THRACE

The boundaries of Thrace varied at different times, in the 5th century BC the kingdom of the Odrysae, the leading tribe of Thrace, extended over present-day Bulgaria, Turkish Thrace (east of the Hebrus) and Greece between the Hebrus and Strymon, except for the coastal strip of Greek cities, i.e., from the Danube on the north to the Hellespont and the Greek fringe on the south, and from Constantinople to the sources of the Strymon in south-west Bulgaria; whereas the Roman province of Thrace was bounded on the north by the Haemus, on the east by the Euxine, on the south by the Propontis, Hellespont, and Aegean, and on the west by the Nestus.

 

By ancient writers the Thracians (who were of of Indo-European stock) were considered a primitive people, consisting of the warlike and ferocious tribes dwelling in the mountains of Haemus and Rhodope, and peaceable dwellers in the plain, who came into contact with the Greek colonies on the Aegean and the Propontis.

Until Classical times the Thracians lived in open villages; only in Roman times was urban civilization developed. Herodotus remarks (5.3) that if they could have been united under a single king, they would have been invincible, a view corroborated by Thucydides (2.95-101); in fact, unlike the Macedonians, the Thracians never achieved a national history.

From the 8th century BC the coast of Thrace was colonized by Greeks at Abdera, Maroneia, Aenus, Perinthus, Byzantium, Apollonia, and Mesambria, but the Thracians resisted Greek influence.

We have very little historical information about the Thracians, except when they were brought into contact with the Greeks. Many burial tumuli in Thrace contain large quantities of gold and silver objects, most imported from classical lands.

 

The Thracians were subdued by the Persians c.516 BC, and some of them fought against the Greeks under Xerxes I in 480 BC.

Shortly afterwards the first king of the Odrysae, Teres, attempted to carve an empire out of the territory occupied by the Thracian tribes (Thuc.2.29), and his sovereignty extended as far as the Euxine and the Hellespont.

His son Sitalces enlarged his kingdom, subjugating the tribes of Rhodope as far as the Strymon, and the Getae, north of Haemus. Thenceforward the king of the Odrysae called himself king of the Thracians. Sitalces allied himself with the Athenians against the Macedonians, but his invasion of Macedonia in 429 BC achieved nothing.

Sitalces was succeeded by Seuthes, his nephew, who married Stratonice, sister of Perdiccas II. In 283 BC Cotys succeeded to the monarchy and made war on Athens, assisted by his son in-law Iphicrates, the Athenian. After Cotys' death in 358 BC three princes claimed the succession, Cersobleptes, his son, Berisades, and Amadocus.

 

On the collapse of the Odrysian power in the mid-4th century, Philip II of Macedon invaded Thrace and made its princes tributary; he founded Philippopolis in his own honour.

After the death of Alexander the Great,who had left Thrace under his generals, Thrace fell to Lysimachus, who founded Lysimacheia in 308 BC, and thereafter was a protectorate of the successive rulers of Macedonia.

After the Roman victory at Pydna in 168 BC, Thrace west of the Hebrus was incorporated in Macedonia, and in 129 BC the coastal cities were included.

 

Thrace and Rome

The Roman were slow to realize hat the destruction of the Macedonian monarchy would involve them with the Thracians, but when Andriskus revolted (149 BC) he drew most of his support from Thrace (Florus 1.30) and the subsequent annexation of Macedon made Rome responsible for the eastern border of Macedon with Thrace.

Later, raids by Thracian tribes into Macedonia and punitive campaigns by Roman proconsuls of Macedonia are regularly attested. Some peoples in Thrace, however, made alliances with Rome. The Deneletae had long been faithful allies when wantonly attacked by L.Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, and Cicero calls Radocentus, chief of the Bessi, a faithful ally, although hitherto they had been troublesome (Cic.Pis.84).

Later Thrace was consolidated into a kingdom ruled by a dynasty from the Sapaei, who lived in the south close to Macedonia. The first-known ruler was Rhascuporis (or Rhescuporis), son of Cotus, who helped Pompey and Caesar and later Brutus and Cassius against Antony and Octavian, while his brother Rhascus supported the latter.

He was succeeded as king by his son Cotys (IG 3.552,553), who strengthened the dynasty by a marriage-alliance with the Astae, whose capital was at Bizye in eastern Thrace. A Cotys of this family had sent his son Sadalas to help Pompey; later Sadalas' widow Polemocratia entrusted his infant son Cotys to Brutus, who seized the royal treasure and sent the boy to Cyzicus. This Cotys, who was restored to his kingdom apparently while still a boy, married the daughter of Cotys the Sapaean. The latter acted as regent for his son-in-law and he was followed by his son Rhoemetalces, who acted as a regent for his nephews, the sons of Cotys, when the later died.

When the Bessi, already subdued by M.Lollius (19-18 BC), broke away from the Astae (c.11 BC) and killed Rhascuporis, the only surviving son of Cotys, the Romans awarded the kingdom to Rhoemetalces, Rhascuporis' uncle and guardian, who later ruled the whole of Thrace.

When Rhoemetalces died (AD 12) Augustus partitioned the kingdom between his son Cotys, who received the urbanized coastal area, and his brother Rhascuporis, who received the non-urbanized interior with only the title of dynast (Tac.Ann.2.64).

In AD 19 Rhascuporis killed Cotys and Tiberius deposed him, dividing the kingdom between Rhoemetalces, son of Rhascuporis, as dynast, and the sons of Cotys under a Roman guardian, Trebellenus Rufus. One of these sons of Cotys, was made king of his father's portion by Gaius in AD 38.

Later the kingdom was reunited, since in AD 46 a certain Rhoemetalces was murdered by his wife and his kingdom became the Roman province of Thracia.

 

The province was governed by procurators until the reign of Trajan, when they were superseded by praetorian legates, assisted by procurators, both of whom were based at Perinthus.

Although defence was in the hands of the legate in Moesia, some troops were maintained; late in Nero's reign there were 2000 (Joseph.BJ 2.16.4).

With very few cities, Thrace was administrated on a centralized system, the province being divided into 'strategiai, each under a 'strategos' (or military commander) appointed by a governor.

Colonies were founded at Aprus (Colonia Claudia Aprensis) by Claudius or Nero, and at Deultum (Colonia Flavia Pacensis Deultum) under Vespasian. Reorganization under Trajan produced at least seven new cities, based mostly on older settlements, although the mass of the population continued to live in villages. Under Diocletian Thrace was split into a number of smaller provinces, and more cites were founded.

 

From the 3rd century AD onwards Thrace was periodically ravaged by barbarian invaders. After the reconstruction of the defences under Justinian there were 100 forts in the Thracian provinces (Procop. Aed.4.11).

 

J.M.R.Cormack, J.J.Wilkes,

"Oxford Classical Dictionary," 3rd ed. (1996), pp.1514,1515