Who has not heard the names of the great Thracians - the legendary singer Orpheus, the gladiator Spartacus? The Thracian golden treasures of sacred vessels are world famous - sacrifices to the underground gods; the majestic tombs of the Thracian kings - real underground temples, decorated with sculptures and frescoes; ancient stones depicting deities, primarily the famous Thracian horseman - the solar deity Heros (Res), mentioned in Homer's Iliad.
The Thracian culture, as well as the Neolithic culture of Trypillia in Ukraine, is the direct successor of the most ancient civilization in Asia Minor, Chatal-Gyuyuk - Hadjilar (VIII-VI millennium BC). Its discoverer J. Mellart wrote about this. But the Thracian language, due to the extreme scarcity of written data, remains a mystery with seven seals. AT Ancient Greece it was the sacred language of the Dionysian, Eleusinian and Samothracian mysteries, the language of the initiates. In the Roman era, the poet Ovid, exiled to the border of the Thracian and Scythian lands, according to his own testimony, learned it and wrote poems on it, but they have not been preserved.
It is about the Thracian language that the classic of Serbian literature Milorad Pavić writes in his “cult” novel The Khazar Dictionary (1989), and not about the Khazar language at all. It is from the Thracian language that only the inscription "engraved on an old ring" has been preserved. It is no coincidence that archaeologists in his novel find the “Khazar” cemetery not in the Northern Caspian and Volga regions, where the historical Khazars lived, but in the Balkans, “in Yugoslavia not far from the Danube, in the vicinity of the city of Novi Sad.” And the words “my image”, “your image” from the “Khazar” poem given in the novel could not be present in the language of the historical Khazars, which belonged to the Bulgarian-Pecheneg group Turkic languages, not related to Indo-European, Slavic. And the Thracian language was related to them - the studies of the paleo-Balkanists, even on the scarce material available, convincingly confirm this.
V. I. Shcherbakov writes, who translated the only surviving legible inscription in the mysterious language of the disappeared people of the Thracians:
Chronicle connection of times
“After a long time (after the Flood), the Slavs settled along the Danube, where now the land is Hungarian and Bulgarian. From those Slavs, the Slavs dispersed across the earth and were called by their names from the places where they sat down, ”says the Russian chronicler (“The Tale of Bygone Years”, translated by Academician D.S. Likhachev).
The history of the Slavs and Moscow historians of the era of Ivan the Terrible are erected to the Danube southern ancestral home in the “Power Book” they created: “Even more ancient is Tsar Theodosius the Great (Roman emperor in 379-395 AD) named war with the Russian howls.” What sources of antiquity fell into their hands? One can only guess about it. The indications of the chroniclers could not but attract the attention of researchers, as well as the clearly Danubian origin of many finds on the banks of the Dnieper. First of all, these are numerous brooches - fasteners for raincoats (this type of clothing for Eastern Slavs was not peculiar), belt sets of the same origin, jewelry, silver items. It is not possible to explain the appearance of all this only by trade relations. But let's try to believe the "Tale of Bygone Years" - will not such an approach help to cope with the Danube dilemma?
Veka Troyanov
In the II-IV centuries of our era, amazing changes took place in the Dnieper region. An essentially new economic system has taken shape, and the density of the population has risen sharply. Archaeologists find evidence of these changes throughout the so-called Chernyakhiv culture (named after the village of Chernyakhiv, where its first monument was found).
The region of the Chernyakhov culture in the north reached Pripyat, in the east - to the Northern Donets, in the west - to the ranges of the Southern Carpathians and the central part of modern Romania. This vast territory in the 2nd century AD was suddenly involved in a rapid process of development. Everything was changing right before our eyes. This leap in its significance and achievements is equal to the previous millennium, if not more.
In the 1920s, this culture was called the culture of Roman influences. Its origin coincides in time with the capture by the Romans of vast areas north of the Danube, where the Roman province of Dacia was formed. Some historians emphasize Roman influence based on numerous finds of Roman coins, glass goblets, even gold medallions from the Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117), who conquered Dacia. However, the medallions were not found in Dacia, but on the lands of the Slavs, in Volhynia.
It is difficult to deny the Roman influence - the conquests did not go unnoticed. But the province of Dacia was separated from the Slavic territories by the Carpathians. It is unlikely that developed trade could be carried out through the Carpathian knot. Why, then, are medallions of Roman emperors, gold coins of Roman minting, treasures with things of Roman origin found in Volhynia?
This question can be answered by comparing the sequence of major events in Volhynia. The first event: the appearance here of expensive silver and glass utensils and a huge amount of Roman coins. The second event: the beginning of the intensive development of the region, that is, in essence, the formation of the Chernyakhov culture. The first event was marked by the 1st century, the second in its developed form belongs to the 2nd century. The appearance of Roman coins precedes the formation of commercial agriculture in the entire region of the Chernyakhov culture that interests us.
So there was almost no trade. Coins are found. The explanation is the fact of mass migration to these lands from territories subject to Rome, that is, the nearest provinces: Dacia and Moesia.
In the composition of later coin hoards, earlier coinage was found. This means the transfer of Roman denarii by inheritance. Imperial medallions were also inherited - the property of the local nobility. These are not war trophies, this is another evidence of resettlement.
Thrace knows the answer to the mystery
The history of the Thracian tribes dates back to ancient times. In the II millennium BC, they occupied the entire space from the Adriatic to the Black Sea (Pontus). The Asia Minor regions near Troy were ethnically identical to Thrace itself, they were inhabited by Thracian tribes.
The art of Thrace is connected by a thousand threads with the Trypillia culture in Ukraine. The Thracian tomb in Kazanlak (late 4th - early 3rd century BC) is a masterpiece of building art, and picturesque images with the famous Thracian horses amaze the imagination.
The smelting and processing of metals occupied a special place among the Thracians. It was the art of smelting metals from ores that the Etruscans brought with them to Italy. The hypothesis about the Danube origin of the Etruscans has been expressed for a long time. The rock crypts of Thrace have analogues among the monuments of Etruria - taking into account the relief, they were buried in the soil layer, retaining the main features of the Thracian tombs. At one time, I was also able to trace linguistic parallels.
The ancient culture of the Thracians was adopted by the Greek aliens. These are myths, cults of Ares, Dionysus and Orpheus, who, according to legend, was the king of the Thracians. The legendary singer gave a name to the teaching that spread in Greece (Orphism).
The first state in Thrace was formed in the 5th century BC. The king of the Thracian tribe of the Odryses, Teres, united the tribes inhabiting Thrace, different in ethnic composition - Proto-Slavic, Celtic, etc.
Teres gave his daughter in marriage to the Scythian king Ariapeif (Herodotus, IV, 80). An alliance was made. Near Plovdiv, in a barrow, a gold ring of one of the Odrysian rulers was found, on which the name of the owner was engraved: Skifodok. This is evidence of the peace and kinship of the Thracian dynasts with the Scythians.
Macedonia was also inhabited then by the Thracian tribes, but they were strongly Hellenized. The campaign of Alexander the Great in Thrace (336 BC) made the country dependent on a strengthened neighbor. Internal control in Thrace remained with the local princes. After the death of Alexander and the collapse of his empire, the prince of the Odrys Seut III (324-311 BC) restored the independence of the state. He issued a silver coin, minting Macedonian silver with the image of Alexander the Great.
Thrace became a province of the Roman Empire in the 1st century. Under Trajan, the province of Dacia was formed north of Thrace. The Moesian part of the Odrysian kingdom became part of the province of Moesia.
The state of the Odryses became a province of the Roman Empire (this is the beginning of a wave of mass migration to the north and east). Its six-hundred-year history is over. It ended so that the glory of Kyiv and Novgorod would shine.
Terrible waves of steppe invasions rolled up to Thrace, which defended the northern and eastern limits of the Roman Empire on the Danube Limes. A wave of migrations to the north - to the forest-steppe of the Dnieper region - involved the Thracian tribes, including the Slavs.
Resettlement to the north is not only the path of the Slavs. The Celts lived on the Danube. They also had a long journey to the northern lands.
But it's time to return to the Thracians.
gods of old
Thrace opens the door to the ancient, considered lost or non-existent history of the European peoples. The Thracians, according to Plato and Titus Livius, led a goat, just like the Slavs on the Dnieper, on the feast of the new moon, which accompanies the winter solstice in the constellation Sagittarius. Until recently, this custom was alive in Ukraine!
The cult of the Sun in Thrace played a major role.
The Thracians believed in the immortality of the soul, idolized the resurgent nature, sacrificed animals. Colorful, in masquerade attire, kuker games, folk clothes, jewelry, the meeting of the seasons - all this was preserved on the territory of Thrace and was transferred to the later Bulgarian population, became elements of its culture. The same basic features of the Thracian culture are characteristic of many Slavic tribes - and this is undoubtedly the baton passed on by the Thracians after their resettlement to new lands. The Slavs believed in the immortality of the soul and in the afterlife, idolized nature, just like the Thracians. It so happened that after the death of her husband, the widow voluntarily went to her death so as not to part with him. The Slavs and Thracians spiritualized the forces of the visible world, worshiped springs and sacred groves.
The way of the gods is the way of men. He indicates the direction of the resettlement of the tribes: Illyria, Thrace - the Dnieper.
The Kyiv Chronicle gives a description of the Kupala holiday. The holiday in honor of this Slavic deity is similar to the festivities that were held in Thrace and in the Phrygian kingdom, created by the Thracian settlers in Asia Minor. The Phrygian goddess was called Cybele, the Thracian - Kabila ( Kabiri - Samothrace Trinity. Three Cybeles - mothers - hvac). In the ancient land of Etruria, the name Kupavon is known with the same meaning.
In Book V of his History, Herodotus describes the funeral rites of the Thracians. He writes that the deceased is buried or burned on fire. Chernyakhovtsy buried the dead in the same way as the Thracians. Herodotus mentions competitions in honor of the deceased, in which the highest award "is assigned to combatants, each time depending on the type of competition." Exactly the same custom of military or equestrian competitions in honor of the deceased, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, is characteristic of the Slavs - Vyatichi, Northerners, Radimichi, Krivichi. For almost a millennium and a half, he has not changed.
horse hoof print
Thracian pottery was found on the Upper Dniester and in the Northern Dnieper region (the village of Ivane Pust in Ukraine near Ternopil, etc.).
On the Dnieper, near Kyiv, in the very area that corresponds to the original Russia, brooches were found - fasteners for clothes of the Danube type. Cast brooches came into fashion in the last period of the Roman Empire. There are several types. All of them are presented in excavations near Kyiv. Time: IV-V century AD.
The Martynovsky treasure of the same period on the Dnieper consists of a set of silver items. Among them is an image of a man in an embroidered shirt and two horses. Their natural arrangement is such that the horses are facing the man. This is a Thracian plot, and the most common one. Images of two horses with a man in the middle are typical for Thrace and especially for the left bank of the Danube.
On embroidered Slavic towels, including Russian ones, the same plot is not uncommon. The embroidered horses on them correspond to the horses of the Martynovsky treasure.
More than a thousand images in Thrace are dedicated to the so-called Thracian horseman, whose equestrian image became especially widespread precisely in the first centuries of our era, that is, during the period of the Thracian migration to the north and east. The Thracian horseman is not only a companion of mass migration, he is its symbol and hope. On Russian embroidered towels we will find this rider. This, for example, is a towel from the former Pudozh district of the Olonetsk province in the collection of V.N. Kharuzina. Instead of a head, he has a figure with symbols of the Sun, in everything similar to the Thracian ones.
Many of the towels feature women. Among them, as academician B. A. Rybakov notes, is the goddess Makosh. But here's what is curious: even on these "female" towels, the figures are arranged in the Thracian manner! In the middle is Makosh, on either side of her are two horsewomen.
two horses and central figure you will not confuse with any others and on Russian pendants-amulets of the XI-XII centuries. The Thracian sacred birds from the same range of finds, the Thracian animals, and the Thracian solar signs also overcame the long road.
Ancestral names
There is no need to prove that the Slavs in their ancestral home, in Thrace and Illyria, spoke Slavonic. But the Proto-Slavic-Thracian language ties have not been practically studied so far.
"Unfortunately, Proto-Slavic-Thracian language contacts are not amenable to study." This is the conclusion of the famous archaeologist and historian-Slavist V.V. Sedov. “... It is not possible to single out Thracian words in Proto-Slavic, since our information about the Thracian vocabulary is vague and uncertain,” states linguist S.B. Bernstein.
It is difficult to reconstruct the Thracian language, because, according to the definition of V.P. Neroznak, it is documented only by "appellative vocabulary, glosses, Dacian names of plants and a number of inscriptions, however, difficult to interpret."
Thus, the reason for the lack of study of the Proto-Slavic-Thracian language contacts and the impossibility of isolating Thracian words in the Proto-Slavic language is the lack of knowledge of the Thracian vocabulary and the lack of translations and even interpretations of the few Thracian inscriptions. The absence of any significant texts that have come down from antiquity forces us to turn to other sources. These are, first of all, the personal names of Thracian legionnaires or peasants, sometimes slaves. They remained on the tombstones. The Latin alphabet brought these names to us, the Greek inscriptions also.
I was lucky to study about 10,000 pre-Christian Slavic names in connection with the Thracian problem. Several hundred pre-Christian Slavic names owe their origin to the ancient names of Illyria and Thrace.
Dyurdev's grandson is mentioned in the Kiev Chronicle. The name Dyurd is well known to the Thracians. Russian name Dyurgi from the Kiev Chronicle is found among the Thracians in the form of Dyurge, Dyurge. Dula - so they called children in Kievan Rus. Dulo - this is how the Thracians called their children. In the list of Illyrian names we find: Veszlev. This name is Veslav, Vyacheslav. The personal names of the Thracians Bisa, Benilo correspond to the Bulgarian name Visha and the Czech Venilo. The Thracian name Dazh is also well known to the Slavists.
Zaika is a personal name among the Thracians. In modern Bulgarian, "bunny" remains, in Russian the same word sounds without any changes in children's speech. What the Golden Thracian Ring Tells About Ezerovo near Plovdiv.
The ring is now kept in the Archaeological Museum of Sofia. It weighs 31.3 grams, its diameter is 2.7 centimeters. The inscription is engraved on a round beetle plate, on its front side: POLISTENEASNEPENEATILTEANISKOA PAZEADOMEANTILZYПTAMIHEPAZHLTA No translations have been published. According to the Bulgarian linguist V. Georgiev, we are talking about a young woman named Rolistena, whose death will follow along with the death of her husband. But the study of the inscription allows us to conclude that it does not correspond to such an interpretation.
One of the main difficulties of translation was the correct word division. In solving this problem, the correct selection of at least single words could help. Along the way, an assumption arose that the lines of the Thracian inscription differ in length not because of the geometry of the plate, but because of the desire of the author of the inscription not to break the words, placing their syllables in different lines. First of all, the selection of words close to the "Etruscoid" vocabulary was expected. Indeed, the inscription contains the Etruscan word ATI, "mother" - it ends the second line of the Thracian text. Using the combinatorial-semantic method, we managed to divide the text of the inscription into words and translate it.
In this case, additional threshold algorithms were used, created on the basis of the works of I.V. Sokolova "Social Informatics" (M., 2002) and others. Here is our translation of all the words of the inscription. The numbers in parentheses indicate the line numbers.
(1) ROLIS - "ring", "ring". Correspondence - in Indo-European languages. TEN - "this one". Etruscan ita "this", Tocharian A tam "this", Slovak ten "this", Czech ten "this", Upper Lusatian ton "this". EASN - "is." Old Prussian asmai, Latin est, Old Polish jesm, Old Russian esm with the same meaning.
(2) ERENE - "memory". Icelandic erendi meaning "message", "message", Old Norse erendi meaning "deed", "commission", German erinnern "to remind". ATIL - "mothers".
(3) TEANIS - "your". Etruscan ta "that", "that". KOA - "which". Bulgarian: koi - "who". Russian: koi, koe, kaya, - “what”, etc.
(4) RAZE - "gave birth." Russian: give birth, give birth. A - “yes, and” - union. DOM - "house". Greek domos "building", Old Indian damas "house", Slovene, Slovak, Upper Lusatian, Lower Lusatian dom in the same meaning.
(5) EANT - "one's own". ILZU - “nurtured”, “nurtured”. Russian: crawl, crawl - “eat”, “scoop with a spoon”.
(6) PTA - "small", "little". Latin putus "child", putilia, "chick", French petit "child, baby", Old Russian: pta - bird, bird. MIHE - "mine".
(7) RAZHLTA - joyful, joy. Translation of the entire inscription on the Thracian ring:
“This ring is the memory of your mother, who gave birth and (in) her house nursed the baby, my joy.”
Analysis of the Thracian vocabulary according to the inscription on the ring from the village. Ezerovo shows the presence of similarities between the Thracian and Slavic languages. This can serve as a basis for two hypotheses.
First: the Thracian language is the Proto-Slavic language.
Second: Thracian is a substratum language that has had the strongest influence on the Slavic.
We note important circumstances related to the Indo-European tradition: in its mainstream, language features were formed that can be traced in Slavic to this day even at the level of phraseology. The text of the inscription reflects sincerity, directness, tenderness; the expressiveness of the text is achieved by concise means. At the same time, the mother, as it were, gives a lesson to her daughter on her own example of love and fidelity - without direct instructions and teachings. Amazing text! Such traditions in the sphere of family and kinship relations are not inculcated from the outside - they reflect their own customs characteristic of the ethnic group. The text of the golden Thracian ring can be regarded as a vivid literary work that has no analogues either in style, or in the brightness and sincerity of human feelings captured in it, or in the early level of their versatility. In such an unusually laconic form, all this was hardly achievable even for later eras.
The most ancient people of the Carpatho-Balkan space, mentioned in the writings of ancient authors, were the Thracians - a group of Indo-European origin, whose ethnogenesis took place at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in the North Balkan space, in the vicinity of other Indo-European groups: the ancestors of the Hittites, Italics, Proto-Balto-Slavs, etc.
The Thracians lived on a vast territory between the Aegean Sea and the Anatolian Peninsula in the south, the Northern Carpathians and the upper reaches of the Dniester in the north, the middle course of the Danube and the Moravian Highlands in the west, the Black Sea and the mouth of the Bug in the east.
At the end of II - beginning of I millennium BC. e. Thracians settled a significant part of the Balkan Peninsula, some islands in the Aegean Sea: Samothrace, Naxos, Thasos, Lemnos, Kos, Lesbos. The Thracians also appeared in Asia Minor, where they contacted the Hittites, Trojans and other related Indo-European peoples.
The Thracian world was not homogeneous either in terms of language or in terms of material culture. The Balkan Mountains divided this area into two large parts, which were inhabited by the southern and northern Thracians. Ancient authors mention about a hundred Thracian groups. Among the southern Thracians, the tribes of Odrys, Besses, Bitins, Kikons, Edons stand out, and among the northern Thracians - Getae (later Dacians), Tiragetes, Krobids, Triballi, Costoboci, Carps, etc.
Herodotus wrote that "the people of the Thracians, after the Indians, are the most numerous on earth." The Thracians led a settled way of life. Their main occupations were agriculture, raising livestock, viticulture and mining. They were known as courageous warriors, their breeds of horses, weapons were known throughout the ancient world.
For the first time, the Thracians are mentioned in Homer's Iliad, in the story of the Trojan War. The Homeric poems speak of two Thracian tribes - Sints and Kikons, who were allies of the Trojans. Homer also names the name of one of the Thracian kings - Reza.
The Thracian language belongs to Indo-European family, being related to Proto-Italic, Proto-Balto-Slavic and Iranian languages.
Thracian neighbors. At the end of the Bronze Age (12th century BC), carriers of the Noua culture (common in Moldova and Transylvania) and Coslodzhen (known in Dobruja and Muntenia) penetrated into the Thracian space from the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, who were engaged in raising livestock and farming. To the east of the Thracians in the XII-IX centuries BC lived the Cimmerians, a people of Indo-European origin. In the VIII century BC. Scythians forced them out of the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region. The Scythians have been in contact with the Thracians for centuries, maintaining trade and cultural ties. Later, the Sarmatians, who replaced the Scythians, gradually began to penetrate the lands occupied by the northern Thracians, mixing with them.
To the west of the Thracians lived the Illyrians, the ancestors of the Italics and the Celts (the latter inhabited Western Europe in large numbers). The Greeks lived to the south.
Many groups of Thracians lived in Asia Minor: Bitins, Mises, Phrygians, etc. They maintained ties with the Hittite kingdom. After the destruction of this state by the "peoples of the sea", part of the Hittites moved to the lands of the Thracians, later the same fate awaited small public entities, called "Hittite", which in the VIII century BC. e. destroyed by the Assyrians under the leadership of Sargon.
Lifestyle. The Thracians were never able to unite to create one state, they were divided into a number of military-political formations.
In the lands east of the Carpathian Mountains, Thracian tribes appear at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. They settled on hills and hillsides. In these places, the Thracians created many settlements. Some of them were fortified, taking the form of fortresses (fortifications). Later they were called davas.
The main occupations of the Thracians were agriculture, raising livestock and handicrafts. They cultivated wheat, barley and millet. From domestic animals raised large and small cattle, pigs, horses. The land was cultivated with a wooden plow pulled by bulls. The harvest was harvested with bronze, and later with iron sickles, the grain was ground with the help of grain graters.
During this period, crafts were formed: weaving, the manufacture of bronze and iron products, and the production of ceramics. During the first half of the 1st millennium BC. the technology of metal processing is spreading, which is confirmed by the finds near the village of Costesti - molds for casting objects from bronze. By the VIII century BC. the production of objects and weapons from iron is spreading (finds near the villages of Selishte and Mateutsi).
One of the secondary activities was hunting.
Our ancestors built houses from vertically dug logs woven with rods. Dwellings were heated with hearths and stoves. In the early period, the society of the northern Thracians was homogeneous in terms of property stratification. The northern Thracians united in groups consisting of many families; they were led by people who had great power.
The economic, social and cultural development of the northern Thracians accelerated due to contacts with their neighbors. They maintained trade and cultural relations with the southern Thracians, Cimmerians and Scythians in the east. And from the 7th-6th centuries BC. contacts are being established with the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast (Istria, Tyra, Olbia, Tomy, etc.).
Contacts with the peoples of South-Eastern Europe are confirmed by numerous archaeological sites found on the territory of Moldova.
Thracians are the ancestors of modern Romanians, Moldavians and Bulgarians. But to be more precise - historical predecessors. It would seem that a lot is known about the Thracians. These are the immediate neighbors and rivals of the ancient Greeks. Moreover, "horse-borne", that is, unlike the Hellenes and the ancient Romans, they fought on horseback. And, without stirrups! And this means that their legs were also naturally short, strong and crooked. And it is necessary to practice horse riding from childhood: archery at full gallop, fencing and the tactics of horse attack and counter-attack in itself, system - all this requires professionalism.
A common misconception that is imposed by Marxist-Leninist history is the idea of ancient peoples as a kind of monolith in culture, language, customs and way of life. But a successful farmer cannot be a skilled cavalryman. More often in complex landscapes rich in natural resources (forest-steppe, foothills, banks of large rivers, lakes and seas), complex communities with an intertribal division of labor develop.
It is known about the Thracians that from ancient times Celts artisans penetrated their environment. The Proto-Slavic element, common with our forest-steppe lands of Ukraine and Russia, is probably the descendants of the people of the Trypillian archaeological culture. It is known that in the Bronze Age, the Trypillians in the territory between the Dnieper and the Don lost their special culture under the influence of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes who mastered horseback riding.
It must be assumed that the Trypillians in Thrace also came under control, or rather, under protection and a mutually beneficial division of labor (war separately, arable farming separately) with the Aryan tribes of riders. The caste system was very strictly observed in ancient societies, but was often incomprehensible to ancient Greek and Roman authors, since it was not based in southeastern and central Europe on slavery. However, the "Kurgan culture" in many countries is clearly not related to the majority of the local indigenous population.
Free farmers, thanks to the rich land and the protection of the horsemen, produced grain in a huge surplus. Their economy also retained a powerful appropriating fishing economy, the collection and processing of gifts of nature, hunting, fishing, and so on.
Below we present the article, you can discuss it in the comments.
Proto-Slavic roots of the culture of the ancient Thracians.
The culture, religion, customs of the Thracians were formed in close interweaving with the Scythian, Greek and Macedonian culture and traditions.
After the invasion of the Sarmatians in 2 thousand BC. e, numerous tribes of skolots (Scythian farmers) moved to Thrace. Strabo says: Many people from Lesser Scythia crossed Tiras and Istres and settled in that country (Thrace). A significant part of Thrace in the Balkans was called Scythia Minor.».
In the II millennium BC, the Thracian tribes occupied vast territories from the Adriatic to the Black Sea (Pontus). The area in Asia Minor near Troy was inhabited by ethnic Thracian tribes, immigrants from Thrace (Bulgaria).
Pliny's description of the Transdanubian lands says: Thrace, on the one hand, begins from the coast of Pontus, where the river Istres (Danube) flows into it. In this part there are the most beautiful cities: Istropolis founded by the Milesians, Tomy, Kallatia (formerly called Kerbatira). Here lay Heraclea and Bison, swallowed up by the open earth. Now there remains Dionysopol, formerly called Crunus. The river Zira flows here. The whole area was occupied by the Scythians, called plowmen. They had cities: Aphrodisias, Libist, Sieger, Rokoba, Eumenia, Parthonopol and Gerania».
The ancient culture, religion and mythology of the Thracians in the Balkans was adopted by the Hellenic Greeks. The Thracian myths about Dionysus, Ares, about Europe, the daughter of the Phoenician king, about Orpheus, who, according to legend, was the king of the Thracians, became Greek myths. In his 5th book, Herodotus writes: The Thracians honor only three gods: Ares, Dionysus and Artemis. And their kings (unlike the rest of the people) revere Hermes more than all the gods and swear only by him. According to them, they themselves are descended from Hermes. The funeral rites of the wealthy Thracians are as follows. The body of the deceased is exposed for three days. At the same time, sacrificial animals of all kinds are slaughtered, and after funeral cries they arrange a feast. The body is then burned or otherwise buried in the earth, poured mound… »
Herodotus, describing the military equipment of the Thracians fighting the Persians, writes:
« The Thracians wore fox hats on their heads. On the body they wore chitons, and on top - motley burnuses. On their legs and knees they had deerskin wrappings. They were armed with darts, slings and small daggers.(History, VII, 75).
The Thracians let go of their mustaches and beards, and they preferred to collect the hair on their heads at the crown.
According to modern genetics, the Thracians were carriers of the "Indo-European" haplogroup R1a.
The first Thracian state in the Balkans was formed in the 5th century BC - the Odrysian state. The king of the Thracian tribe of the Odryses, Tiras, united all the Thracian tribes that were not homogeneous in ethnic composition - Proto-Slavic, Celtic, etc.
Describing the Thracians, the Greek philosopher Xenophanes reports that outwardly the Thracians are different from the Greeks. The Thracians had blond hair and blue eyes, which is exactly how the Thracians represented their gods.
« Black think gods and snub-nosed all Ethiopians,
The Thracians think of them as blue-eyed and fair-haired...«
The Thracian king Tiras married his daughter to the Scythian king Ariapith (Herodotus, IV, 80), thus a political union of peace and kinship between the dynasty of the Thracian kings and the Scythians of the Black Sea region arose. After the death of King Tiras, Thrace was ruled by his son Sitalk.
In the 6th century BC, the Odrys king Tiras and his son Sitalk managed to expand the possessions of the Thracian kingdom from the city of Abdera on the Aegean coast to the mouth of the Istra River (Histria - Danube) on the Black Sea coast. In 360 BC The Odrysian kingdom collapsed.
In a mound near Plovdiv, a gold ring of one of the Odrysian rulers was found, on which the name of Skifodok was engraved.
Flavius Josephus cites the self-name of the Thracians - Tirasians, descending from Tiras, the seventh son of Iapetus (Japhet), who is considered the common progenitor of all Indo-Europeans. Tiras in ancient times was called the Dniester River, hence modern name city - Tiraspol.
The root of the word "tir" makes the name Tiras related to the mythical Scythian king Targitai (Ταργιταος), the progenitor of the Scythian tribes. According to legend, the Scythian king Targitai was the son of Hercules from the horned Serpent-footed goddess, the daughter of the Borisfen (Dnieper) river. The name Tagitai is Tarha-King, that is, "Bull-King", the image of a bull, in Latin the word "tayros" - "bull".
The territory of Macedonia (Greece), Dacia (Romania), Bithynia (northwestern Anatolia), Misia (northwestern Anatolia) was also inhabited by Thracian tribes who adopted the Hellenic culture. In 336 BC Alexander the Great undertook a campaign against Thrace and subjugated it to his rule, leaving power in the field to the Thracian princes.
In 46 BC, the Thracian kingdom came under Roman rule and became a province of Rome. The Romans divided Thrace into 33 administrative units (strategies), which were named after the old Thracian tribes.
The Roman ruler Agrippa gained control of Thrace, under Augustus all of Thrace became a province of the Roman Empire. Namely, in the 1st century, the mass exodus of the Thracians from Thrace begins. The Thracians suddenly disappeared from the geographical map of the Balkans. The Thracians moved from these places, this fact is confirmed by the Roman occupation of these territories, the dominance of the Romans in these lands. In the Thracian burial mounds on the territory of the Dnieper region, archaeologists find many Roman coins of the 1st century AD.
Many chipped - "Thracians" returned to their former lands in Scythia, reviving its agriculture and cities. Ancient author of the 2nd c. n. e. Ptolemy reports on 6 cities on the Dnieper: Sar, Olbia (Borisfen), Azagary, Serim, Metropol, Amadoka. In ancient sources there is a legend about the Thracian king Amadok the First, who ruled the Odrysian state in 410-390.
After the death of Alexander the Great and the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Thracian prince of the Odrys Seuthes III (324-311 BC) restored the independence of Thrace. The prince of the Odrys Sevf III issued his silver coin in Thrace. The Roman general Lysimachus in 301 BC burned the capital of the Thracian king Sevf - the city of Sevfopolis.
In ancient Greece, the Thracians, as well as the Scythians, were legendary as brave warriors who possessed countless golden treasures. The legendary Roman gladiator Spartacus is often attributed to the Thracians or Scythians. The historian Blades reads the Scythian name Pardokas (Παρδοκας) as Spardokas - Σπαρδοκας or Spardakos -Σπαρδακος, identical to the Latin name Spartacus - Spartacus - Spartacus.
The Thracians living on the Black Sea coast, like the Black Sea Scythians, were fair-haired and blue-eyed, wore mustaches and beards. The hair on the head, both the Scythians and the Thracians, was collected at the crown, in order to make it convenient to wear a shaggy fox hat or a small pointed hat (“Thracian cap”), the Scythians also wore a similar cap (in other Russian language - “ skufia" - a pointed hat; in Greek - skouphia, in Greek skyphos - "cup"), the Thracian combat helmet repeats the shape of the cap. The clothes and shoes of the Thracians and the Black Sea Scythians were made of leather and fur. When the king of the Scythians died, his wife, horse and servants were burned with him, their remains were buried in a stone tomb covered with earth (mound) together with her husband, the Thracians had the same custom.
According to modern genetics, the Thracians were carriers of the Indo-European haplogroup R1a, respectively, the origins of the now defunct Thracian language must be sought in the Indo-European language group. The ancient Thracians, like the Skolots (Scythians), spoke one of the dialects of the Proto-Slavic language, which the Hellenes did not know.
Sources of information about the Thracian language are extremely scarce:
1. Glosses in the writings of ancient and Byzantine authors (23 words).
2. Thracian inscriptions, of which four are the most valuable, the remaining 20 short inscriptions were found on the island of Samothrace. The longest inscription in Thracian, found in 1912 near the village of Jezero in Bulgaria, dates back to the 5th century BC. e. It is carved on a golden ring and contains 8 lines (61 letters).
3. In the Thracian language there were words - bebrus - "beaver", berga (s) - coast, "hill", berza (s) - "birch", esvas (ezvas) - "horse", ketri - "four", rudas - ore, red, svit - retinue, "shine", udra (s) "otter", etc.
4. The presence of the ancient Thracians in the Balkans is indicated, first of all, by geographical names - hydronyms - the names of rivers in which the Proto-Slavic roots are clearly heard - Iskar, Tundzha, Osam, Maritsa, the name of the mountains - the Rhodopes, settlements- Plovdiv, Pirdop, etc.
Slavic roots can also be found in the names of the ancient Thracians:
Astius - Ostash, Ostik. (Ukrainian Ostap)
Biarta - Berdo, Vereda, Varadat, (nickname: Bearded man).
Bessula - Vessula. (in Bulgarian. Name Vesel)
Burtzi - Burdzhi, Bortko, Greyhound, Borsch.
Buris - Borko, Burko
Brigo - Braiko, Breshko, Breiko, Breg.
Brais - Brasco (related words - braga, borosno).
Bisa - Bisa, Bisco.
Bessa - Besa, Besko.
Bassus - Bassus, Basco
Vrigo - Vrigo, Frig.
Auluzanus - Aluzanus, Galusha.
Durze - Durzhe (from the word - friend, team),
Didil - Didil, Dedilo. (related words in Russian: child, etc.)
Doles - Dolesh (related words in Russian: share).
Dines - Dines, Tinko.
Tutius - Tutius, Cloud, Tuchko
Mettus - Mittus, Mitusa (on behalf of the goddess of the earth and fertility Demeter, the names Dmitry, Mityai come from).
Mucasis - Mukosey, Mukosey, Mokosey
Purus - Purus, Puruska
Sipo - Sipo.
Suarithus - Suaritus, Siric.
Scorus - Skorus, Skora, Skaryna, Skorets, Skoryna, Skoryata.
Sudius - Sudius, Sudislav, Sudimir, Sudich, Sudets, etc.
Surus, Serrus - Surus, Serrus, Serko, Sulfur, Serik (modern name - Sergey)
Tarsa - Tarsha, Turusa.
The source is not known. Text copied from www.evpatori.ru
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Video
Thracian Gold / The Mystery Of The Thracians (2007)
Directed by: Nicholas Thomas
Released: History channel (France, Bulgaria)
Translation: Professional (one-voiced)
Description: Orpheus, Midas and Spartacus are names well known to us from school. But few people know that they were all Thracians. This program is dedicated to the analysis of this unfairly forgotten civilization. The Thracians, who lived on the territory of modern Bulgaria, laid the foundations of agriculture and animal husbandry, built the first villages 4500 years ago and had a significant impact on the whole of Europe at that time. In the ruins of their houses and graves, unique treasures were found that have not only historical, but also material value. Among them are the world's first gold items. With the help of 3D graphics, expert commentary and data obtained from excavations, this program tells about the ancient civilization of the Thracians - a warlike people known for their exquisite gold products.
Who are the Thracians?
===================
The ancestral home of the Slavs according to genetic data
The genotype of modern Slavs is rather heterogeneous
. While the set of haplogroups as a whole coincides with the European one, the relative frequency of individual haplogroups varies greatly geographically: from east to west and from north to south.
East Slavs differ from other groups in a relatively high proportion of haplogroup N3 (especially in the north of the European part of Russia), characteristic of the descendants of the Balts and Finno-Ugric peoples.
At Western Slavs along with R1a, the R1b haplogroup is found with high frequency, which prevails in the west of Europe and is especially characteristic (over 80%) for peoples who speak Celtic languages.
Slavs in the Balkans are distinguished by a special genotype with a predominance of haplogroups I1b and E3b1, of which the first is often found in an area roughly coinciding with the area of settlement of the Thracian tribes in ancient times(the Danube basin and the Carpathians), and the second is common in the Mediterranean basin and is characteristic of the Berbers, Greeks and Albanians.
Pairwise comparison shows (in descending order) the genetic proximity (parameter P>0.05) to Ukrainians of such Slavic populations as: Slovaks, southern Belarusians, Russians (Muscovites), Slovenes, Russians (Novgorodians), northern Belarusians, Belarusians from the center, Poles. The sequence in the list may not be accurate due to statistical error - a small sample (number of people) from the studied populations. The Poles are relatively close only to the Ukrainians, and their genetic distance (P=0.0003) from the geographical neighbors of the Belarusians excludes the possibility for the latter to have an ancestral home in Poland. Thus, genetic analysis points to Ukraine as the ancestral home for Western and Eastern Slavs, as well as Slovenes, representatives of the southern Slavs.
Western Croats also show some proximity to Ukrainians (P=0.0246), while Serbs and Bulgarians have no common ground with Ukrainians (P=0.0000).
The results obtained in the study are to some extent confirmed by the development of the Prague-Korczak archaeological cultures V-VI centuries From the upper reaches of the Dniester and the middle Dnieper (Ukraine and southern Belarus), the carriers of culture moved west, skirting the western Carpathians (Slovakia). Then, from the upper reaches of the Oder, the carriers of the Prague culture penetrated the Danube and further south. This path explains the genetic closeness of Slovaks and Slovenes (P=0.6930). In the western Balkans, individual monuments of the Prague culture were found only in the Slovenian region. From the upper reaches of the Oder and the Vistula, the Prague culture passes into the Sukovsko-Dziedzitskaya (VI-VII centuries), which captures the territory of Poland.
Concerning southern Slavs, then their appearance in the Balkans is associated with the bearers of the Penkovo culture, whom the authors of the Byzantine era called antes and distinguished from other Slavs.
The distribution area of the Penkovo culture covers a vast expanse of the Eastern European borderland of the forest-steppe and steppe from the Seversky Donets in the east to Moldova in the west. In the northern direction from the Prut to the Right-bank Dnieper, it comes into contact with the Prague culture, and on the left bank of the Dnieper - with the Kolochin culture. More than 300 monuments of the Penkovo culture are now known on the territory of modern Ukraine.
Anthropological appearance
Researchers believe that the Penkovites were narrow-faced and characterized by mesocrania. Genetically, they are the heirs of the Chernyakhov culture with a noticeable Iranian admixture. It is assumed that the Penkovtsy became part of the South Russian, Ukrainian, as well as Serb and Croatian populations.
Genesis and connection with other cultures
D. T. Berezovets at first considered this culture to be the culture of annalistic streets. Later, he spoke a little more carefully and believed that the Penkovo antiquities were left by the Slavs who came from the north, and that this was a single Slavic culture. P. N. Tretyakov saw the genetic basis of the Penkovo antiquities in the Late Zarubenets sites of the Upper Dnieper region. According to his version, the Slavic Zarubinets tribes that occupied the territory of the Forest-Steppe Right Bank of the Dnieper, the Pripyat River and the Upper Dniester in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD were pushed to the north and northeast by the Chernyakhovsky population. In the post-Hunnic time, in the middle of the 1st millennium AD, the reverse process of the settlement of the Slavs to the south began, as a result of which they occupied the vast territory of the Dnieper-Dniester forest-steppe region and the lower Danube basin.
V. V. Sedov considers the Penkov culture to be Slavic (Ants), speaking in favor of its Chernyakhov background. However, he notes that this culture did not later develop into the culture of Kievan Rus, but ended its existence at the beginning of the 8th century AD. A. T. Smilenko also considers the Penkovsky population to be Ants, but in the process of the formation of this nationality, she includes not only the Chernyakhovsky population, but also the northern tribes of the Eastern Slavs. The Penkov culture is also considered Slavic by such authors as V. D. Baran, E. A. Goryunov, V. K. Mikheev, O. M. Prikhodnyuk, O. V. Sukhobokov, P. I. Khavlyuk.
But still, some authors define this culture as non-Slavic or not quite Slavic. So M. I. Artamonov considers the Penkov culture to be Bulgarian and gives a lot of interesting evidence in favor of this. I. P. Rusanova sees the roots of these antiquities in the Chernyakhovsk, non-Slavic population in her opinion. She considers the Penkovsky ethnos to be multi-ethnic (multinational), which included Bulgarians, Slavs, the Iranian population and other nationalities. And only gradually, at the latest stage of existence, the tribes of the Penkovo culture were Slavicized under the influence of their northern neighbors.
Discovered on the southern Dnieper settlements of the Penkovsky culture with yurt-like dwellings allow us to consider that the composition of this culture was merged Turkic-speaking
(Bulgarian) nomads
.
During the time of the Odrysian kingdom of the Thracians, geography was completely different from what it is now. First of all, transport geography.
The city of Kerkenitida (on the site of present-day Evpatoria) was the main crossroads of the barbarian and Hellenic cultures of the Black Sea region. It is important that there was no gold deposit on the territory of Crimea, but the economy was highly commercial, which means that it needed both a coin and jewelry for people of high social status. The Thracians, Dacians and Getae made up a significant and important part of the population of the Crimean cities. These were artisans, merchants, as well as military mercenaries.
The culture, religion, customs of the Thracians were formed in close interweaving with the Scythian, Greek and Macedonian culture and traditions. 
After the invasion of the Sarmatians in 2 thousand BC. e, numerous tribes of skolots (Scythian farmers) moved to Thrace. Strabo reports: “A lot of people from Scythia Minor crossed Tiras and Istres and settled in that country (Thrace). A significant part of Thrace in the Balkans was called Scythia Minor.
In the II millennium BC, the Thracian tribes occupied vast territories from the Adriatic to the Black Sea (Pontus). The area in Asia Minor near Troy was inhabited by ethnic Thracian tribes, immigrants from Thrace (Bulgaria) ...
In the description of the Transdanubian lands by Pliny says: " Thrace on one side begins from the coast of Pontus, where it flows into it. In this part there are the most beautiful cities: Istropolis founded by the Milesians, Tomy, Kallatia (formerly called Kerbatira). Here lay Heraclea and Bison swallowed up by the broken earth. Now remains Dionysopol, formerly called Kron. It flows here Zira river. The whole area was occupied by the Scythians, called plowmen. They had cities: Aphrodisias, Libist, Sieger, Rokoba, Eumenia, Parthonopol and Gerania».
The ancient culture, religion and mythology of the Thracians in the Balkans was adopted by the Hellenic Greeks. Thracian myths about Dionysus, Ares, Europa, daughter of the Phoenician king, Orpheus, who was, according to legend, the king of the Thracians became Greek myths. In his 5th book Herodotus writes: " The Thracians honor only three gods: Ares, Dionysus and Artemis. And their kings (unlike the rest of the people) revere the gods more than all Hermes and swear only by them. According to them, they themselves descended from Hermes. rich Thracians, that's what. The body of the deceased is exposed for three days. At the same time, sacrificial animals of all kinds are slaughtered, and after funeral cries they arrange a feast. Then the body is burned or otherwise buried in the earth, pouring a mound ... "
Herodotus, describing the military equipment of the Thracians fighting the Persians, writes:
“The Thracians in the campaign had fox hats on their heads. On the body they wore chitons, and on top - motley burnuses. On their feet and knees they had windings from deer skin. They were armed with darts, slings and small daggers.(History, VII, 75).
The Thracians let go of mustaches and beards, and preferred hair on their heads collect on top.
According to modern genetics, the Thracians were carriers of the "Indo-European" haplogroup R1a
The first Thracian state in the Balkans was formed in the 5th century BC - Odrysian state. King of the Thracian Odris tribe Tiras united all that were not homogeneous in ethnic composition - Proto-Slavic, Celtic, etc.
Describing the Thracians, the Greek philosopher Xenophanes reports that outwardly the Thracians are different from the Greeks. The Thracians had blond hair and blue eyes, which is exactly how the Thracians represented their gods.
« Black think gods and snub-nosed all Ethiopians,
The Thracians think of them as blue-eyed and fair-haired...«
His Thracian daughter king Tiras married (Herodotus, IV, 80), so there was a political union of peace and kinship between the dynasty of the Thracian kings and the Scythians of the Black Sea region. After the death of King Tiras, Thrace was ruled by his son Sitalk.
In the 6th century BC, the Odrys king Tiras and his son Sitalk managed to expand the possessions of the Thracian kingdom from the city of Abdera on the Aegean coast to the mouth of the Istra River (Histria - Danube) on the Black Sea coast. In 360 BC The Odrysian kingdom collapsed.
In a mound near Plovdiv, a gold ring was found from one of the Odrysian rulers, on which was engraved name
Josephus leads the self-name of the Thracians - Tirasians, leading their kind from Tiras - the seventh son of Iapetus (Japhet), who is considered the common progenitor of all Indo-Europeans. Tiras in ancient times was called the Dniester River, hence the modern name of the city - Tiraspol. 
The root of the word "tir" makes the name Tiras related to the mythical (Ταργιταος), the progenitor of the Scythian tribes. According to legend, the Scythian king Targitai was the son of Hercules from horned, daughters of the Borisfen river(Dnieper). The name Tagitai is Tarha-King, that is, “Bull-King”, the image of a bull, in Latin the word “tayros” is “bull”.
The territory of Macedonia (Greece), Dacia (Romania), Bithynia (northwestern Anatolia), Misia (northwestern Anatolia) was also inhabited by Thracian tribes who adopted the Hellenic culture. In 336 BC Alexander the Great undertook a campaign against Thrace and subjugated it to his rule, leaving power in the field to the Thracian princes.
In 46 BC, the Thracian kingdom came under Roman rule and became a province of Rome. The Romans divided Thrace into 33 administrative units (strategies), which were named after the old Thracian tribes.
The Roman ruler Agrippa gained control of Thrace, under Augustus the whole of Thrace became province of the Roman Empire. Exactly, in the 1st century starts mass exodus of Thracians from Thrace. The Thracians suddenly disappeared from the geographical map of the Balkans. The Thracians moved from these places, this fact is confirmed by the Roman occupation of these territories, the dominance of the Romans in these lands. In the Thracian burial mounds on the territory of the Dnieper region, archaeologists find many Roman coins of the 1st century AD.
Many chipped - "Thracians" returned to their former lands in Scythia yu, reviving its agriculture and cities. Ancient author of the 2nd c. n. e. Ptolemy reports 6 cities on the Dnieper: Sar, Olbia (Borisfen), Azagariy, Serim, Metropol, Amadoka. In ancient sources there is a legend about the Thracian king Amadok the First, who ruled the Odrysian state in 410-390.
After the death of Alexander the Great and the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Thracian Prince of the Odryses Sevf III(324-311 BC) restored the independence of Thrace. Prince of the Odryses Sevf III issued his silver coin in Thrace. The Roman general Lysimachus in 301 BC burned the capital of the Thracian king Sevf - the city of Sevphopolis.
In ancient Greece, the Thracians, as well as the Scythians, were legendary as brave warriors who possessed countless golden treasures. The legendary Roman gladiator Spartacus is often attributed to the Thracians or Scythians. Historian Blades reads Scythian name Pardokas (Παρδοκας), as Spardokas - Σπαρδοκας or identical to the Latin name Spartacus - Spartacus - Spartak. 
The Thracians living on the Black Sea coast, like the Black Sea Scythians, were fair-haired and blue-eyed, wore mustaches and beards. The hair on the head, both the Scythians and the Thracians, was collected at the crown, in order to make it convenient to wear a shaggy fox hat or a small pointed hat (“Thracian cap”), the Scythians also wore a similar cap (in other Russian language - “ skufia "- pointed hat; in Greek - skouphia, in Greek skyphos -" cup "), Thracian combat helmet repeats the shape of the cap. The clothes and shoes of the Thracians and the Black Sea Scythians were made of leather and fur. When the king of the Scythians died, his wife, horse and servants were burned with him, their remains were buried in a stone tomb covered with earth (mound) together with her husband, the Thracians had the same custom.
According to modern genetics, the Thracians were carriers of the Indo-European , accordingly, the origins of the Thracian language, now defunct, must be sought in the Indo-European language group. The ancient Thracians, like the Skolots (Scythians), spoke one of the dialects that the Hellenes did not know.
Sources of information about the Thracian language are extremely scarce:
1. Glosses in the writings of ancient and Byzantine authors (23 words).
2. Thracian inscriptions, of which four are the most valuable, the remaining 20 short inscriptions have been found on the island of Samothrace. The longest inscription in Thracian, found in 1912 near the village of Jezero in Bulgaria, dates back to the 5th century BC. e. It is carved on a golden ring and contains 8 lines (61 letters).
3. In the Thracian language were - bebrus-"beaver", berga(s) - coast, "hill", berza(s) - "Birch", esvas (ezvas) - "horse", ketri- "four", rudas- ruddy, red, svit- retinue, "shine", udra(s) "otter", etc.
4. The presence of the ancient Thracians in the Balkans is indicated, first of all, by geographical names - hydronyms - the names of rivers in which Proto-Slavic roots are clearly heard - Iskar, Tundzha, Osam, Maritsa, the name of the mountains - the Rhodopes, settlements - Plovdiv, Pirdop and others
Slavic roots can be found and in the names of the ancient Thracians:
Astius - Ostash, Ostik. (Ukrainian Ostap)
Brigo - Braiko, Breshko, Breiko, Breg.
Brais - Brasco (related words - braga, borosno).
Bisa - Bisa, Bisco.
Bessa - Besa, Besko.
Bassus - Bassus, Basco
Vrigo - Vrigo, Frig.
Auluzanus - Aluzanus, Galusha.
Durze - Durzhe (from the word - friend, team),
Didil - Didil, Dedilo. (related words in Russian: child, etc.)
Doles - Dolesh (related words in Russian: share).
Dines - Dines, Tinko.
Tutius - Tutius, Cloud, Tuchko
Mettus - Mittus, Mitusa (on behalf of the goddess of the earth and fertility Demeter, the names Dmitry, Mityai come from).
Mucasis - Mukosey, Mukosey, Mokosey
Purus - Purus, Puruska
Sipo - Sipo.
Suarithus - Suaritus, Siric.
Scorus - Skorus, Skora, Skaryna, Skorets, Skoryna, Skoryata.
Sudius - Sudius, Sudislav, Sudimir, Sudich, Sudets, etc.
(modern name - Sergey)
Tarsa - Tarsha, Turusa.
In the political fate of Balkan Greece in the 5th-4th centuries. BC e. a significant role was played by two vast areas of the Balkan Peninsula - Thrace and Macedonia, inhabited by the Thracian and Macedonian tribes, respectively.
The Thracians are the common name for a group of Indo-European tribes that inhabited the northeast of the Balkan Peninsula in ancient times, as well as the northwest. Asia Minor (Getae, Besses, Odrises, Dacians, Triballi, etc.). The Thracians initially occupied territory as far as the Adriatic Sea, but were later pushed east by the Illyrians. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century AD. among the Thracians there is a property stratification. The disintegration of the tribal structure begins. Slavery appears, which develops not only due to prisoners of war, but also due to the enslavement of their fellow tribesmen. According to Thucydides, the Thracians even sold their children into slavery.
Thracian tombs of Kazanlak. Photo: Kdhenrik
However, the main place in social production was occupied by small and medium-sized farmers, who at the same time constituted the main force of the Thracian army. The Thracian tribes were, as a rule, independent and independent of each other. The tribes were ruled by leaders whom the Greek authors called kings. Social differentiation among the southern Thracians accelerated due to long and intense ties with the Greek states. The Greek city-states played a particularly large role in the coastal regions of Thrace. These large trade and craft centers served as convenient points where the Thracians could sell slaves, bread, metals and handicrafts. Trade with the Greeks stimulated the development of commodity-money relations among the most developed tribes of South Thrace. At the same time, many tribes that lived in isolation in remote mountainous regions or in the central and northern regions of the Fraction retained the primitive communal system. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th centuries BC. e. the eastern regions of Thrace were captured Persian king Darius during his campaign against the Scythians, and the southern coast was occupied by the Persians on their way to Greece.
Separate Thracian tribes offered fierce resistance to the Persians, but only the tribes of the central and northwestern regions of the country managed to defend their independence. By the VI-III centuries AD. refers to the construction of the Thracian city of Sevtopolis. Persian rule over Thrace ended with the defeat of the Persians in 480-479 BC. The liberation of the Thracian tribes significantly accelerated the process of state formation. First, the state arose among the southeastern tribes of Thrace - the Odris. Ruled around 480-450 AD. Teres subjugated a number of more northern tribes to his power. His son Sitalk (450-424) strengthened the borders of Thrace both in the north, where in the 6th century AD. the Scythians constantly raided the lands of the Thracians, and in the west, where the rulers of Macedonia tried to subdue the border Thracian tribes. In the middle of the 5th century AD. The Odrysian state was still weakly united. The more isolated and powerful hill tribes retained their full independence. The consolidation of the kingdom took place mainly in areas close to the coast. The insufficient centralization of the Odrysian kingdom was explained by the preservation of tribal traditions. The royal power among the Odrises was transferred from the father not to the son, but to the eldest in the family. As Thucydides testifies, the king also had "co-rulers" who enjoyed great privileges, up to the issuance of a coin with their own name. The activities of King Sitalk are somewhat reminiscent of the activities of Philip II of Macedon. Sitalk carried out a number of major domestic reforms. According to Diodorus, the king was very concerned about his income.
It was Sitalk who established the system of monetary and natural taxes, which were paid to the king by the subject Thracian territories and coastal Hellenic cities. At the time of Sitalk in Thrace, the minting of its own coin began, which went on a par with the widespread coins of many Greek policies. Under Sitalk and subsequent rulers, almost until the middle of the 4th century AD. Thrace played a large role in the international life of the Eastern Mediterranean. At this time, Athens sought to maintain the closest ties with the Thracian dynasts, concluding allied treaties with them. An example of such a relationship is the treaty of 391 BC. The close political ties of the Thracian kingdom with the Mediterranean centers were based on comprehensive economic communication. In the middle of the 4th century AD. in the history of the Odrysian kingdom there was a turning point. In 359 BC. Thanks to the intrigues of the Athenians, King Kotis I was killed, who was trying to strengthen royal power. This event coincided with the onslaught of two powerful forces on Thrace - the Scythians and the Macedonians.
In 342 BC. southern Thrace were conquered by Philip II. As a result of long wars, by 336 AD. almost all of Thrace fell under the control of the Macedonians. The area south of the mouth of the Danube was captured by the Scythians. Most of the tribes that inhabited Central Thrace (for example, the Triballi) defended their independence. The power of the Odrysian kings was preserved only within the limits of their long-standing possessions in South-Eastern Thrace. They, like the rulers of other coastal tribes, had to recognize the supreme power of Macedonia. But neither Philip nor Alexander the Great established a new system of government in Thrace. They limited themselves only to the introduction of troops, the number of which was sufficient to maintain Macedonian rule in these areas. All these events were accompanied by active Hellenization of the population of Southern Thrace. The Hellenic culture was actively perceived by the nobility of the country, which is proved, for example, by the painting of the crypt in the city of Kazanlak in Bulgaria. Among the free population of Southern Thrace, a landless and ruined peasantry appears. This is evidenced by the large number of Thracian mercenaries who are found in foreign armies throughout the entire 3rd century AD.
Numerous Thracian tribes (Odryses, Meds, Bizalts, Sapeians, Asts, Triballi, etc.) occupied a vast territory south of the Danube River and up to the coast of the Aegean Sea; their western borders were the Strymon River, in the east - the shores of the Black Sea. By natural conditions Thrace is divided into two parts: these are the northern mountainous regions and the southern part, adjacent to the Aegean Sea, representing a hilly plain with fertile soils, good timber and significant ore wealth (Pangea region). Southern Thrace was closely connected with the world of Greek city-states. Since the 8th century BC e. the Greeks appreciated its favorable conditions and brought many colonies here (to the peninsula of Halkidiki, Abdera, Maroneya), began to develop the famous Pangean mines and entered into close contacts with the southern Thracian tribes. Various connections with highly developed Greek cities contributed to the acceleration of the processes of socio-economic, political and cultural development of the Thracian tribes, the decomposition of tribal relations, the formation of an early class society and statehood among the Thracian tribes.
In the 7th-5th centuries BC e. inside the Thracian tribes, a layer of nobility stands out, owning vast land plots, groups of slaves, herds of cattle, in the fields of which dependent relatives work. In the 5th century BC e. the most developed Thracian tribe, the Odris, living in the southeastern part of Thrace, has an early class society and state. The founder of the state among the Odryses was the leader Teres (70-60s of the 5th century BC), who subjugated a number of South Thracian tribes, as well as some Greek cities, to his influence, forcing them to pay tribute. His son and successor Sitalk (431-424 BC) expanded the borders of the kingdom in the northern and western directions, fought the Macedonian king and joined the general Greek politics, joining the Peloponnesian War on the side of powerful Athens. A strong relationship of economic and political cooperation was established between Athens and Sitalk, the sons of the king were awarded a rare gift from the Athenians - they were granted civil rights. The position of the Odrysian kingdom continued to strengthen under the kings Sevtas I (424-410 BC), Medoc I (405-391 BC) and Kotis I (383-359 BC). ). The Odrysian kings minted their own coins, their treasury received tribute paid by the Greek cities located on the coast, which testified not only to the power of the ruler, but also to the presence of Thracian trade, to strengthening the economy of the state as a whole. As before, one of the main partners of the Odrysian kings is Athens, which often interferes in their internal affairs. Attempt of Athens to restore its political influence in the north of the Aegean in the late 70s - early 60s of the 4th century. BC e. in connection with the formation of the Second Maritime Union led to an aggravation of relations with the Odrysian kings. One of the results of the Athenian-Thracian war of 360-357. BC e. there was a weakening and dismemberment of the Odrysian kingdom into three parts, led by the three sons of King Kotis I. However, traditional friendly relations were soon restored between the Odryses and Athens in the face of a new powerful enemy, threatening both of them. The growing Macedonian kingdom becomes such an adversary.