Editing Thrace

{{short description|Geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
[[File:Thrace and present-day state borderlines.png|thumb|Thrace in the modern boundaries of [[Bulgaria]], [[Greece]], and [[Turkey]]]]
[[File:Rhodopen Balkan topo de.jpg|thumb|The physical–geographical boundaries of Thrace: the [[Balkan Mountains]] to the north, the [[Rhodope Mountains]] (highlighted) and the [[Bosporus]]]]
[[File:Balkans AD125.png|thumb|The Roman province of Thrace {{Circa|200 AD}}]]
[[File:Byzantine Macedonia 1045CE.svg|thumb|The Byzantine thema of Thrace]]
[[File:Thraciae-veteris-typvs.jpg|thumb|Map of Ancient Thrace made by [[Abraham Ortelius]] in 1585, stating both the names Thrace and Europe]]
[[File:Odrysian.svg|thumb|Thrace and the Thracian [[Odrysian Kingdom]] under [[Sitalces]] c.&nbsp;431–424 BC, showing the territories of several Thracian tribes]]
[[File:OdrysianKingdom.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Thrace in the [[Odrysian Kingdom]] showing several Thracian tribes. [[Sapeia]] was Northern Thrace and [[Asteia]] was Southern Thrace]]
'''Thrace''' ({{IPAc-en|θ|r|eɪ|s}}, {{respell|thrayss}}; {{langx|bg|Тракия|Trakia}}; {{langx|el|Θράκη|Thráki}}; {{langx|tr|Trakya}}) is a geographical and historical region in [[Southeast Europe]] roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the [[Roman Empire]]. Bounded by the [[Balkan Mountains]] to the north, the [[Aegean Sea]] to the south, and the [[Black Sea]] to the east, it comprises present-day southeastern Bulgaria ([[Northern Thrace]]), northeastern Greece ([[Western Thrace]]), and the European part of Turkey ([[East Thrace]]). Lands also inhabited by ancient [[Thracians]] extended in the north to modern-day [[Northern Bulgaria]] and [[Romania]] and to the west into [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].

==Etymology==
The word ''Thrace'', from [[ancient Greek]] ''Thrake'' (Θρᾴκη),<ref name="LSJ|*qra">{{LSJ|*qra/{{!}}kh|Θρᾴκη|ref}}</ref> referred originally to the [[Thracians]] (ancient Greek ''Thrakes'' Θρᾷκες),<ref>{{LSJ|*qra{{=}}{{!}}c|Θρᾷξ|ref}}</ref> an ancient people inhabiting Southeast Europe. The name ''Europe'' (ancient Greek Εὐρώπη), also at first referred to this region, before that term expanded to include its [[Europe|modern sense]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20970684|title=Greek goddess Europa adorns new five-euro note|work=BBC News |date=10 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The idea of Europe: from antiquity to the European Union|last=Pagden|first=Anthony|editor1-first=Anthony|editor1-last=Pagden|date=2002|publisher=Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780511496813|location=Washington, DC; Cambridge; New York|language=en|chapter=Europe: Conceptualizing a Continent|chapter-url=http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/2001025960.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/2001025960.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511496813}}</ref>

It has been suggested that the name ''Thrace'' derives from the name of the principal river of the region, the [[Maritsa|Hebros]]. The river's name may be derived from the Indo-European ''arg'' "white river" (the opposite of [[Vardar]], meaning "black river").<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pieter|first1=Jan|title=Thracians and Mycenaeans: Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ucUAAAAIAAJ&q=hebros+white+river&pg=PA291|isbn=978-9004088641|year=1989|publisher=Brill Archive }}</ref> According to an alternative theory, Hebros means "goat" in [[Thracian language|Thracian]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theplovdivproject.tumblr.com/post/109036573725/reka-maritsa-hebros-original-name|title=The Plovdiv Project}}</ref>

Sixth century geographer [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] claimed that, long before the ancient Greeks started referring to the region as ''Thrace'', it was known as Aria (Αρια) and Perki (Περκη).<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/241 Stephanus Of Byzantium – Ethnica], Theta 316.9</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Billerbeck |first=Margarethe |title=Stephanus von Byzanz: Stephani Byzantii Ethnica / Delta – Iota |year=2010 |isbn=978-3111738505 |pages=Theta |language=German}}</ref>

In Turkish, Thrace is commonly referred to as ''[[Rumeli]]'', meaning "Land of the Romans", which was the name traditionally given by Turkic societies to the [[Byzantine Empire]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]].

In Greek mythology, Thrace is named after the heroine and sorceress [[Thrace (mythology)|Thrace]], who was the daughter of [[Oceanus]] and Parthenope, and sister of [[Europa (Greek myth)|Europa]].

==Geography==
===Borders===
The historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. The [[List of Ancient Greek tribes|ancient Greeks]] employed the term "Thrace" to refer to all of the territory which lay north of [[Thessaly]] inhabited by the [[Thracians]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Swinburne Carr |title=The history and geography of Greece |publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyandgeogr00carrgoog/page/n66 56] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyandgeogr00carrgoog |year=1838 }}</ref> a region which "had no definite boundaries" and to which other regions (like [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]] and even [[Scythia]]) were added.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |first=Sir William |last=Smith |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=London |year=1857 |page=1176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SUAPAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> In one ancient Greek source, the very Earth is divided into "Asia, Libya, Europa and Thracia".<ref name="Smith" /> As the Greeks gained knowledge of world geography, "Thrace" came to designate the area bordered by the [[Danube]] on the north, by the Euxine Sea (Black Sea) on the east, by northern Macedonia in the south, and by [[Illyria]] to the west.<ref name="Smith" /> This largely coincided with the Thracian [[Odrysian kingdom]], whose borders varied over time. After the Macedonian conquest, this region's former border with Macedonia was shifted from the [[Struma River]] to the [[Mesta River]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Johann Joachim Eschenburg, Nathan Welby Fiske |title=Manual of classical literature |publisher=E.C. Biddle |page= [https://archive.org/details/manualclassical03eschgoog/page/n59 20] n|url=https://archive.org/details/manualclassical03eschgoog|year=1855 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Alexander |last=Adam |title=A summary of geography and history, both ancient and modern |publisher=A. Strahan |page=[https://archive.org/details/asummarygeograp01adamgoog/page/n370 344] |url=https://archive.org/details/asummarygeograp01adamgoog|year=1802 }}</ref> This usage lasted until the Roman conquest. Henceforth, (classical) Thrace referred only to the tract of land largely covering the same extent of space as the modern geographical region.{{clarify|date=December 2016}} In its early period, the [[Thracia (Roman province)|Roman province of Thrace]] was of this extent, but after the administrative reforms of the late 3rd century, Thracia's much reduced territory became the six small provinces which constituted the [[Diocese of Thrace]]. The medieval [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[theme of Thrace]] contained only what today is [[East Thrace]].

===Cities===
{{main|List of cities of Thrace}}
The largest cities of Thrace are: [[Istanbul]], [[Plovdiv]], [[Çorlu]], [[Tekirdağ]], [[Burgas]], [[Edirne]], [[Stara Zagora]], [[Sliven]], [[Yambol]], [[Haskovo]], [[Komotini]], [[Alexandroupoli]], [[Xanthi]], and [[Kırklareli]].

==Demographics and religion==
{{main|Demographics of Bulgaria|Demographics of Greece|Demographics of Turkey}}
{{see also|Thracian Bulgarians|Turks of Western Thrace}}
Most of the [[Bulgarian people|Bulgarian]] and [[Greeks|Greek]] population are [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox Christian]]s, while most of the [[Turkish people|Turkish]] inhabitants of Thrace are [[Sunni]] [[Muslim]]s.

===Ancient Greek mythology===
[[Greek mythology|Ancient Greek mythology]] provides the Thracians with a mythical ancestor [[Thrax (mythology)|Thrax]], the son of the war-god [[Ares]], who was said to reside in Thrace. The Thracians appear in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' as [[Troy|Trojan]] allies, led by [[Acamas]] and [[Peiros]]. Later in the ''Iliad'', [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]], another Thracian king, makes an appearance. [[Cisseus]], father-in-law to the Trojan elder [[Antenor]], is also given as a Thracian king.

Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River [[Axios River|Axios]] in the west to the [[Hellespont]] and [[Black Sea]] in the east. The [[Catalogue of Ships]] mentions three separate contingents from Thrace: Thracians led by Acamas and Peiros, from [[Enez|Aenus]]; [[Cicones]] led by [[Euphemus]], from southern Thrace, near [[Ismara|Ismaros]]; and from the city of [[Sestus]], on the Thracian (northern) side of the Hellespont, which formed part of the contingent led by [[Asius (mythology)|Asius]]. Ancient Thrace was home to numerous other tribes, such as the [[Edoni|Edones]], [[Bisaltae]], [[Cicones]], and [[Bistonians|Bistones]] in addition to the tribe that Homer specifically calls the "Thracians".

[[Greek mythology]] is replete with Thracian kings, including [[Mares of Diomedes|Diomedes]], [[Tereus]], [[Lycurgus of Thrace|Lycurgus]], [[Phineus]], [[Tegyrius]], [[Eumolpus]], [[Polymnestor]], [[Poltys]], and [[Oeagrus]] (father of [[Orpheus]]).

Thrace is mentioned in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', in the episode of [[Philomela (princess of Athens)|Philomela]], [[Procne]], and [[Tereus]]: Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela. He kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, and cuts out her tongue. Philomela manages to get free, however. She and her sister, Procne, plot to get revenge, by killing her son [[Itys]] (by Tereus) and serving him to his father for dinner. At the end of the myth, all three turn into birds &ndash; Procne into a [[swallow]], Philomela into a [[nightingale]], and Tereus into a [[hoopoe]].

The city of [[Dicaea (Thrace)|Dicaea]] in Thrace was named after the son of [[Poseidon]], [[Dicaeus (mythology)|Dicaeus]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://topostext.org/work/241#D230.14|title= Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §D230}}</ref>

==History==
{{see also|History of Western Thrace|History of East Thrace}}

=== Ancient and Roman history ===
{{Main|Thracians|Thracia}}
[[File:Xerxes_I_tomb_Skudrian_soldier_circa_470_BCE_cleaned_up.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Skudrian]] (Thracian) soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 480 BC. [[Xerxes I]] tomb relief.]]
[[File:Kazanluk 1.jpg|thumb|[[Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak]].]]
Indigenous [[Thracians]] were divided into numerous tribes. The first to take greater control of Thrace, in part or whole, were the [[Achaemenian Empire|Achaemenian]] [[Persians]] in the late 6th century BC. The region was incorporated into their empire as the [[Skudra|Satrapy of Skudra]], after the [[Scythian campaign of Darius I|Scythian campaign of Darius the Great]].<ref>Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&dq=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345 "A companion to Ancient Macedonia"] John Wiley & Sons, 2011. {{ISBN|144435163X}} p 343</ref> Thracian soldiers were used in Persian armies and are depicted in carvings of the [[Persepolis]] and [[Naqsh-e Rostam]]. Persians' presence in Thracia lasted for more than a century, ending with the conquests in the 4th century BC by [[Alexander III of Macedon|Alexander the Great of Macedon]], who divided the vast realm between his generals. Notably, Thracian troops are known to have accompanied Alexander when he crossed the [[Hellespont]] which abuts Thrace, during the invasion of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] itself.

The Thracians recorded no collective name for themselves; terms such as ''Thrace'' and ''Thracians'' were assigned by the Greeks.<ref>The [[Cambridge Ancient History]], Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond,{{ISBN|0-521-22717-8}},1992, page 597: "We have no way of knowing what the Thracians called themselves and if indeed they had a common name...Thus the name of Thracians and that of their country were given by the Greeks to a group of tribes occupying the territory..."</ref>

Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not form any lasting political organizations until the founding of the [[Odrysian|Odrysian state]] in the 4th century BC. Like [[Illyrians]], the locally ruled Thracian tribes of the mountainous regions maintained a warrior tradition, while the tribes based in the plains were purportedly more peaceable. Recently discovered funeral mounds in Bulgaria suggest that Thracian kings did rule regions of Thrace with distinct Thracian national identity.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

During this period, a subculture of [[celibacy|celibate]] [[ascetics]] called the [[Ctistae]] lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers, priests, and prophets.

Sections of Thrace particularly in the south started to become hellenized before the [[Peloponnesian War]] as Athenian and Ionian colonies were set up in Thrace before the war. Spartan and other [[Dorians|Doric]] colonists followed them after the war. The special interest of Athens to Thrace is underlined by the numerous finds of Athenian silverware in Thracian tombs.<ref>A. Sideris, [https://www.academia.edu/19830301/Theseus_in_Thrace._The_Silver_Lining_on_the_Clouds_of_the_Athenian-Thracian_Relations_in_the_5th_century_BC ''Theseus in Thrace. The Silver Lining on the Clouds of the Athenian-Thracian Relations in the 5th Century BC''] (Sofia 2015), pp. 13–14, 79–82.</ref> In 168 BC, after the [[Third Macedonian war]] and the subjugation of Macedonia to the Romans, Thrace also lost its independence and became a tributary to Rome. Towards the end of the 1st century BC Thrace lost its status as a client kingdom as the Romans began to directly appoint their kings.<ref>D. C. Samsaris, Le royaume client thrace aux temps de Tibere et la tutelle romaine de Trebellenus Rufus (Le stade transitif de la clientele a la provincialisation de la Thrace), Dodona 17 (1), 1988, p. 159-168</ref> This situation lasted until 46 AD, when the Romans finally turned Thrace into a Roman province (Romana provincia Thracia).<ref>[http://olympias.lib.uoi.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/27369] D. C. Samsaris, The Hellenization of Thrace during the Greek and Roman Antiquity (Diss. in Greek), Thessaloniki 1980, p. 26-36</ref>

During the Roman domination, within the geographical borders of ancient Thrace, there were two separate Roman provinces, namely Thrace ("provincia Thracia") and Lower Moesia ("Moesia inferior"). Later, in the times of Diocletian, the two provinces were joined and formed the so-called "Dioecesis Thracia".<ref>D. C. Samsaris, Historical Geography of Western Thrace during the Roman Antiquity (in Greek), Thessaloniki 2005, p. 7-14</ref> The establishment of Roman colonies and mostly several Greek cities, as was Nicopolis, Topeiros, Traianoupolis, Plotinoupolis, and Hadrianoupolis resulted from the Roman Empire's urbanization. The Roman provincial policy in Thrace favored mainly not the Romanization but the Hellenization of the country, which had started as early as the Archaic period through the Greek colonisation and was completed by the end of Roman antiquity.<ref>[http://olympias.lib.uoi.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/27369] D. C. Samsaris, The Hellenization of Thrace, passim</ref> As regards the competition between the Greek and Latin language, the very high rate of Greek inscriptions in Thrace extending south of [[Balkan Mountains|Haemus Mountains]] proves the complete language Hellenization of this region. The boundaries between the Greek and Latin speaking Thrace are placed just above the northern foothills of Haemus Mountains.<ref>[http://olympias.lib.uoi.gr/jspui/handle/123456789/27369] D. C. Samsaris, The Hellenization of Thrace, p. 320-330</ref>

During the imperial period many Thracians – particularly members of the local aristocracy of the cities – had been granted the right of the [[Roman citizen]]ship (civitas Romana) with all its privileges. Epigraphic evidence show a large increase in such naturalizations in the times of Trajan and Hadrian, while in 212 AD the emperor Caracalla granted, with his well-known decree ([[constitutio Antoniniana]]), the Roman citizenship to all the free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.<ref>D. C. Samsaris, Surveys in the history, topography and cults of the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Thrace (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1984, p. 131-302</ref>
During the same period (in the 1st–2nd century AD), a remarkable presence of Thracians is testified by the inscriptions outside the borders (extra fines) both in the Greek territory<ref>D. C. Samsaris, Les Thraces dans l' Empire romain d' Orient (Le territoire de la Grèce actuelle). Etude ethno-démographique, sociale, prosopographique et anthroponymique, Jannina (Université) 1993, pp. 372</ref> and in all the Roman provinces, especially in the provinces of Eastern Roman Empire.<ref>D. C. Samsaris, Les Thraces dans l' Empire romain d' Orient (Asie Mineure, Syrie, Palestine et Arabie). Etude ethno-démographique et sociale, VIe Symposium Internazionale di Tracologia (Firenze 11–13 maggio 1989), Roma 1992, p. 184-204 [= Dodona 19(1990), fasc. 1, p. 5-30]</ref>

===Medieval history===
{{Main|Macedonia (theme)|Thrace (theme)}}
By the mid-5th century, as the [[Western Roman Empire]] began to crumble, Thracia fell from the authority of Rome and into the hands of Germanic tribal rulers. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Thracia turned into a battleground territory for the better part of the next 1,000 years. The surviving eastern portion of the [[Roman Empire]] in the Balkans, later known as the [[Byzantine Empire]], retained control over Thrace until the 7th century when the northern half of the entire region was incorporated into the [[First Bulgarian Empire]] and the remainder was reorganized in the [[Thrace (theme)|Thracian theme]]. [[Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria|The Empire regained]] the lost regions in the late 10th century until the Bulgarians regained control of the northern half at the end of the 12th century. Throughout the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, the region was changing in the hands of the Bulgarian and the Byzantine Empire (excluding Constantinople). In 1265, the area suffered a Mongol raid from the [[Golden Horde]], led by [[Nogai Khan]], and between 1305 and 1307 the area was raided by the [[Catalan Company|Catalan company]].<ref><span class="reference-text">''La Venjança catalana''. Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.</span></ref>

===Ottoman period===
[[File:Greek flag (black cross).svg|thumb|right|Flag of rebels of Thrace during the [[Greek War of Independence]].]]
In 1352, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Turkic people|Turks]] conducted their first incursion into the region [[Ottoman conquest of the Balkans|subduing it]] completely within a matter of two decades and ruled it for five centuries in general peace. In 1821, several parts of Thrace, such as [[Lavara]], [[Maroneia]], [[Sozopol]]is, [[Enez|Aenos]], [[Gallipoli|Callipolis]], and [[Samothraki]] rebelled during the [[Greek War of Independence]].

===Modern history===
[[File:DBFP03.jpg|thumb|Proposal to cede East Thrace to Greece during [[World War I]]. This photocopy came from a larger color map.]]
With the [[Congress of Berlin]] 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 among [[Bulgaria]], [[Turkey]] and [[Greece]] at the beginning of the 20th century, following the [[Balkan Wars]], [[World War I]] and the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|Greco-Turkish War]]. In Summer 1934, up to 10,000 Jews<ref>see [http://www.bpb.de/internationales/europa/tuerkei/181867/vertreibung-der-tuerkischen-juden footnote 4]</ref> were maltreated, bereaved,{{clarify|date=February 2022}} and then forced to quit the region (see [[1934 Thrace pogroms]]). From [[Bulgaria]] and [[Romania]] between 1934 and 1938 a large wave of [[Muslim]] immigrants called ''Göçmenler'' went to [[East Thrace]].<ref>https://www.historystudies.net/trakyanin-yeni-sakinleri -gocmenler-1934-1938_1634</ref>

Today, ''Thracian'' is a geographical term used in [[Bulgaria]], [[Turkey]], and [[Greece]].

==Notable Thracians==
*[[Orpheus]] was, in [[Ancient Greek mythology]], the chief representative of the art of song and playing the [[lyre]].
*[[Protagoras]] (c.&nbsp;490–420 BC) was a Greek philosopher from [[Abdera, Thrace]]. An expert in [[rhetoric]]s and subjects connected to virtue and political life, often regarded as the first [[sophist]]. He is known primarily for three claims: (1) that man is the measure of all things, often interpreted as a sort of [[moral relativism]], (2) that he could make the "worse (or weaker) argument appear the better (or stronger)" (see [[Sophism]]), and (3) that one could not tell if the gods existed or not (see [[Agnosticism]]).
*[[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]]'s tutors.
*[[Democritus]] (c.&nbsp;460–370 BC) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician from [[Abdera, Thrace]]. His main contribution is the [[atomic theory]], the belief that all matter is made up of various imperishable indivisible elements which he called [[atom]]s.
*[[Spartacus]] was a Thracian who led a large slave uprising in what is now Italy in 73–71 BC. His army of escaped [[gladiator]]s and slaves defeated several [[Roman legion]]s in what is known as the [[Third Servile War]].
*A number of [[Roman emperor]]s of the 3rd–5th century were of [[Thraco-Roman]] backgrounds ([[Maximinus Thrax]], [[Licinius]], [[Galerius]], [[Aureolus]], [[Leo I the Thracian|Leo the Thracian]], etc.). These emperors were elevated via a military career (hence the resultant nickname for them, [[Barracks Emperor]]), from the condition of common soldiers in one of the [[Roman legion]]s to the foremost positions of [[Power (social and political)|political power]].

==Legacy==
The [[Trakiya Heights]] in [[Antarctica]] "are named after the historical region."<ref>[https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=137045 Trakiya Heights.] SCAR [[Composite Antarctic Gazetteer]].</ref>

==See also==
*[[1989 expulsion of Turks from Bulgaria]]
*[[Celtic settlement of Eastern Europe]]
*[[Dacia]]
*[[Kingdom of Dardania|Dardania]]
*[[The Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913|Destruction of Thracian Bulgarians in 1913]]
*[[Hawks of Thrace]]
*[[Macedon]]
*[[Moesia]]
*[[Moesogoths]]
*[[Music of Thrace]]
*[[Paionia]]
*[[Thracian treasure]]
*[[Turkish Republic of Thrace]]
* [[List of kings of Thrace and Dacia]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Hoddinott, R. F., ''The Thracians'', 1981.
*Ilieva, Sonya, ''Thracology'', 2001

==External links==
{{Wikivoyage}}
{{commons|Ancient Thrace and Ancient Thracians}}
*[http://www.emthrace.org Ethnological Museum of Thrace], comprehensive website on Thracian history and culture.
*[http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510084528/http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/ |date=10 May 2021 }} Bulgaria's most famous Thracian Treasure – The Panagyurishte Gold Treasure to return home after two years lapse
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100104153554/http://www.omda.bg/engl/history/bulgarias_thracian_heritage.htm Bulgaria's Thracian Heritage.] including images of the comprehensive art collection of Thracian gold found on the territory of contemporary Bulgaria.
*[http://www.thracian.info Information on Ancient Thrace]
*The People of the God-Sun Ar and Areia (modern Thrace) [https://www.academia.edu/11805222/The_People_of_the_God-Sun_Ar_and_Areia_Modern_Thrace_ The People of the God-Sun Ar and Areia (Modern Thrace)]
*[http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com Possible Orphic Lyre rock engraving discovered in Bulgaria's Eastern Rhodope Mountains] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510084528/http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/ |date=10 May 2021 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{coord|42|N|26|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:Thrace| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek geography]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Greece]]
[[Category:History of Thrace]]
[[Category:Thracians]]
[[Category:Geography of Turkey]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Bulgaria]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Turkey]]