Thrace

Thrace (Greek Θράκη, Thrákē, Latin: Thracia or Threcia, Turkish Trakya, Bulgarian Тракия, Trakiya) is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace), and European Turkey (Eastern Thrace). Thrace borders on three seas: the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. In Turkey, it is also called Rumeli. Ancient Thrace (i.e. the territory where ethnic Thracians lived) also included present day northern Bulgaria, north-eastern Greece and parts of eastern Serbia and eastern Republic of Macedonia.

Ancient history

The indigenous population of Thrace was a people called Thracians. Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not manage to form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the 4th century BC. According to the ancient sources, which are limited, the Thracians were considered a primitive race. The mountainous regions were home to various warlike and ferocious tribes while the plains were apparently more peaceable due to Greek contact and influence.

These Indo-European people, while considered barbaric by their refined Greek neighbors, had developed advanced forms of music and poetry and other crafted arts. Aligning themselves in petty kingdoms and tribes they never realized any form of national unity except for short dynastic rules in the height of the Greek classical periods. Most people lived simply in small open villages and the concept of the urbanized city wasn't developed until the Roman period. Despite Greek colonization in such areas as Byzantium and Tomi, the Thracians avoided the urban life.

The Thracians fell early under the cultural influence of the ancient Greeks, preserving until a much later time, however, their language and culture. It also appears from mythological accounts that the Thracians influenced Greek culture from a very early period, with some Thracians, such as Orpheus even appearing as culture-bearers in some myths. But as non-Greek speakers, they were viewed by the Greeks as barbarians. The first Greek colonies in Thrace were founded in the 6th century BC.

Throughout the 6th century BC, Thracian infantry was heavily recruited by Greek states and large deposits of gold and silver were mined.

Thrace south of the Danube (except for the land of the Bessi) was ruled for nearly half a century by the Persians under Darius the Great who conducted an expedition into the region from 513 BC to 512 BC.

Before the expansion of the kingdom of Macedon, Thrace was divided into three camps (East, Central, and West) after the withdrawal of the Persians. A notable ruler of the East Thracians was the overking Cersobleptes, who attempted to expand his power over many of the Thracian tribes. He was eventually defeated by the Macedonians.

The region was conquered by Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC and was ruled by the kingdom of Macedon for a century and a half. During the Macedonian Wars, conflict between Rome and Thracia was inevitable. The destruction of the ruling parties in Macedonia destabilized their authority over Thrace and its tribal authorities began to act once more on their own accord. After the battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Roman authority over Macedonia seemed inevitable and the governing of Thracia passed to Rome. Neither the Thracians nor the Macedonians had yet resolved themselves to Roman dominion, and several revolts took place during this period of transition. The revolt of Andriscus in 149 BC, as an example, drew the bulk of its support from Thracia. Several incursions by local tribes into Macedonia continued for many years, though there were tribes who willingly allied themselves to Rome, such as the Deneletae and the Bessi.

The next century and a half saw the slow development of Thracia into a permanent Roman client state. The Sapaei tribe came to the forefront initially under the rule of Rhascuporis. He was known to have granted assistance to both Pompey and Caesar, and later supported the Republican armies against Antonius and Octavian in the final days of the Republic. The familiar heirs of Rhascuporis were then as deeply tied into political scandal and murder as was 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. The turmoil would eventually stop with one final assassination.

In 279 BC, Celtic Gauls advanced into Macedonia, Southern Greece and Thrace. They were soon forced out of Macedonia and Southern Greece, but they remained in Thrace until the end of the century. From Thrace, three Celtic tribes advanced into Anatolia and formed a new kingdom called Galatia.

Following the Third Macedonian War, Thracia came to acknowledge Roman authority. The client state of Thracia comprised several different tribes. ^*

After Roimitalkes III of the Thracian Kingdom of Sapes was murdered in AD 46 by his wife, Thracia was incorporated as an official Roman province to be governed by Procurators, and later Praetorian Prefects. The central governing authority of Rome was based in Perinthus, but regions within the province were uniquely 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. It is considered that most of the Thracians were Hellenized in these times. Roman authority of Thracia rested mainly with the legions stationed in Moesia. The rural nature of Thracia's populations, and distance from Roman authority, certainly inspired the presence of local troops to support Moesia's legions. Over the next few centuries, the province was periodically and increasingly attacked by migrating Germanics. The reign of Justinian saw the construction of over 100 legionary fortresses to supplement the defense.

Culture

The Thracian tribesmen, barbarous, hardy, and inured to war were much used as mercenaries by the Greek kings of Syria, Pergamum, Bithynia, etc. Thracian mercenaries were always in demand, as they were fierce fighters, although a bit expensive at times, and liable to switch sides. Thracians were considered by most to be the most ferocious fighters, especially in regions similar to their own rocky hills. The principal Thracian weapons in the fifth and fourth centuries were the spear and the knife. Much earlier Thracian infantry had been armed with axes, while their leaders rode chariots. Thracian light infantry could be armed with javelins, slings, or bows, with the first predominating. Thracian warriors, particularly the hillmen, were especially famous for an unusual weapon which combined elements of sword, sickle and polearm, which was called the Rhomphaia, and was carried increasingly by Thracian infantry in the centuries following Alexander the Great's death until it became a trademark of the mercenary Thracian peltast. Even the Romans dreaded this fearsome weapon. Cavalry armament for all Thracians except the Getae consisted of 2 cornel wood javelins that could be thrust with or thrown, plus the usual Kopis. The Getae often used bows instead of javelins, and the akinakes instead of the kopis. Thracian tribes also used more exotic weapons such as spiked axles, or carts rolled down steep hills. Thracians were known for their hit and run tactics consisting of random melee attacks followed by quick retreats. The backbone of the Thracian military were the Thracian Peltast, a type of light infantry that was equally at home fighting hand-to-hand and at a distance (throwing javelins). Peltast were unarmoured except for their curved shields. They carried some form of short sword or melee weapon and an assortment of javelins. The wealthy nobility wore helmets with pointed tops in order to accommodate their top-knot hairstyles.

Thracian society was patriarchal. Polygamy was standard and men considered women placed on earth to please them. Thracians considered death an honor and accepted it as a natural part of life. The Thracians were extremely proud people. If a man's father was murdered, it was considered practical to slaughter the murderer, his family (extended), and his livestock. Also, upon the death of a husband, the wives would fight over who was loved more by the deceased. Usually determined by the winner of a match to the death. The wives would tie their left legs together and fight with strips of cowhide and a staff. The winner of this deathmatch would then commit suicide and be given the honor of being buried at the right hand of her husband.

The Thracian calendar was similar to that of the Egyptians. Each year had twelve months, totalling 360 days, and 5 days were added to the last month; there were three seasons. The Thracians celebrated 60 main holidays. ^*

Medieval history

By the mid 5th century, as the Roman Empire began to crumble, Thracia fell from the authority of Rome and into the hands of the Germanics. With the fall of Rome, Thracia turned into a battleground territory for the better part of the next 1,000 years. The true successor of the Roman Empire in the Balkans, the Byzantine Empire, retained control over Thrace until the beginning of the 9th century when most of the region was incorporated into Bulgaria. Byzantium regained Thrace in 972 only to lose it again to the Bulgarians at the end of the 12th century. Throughout the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, the region oscillated between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. In 1352, the Ottoman Turks conducted their first incursion into the region subduing it completely within a matter of two decades and ruling over it for five centuries.

Modern history

In 1878, Northern Thrace was incorporated into the semi-autonomous Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which united with Bulgaria in 1885. The rest of Thrace was divided between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey at the beginning of the 20th century, following the Balkan Wars, World War I and the Greco-Turkish War. Today Thracian is a strong regional identity in both Bulgaria and Greece.

Cities of Thrace

Bulgaria

Aitos
Plovdiv (Turkish Filibe, Greek Philipopoli)
Pazardžik (Turkish Pazarcık)
Stara Zagora (Turkish Eski Zağra)
Sliven
Dimitrovgrad
Kazanlǎk (Turkish Kazanlık)
Haskovo (Turkish Hasköy)
Burgas (Turkish Burgaz, Greek: Pyrgos)
Pistiros
Seuthopolis

Greece

Alexandroupolis (Turkish Dedeağaç, Bulgarian: Dedeagač)
Abdera
Didymoteicho (Bulgarian Dimotika, Turkish Dimetoka)
Komotini (Turkish Gümülcine, Bulgarian Gjumjurdžina)
Lavara
Pythio
Orestiada
Samothrace (Turkish Semadirek or Semendirek)
Sapes
Xanthi (Turkish İskeçe, Bulgarian: Ksanti or Skeče)

Turkey

Çerkezköy
Çorlu (Greek Tyroloi)
Edirne (Greek: Adrianoupolis, Bulgarian Odrin) refounded by Hadrian
Keşan (Greek Kessani)
Lüleburgaz (Greek Arkadiopolis, Bulgarian: Malǎk Samokov)
Kırklareli (Bulgarian Lozengrad, Greek: Σαράντα Εκκλησιές, Saranta Ekklisyes)
Tekirdağ (Greek Raidestos, Bulgarian Rodosto)
İstanbul (European side) (Greek Konstantinoupolis, Bulgarian: Carigrad)
Sestos

Famous Thracians

Some of these individuals were ethnically Thracian

In Greek legend, Orpheus was the chief representative of the art of song and playing the lyre, and of great importance in the religious history of Greece.
Democritus was a Greek philosopher and mathematician from Abdera, Thrace (c. 460 BC- 370 BC.) His main contribution is the atomic theory, the belief that all matter is made up of various imperishable indivisible elements which he called atoms.
Herodicus was a Greek physician of the fifth century BC who is considered the founder of sports medicine. He is believed to have been one of Hippocrates' tutors.
Spartacus was a Thracian enslaved by the Romans who led a large slave uprising in what is now Italy in 73 BC–71 BC. His army of escaped gladiators and slaves defeated several Roman legions in what is known as the Third Servile War.
Maximinus Thrax, Roman emperor (AD 235–238), was born in Thrace or Moesia to a Gothic father and an Alanic mother.

External links

Ethnological Museum of Thrace, comprehensive website on Thracian history and culture.

Sources

Hoddinott, R.F., The Thracians, 1981.
Ilieva, Sonya, Thracology, 2001

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