The Thracians were an Indo-European (Thraco-Illyrian) people whose members shared a set of beliefs, a way of life and spoke the same language with variations and dialects. Their civilization, still little known, flourished from the 3rd millennium to the 3rd century BC. J-C. Their culture, oral, made up of legends and myths differs from that of other peoples of that time by the belief in immortality "Thracian Orphism" reported by Herodotus
The Thracians lived on a vast European territory between the Black Sea (the Euxin bridge) to the east, the Strouma river (Strymon) to the west, the northern Carpathians to the north (Dacians), the Aegean sea to the south, as well as in southwestern Asia Minor (Phrygians). But they had their origins in Central Asia (Bactres, Massagetes). They extended throughout history to the following regions:
Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey (European part and western Asia Minor), Austria, Hungary, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine (to the Dnieper), lower Volga and Tajikistan.
In general, it is accepted that the Thracians south of the Danube were rather composed of several tribes and that those of the north were able to create in Dacia a powerful state and a civilization of its own sharing the same language and customs, which was for more than a century the most important enemy of the Roman Empire (in alliance with the Goths, Germanic tribes and others).
Origins
The opinions of historians differ about the date of arrival of the Thracians. A first hypothesis considers that the Thracians are present in the Balkan region more than 5000 years BC. There would then have been no real break since the Neolithic among this people. Their society gradually became more complex.
The second hypothesis is that the Thracians only came from the Ukrainian steppes around the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. AD
Mycenaean Period
This is the time of the anonymous kings described by Homer in the Iliad. From the third millennium BC, the Thracians, one of the oldest Indo-European peoples according to linguists, have a very hierarchical society managed by soldiers and priests. On each territory there is a sovereign.
This very specific civilization was created in a vast area of south-eastern Europe with a sedentary population but in contact with the "cultures of the steppes". During this period the Thracians had little contact with other great civilizations.
In the absence of writings, the treasures of kings and aristocrats allow an approach to Thracian culture. The cult service of Valchistan, the treasures of Panayot Hitovo and Kazitchene give proof of the political and economic power of the first anonymous Thracian rulers as well as the originality, technology and artistic mastery of their goldsmiths.
Thracian Kingdoms:religious states[edit]
While the Mycenaean civilization disappears and the Greek cities appear, the Thracians keep the same organization. The kingdoms are governed by dynasties of priest-kings (Polists) at the head of troops of aristocratic horsemen (Tarabostes) and peasant warriors (Comates). The numerous fortified residences correspond to temporary capitals, when the king resides there.
The peasants are free. Archaeological excavations in a market of the 5th century BC (near Krastevitch) did not reveal any workshop. But mining, metallurgy, metalworking were royal monopolies and the workshops were at the king's court.
Greek influence
From the 6th century BC, the Thracian aristocracy, especially the Besses and the Odryses, had exchanges with the Greeks and even used the Greek alphabet for writings that had not yet been deciphered.
Herodotus said:The nation of the Thracians is, after that of the Indians, the most important in the world. If they had one king and could get along with each other, they would be invincible and, in my opinion, much more powerful than all the nations.
At that time the Thracians were driven back from their western border on the Adriatic by the Illyrians and then by the Macedonians. The coastal region forming their southern border already colonized by the Greeks was conquered by the Persians of Darius I in 515 BC. then back under the control of the Athenians.
Sitalkès, the king of the Odryses (the most powerful of the Thracian kingdoms of this period) is the ally of the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war. After his death begins a period of decline despite attempts to unify Thrace under Cotys I and Kersobleptes.
Philip II of Macedonia then Lysimachus extend Macedonian domination over southern Thrace and then over most of the territory. But the Odryses continued the fight against Lysimachus proclaimed king of Thrace then against his successors Seleucos, Ptolemy Keraunos, the Attalids of Pergame.
The Jireček Line (from the name of the historian who determined it Konstantin Josef Jireček) shows the Romanization (north) and Hellenization (south) areas of the Thracians
The Jireček Line (named after the historian who determined it Konstantin Josef Jireček ) shows the areas of Romanization (in the north) and Hellenization (in the south) of the Thracians
From the Roman period to the present day
In 168 and 133 BC Thrace came under Roman domination and the kingdom of the Odryses remained loyal to Rome, surely because of the threat of the Dacians on the Danube. But others oppose it and are subjugated by force. Many Thracians are taken as slaves:their rebellious and combative character frequently destines them to the career of gladiators (the best known of them is Spartacus).
In 46 the Roman province of Thrace was created. The Romanization of the Thraco-Illyrians (at least, north of the Jireçek line) transforms them into Dalmatians and Vlachs (Eastern Latins). A Greek colony with the Thracian name of Byzantium (Byza =shore, hill) is chosen to be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire under the name of Constantinople.
But the invasion of the Goths in 376 began a series of wars which transformed this region into a battlefield:to cite only the most significant, after the passages of the Huns and the Avars, the occupation by the Slavs and the confrontation of the Bulgarians and Byzantines ends with an increasingly marked Slavization of the formerly Thracian countries. Thrace is now just a geographical region.
The Turks annexed all of Thrace in 1389, then surrounded and took Constantinople in 1453. Their domination lasted until 1878. The autonomous province of Eastern Roumelia was then created in northern Thrace, united with Bulgaria in 1885. During the 1st war Balkan (1912) Thrace is taken by the Bulgarians, disputed between Bulgarians and Greeks, partly returned to the Turks by the Treaty of Constantinople of September 29, 1913. The borders have changed several times but ultimately Thrace remains shared between these three countries, two of which (Bulgaria and Greece) are now members of the European Union, and the third (Turkey) is a candidate.
List of Thracian peoples
The Thracians were made up of several hundred different peoples according to the testimonies, without it being possible to know who these peoples are.
The four main tribes were the Odryses, Getae, Triballes and Dacians. The first mention of the Thracians is found in Homer's Iliad. They are then the allies of the Greeks besieging Troy. The Thracians were reputed to be very good horsemen, as well as high quality goldsmiths.
It is known that without doubt, the most important and powerful of the Thracian peoples, which the Greeks called Getae and the Romans Dacians, was composed of several tribes, able to unite in times of war in a single centralized state, which made their power as a counter-power against the Roman Empire (massive falsifications of Roman coins for example).
The other Thracians, wherever they lived, seem to have all been conquered by the Roman Empire very early and assimilated very quickly, not being able to put up such great resistance (especially those of Moesia).
*Bessi
* Bisaltae
* Bithynians
* Bottiaeans (Battaei)
* Cicones
* Dacians:
o Apuli
o Carps - On the eastern slopes of the Carpathians (Carpathians)
o Costoboci - Western Ukraine (Galicia) and Moldova
o Suci - in Western Wallachia (Oltenia)
* Dii
* Edoni
* Getae
* Maedi
*Moesi
* Nipsaeans
* Scyrmiadae
* Satrae
* Thyni
* Trausi
* Triballi
The following tribes had a Thracian component:
* Agathyrsi (Scythian tribe, or Thraco-Scythian)
* Dardani (mixed with Illyrians and probably Paionians)
* Scordisks (Celto-Thracians)
Famous Thracians
* Orpheus, legendary hero of Greek mythology, son of the king of Thrace Oeager and the muse Calliope. He is the mythical founder of a religious movement called Orphism.
* Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who led a slave uprising in what is now Italy.
* Burebista was one of the greatest Dacian kings. He succeeded in confederating the Thracian populations from the Hercinica river (now Moravia) in the west to southern Bug in the east.
* Decebalus, last Dacian king:beaten by Trajan, he committed suicide with his whole court.