A Companion to Ancient Thrace E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World
- Sprache: Englisch
A Companion to Ancient Thrace presents a series of essays that reveal the newly recognized complexity of the social and cultural phenomena of the peoples inhabiting the Balkan periphery of the Classical world. * Features a rich and detailed overview of Thracian history from the Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity * Includes contributions from leading scholars in the archaeology, art history, and general history of Thrace * Balances consideration of material evidence relating to Ancient Thrace with more traditional literary sources * Integrates a study of Thrace within a broad context that includes the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, southwest Asia, and southeast Europe/Eurasia * Reflects the impact of new theoretical approaches to economy, ethnicity, and cross-cultural interaction and hybridity in Ancient Thrace
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015
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CONTENTS
Cover
Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World
Title page
Copyright page
Editors’ Preface
Notes on Contributors
Abbreviations
Part I: Thrace and Thracians
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Studying Ancient Thrace
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 2: Geography
2.1 The Problem of Boundaries
2.2 The Geography of Ancient Thrace: A Sketch
2.3 Microfoundations
2.4 Roads and Connectivity
2.5 Imaginary Thrace
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 3: Ethnicity and
Ethne
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Synchrony
3.3 Diachrony
3.4 “Thracians”
References
Guide to Further Reading
Part II: History
Chapter 4: Early History of Thrace to the Murder of Kotys I (360 BCE)
4.1 Greek Colonization
4.2 The Persian Invasions
4.3 Delian League and Peloponnesian War
4.4 After the Peloponnesian War
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 5: Thrace from the Assassination of Kotys I to Koroupedion (360–281 BCE)
5.1 Decline and Fall of the Odrysian Kingdom (360–336
BCE
)
5.2 Thrace in the Age of Alexander the Great (336–323
BCE
)
5.3 Thrace in the Age of the Successors (323–281
BCE
)
References
Guide to Further Reading
1. On the Age of Philip and Alexander
2. On the Age of the Successors
Chapter 6: From Koroupedion to the Beginning of the Third Mithridatic War (281–73 BCE)
6.1 From Koroupedion to the Accession of Philip V in Macedonia, 281–221
BCE
6.2 From the Accession of Philip V to the Establishment of the Roman Province of Macedonia, 221–148
BCE
6.3 From the Establishment of the Roman Province of Macedonia to the Beginning of the Third Mithridatic War, 148–73
BCE
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 7: Roman Thrace
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Prelude to the Provinces: Roman Thrace up to the Time of Augustus
7.3 Moesia et Thracia Provinciae
7.4 Cities: Urban Development and Civic Life
7.5 The Third-Century
CE
Crisis
7.6 Conclusion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 8: Thrace in Late Antiquity
8.1 Administrative Divisions
8.2 Christianization and Construction of Churches
8.3 Urbanism and Non-Urban Structures
References
Guide to Further Reading
Part III: Evidence
Chapter 9: Settlements
9.1 Sources and State of Research
9.2 Demographic Potential and Social Structure
9.3 Settlements and Settlement System in Thrace During the Early Iron Age, ca. 11th–6th c.
BCE
9.4 Settlements and Settlement System in Thrace of the Late Iron Age, 5th–1st c.
BCE
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 10: Dolmens and Rock-Cut Monuments
10.1 Megalithic Monuments in Thrace
10.2 Dolmens
10.3 Other Megalithic Monuments
10.4 Rock-Cut Megalithic Sites
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 11: “Ritual Pits”
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Location and Nature
11.3 Interpretation and Discussion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 12: Tomb Architecture
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Problems of Chronology
12.3 The Tumulus and Access to the Tomb
12.4 Façade
12.5 Building Materials and Construction Techniques
12.6 Layouts and Entrances
12.7 Roofing
12.8 Interior and Decorative Elements
12.9 Furniture
12.10 Conclusion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 13: The Decoration of Thracian Chamber Tombs
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Monochrome Painting
13.3 Use of Greek Architectural Elements
13.4 Iconography
13.5 The Decorative Program
13.6 Conclusions
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 14: Gold, Silver, and Bronze Vessels
14.1 Use and Deposition
14.2 Gold and Silver Vessels
14.3 Bronze Vessels
14.4 Conclusions
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 15: Adornments
15.1 Introduction
15.2 The Early Iron Age, 1200–500
15.3 The Early Classical Period, ca. 500–375
15.4 The Late Classical Period, ca. 375–325
15.5 The Early Hellenistic Period, ca. 325–250
15.6 The Middle and Late Hellenistic period, ca. 250–1
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 16: The Pottery of Ancient Thrace
16.1 Introduction
16.2 The Pottery of the Late Bronze Age
16.3 The Pottery of the Early Iron Age (Geometric and Archaic Age)
16.4 Late Archaic and Classical Pottery
16.5 Pottery of the Hellenistic Period
16.6 The Hand-Made Pottery of the Classical and Hellenistic Period
16.7 Conclusion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 17: Inscriptions
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Inscriptions in Thracian Language
17.3 Inscriptions in Classical and Hellenistic Thrace
17.4 Inscriptions in Roman Thrace
17.5 Inscriptions in Late Antique Thrace
17.6 Conclusion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 18: Introduction to the Numismatics of Thrace, ca. 530 BCE–46 CE
18.1 Previous Research
18.2 The Setting
18.3 Numismatic History of Thrace
18.4 Thracian Coinage: Royal and Tribal
References
Guide to Further Reading
Part IV: Influence and Interaction
Chapter 19: The Greek Colonists
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Preliminary Considerations
19.3 The Northern Aegean
19.4 The Black Sea
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 20: Athens
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Historical Outline
20.3 Military Influence of Thrace
20.4 Athenian Attitudes to Thrace and the Thracians
20.5 Athenian Thracophiles
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 21: Persia
21.1 Persians in Thrace
21.2 The Achaemenid Impact
21.3 Persian Influence
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 22: Thracian and Macedonian Kingship
22.1 Political Structures
22.2 Coin Evidence for the King as Hero
22.3 Herodotus and the Foundation of the Argead Dynasty
22.4 Ideology and Religion
22.5 The Royal Hunt as Ideology
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 23: Thracians and Scythians: Tensions, Interactions and Osmosis
23.1 Introductory Remarks: Framing Issues, Considering the Evidence
23.2 Danubian Crossings
23.3 Scyles’ Story: Spanning Scythia and Thrace
23.4 Conclusions
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 24: Celts
24.1 Introduction
24.2 Early Long-Range Contacts Along the Danube – Visible and Invisible
24.3 Galli ad portas
24.4 Politics of “Danegeld” in Hellenistic Thrace
24.5 Hellenization and Latenization – Two Sides of the Same Coin?
References
Guide to Further Reading
Part V: Controversies
Chapter 25: Social Life of Thrace
25.1 Literary Sources on Ancient Thracian Society
25.2 Theories about Thracian Society
25.3 Current Trends in Scholarship
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 26: Urbanization
26.1 Introduction
26.2 Setting the Agenda
26.3 Macedonian Colonies
26.4 Emporia
26.5 Royal Cities
26.6 Tyrseis and Country Estates
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 27: Trade
27.1 Early Iron Age Contacts
27.2 Colonization and Trade
27.3 The Royal Economy
27.4 Marketplaces
27.5 Monetization
27.6 Commodities
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 28: Warfare
28.1 Introduction
28.2 The Artifacts
28.3 Cavalry: Weaponry and Equipment
28.4 Artillery
28.5 Fortified Settlements, Fortresses, and Structures
28.6 Organization, Strategy, and Tactics
28.7 Conclusion
References
Guide to Further Reading
Chapter 29: Religion
29.1 Introduction
29.2 Pantheon and Priests
29.3 Ritual Space and Practice
29.4 Beyond Death
References
Guide to Further Reading
Index Locorum
General Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 18
Table 18.1 Cities in Thrace that minted coins.
Table 18.2 Kings and dynasts of Thrace who minted their own coins (dates bce unless stated).
List of Illustrations
Maps
Map 1 General reference map for Ancient Thrace: geography, main ethne, neighbors (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 2 Ancient Thrace: pre-Roman settlements (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 3 Ancient Thrace: monumental tombs, grave goods and hoards (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 4 Roman Thrace. Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 5 Thrace in Late Antiquity (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Dolmens. 1. Burial mound with two dolmens near Vaskovo village, Sakar Mountain. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 2. Dolmen in locality Byalata treva near Hlyabovo village, Sakar Mountain. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 3. Dolmen in locality Nachevi Chairi near Hlyabovo village, Sakar Mountain. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 4. Dolmen near Golyam Dervent village, Strandzha Mountain. Photo by D. Kolev. 5. Dolmen near Granichar village, Strandzha Mountain. Photo by D. Kolev. 6. Dolmen near Pelevun village, Eastern Rhodopes. Photo by G. Nekhrizov.
Figure 10.2 Rock-cut tombs. 1. Rock-cut tomb “Kara in” near Pchelari village, Eastern Rhodopes. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 2. Rock-cut tomb near Skalina village, Eastern Rhodopes. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 3. Rock-cut tomb “Hambar kaya” near Pchelari village, Eastern Rhodopes. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 4. Rock-cut tomb near Hlyabovo village, Sakar Mountain. Photo by G. Nekhrizov. 5. Cromlech near Dolni Glavanak village, Eastern Rhodopes. Photo by R. Mikov.
Map 10.1 Sites mentioned in Chapter 10. 1. Dospat region 2. Bezvodno 3. Zhenda 4. Nochevo 5. Sarnitsa 6. Angel voyvoda 7. Dazhdovnitsa 8. Ardino 9. Vodenicharsko 10. Yagnevo 11. Mazhenci 12. Veslec 13. Benkovski 14. Ovchevo 15. Skalina 16. Podkova 17. Chavka 18. Momchilgrad 19. Chukovo 20. Raven 21. Tatul 22. Bivolyane-Harman kaya 23. Chomakovo 24. Lisitsite 25. Shiroko pole 26. Gorna krepost-Perperikon 27. Golemantsi 28. Bashtino 29. Popovets 30. Kralevo 31. Byal kladenets 32. Svetoslav 33. Pchelari 34. Dolno Cherkovishte 35. Potochnitsa 36. Oreshari 37. Moryantsi 38. Krasino 39. Dzhanka 40. Sbor 41. Kovil 42. Gorna kula 43. Vransko 44. Rogach 45. Dolni Glavanak 46. Gorno pole 47. Madzharovo 48. Gluhite kamani 49. Kobilino 50. Zhelezino 51. Pelevun 52. Chernichevo 53. Roussa 54. Kotronia 55. Nipsa 56. Petrota 57. Samothrace 58. Ostar kamak 59. Ovcharovo 60. Glavan 61. Hlyabovo 62. Sakartsi 63. Dripchevo 64. Mladinovo 65. Vaskovo 66. Oryahovo 67. Lalapasha 68. Golyam Dervent 69. Kırıkköy 70. Belevren 71. Kirovo 72. Granichar 73. Evrenozovo 74. Zabernovo 75. Madara 76. Venchan 77. Staroselets 78. Kaliakra 79. Kamen bryag
Figure 10.3 Rock niches. 1. Rock niches in the complex “Gluhite kamani,” Eastern Rhodopes. 2. Rock niches near Dolno Cherkovishte village, Eastern Rhodopes. 3. Rock niches near Chukovo village, Eastern Rhodopes. 4. Rock niches near Nochevo village, Eastern Rhodopes. 5. Rock niches near Bivolyane village, Eastern Rhodopes. 6. Rock niches in cave near Oreshari village, Eastern Rhodopes.
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Pit with the shape of a clay vessel from the archaeological site near the village of Ovchartsi, province of Stara Zagora.
Figure 11.2 Pit with clay feature at the bottom (from the site near the town of Lyubimets, province of Haskovo).
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 The façade of the Tomb with Caryatids at Sveshtari. Drawing by Daniela Stoyanova based on a drawing by Stefan Goshev.
Figure 12.2 Ground plan of the Tomb with Caryatids at Sveshtari. Drawing by Daniela Stoyanova based on a drawing by Stefan Goshev.
Figure 12.3 The tomb in Chetinyova mound at Starosel: (а) ground plan; (b) cross-section along the long axis; (с) transverse cross-section of the antechamber with view of the Ionic doorframe of the burial chamber. Drawings by Daniela Stoyanova based on a drawing by Maya and Boyko Buzhashki.
Figure 12.4 Ground plan of the tomb in Golyama Kosmatka mound. Drawing by Daniela Stoyanova based on a drawing by Maya and Boyko Buzhashki.
Figure 12.5 The Gagovo tomb: (а) ground plan of the tomb, first building phase; (b) ground plan of the tomb, second building phase. Drawings by Daniela Stoyanova and Nikola Rusev.
Figure 12.6 Mud brick façade of Gagovo tomb, second building phase.
Figure 12.7 Doorjamb of the Ionic frame of the entrance to the antechamber of the tomb in Chetinyova mound in Starosel.
Figure 12.8 The bed in the tomb at Dolno Izvorovo.
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 The main frieze of the Kazanlak tomb.
Figure 13.2 The funerary chamber of the Sveshtari Tomb with Caryatids.
Figure 13.3 Reconstruction of the interior design of the Sveshtari Tomb with Caryatids. Conception: Maria Chichikova. Drawing: Totko Stoyanov, based on the drawing by Stefan Goshev.
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 The treasure from Borovo. Regional Museum of History - Russe.
Figure 14.2 The treasure from Panagyurishte. Plovdiv Regional Archaeological Museum.
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 Gold necklace from Kukuva mogila near Duvanli, Plovdiv province. Middle of fifth century
BCE
. National Archaeological Museum, Sofia, inv. 6193, 6136.
Figure 15.2 Silver adornment from Bukjovtsi (modern Miziya), Vratsa province. Second half of fourth century
BCE
. National Archaeological Museum, Sofia, inv. 2558-A.
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Epitaph for Gonimase. Regional Museum of History - Shumen.
Figure 17.2 The Great Seuthopolis Inscription (IGBulg 3.2 1731). Collection of Sculptures and Inscriptions of the National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 Distribution of coin types in southern Thrace (between Haemus and the Aegean Sea), ca. 150–30/20
BCE
(ratio; silver units (based on SIG3 729) in key). Chart by E. Paunov. Data and quantities are based on the Bulgarian reports of hoards (ca. 1900–1982), IGCH, CH, and author’s sources, ca. 100 coin hoards included.
Figure 18.2 Distribution of coin types in northern Thrace (between Haemus and the Danube River), ca. 150–30/20
BCE
(ratio; silver units (based on SIG3 729) in key). Chart by E. Paunov. Data are based on the Bulgarian reports of coin hoards, IGCH, and CH. More than 160 hoards included.
Figure 18.3 Stemma of the early Thracian kings; rulers who issued coins are shaded (adapted after Hourmouziadis 2009).
Figure 18.4 Stemma of the late Thracian kings; rulers who issued coins are shaded (adapted after Hourmouziadis 2009).
Figure 18.5 Thracian kings and dynasts; output of coinage (extant statistics, author E. Paunov).
Figure 18.6 Coinage. 1. Getas, king of Edones, ca. 479–460
BCE
, silver oktodrachm (34 mm, 28.99 g). 2. Thasos, ca. 480–463
BCE
, silver stater (22 mm, 8.60 g). 3. Apollonia Pontica, ca. 400–350
BCE
, silver tetradrachm, magistrate Kleokrates (16.94 g). 4. Kotys I, 384/3–359
BCE
, silver obol (1.03 g). 5. Amatokos II, ca. 389–380
BCE
, bronze (20 mm, 15.64 g). 6. Dantheletae, ca. 340–335
BCE
, bronze (15.83 g). 7. Thracian tetradrachm ΘPAKΩN, ca. 80–75
BCE
(32 × 33 mm, 16.60 g). 8. Silver drachm of Rhoemetalces I with Augustus, ca. 11–10
BCE
(19 mm, 3.93 g).
Chapter 21
Figure 21.1 Phiale No. 2 from the Rogozen Treasure.
Figure 21.2 Phiale No. 42 from the Rogozen Treasure.
Figure 21.3 Phiale No. 97 from the Rogozen Treasure.
Figure 21.4 Silver-gilt amphora-rhyton from Kukuva Mogila, Duvanli.
Figure 21.5 Lion relief from the Zhaba Mogila tumulus near Strelcha.
Chapter 23
Figure 23.1 Bronze coin of Skyles (=Scyles) from Nikonion, Obv. Owl. SKYL, Rev. Stylized wheel shape.
Chapter 27
Figure 27.1 Coin findspots in Seuthopolis. This area of ca. 5 ha, which was inhabited only for some 50 years, yielded over 1300 coins, mostly bronze change destined for everyday transactions.
Figure 27.2 Lead weight from the site of Krastevich. The astragalos symbol marks a standard unit of one stater.
Guide
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A COMPANION TO ANCIENT THRACE
Edited by
Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, and Denver Graninger
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A companion to ancient Thrace / edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, and Denver Graninger. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4443-5104-0 (cloth)1. Thrace–History–To 1362. 2. Thrace–Antiquities. I. Valeva, Julia, editor, author. II. Nankov, Emil, editor, author. III. Graninger, Denver, editor, author. DR50.6.C66 2015 939′.861–dc23
2014047937
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover image: Apollo (?) on a chariot drawn by winged horses, detail from a jug from the Rogozen hoard, 4th century BC. Regional Museum of History, Vratsa, Bulgaria / photo by Nikolai Genov.
Editors’ Preface
Beyond the Thracian gold of itinerant museum exhibitions, the Thracian horses of Rhesos, and the wondrous Thracian logos in Herodotus’ Histories, Thrace remains marginal in Western scholarship, often open only to the sustained inquiry of a narrow group of specialists. But new discoveries achieved by intensified archaeological fieldwork and extensive application of remote sensing techniques and interdisciplinary methods, coupled with recent shifts within the modern historiography of the ancient world, have made a reappraisal of ancient Thrace desirable and necessary. A Companion to Ancient Thrace is an acknowledgement of the newly recognized complexity of the social and cultural phenomena of the Balkan periphery of the Classical world and responds to a need to make those phenomena more accessible to a broader scholarly audience.
The Companion provides an opportunity to move beyond prevailing Athenocentric and Romanocentric narratives and to appreciate Thrace both as home to unique and uniquely influential cultures, and as an important zone of contact and major player in Aegean, Mediterranean, and indeed Eurasian politics throughout antiquity. Archaeology plays a central role in this presentation, and many chapters provide up-to-date syntheses of available material evidence for the first time. Such evidence is incorporated in the Thracian histories and historiographies offered in the Companion, and implicated in discussion of fundamental problems in current scholarship on Thrace – some recent (e.g., urbanization, trade), others more traditional (e.g., religion). Although the collection of essays focuses on the Classical and Hellenistic periods, individual chapters look beyond these chronological limits and consider problems of continuity and discontinuity with the preceding Early Iron Age and the succeeding Roman Imperial period. By bringing Thrace into dialogue with other regions in southeastern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and beyond, the Companion will ultimately allow for new sets of questions to begin to be posed of the region as a whole.
Bulgarian names and publications have been transliterated from Cyrillic into Latin characters generally in accordance with the Library of Congress Romanization Table for Bulgarian (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/bulgarian.pdf), although there is some unavoidable variation between chapters.
The editors wish to thank: Valeria Bineva, for her skillful translation of eight chapters from Bulgarian into English; Dr. Julia Tzvetkova, Sofia University, for expertly drawing the maps that have added immeasurable value to the Companion; the directors and staff of the National Archaeological Museum (Sofia), Archaeological Museum – Plovdiv, Regional Museum of History – Vratsa, Regional Museum of History – Russe, and Regional Museum of History – Shumen, for their generous collaboration and facilitation of permissions for images included in the volume; the production team at SPi Global, particularly Michael Coultas, copyeditor, and Yassar Arafat, Project Manager, for their careful attention to every detail of the Companion; and the editorial staff at Wiley-Blackwell, especially Haze Humbert, for showing an early and persistent interest in this volume, and Allison Kostka, for her patient guidance throughout this process.
Julia ValevaEmil NankovDenver Graninger
Notes on Contributors
Zosia Archibald, Senior Lecturer, University of Liverpool, was born in London and studied at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford. Her principal research interests are in ancient economies, technology, and material culture. She has worked at the British Museum, University College London, and is team director of the British project at Adjiyska Vodenitsa, Vetren (identified with ancient Pistiros).
Jan Bouzek is a Professor at the Institute for Classical Archaeology, Charles University, Prague.
Anelia Bozkova is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Sofia. Her primary interests are Thracian history and culture, the culture of the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, and the ancient pottery of Thrace. She has directed archaeological excavations at: Koprivlen, Mesta River valley; Mesambria Pontica; and sites in the Maritsa river valley.
David Braund, MA, PhD (Cantab.), DLitt. (Batumi) is Professor of Black Sea and Mediterranean History at the University of Exeter, in the Department of Classics and Ancient History. His research interests lie in Greek and Roman history, archaeology, and literature, especially historiography. He specializes particularly in Greek and Roman involvement in the Black Sea region, especially Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia.
Margarit Damyanov, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Lecturer on Greek colonization at Sofia University. Since 2002, he has been a member of the team investigating the necropolis of Apollonia Pontica (Sozopol) and the Archaic settlement of Apollonia on the island of St. Kirik.
Dan Dana is Researcher at CNRS/ANHIMA (Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques), Paris. His main fields of interest are Thracian onomastics, Greek and Latin epigraphy, Thracians in the Mediterranean world, and historiography of the Balkan countries. He is the author of a new repertory of Thracian names, Onomasticon Thracicum (Athens, 2014).
Peter Delev is Professor and Chair at the Department of Ancient History, Thracology and Medieval History at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. His work includes a book on King Lysimachus and numerous other publications on various aspects of the history, culture, and archaeology of ancient Thrace.
Boyan Dumanov, PhD, is Lecturer and Research Scholar in Late Antique and Medieval Archaeology at the Department of Archaeology of New Bulgarian University, Sofia. His research interests concern the transition from antiquity to the medieval period; settlement and economic patterns; crafts and industry.
Julij Emilov recently (2014) received his PhD from Sofia University. The focus of his research and publications is mainly on analysis and interpretation of archaeological evidence related to interactions between Iron Age communities in the eastern Balkans and their contemporaries in central Europe during the second half of the first millennium BCE.
Rumyana Georgieva is Associate Professor at the Institute of Balkan Studies and Center of Thracology “Prof. Alexander Fol” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Lecturer at the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. She is a specialist in the archaeology of Thrace in the first millennium BCE. Her interests and publications focus on daily life and burial practice in Thrace, as well as both Thracian and imported Greek pottery.
Denver Graninger, PhD (2006) in Classics, Cornell University, is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include the history, religion, and epigraphy of the Hellenistic world. He is author of Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly (Leiden, 2011).
William S. Greenwalt is Professor of Classics at Santa Clara University, California. His main areas of interest are: Alexander the Great; Macedonian institutional development; cultural interaction; frontiers; and Greek religion.
Ivaylo Lozanov is Assistant Professor since 2003 in the Department of Archaeology, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. His primary research interests include: urban history; Hellenistic and Roman archaeology; ancient trade; and economic relations.
Emil Nankov is the Archaeology Program Officer (August 2009) and the Acting Academic Director (September 2014) of the American Research Center in Sofia. He has an MA in Classical archaeology from Sofia University (1999) and a PhD in art history and archaeology from Cornell University (2009). His main scholarly interests focus on urbanization in the Hellenistic period. He has published articles on the archaeology and history of ancient Thrace. Since 2012, he is a Director of the ARCS Archaeological Field School at Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria.
Georgi Nekhrizov, PhD, is Associate Professor at the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He has worked for more than 25 years in the field of Thracian culture. His main interests are centered on the burial rites, sanctuaries, and ceramics from the first millennium BCE.
Evgeni I. Paunov is an ancient numismatist born in Sofia, Bulgaria (1972). He graduated from the High College of Classical Languages in Sofia (1991); MA in Archaeology at Sofia University (1997), postgraduate studies in Cologne, Oxford, and Athens; PhD from Cardiff University (2013). He has authored or coauthored nine books and over 45 articles. Currently he works closely with the Institut für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte of Vienna University. He has recently been appointed numismatist in the Sofia History Museum.
Hristo Popov, PhD, is Associate Professor at the National Institute of Archaeology with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He specializes in the fields of settlement archaeology and ancient metallurgy. His main scholarly interests concern problems of settlement patterns and those related to ancient mining and metallurgy during the Bronze and Iron Ages. He has participated in archaeological excavations on sites in the Eastern Rhodopes, the Upper Thrace Valley, and southwest Bulgaria.
Kostadin Rabadjiev is Professor in the Department of Archaeology, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. Fields of interest: Classical archaeology; Greek and Thracian religion; Greek and Thracian art. Key publications include: Heracles in Thrace (1992); Greek mystery cults in Thrace (2002); and The image of chariots, horses, and riders in Thrace (2014).
Matthew A. Sears is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of New Brunswick. He received his PhD from Cornell University. He is the author of Athens, Thrace, and the Shaping of Athenian Leadership (Cambridge, 2013).
Totko Stoyanov is Professor of Thracian Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia since 2013. Courses taught include: Archaeology of South-East Europe, first millennium BCE; Toreutics in Thrace, first millennium BCE; Monumental Tomb Architecture of Thrace, fifth–third century BCE; and Warfare in Thrace. Since 1990 he has been the Director of the excavations at the Thracian town Helis in the Sboryanovo reserve, northeast Bulgaria.
Daniela Stoyanova, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of History, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, and Lecturer in Architectural Archaeology. Since 1998 she has been a member of the team investigating the Thracian city at Sveshtari (near Isperih) and the Archaic settlement and temenos of Apollonia on the island of St. Kirik.
Nikola Theodossiev, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Archaeology at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. He contributed to the foundation of the American Research Center in Sofia and served as its Associate Academic Director. Dr. Theodossiev is Honorary Member of the Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica and Corresponding Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. He is on the Editorial Board of Ancient West & East and Fasti Online. He was selected a Samuel H. Kress Lecturer of the Archaeological Institute of America.
Milena Tonkova, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Thracian Archaeology, National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and director of the excavations of more than 10 archaeological sites in southern Bulgaria. Her research interests include Thracian jewelry craft, the archaeology of cult, and Thracian settlement archaeology.
Chavdar Tzochev, independent researcher (PhD, Sofia University), has held Mellon Postdoctoral Research and Kress Publication fellowships at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. He has published on the trade of Greek transport amphorae and amphora stamp chronologies. His monograph on the amphora stamps from Thasos will be published as a volume of the Athenian Agora series.
Julia Valeva is Professor at the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The main fields of her research are Thracian art (monumental tombs and their decoration; metal vessels) and Late Antique art, both Christian and secular. She is the author of The Painted Coffers of the Ostrusha Tomb (Sofia, 2005). Her DSc thesis is dedicated to elite domestic architecture and decor in the oriental provinces of the Later Roman Empire.
Maya Vassileva is Associate Professor at the Department of Mediterranean and Eastern Studies, New Bulgarian University, Sofia. Her research field is ancient Phrygia, Thracian–Anatolian parallels and interactions. Recent publications are: “King Midas’ Ass’s Ears Revisited,” Ancient West & East 7 (2008) and “Bronze Animal Figurines from Gordion,” in Anatolian Iron Ages 7 (Leuven, 2012). She was Mellon Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2002–2004) and is a member of: the Advisory Board of Ancient West & East; the Editorial Board of Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia; and the Gordion Expedition.
Michael Zahrnt was Professor of Ancient History at the University of Cologne. His research has focused on Greek history from the Archaic Age to the expansion of Rome, with special stress on Macedonia and Alexander the Great, and on the emperor Hadrian.
Abbreviations
AE =
Année épigraphique
Agora 15 =
B. D. Meritt and J. S. Traill. 1974. Inscriptions: The Athenian Councillors (The Athenian Agora 15). Princeton, NJ: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Agora 19 =
Gerald V. Lalonde, Merle K. Langdon, and Michael B. Walbank. 1991. Inscriptions: Horoi, Poletai Records, Leases of Public Lands (The Athenian Agora 19). Princeton, NJ: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
AJA =
American Journal of Archaeology
ANRW =
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
AR =
argentum, silver
ArchBulg =
Archaeologia Bulgarica
AV =
aurum, gold
BCH =
Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
BE =
Bulletin épigraphique of the Revue des Études Grecques
Bi =
billon, alloy (debased silver)
CAH =
Cambridge Ancient History
CCCHBulg =
Ilya Prokopov, Filipova Svetoslava, and Evgeni Paunov, eds. 2007–. Coin Collections and Coin Hoards in Bulgaria. Sofia: Provias.
CH =
Coin Hoards, vols. 1–9. London: Royal Numismatic Society, 1975–2002; vol. 10, New York and London: American Numismatic Society / Royal Numismatic Society, 2010.
CIL =
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CIRB =
Corpus Inscriptionum Regni Bosporani
FD III =
Fouilles de Delphes. III. Épigraphie. 1909–1985. Athens and Paris: École Française d’Athènes / De Boccard.
FGrHist =
Felix Jacoby, ed. 1957. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Leiden: Brill.
IG =
Inscriptiones Graecae
IGBulg =
Georgi Mihailov, ed. 1958–1997. Inscriptiones Graecae in Bulgaria repertae. 5 vols. Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
IGCH =
Margaret Thompson, Otto Mørkholm, and Colin M. Kraay, eds. 1973. An Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards. New York: American Numismatic Society.
IGR =
René Cagnat et al., eds. 1901. Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, vol. 1. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
ILBulg =
Boris Gerov, ed. 1989. Inscriptiones Latinae in Bulgaria repertae [inter fluvios Oescum et Iatrum]. Sofia.
ILS =
H. Dessau, ed. 1892–1916. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vols. I–III. Berlin: Weidmann.
ISM =
Inscriptiones Scythiae Minoris Graecae et Latinae. Inscripţiile din Scythia Minor greceşti şi latine, I–III, V. Bucharest, 1983–1999.
IThrAeg =
L. Loukopoulou, M.-G. Parissaki, S. Psoma, and A. Zournatzi, eds. 2005.
Ἐπιγραϕὲς τῆς Θράκης τοῦ 00391ἰγαίου μεταξὺ τῶν ποταμῶν 0039Dέστου καὶ Ἕβρου (0039Dομοὶ Ξάνθης, Ῥοδόπης καὶ Ἕβρου
). Inscriptiones antiquae partis Thraciae quae ad ora maris Aegaei sita est (praefecturae Xanthes, Rhodopes et Hebri). Athens and Paris: Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity / De Boccard.
LGPN IV =
Peter M. Fraser, Elaine Matthews, and Richard W. V. Catling. 2005. A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, vol. IV (Macedonia, Thrace, Northern Regions of the Black Sea). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
RAC =
Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum
RE =
Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
RPC =
Andrew Burnett, Michel Amandry, and Pere Pau Ripollès, eds. 1992. Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. I: From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44
BC–AD
69). London and Paris: British Museum Press / Bibliothèque Nationale.
RRGB I–II =
Rumen Ivanov, ed. 2002–2003. Rimski i rannovizantiyski gradove v Bulgaria, vols. I–II. Sofia: Ivray.
SEG =
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
SIG =
Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum
SNG =
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum
t.p.q. =
terminus post quem
ZPE =
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Map 1 General reference map for Ancient Thrace: geography, main ethne, neighbors (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 2 Ancient Thrace: pre-Roman settlements (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 3 Ancient Thrace: monumental tombs, grave goods and hoards (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 4 Roman Thrace. Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Map 5 Thrace in Late Antiquity (modern place names in parentheses). Author: Julia Tzvetkova.
Part IThrace and Thracians
Chapter 1An Introduction to Studying Ancient Thrace
Nikola Theodossiev
Ancient Thrace, located beyond the northern periphery of the Greek world, was an extensive region that occupied part of southeastern Europe during the late second and first millennia BCE, before it was gradually conquered by the Roman Empire in the period from the third decade of the first century BCE to the beginning of the second century CE. Subsequently, the Roman provinces of Thracia, Moesia, and Dacia were set up in Thrace and a powerful process of Romanization unified most of the previous diversity. Due to intensive political developments, accompanied by powerful changes in ethnic landscapes and complex cultural interactions, the frontiers of Thrace were dynamic, flexible, and approximate (Fol and Spiridonov 1983).
The ancient Thracians were non-literary people and, except for some inscriptions in Greek from the Classical and Hellenistic periods or in Thracian language but with Greek letters, no domestic historical sources are known to have existed. The earliest foreign records that may refer to ancient Thrace are several Linear B texts, supposedly testifying to contacts between Mycenaean Greeks and Thracians that presumably occurred over the second half of the second millennium BCE. The earliest close communication and bilateral interaction between Greeks and Thracians, however, were related to Greek colonization in Thrace that began in the middle of the eighth century BCE and continued for several centuries. The Greek colonization caused the gradual Hellenization of the Thracian aristocracy and certain tribes, and was accompanied by intensive and complex multilateral interrelations (Theodossiev 2011a).
An interesting early example of very close contacts, joint state-community, and intensive interaction between Greeks and Thracians, well attested in the historical sources, is furnished by the political activities of the Athenian aristocrat Miltiades the Elder, from the family of the Philaidai, who was a potential rival of the tyrant Peisistratos. In ca. 560 BCE, following the request of the Thracian Dolonkoi who were looking for an ally against the neighboring Apsyntioi, Miltiades the Elder founded a colony in the Thracian Chersonesos, became a tyrant of both the Athenian colonists and Dolonkoi, and built a fortification wall across the peninsula. Miltiades died childless and was succeeded as tyrant by Stesagoras, the son of his half-brother Kimon the Elder. In ca. 524 BCE Stesagoras was assassinated during a war against Lampsakos and the rule was transferred to his brother, Miltiades the Younger, who was sent to protect Athenian interests in the region. The younger Miltiades concluded a dynastic marriage in ca. 515 BCE with Hegesipyle, the daughter of the Thracian king Oloros, and thus reinforced the alliance between the Athenian colonists and the local Thracians. Hegesipyle would give birth to Kimon, the famous Athenian politician and outstanding strategos, ca. 510 BCE. Miltiades the Younger ruled the Thracian Chersonesos until it was occupied by the Persians in 493 BCE, when he fled to Athens and later served as one of the ten Athenian strategoi in the decisive battle of Marathon in 490 BCE (Loukopoulou 1989).
While many ancient Greek authors, like Herodotus among others, provided various secondhand accounts on Thrace, Thucydides, due to his family origins, was the first Greek historian who lived in the region, maintained close relations with Thracian nobles, and acquired a profound knowledge of local realities. Thucydides was a great-grandson of Miltiades the Younger and a great-great grandson of the Thracian king Oloros. Thucydides’ father even bore a Thracian name unique for Athens: Oloros, evidently named after Hegesipyle’s father. Thucydides possessed family gold mines at Skapte Hyle in Thrace and, during the Peloponnesian War, he was sent as an Athenian strategos to Thasos in 424/423 BCE, because he was well familiar with the Thracians. Thucydides failed to save the strategically important Athenian colony Amphipolis from the invasion of the Spartan strategos Brasidas, however, and was forced to spend the next 20 years, until 404 BCE, in exile, probably living on his family estate in Thrace and devoting his time to historical studies (Cartwright 1997).
Another Greek historian, philosopher, and soldier, who had significant personal experiences in Thrace and gave valuable accounts, was Xenophon. After the Peloponnesian War, Xenophon left Athens and joined a Greek army of mercenaries hired by the Achaemenid prince Cyrus the Younger, who rebelled against his brother Artaxerxes II, the king of Persia. After the defeat of Cyrus at Cunaxa in 401 BCE, the Greek mercenaries, known as the Ten Thousand, returned by marching through Mesopotamia, Armenia, and northern Anatolia. In the winter of 400/399 BCE, the Greek mercenaries were employed by the Thracian paradynastos Seuthes II. They carried out combat operations and helped Seuthes to restore his political control over certain territories and Thracian tribes. Simultaneously, the Greeks were engaged in various other activities in Thrace. Xenophon participated in these events and directly observed the bilateral communication and close interaction between Greeks and Thracians. He left notable descriptions of not only Thracian political history, but also the royal court, social structure, military tactics, and everyday life. Due to his detailed and valuable firsthand accounts of various events and experiences, Xenophon could be considered the first foreign historian who personally explored and described ancient Thrace (Stronk 1995).
In modern times, during more than a century of intensive and rapidly developing research on Classical antiquity, Western scholars rarely studied ancient Thrace, which was usually considered as a peripheral region, related to the protohistoric European Iron Age and partly influenced by ancient Greek civilization. Many readers would be surprised to learn, however, that the first occasional excavations and archaeological explorations in Thrace date to the late sixteenth and seventeenth century, long before the study of the Classical world became an actual academic discipline, distinct from early modern European antiquarianism. The earliest evidence was produced by Reinhold Lubenau, a German pharmacist and traveler who described his travels from 1573 to 1589 in a manuscript completed in 1628, but not published until 1914–1915. There one may find brief reference to an excavation of a Thracian tumulus located near Philippopolis conducted by Jacques de Germigny in 1584; de Germigny, the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, excavated with Ottoman approval and discovered human bones and weapons, which were sent to King Henry III of France (Lubenau 1914, 108). Although Lubenau described some notable facts of the ancient history and topography of Thrace later in his manuscript, apparently following his antiquarian interests in the spirit of the Renaissance, he did not provide more information on this interesting archaeological discovery, the earliest known excavation of a Thracian site (Lubenau 1914, 108–112).
About one century later, in the turbulent historical period when the Ottoman Empire, already in possession of a significant part of continental Europe, was preparing to invade the Kingdom of Hungary, Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, a young Italian naturalist and geographer, born in 1658 in a patrician family in Bologna, became an officer in the army of Venice. In 1679, just a few years before the decisive Battle of Vienna in 1683, he was sent on a mission representing Venice to Constantinople in order to examine Ottoman military forces. While the reconnaissance mission was successfully accomplished, Marsigli remained devoted to his scientific interests and explored natural history and the Roman antiquities spread throughout the Ottoman Empire during his travels in 1679 and 1680 (Dimitrov 1946–1947). He not only wrote detailed descriptions and prepared precise maps and informative prints, which showed ancient settlements and monuments along the lower Danube, but also discovered and identified the remains of Ulpia Oescus, one of the major Roman towns in the Province of Moesia Inferior. Most importantly, Marsigli excavated several tumuli located in the vicinity of Ulpia Oescus and provided informative drawings and descriptions of Thracian tumuli that were observed by him. This was a notable moment for the nascent interest in studying antiquities located in the territory of ancient Thrace and, in fact, these were the first ever recorded archaeological excavations of Thracian tumuli conducted by a scholar who published the results. After a long career in the army of the Habsburg Empire and intensive scientific studies, Marsigli finally returned to his native Bologna and founded in 1711 the Istituto delle Scienze ed Arti Liberali. He lived long enough to see his fundamental scholarly work on the Danube published in 1726 in The Hague and Amsterdam (Marsigli 1726).
The first modern, holistic study on ancient Thrace, however, was the book written by the French philologist and numismatist Félix Cary and published in 1752 (Cary 1752). The book presented the history of the Thracian kings, based on numismatic evidence and historical sources. Cary was born in 1699 in Marseille and received an excellent education in the humanities, thus both gaining a profound knowledge of and developing an active interest in ancient history and collections of antiquities. As a young scholar, he acquired a distinguished reputation among the intellectual circles of the Académie de Marseille and soon he was internationally recognized. Later in his life, in 1751, Cary was admitted to the Accademia Etrusca di Cortona and in 1752, the year when his notable book on the Thracian kings was published, he became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, the most prestigious academy of France in the field of the humanities. Two years later, in 1754, Cary died, but up to the mid-nineteenth century his book remained the most comprehensive and important study of Thracian history. Due to his significant scholarly contribution, Cary is recognized as one of the founders of modern Thracian studies (Danov 1984).
Over the next century, European interest in the antiquities spread across the northern Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire was steadily growing and many diplomats, army officers, scholars, and travelers left notable reports, while some occasional archaeological discoveries were reported. Thus, in 1851, a monumental Thracian beehive tomb with an intact rich burial dated to the second half of the fourth century BCE was accidentally unearthed during agricultural works carried out by local peasants on the periphery of a tumulus located near the village of Rozovets, or, according to another version of the story, during excavations to collect stones from the tumular embankment. Most of the precious grave goods were collected by Ottoman authorities and temporarily exhibited in Plovdiv. The spectacular archaeological find was immediately reported and described in the Bulgarian press; this was the first discovery of Thracian material in the north Balkans that instigated a wider public interest and awareness (Theodossiev 2005).
Simultaneously, a certain interest in studying ancient Thrace appeared among European academics in the middle of the nineteenth century. For example, Bernhard Giseke, a renowned German scholar in Classical studies, wrote a remarkable monograph exploring the Thracians and the Pelasgians and their interrelations, which was published in 1858 in Leipzig (Giseke 1858). Ten years later, in 1868, at the beginning of his career, Albert Dumont, a leading French scholar in archaeology and art history and an experienced government administrator, who was the founder of both the École Française de Rome and the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique, and served as Director of both the École Française d’Athènes and l’Enseignement Supérieur au Ministère de l’Instruction Publique, carried out an archaeological mission in Thrace: this was the first ever organized scholarly expedition specifically devoted to Thracian studies. Dumont died in 1884; his detailed report on Thrace was published in Paris in 1892 (Dumont 1892) and became a landmark study widely recognized by scholars. One year after the archaeological mission of Albert Dumont was carried out in Thrace, another leading European scholar, the German and Austrian geologist Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter, launched his expeditions in the northern Balkans to study the geology of the region. In addition to his detailed geological explorations, von Hochstetter published the first systematic report on Thracian tumuli spread throughout the European part of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the results from the excavation of two small tumuli located between Plovdiv and Edirne (von Hochstetter 1870; 1872).
Despite the exciting discoveries and the significant scholarly contributions that occurred from the 1850s to the 1870s, comprehensive archaeological exploration of ancient Thrace began only after the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire in 1878, when several Czech scholars and intellectuals founded modern Bulgarian archaeology (Theodossiev, Koleva, and Borislavov 2001). Two of them, the brothers Karel and Hermengild Škorpil, were the first to document precisely the numerous Thracian tumuli spread across Bulgaria and to collect information about tombs and grave goods discovered during occasional, non-professional excavations. The results from their archaeological expeditions and field surveys were published in 1898 in Plovdiv (Škorpil and Škorpil 1898). This important publication was a significant scholarly achievement that fostered the development of Thracian studies in Bulgaria, but it was only a small part of the Škorpil brothers’ major contribution to Bulgarian archaeology. The brothers were so devoted to Bulgaria that, according to their will, both were to be buried on Bulgarian soil: Hermengild, who died in 1923, was laid to rest in an early Christian monastery near Varna, while Karel, who survived his brother for over 20 years and died in 1944, was buried in Pliska, the medieval capital of the First Bulgarian Kingdom.
Another Czech scholar who played a prominent role in the foundation of Bulgarian archaeology was Konstantin Jireček, a renowned politician and historian. He developed a strong research interest in Bulgaria during his study at Charles University in Prague. Later, in 1879–1884, Jireček lived in Bulgaria and was appointed to different administrative positions, helping the young state to build its governmental and academic institutions. Thus, in 1881–1882 he served as Minister of Education. Still, before his arrival in Bulgaria, Jireček had published valuable studies on ancient historical geography (Jireček 1877), including an interesting attempt to localize the Celtic capital Tylis in Hellenistic Thrace (Jireček 1876).
The Czech contribution to Thracian studies and linguistics was as important as their involvement in the foundation of Bulgarian archaeology. Wilhelm Tomaschek was one of the first scholars to produce comprehensive publications on Thrace. His articles were published in 1893 and 1894 in Vienna and, some 90 years later in 1980, they were reprinted as a book (Tomaschek 1980). Born in 1841 in Olomouc, Moravia, Tomaschek became a Professor in Geography and Oriental Studies, first at the University of Graz, and later at Vienna. Despite some earlier significant contributions to the study of ancient Thrace mentioned above, Tomaschek is usually considered the founding father of modern Thracology, mostly due to his interdisciplinary and analytical holistic approach (Fol 1984; Danov 1984). Shortly before Tomaschek’s outstanding articles appeared, Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen, a German Classical epigraphist and archaeologist just in the beginning of his academic career, wrote a remarkable study in Latin exploring the Greek written sources on ancient Thrace (Hiller von Gaertringen 1886). Several years later, Hiller von Gaertringen was elected a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute and was appointed Editor of Inscriptiones Graecae.
The earliest British scholarly involvement in the archaeology of ancient Thrace dates to the first decade of the twentieth century, when Frederick William Hasluck explored in detail and published one of the most impressive Thracian tholos tombs situated at Eriklice in the European part of Turkey (Hasluck 1910–1911; 1911–1912). The tomb was discovered in 1891 during the construction of an Ottoman military fort and contained an intact aristocratic burial with rich grave goods, which furnish a date ca. 350–320 BCE
