanin 1982, p. 612. "According to Strabo (vii.6.1cf.st.Byz.446.15) the Thracian suffix -bria meant polis but it is an inaccurate translation..
^Mogens Herman Hansen.An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation. Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 888. "It was meant to be a polis but there was no reason to think that it was anything other than a native settlement."
^Most likely he was ofThraco-Roman origin, believed so by Herodian in his writings,(Herodian, 7:1:1-2) and the references to his "Gothic" ancestry might refer to aGetae origin (the two populations were often confused by later writers, most notably byJordanes in hisGetica), as suggested by the paragraphs describing how "he was singularly beloved by the Getae, moreover, as if he were one of themselves" and how he spoke "almost pure Thracian".(Historia Augusta,Life of Maximinus, 2:5)
^"Naissus у доба касне антике"(PDF).Jагодин мала касноантичка некропола [Late Antique necropolis Jagodin mala]. Niš: Narodni muzej Niš. 2015. p. 7.
Dumitrescu, VL. (1982). "The Prehistory of Romania from the earliest times to 1000 B.C.". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Sollberger, E. (eds.).The Cambridge Ancient History. pp. 1–74.doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521224963.002.ISBN978-1-139-05428-7.
Erdem, Zeynep Koçel; Şahin, Reyhan (2023).Thrace through the ages: pottery as evidence for commerce and culture from prehistoric times to the Islamic period. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Garašanin, M. (1982). "The Early Iron Age in the Central Balkan Area,c. 1000–750 B.C.". In Boardman, John; Edwards, I. E. S.; Hammond, N. G. L.; Sollberger, E. (eds.).The Cambridge Ancient History. pp. 582–618.doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521224963.015.ISBN978-1-139-05428-7.
Marinov, Tchavdar (2015). "Ancient Thrace in the Modern Imagination: Ideological Aspects of the Construction of Thracian Studies in Southeast Europe (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria)". In Daskalov, Roumen; Vezenkov, Alexander (eds.).Entangled Histories of the Balkans. pp. 10–117.doi:10.1163/9789004290365_003.ISBN978-90-04-29036-5.
Best, Jan and De Vries, Nanny.Thracians and Mycenaeans. Boston, MA: E.J. Brill Academic Publishers, 1989.ISBN90-04-08864-4.
Cardos, G.; Stoian, V.; Miritoiu, N.; Comsa, A.; Kroll, A.; Voss, S.; Rodewald, A. (2004). "Paleo-mtDNA analysis and population genetic aspects of old Thracian populations from South-East of Romania".Romanian Journal of Legal Medicine.12 (4):239–246.
The Yurta-Stroyno Archaeological Project. Studies on the Roman Rural Settlement in Thrace. P. Tušlová – B. Weissová – S. Bakardzhiev (eds.). Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Arts, 2022.ISBN978-80-7671-068-9 (print),ISBN978-80-7671-069-6 (online: pdf)
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