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Thracians

Q144964

Thracians: ancient nation living on the southeastern Balkan Peninsula.

The Balkan mountains, seen from Kazanlak

In the north the Danube, in the east the Black Sea, in the south the Aegean Sea, in the west the Mlava (ancient Margus). Essentially modern Bulgaria. Divided into a northern and a southern half by the Balkans (ancient Haemus).
Tribal society; Indo-European language.
In the first millennium BCE four major groups of tribes: the Bessae in the southwest; the Triballians in the northwest; the Getae in the northeast; the Odryssae on the southeast in the valley of the Maritsa (ancient Hebros)
In the center the "Valley of the Thracian Kings" (funeral mounds like Kazanlak and Golyamata Kosmatka)
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, they were the world’s largest nation after the Indians, and would be invincible if they would have one king. He devoted a part of his fifth book to the Thracians.

Thracian funeral mound (Golyamata Kosmatka)

2400-1600 BCE: Ethnogenesis; at about the same time as the Greeks entered Greece
Related to Mycenaean Greece
Some legendary stories (e.g. Orpheus; Rhesus; Heracles and the horses of Diomedes)
s.XI-X BCE: Migrations to Anatolia (cf. Troy VIIb; the Thracian Brygians are the same as the Anatolian Phrygians)

s.VII-VI BCE: Greek settlements on the shores of the Black Sea (e.g., Odessos/Varna, Apollonia/Sozopol, Byzantium) and Aegean Sea
Thracians on the east stairs of the Apadana in Persepolis

The Thracians start to export cereals, leather, metals, wood, and slaves
Mid-sixth century: mentioned by Herodotus as subjects of the Lydian king Croesus.^note[Herodotus, Histories 1.6.] This must refer to Thracians in Asia.
c.514 BCE: The Achaemenid king Darius the Great subdues several Thracian tribes before continuing to wage war against the Scythians. Thrace was pacified by a general named Megabazus.

Belish, Archaic collier

Izgrev, Thracian tomb

Letnitsa, the "hero"

Zhana Mogila, Relief of a lion

Thracian torques

c.475: End of the Achaemenid presence in Europe; beginning of Athenian interest in the northern Aegean region (Ennea Hodoi/Amphipolis)
Second half fifth century: king Sitalces organizes the Odryssan kingdom
424-410 BCE: Reign of Seuthes I of the Odryssae
The Odryssan kingdom is divided between Medocus and Seuthes II. In 401, the latter is host of Xenophon, who describes the country in his Anabasis.
383-359 BCE: Reign of king Cotys I of the Odryssae
356-341 BCE: King Philip II of Macedonia subjects Thrace. Philippopolis founded in the country of the Bessi (modern Plovdiv)
335 BCE: King Alexander III the Great of Macedonia crosses the Danube
There are Thracian cavalrymen in Alexander's army; they are mentioned in the accounts of the battle of Gaugamela. One of them is mentioned as co-ruler of Taxila.

Rogozen Treasure, jar with lion and bull	Rogozen Treasure, Vase with amazons	Rogozen Treasure, plate with Heracles	Rogozen Treasure, Vase
Varbilau, Helmet with mythological decoration	Peretu, Head	Agighiol Tumulus, Greave	Agighiol Tumulus, Applique
Svetitsa, Gold funeral mask	Yujna Mogila, Rhyton	Pletena, Green helmet	Pegasus

Seuthes III

323 BCE: Death of Alexander in Babylon (text); settlement of Babylon (text); Lysimachus made satrap of Thrace, where Macedonian overlordship is no longer recognized; Lysimachus cannot overcome the Odryssan king Seuthes III; beginning of a long series of wars
Gradual state building; Thrace becomes a Hellenistic state
309 BCE: Founding of Lysimacheia
305 BCE: Lysimachus proclaims himself king
c.300 BCE: Treasure of Panagyurishte
c. 295 BCE:Death of Seuthes III (buried in Golyamata Kosmatka)
292 BCE: Lysimachus' son Agathocles captured by the Thracians; later, Lysimachus himself is also taken prisoner; they have to cede land
280/279 BCE: Celtic invasion
194 BCE: Conquered by the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great
c.189 BCE: First contacts with the Romans, who build the Via Egnatia along the Aegean shore
Continued state building
88 BCE: Revolt of the Thracian slave Spartacus in Central Italy
87 BCE: Sulla subjects the Maedi
Allied to king Mithridates VI of Pontus

Panagyurishte Treasure, Amphora	Panagyurishte Treasure, Cup	Panagyurishte Treasure, Rhyton with a stag's head	Panagyurishte Treasure, Rhyton with an amazon's head
Thracian Helmet	Mesambria, Hydria, detail	Mesembria, Hellenistic Thracian jewelry	Odessos, Hellenistic Thracian jewelry
Kazanlak, Tomb, Dromos	Kazanlak, Tomb, Painted ceiling, Chariot with horses	Kazanlak, Tomb, Thrones	Kazanlak, Tomb, Painted ceiling