The Thracians () were an Indo-European–speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-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.". "One of the best documented Indo-European civilizations that inhabited Romania, Bulgaria is the Thracians..." Thracians resided mainly in Southeast Europe in modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, northern Greece and European Turkey, but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey.
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 of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers.
During the 5th and 4th millennium BC, the inhabitants of the eastern region of the Balkans became organized into different groups of indigenous people that were later named by the ancient Greeks under the single ethnonym of "Thracians".Nature (2019) Ancient human mitochondrial genomes from Bronze Age Bulgaria: new insights into the genetic history of ThraciansPopov, D. The Greek intellectuals and the Thracian world. Iztok – Zapad 2, 13–203 (2013).Fol, A. The Thracian orfeism. Sofia, 145–244 (1986).Fol, A. The History of Bulgarian lands in antiquity. Tangra TanNakRa, 11–300 (2008).
The Thracian culture emerged during the early Bronze Age, which began about 3500 BC.Chichikova, M. The Thracian city – Terra Antiqua Balcanica. GSU IF C, 85–93 (1985).Danov, H. G. Thracian a source of knowledge. Veliko Tarnovo, 50–58 (1998).Raicheva, L. Thracians and Orpheism. IK Ogledalo, 5–59 (2014). From it, the Getae, the Dacians and other regional tribal groups also developed. Historical and archaeological records indicate that the Thracian culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.Fol, A., Georgiev, V. & Danov, H. The History of Bulgaria. Primarily - communal and slavery. Thracians. BAS, Sofia 1, 110–274 (1979).Mihailov, G. The Thracians. New Bulgarian University 2, 1–491 (2015).
According to ancient Greek and Roman historians, the Thracians were uncivilized and remained largely disunited, until the establishment of their first permanent state, the Odrysian kingdom, in the early 5th century BC, founded by king Teres I, exploiting the collapse of the Persian presence in Europe due to the failed invasion of Greece in 480–79. Teres and his son Sitalces 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 of Athens and even joined the Peloponnesian War on its side. By 400 BC, the state showed first signs of fatigue, although Cotys I initiated a brief renaissance that lasted until his murder in 360 BC. Around 340 BC, the Odrysian kingdom lost independence to Macedon and became incorporated into the empire, but it regained independence following Alexander the Great's death. A much smaller Odrysian state was revived in around 330 BC by Seuthes III, who founded a new capital named Seuthopolis.
In the mid-2nd century BC, the Thracians faced gradual conquest by the Romans, under whom they faced internal strife. They composed major parts of rebellions against the Romans along with the Macedonians up until the Third 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 the Sapaean kingdom, a client state of the Roman Republic, which was finally abolished and converted into a Roman 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. Since the 19th century-early 20th century, Bulgaria and Romania have used archaeology to learn more about Thracian culture and way of life.
Thracians followed a polytheistic religion with monotheistic elements. One of their customs was tattooing, common among both men and women. The Thracians culturally interacted with the peoples surrounding them – Greeks, Persians, Scythians and Celts.Hind, J. G. F. "Archaeology of the Greeks and Barbarian Peoples around the Black Sea (1982-1992)." Archaeological Reports, no. 39, 1992, pp. 82–112. JSTOR Thracians spoke the now-extinct Thracian language and shared a common culture. The last reported use of a Thracian language was by monks in the 6th century AD. The scientific study of the Thracians is known as Thracology.
Etymology The first historical record of the ethnonym Thracian is found in the Iliad, where the Thracians are described as allies of the Trojans in the Trojan War against the Ancient Greeks. The ethnonym Thracian comes from Ancient Greek (; plural Θρᾷκες, ) or Θρᾴκιος (; Ionic: Θρηίκιος, ), and the toponym Thrace comes from Θρᾴκη (; Ionic: Θρῄκη, ).Navicula Bacchi – Θρηικίη (Accessed: October 13, 2008). These forms are all exonyms as applied by the Greeks.
Mythological foundation
In Greek mythology, Thrax (his name simply the quintessential Thracian) was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the god Ares.Lemprière and Wright, 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." In the Alcestis, 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 in Thrace.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."
Origins
The origins of the Thracians remain obscure due to the absence of written historical records before they made contact with the Greeks. Evidence of proto-Thracians in the prehistoric period depends on artifacts of material culture. Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with the multi-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancing timber grave culture, also known as the Srubnaya. It is generally proposed that a Thracian people developed from a mixture of indigenous peoples and Indo-Europeans from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the Early Bronze Age when the latter, around 1500 BC, mixed with indigenous peoples. According to one theory, their ancestors migrated in three waves from the northeast: the first in the Late Neolithic, forcing out the Pelasgians and Achaeans, the second in the Early Bronze Age, and the third around 1200 BC. They reached the Aegean Islands, ending the Mycenaean civilization. They did not speak the same language. 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.
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 northeastern Mediterranean.Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Thrace". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Mar. 2024 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.
Identity and distribution
Thracians inhabited parts of the ancient provinces of Thrace, Moesia, Macedonia, Boeotia, Attica, Dacia, Scythia Minor, Sarmatia, Bithynia, Mysia, Pannonia, and other regions of the Balkans and Anatolia. This area extended over most of the Balkans region, and the Getae north of the Danube as far as beyond the Bug and including Pannonia in the west.The catalogue of Kimbell Art Museum's 1998 exhibition Ancient Gold: The Wealth of the Thracians indicates a historical extent of Thracian settlement including most of Ukraine, all of Hungary and parts of Slovakia. (Kimbell Art – Exhibitions)
According to Ethnica, a geographical dictionary by Stephanus of Byzantium, Thrace—the land of the Thracians—was known as Perki (Περκη) and Aria (Αρια) before being named Thrace by the Greeks,Stephanus Of Byzantium - Ethnica, Theta 316.9 presumably due to the affiliation of the Thracians with the god Ares and Perki is the reflexive name of the god Ares as *Perkʷūnos.
Thucydides mentions about a period in the past, from his point of view, when Thracians had inhabited the region of Phocis, also known as the location of Delphi. He dates it to the lifetime of Tereus – mythological Thracian king and son of the god Ares.
Due to the lack of historical records that predate Classical Greece it's presumed that the Thracians did not form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the 5th century BC. In the 1st century BC, during King Burebista's rule, the powerful state of Dacia emerged.
Currently, there are about 200 identified Thracian tribes. Thracian peoples from Moesia achieved significant importance during Roman rule. Some peoples from Moesia practiced vegetarianism, feeding themselves on honey, milk, and cheese.Jones, Lindsay (2005). Encyclopedia of religion(13 ed.). Macmillan Reference USA. . Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Greek and Roman descriptions