Where was Thrace located on the modern map? History of Eastern Macedonia and Greek Thrace. Sources of information about the Thracian language are extremely scarce

“Spartacus, a Thracian from the Honey tribe,” Plutarch writes about him.

Thrace, a land inhabited by numerous tribes of Thracians (Geta, Dacians, Odryssians, Triballi, Medae), was located on the territory of modern Bulgaria, but the Thracians also lived on the territory of modern Romania, Macedonia, Ukraine and even in Turkey, where the land lay off the coast of the Black Sea " Asian Thrace" - Bithynia.

The first mention of the Thracians and Thrace is contained in Homer's Iliad. Thrace appears here as a wonderful country, so different from the one the Greeks knew it in subsequent centuries. “Mother of flocks of fleece-bearing sheep”, “Country of horse tamers”, fertile, abundant in the gifts of the earth.

Thracian wine was famous: “...the Argives used it daily

They are brought from the Thracians in black ships across the noisy sea.”

The speed and strength of the Thracian horses: “they are whiter than snow, but they are like the speed of the wind.”

Crafts flourished. The chariots of the Thracian leaders, decorated with gold and silver, their weapons, their golden armor inspired surprise and envy: “... which are not for people subject to death,

It would be fitting to wear it most of all, and only to immortal gods.”

The Thracians themselves appear on the pages of the Iliad as brave, noble people with high culture. Homer mentions the Thracian Thamir, who boasted that he would defeat the muses themselves in singing, and was blinded by them as punishment for this. Here we cannot help but recall another great singer of Thrace, Orpheus.

But after the era of prosperity that occurred in Homeric times, came long centuries of decline. It cannot be said that a crushing enemy invasion or unabated inter-tribal wars (although they also happened in the history of the country) destroyed the rich Thracian culture. Everything was consumed by the slow flames of history, so now only on the basis of individual archaeological finds and mentions in the historical records of other peoples can we judge what Thrace was like.

The inexhaustible wealth of Thrace attracted greedy neighbors, and the lack of unity between the tribes turned it into a convenient springboard for colonization. The Greeks already from the 8th century. BC e. they brought many colonies here (to the peninsula of Halkidiki, Abdera, Maronea); the famous Pangean mines, rich in gold and silver, discovered and developed by the Thracians since 437 BC. e. belong to Athens.

The largest state in Thrace is the Odrysian kingdom, which emerged at the beginning of the 5th century BC. e. and, according to Thucydides, who subjugated the majority of the Thracian tribes, owed much of their wealth to the Greek colonies. One can imagine how profitable Thracian trade was for the Greeks if they were ready to pay the king of Odryssians a huge tribute of 400 talents for the protectorate, and he received gifts for the same amount in the form of products made of precious metals. In turn, the kings of the Odryssians were interested in the development of trade, which required a constant influx of marketable products. This was achieved through strict management of the occupied territories, where the central government was represented by co-rulers, the so-called paradinists. They exercised royal control over certain regions of the country, enjoyed broad autonomy in their actions, and had the right to mint coins with their name. They, in turn, were subordinate to their co-rulers with narrower prerogatives of power. Both of them came from the royal family. The autonomy of the paradynasts, as well as the dissatisfaction of the subordinate tribes with the predatory system of government, beneficial only to the Greek trading partners of the Odrysian kings, already at the turn of the 5th - 4th centuries led the kingdom of the Odrysians to a protracted crisis, about which Xenophon eloquently wrote in his Anabasis. Representatives of different branches of the Teres family, the founder of the Odrysian kingdom, entered into a fierce struggle among themselves. The single kingdom split into several parts. This was the time of fortified castles, where kings and princes kept saddled horses ready day and night, so that in case of danger they would immediately rush out of the captured country.

Meanwhile, another powerful and dangerous neighbor of Thrace - Macedonia - is gaining strength. Since the middle of the 4th century it has been a powerful unified state. In 342, taking advantage of the fragmentation of the Thracians, King Philip, Alexander's father, subjugated the interior regions of Thrace. In the territory between Pest and Pontus, Philip created the so-called Thracian strategy, which was governed by a governor appointed by the king and paid a huge tax. However, from the 3rd century BC. e. relations with Macedonia are changing. King Philip V settles the Macedonian lands with Thracians, depopulated as a result of continuous wars. He uses Thrace as a strategic reserve in his wars with Rome. For example, the Thracian cavalry determined the outcome of the battle of Larissa during the Third Macedonian War.

Unfortunately, in the absence of a unified state, all the courage and renowned valor of the Thracians could lead to only minor military successes. Their blood was shed in foreign wars (numerous military squads of the Thracians made up mercenary detachments in different armies), and Thrace itself turned into an arena of confrontation between powerful opponents. In the 4th century, the Macedonian and Scythian kingdoms measured their strength here; at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the country fell under the rule of the Celts for a long time, who plundered the weakened country. Since the reign of the Celts in Thrace, there are no longer burials with rich grave goods, which was typical for the 4th - early 3rd centuries. And finally, in 188, the troops of the Roman commander Gn. appeared in Thrace. Manlius Vulson, returning through Thrace from Asia Minor after the end of the Syrian War.

An excellent summary of the history of Thrace is the words of Herodotus: “The Thracians are the most numerous people on earth after the Indians. If the Thracians were only unanimous and under the rule of one ruler, then, I think, they would be invincible and much more powerful than all nations. But since they could never come to unanimity, this was the root of their weakness.”

Herodotus's "History" is the most complete source telling about the customs of the Thracians. Here's what he writes:

“When someone from the tribe dies, his wives (and they all have many wives) begin a heated argument (with the zealous participation of friends): which of them the deceased husband loved most. Having resolved the dispute, men and women shower the chosen spouse with praise and the closest relatives slaughter her at the grave and then interred with her husband. The rest of the wives greatly grieve [that the choice did not fall on them]: after all, this is the greatest shame for them.

The customs of other Thracians are as follows: they sell their children to foreign lands. They do not preserve the [chastity] of girls, allowing them to have intercourse with any man. On the contrary, [the fidelity of] married women is strictly observed and they buy wives from their parents for a lot of money. A tattoo [on the body] is considered [a sign of] nobility among them. Whoever does not have it does not belong to the nobles. A person who spends time in idleness is held in high esteem by them. On the contrary, they treat the farmer with the greatest contempt. They consider the life of a warrior and robber to be the most honorable. These are their most wonderful customs.”

The custom (namely a custom, not a forced measure) of the Thracians to sell their children into slavery looks very strange. It can be assumed that it is directly dependent on the custom of giving girls freedom before marriage. The fate of children born from extramarital affairs was apparently decided by the mother’s husband, and for a poor Thracian it was impossible to feed other people’s children, taking a piece of bread from his own, and the children were sold.

From the point of view of the Athenians, inhabitants of sultry Attica, Thrace was a northern country. In winter, snow fell there: “Then it became clear why the Thracians wear fox skins on their heads and ears, as well as tunics covering not only their chests, but also their hips” (Xenophon, “Anabasis”).

Herodotus describes the clothing of the Thracians as follows: “The Thracians had fox skins on their heads, tunics on their bodies, long colorful cloaks on top, and goatskin shoes on their legs and around their calves.” On Greek vases there are often images of Thracians in similar clothing.

Orpheus among the Thracians. Crater painting. About 450 BC e.

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Previous chapters: Akademgorodok 1959 , 1960 , 1961 , 1962, 1963 and 1964

Thrace under Macedonia, Celts, Rome

The territory of Thrace today is divided between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. But history knows times when Bulgaria was much larger and occupied not only all of Thrace, but also the territories of modern Romania and the lands of the former Yugoslavia. There were other times when the state of Bulgaria disappeared from the geographical map for a long time.
Let's quickly, very quickly go through centuries of history.
Until the 7th century AD There was no state of Bulgaria on these lands. Those with the name “Bulgarians” lived quite far from these places. There are still 1200 years before these times, and in the times in question - the 6th and 5th centuries BC - tribes with the general name Thracians, or Thracians, live here. Various tribes have their own fairly large settlements, states and rulers, for example, the Odrisk tribe has its own kings.

Bronze head of the Thracian king Seuthes III.
4th century BC

They mint their own coin. They have a developed craft.

Thracian coin of the 4th century BC.

They build tombs and paint them.

Images
Thracians

In the 4th century BC. e. Philip II, king of Macedonia, and his son, the famous Alexander the Great, established dominance over most of the Thracian tribes.
Alexander the Great
But it didn't last long. The empire of Alexander the Great fell apart after his death, and the Thracians actively fought for independence and quickly regained their freedom.
In the 3rd century BC. e. The northern part of the Balkan Peninsula is taken over by the Celts, who are considered Proto-Germanic tribes. They also penetrate to the south. But the Celts lasted on the territory of today’s Bulgaria for no more than half a century, and then they left to the west and north. For the Romans, Celts and Gauls were synonymous.

Celtic warrior

200 years later, with the rise of Rome, its rulers were constantly attracted both by the lands of Thrace and other lands of the Balkan Peninsula. Gaius Julius Caesar began to fight with the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula in the 1st century BC. Thrace came under the control of the Roman Empire, and Thracians began to be recruited into the Roman legions.
Caesar hatched a plan for a campaign against the Getae and Dacians, who lived to the north, on both banks of the Danube. He wanted Greco-Roman culture to reign inside the Danube border. The lands between the Danube, Italy and Greece were supposed to be as much a buffer against the peoples of the north and east as Gaul and the Rhine border in the north and west were against the barbarians living east of the Rhine. In many ways, his plans remained unfulfilled - he had enough to do without Thrace.

Roman Emperor

Gaius Julius Caesar
Historians of that time give different names to the peoples and tribal associations of the Balkans: Thracians, Getae (Goths), Dacians, Moesians. It all depends largely on the area in which these tribes lived. I admit that they spoke very similar languages. I saw no obstacles to this assumption. The same ancient historians say that the Moesians and part of the Goths (Geats) lived on the right bank of the Danube, and the Dacians, who lived on the left bank of the Danube, were close in language to the Getae and Moesians and understood each other. It is known that the composition of peoples changed not only spontaneously. For example, that in the middle of the 1st century the Romans resettled 50 thousand Getae from the right bank of the Danube to Moesia. And I didn’t understand why they couldn’t be considered Proto-Slavs.

Thrace under the Roman Empire

At the beginning of the 1st century AD. e. The Balkan peninsula up to the Danube was conquered by the Romans, who created two provinces here - Moesia and Thrace. Serdica became the center of the administrative region, but under the name Sredets, which meant “middle”, because. the city is located in the center of the Balkan Peninsula. Thus, Moesia and Thrace entered the economic and cultural sphere of influence of the Latin world, and this is evidenced by surviving monuments and archaeological finds.
Then wars began, which the Romans and Greeks called barbarian invasions. I don't like this name for the peoples who fought the Roman Empire and ultimately destroyed it. Today, however, the word barbarians has a completely different meaning than it did then. At that time, for the Greeks, barbarian meant “non-Greek, foreign.” Barbarians were people who were foreigners to the ancient Greeks and then to the Romans. They spoke a language they did not understand, and their culture was alien to them. But today this word has a negative connotation and it’s time to call them differently in historical documents. Following the historians of that time, calling the newly arrived peoples barbarians, it would be nice at this moment to remember how many civilizations the Roman Empire destroyed, how many people it destroyed and how many slaves it sold in markets.
So, for example, at the beginning of the 2nd century, the Roman emperor Trajan destroyed the powerful Dacian state - Dacia (according to other sources - Geto-Dacia), which occupied the territory of the left bank of the Danube and Transylvania with the Carpathians.

Roman Emperor
Trajan

Ruler of Dacia
Decebalus

The ruins of the capital of this state and a major religious center - Sarmizegetus - are located in Romania - the ancient settlement of Muncellului (by the way, the “us” in the name of the city is the Latin ending, “sarm” is possibly from the Sarmatians, “get” is the name of a tribal union). The ruins of this very large settlement stretch along the mountainside for three km at an altitude of 1200 m above sea level.
Therefore, when they write that “the barbarians prevented the development of Roman civilization,” we can just as well say that the Romans prevented the development of the Dacian civilization, and before that many others, much more ancient than the Roman one.
Continuing to talk about Trajan’s wars, let me remind you that, for example, tens of thousands of Jews who rebelled in Alexandria were sold into slavery, and the magnificent Alexandrian synagogue was destroyed. There were similar persecutions against the Jews of Babylonia, who supported the Parthians in the war against Trajan.
It is known that the Romans nailed living Christians to poles, doused them with oil and lit them on fire to light up the party. This is what Nero did.
Trajan committed even more monstrous cruelty - genocide against the Dacians.
The entire history of the brutal Roman-Dacian war has been preserved, thanks to the surviving Trajan's Column and a number of sources. It is known that the “civilized” Trajan, in fact, partially (the same historians claim that he completely) exterminated the Dacians, and took over half a million slaves into slavery, selling them in markets.
Modern historians should be careful with names - one cannot thoughtlessly rewrite politically motivated historians of the ancient world and the Middle Ages.
In the 3rd century, a long and very grueling war was fought between the Roman Empire and the peoples of the Black Sea region, which the Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire (Romans) called the Scythian War, although the main active force was the Goths. For the Greeks, all the peoples of the Black Sea region were Scythians. This is all the more surprising since it was at this time that the Goths liquidated Scythia with its capital in Crimea as a state. Historians of the Western Roman Empire called the wars of the 3rd century Gothic.
Many historians (perhaps even the vast majority of them) believe that the Goths who entered the historical scene in these centuries are Germanic tribes who lived on the coast of the Baltic Sea and in Scandinavia and migrated from north to south, passing over centuries the lands inhabited by the Slavs . I carefully read the evidence presented, but it did not seem convincing to me. At the same time, I noticed that a number of statements of ancient historians that did not fit into this theory were simply discarded. It seems to me that the wars of the 3rd century were a continuation of the wars of the 2nd century, when Trajan defeated the Dacian (Dacian-Gothic) state.
The western border of Dacia was on the Bug, and Emperor Trajan did not reach those places. Nor was he to the east of the Bug, where the Goths, who were not part of Dacia, lived. So the Dacians and Goths, who may have been close to each other both in customs and language, continued to live in these lands, and their number probably increased due to fugitives from central Dacia. Naturally, they wanted to take revenge for the defeat of Decebalus’s troops. In addition, many Goths (slaves and settlers) lived in the Roman provinces on the Balkan Peninsula, which is confirmed by a source such as Jordan, who knew about this first-hand - he, as he himself writes, was a Gete. And Jordanes says quite clearly and unambiguously that the Goths are the same as the Getae.
Since the era of the Great Migration of Peoples (V - VII centuries), in Greek (Byzantine) sources, the same word “Scythians” has been used to name the peoples of completely different origins who inhabited the Eurasian steppes and the northern Black Sea region. In sources of the 3rd-4th centuries AD. e. Scythians are often called Goths (Geats), and in later Byzantine sources - Eastern Slavs and Alans, as well as Turks - Hunnic peoples - Khazars and Pechenegs. This brought confusion to the history of peoples and states of the first half of the 1st millennium. I have the opinion that historians have not yet sorted out this confusion. At the same time, the Goths (Geats) are almost always called Germans and for some reason they believe that these tribes came to the Black Sea steppes from the north - from Jutland and Scandinavia, passing through the territories of the Eastern Slavs for several centuries.
I read some sources and works of modern scientists, including geneticists, and, frankly speaking, I did not find any evidence. More precisely, all this “evidence” was inconclusive. It seemed to me that they themselves doubted their statements, because the texts are replete with words “possibly”, “probably”, “most likely”. And these words, in my opinion, testify not to their scientific conscientiousness, but to their fear of contradicting some pillars of science that once “established” a certain “order” in history.
Not being a specialist, I will not provide any evidence or glaring absurdities in the statements of historians. For me, after everything I’ve read, the Goths (getae) are tribal unions that took part in the formation of both Slavic and other peoples, i.e. they can be called, like the Dacians, Proto-Slavs. This is also evidenced by genetic research, which was recently introduced into scientific circulation.
And throughout the 4th century, the Roman emperors fought with the Goths. First in the Danube lands. It is known that only at the beginning of this century more than 100 thousand Goths, driven by the Romans from their lands, died from hunger and cold. From the east, the Goths began to push back the Hunnic tribes that had appeared in the steppes, who defeated the Goths and forced them to move west. The Roman emperors allowed the desperate Goths to settle within the Roman Empire in Thrace. During their settlement, numerous skirmishes arose, and the troops of the Romans and Romans (Byzantines) had to pacify the rebellious Goths. They did not succeed: the Byzantine troops were defeated, and the Goths even stormed Constantinople.
Gothic troops, pursuing the retreating Romans, reached the borders of Italy, officially received the right to settle in Thrace, and their troops became the army of the Roman Empire. This part of the Goths was later called by historians the Visigoths (or Visigoths). The Goths, who remained in the Black Sea region beyond the Danube, became part of the Hunnic Empire of Attila, after their troops under the leadership of the leader Hermanarius (often written Germanarich, but this is hardly correct) were defeated by the Huns, and after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire they began to be called Ostrogoths by historians .
Huns is also a collective tribal name. The Avars directly bordered the Ostrogoths, to the east of them were the Bulgarians, and even to the east the Khazars. All of them may have been Turks and all are considered Hunnic tribes.
At the same time, defending themselves from the Goths, the Romans had to defend themselves in Gaul from numerous tribes, which are now called Germanic. The Romans began to fight them a couple of hundred years BC. neither then nor in the times described did this name of the tribes exist. There were, for example, Franks, Alemans, Urgunds (Burgundians), Suevi, Rugi and other tribes. But no one called them Germanic, perhaps except for the Britons in England. These proto-Germanic tribes forced the Romans to leave Gaul, ceding to them territories west of the Rhine River.
In the 4th century, Christianity became the state religion of the entire empire. And at the end of the century (395) the Roman Empire fell into two parts - Western and Eastern. Now Eastern historians call Byzantium, but it never called itself that - the rulers considered themselves Romans - in Greek “Romeans”, and therefore its name may be more correct to call, in contrast to the Roman, the Roman Empire.
From the beginning of the 5th century, both parts of the Roman Empire began to be attacked, alternatingly, by Celts, Goths and Huns. They crossed the Danube, destroyed cities and exterminated part of the population and settled in their place. But the Eastern Roman Empire more or less successfully repelled the attacks, but the Western Roman Empire could not resist.
The 5th century began with the fall of Rome, taken by the Visigoths, under the leadership of Alarius (Roman sources call him Alaric), who later went west, to the south of France and Spain. All historians note that the capture of Rome shocked the Christian world.
The Great Migration began with the Huns attacking the Roman Empire in 441. The reason for the war was the theft by a bishop of one of the cities of the Roman Empire of Hunnic treasures, probably from the royal tombs.
In the middle of the 5th century, north of the Danube from the Black Sea to the Rhine, a powerful empire of Hunnic tribes was formed, led by Attila, centered on the territory of modern Hungary and Austria. And although he was defeated in the “Battle of the Nations” on the territory of France (in the area of the modern province of Champagne), his troops marched through Italy and the Roman provinces, greatly weakening Rome. The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, was overthrown and the Roman Empire ceased to exist.

Attila (medal)

After the death of Attila, the Hunnic Empire collapsed as a result of the uprising of the Ostrogoths under the leadership of three brothers - Valamir, Theodemir and Vidimir I. Obviously Slavic names, right? Is there still doubt that the Ostrogoths were Slavs? The Ostrogoths, having freed themselves, gradually settled the Balkan Peninsula - all of Thrace and the lower Danube, and at the end of the century they captured all of Italy. Only in the middle of the 6th century did the troops of the Eastern Roman Empire expel the Ostrogoths from Italy. Nobody ever mentions them again. It is unknown where these numerous people went.
The overthrow of its last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, by the Getaean leader Odoacer on September 4, 476 is considered the traditional date for the fall of the Roman Empire. He is considered the leader of the Germanic Ostrogoth tribe, but it seems to me that it was a Slavic tribe. It is not very clear why the name of the Ostrogoth people migrated into the Russian language, and not the Eastern Getae. Perhaps to emphasize Germanism with the word “ost”?
Odoacer was, in turn, killed by Theodoria, who began to rule Rome, but did not become emperor. His remains rest in a mausoleum in Ravenna (pictured).

To be continued

Now, in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, it is divided between three states: Bulgaria (Northern Thrace, also known as the Upper Thracian Lowland), Greece (the modern Greek province of Thrace, also historically known as Western Thrace) and Turkey, which received Eastern Thrace together with the region's largest metropolis, Constantinople.

In the geographical center of Thrace there is an important transport hub - the Turkish city of Edirne (historical Adrianople). About 13 million people live in the modern region, including about 10 million Turks, about 1 million Bulgarians and 0.2 million Greeks.

Geography

The main waterway of the region is the Maritsa or Evros River, along which the state border between Greece and Turkey passes. In the east of the region are the Strandzha Mountains. The climate of the coastal region is subtropical Mediterranean, in the interior regions it is temperate.

History of Thrace

Ancient Thrace

Ancient Thrace, a mountainous region, was first inhabited by the Pelasgians. This is the territory of traditional residence of pastoral tribes of Thracian origin, which later underwent strong Hellenization. The territory of historical Thrace (the northernmost region of ancient Hellas, extending all the way to Scythia) covered the basins of the Marmara, Aegean and Black Seas. Among the more famous cities was Avdera, the birthplace of Democritus. In ancient times it was inhabited mainly by Thracians, after whom it received its name. The Thracians founded Elefsina in Attica, and the mythical musicians Orpheus and Museos came from here. In ancient times, Greek settlements were founded along the sea coast, the largest of which was located on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait and was called Byzantium - a strategically important trading point on the way from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and from Europe to Asia. The wealth of Byzantium attracts the Romans here. The territory of Thrace came under the control of Ancient Rome already in the 1st century BC. e. Then, in 330 AD. e., the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to the city of Byzantium on the shores of the Bosphorus, renamed in honor of Emperor Constantine - Constantinople. Thrace becomes a strategically important region of the newly formed Eastern Roman Empire.

Middle Ages

New time

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Thrace became the scene of fierce battles when the revolutionary forces of the fading Ottoman Empire tried to defend Constantinople from attacks by Greek and Bulgarian troops. Thus began the bloody struggle for Thrace. Parallel to it, there was also a struggle for Macedonia. In both cases, the local Bulgarian population, who constituted the relative majority before 1913, suffered greatly. Ljubomir Miletić described the events of those years in his book “The Defeat of the Thracian Bulgarians of 1913”. Most of the territory of Thrace was transferred to Bulgaria at the beginning of the 20th century. The Turks took the other part after World War I (Treaty of Lausanne, 1923), and Greece was left with the areas of Xanthi, Komotini and Evros. The Evros River is a natural border in the east.

Population

The population of Eastern Thrace, as well as Thrace in general, in the Middle Ages was predominantly Greco-Slavic, although from the end of the 7th century Greek influence in the region gradually weakened and the Slavs numerically predominated in almost all internal regions of the region, making up a significant proportion of the population of cities, especially Odrina (Edirne). After the Crusaders captured Constantinople in 1204, the Slavs became the main ethnic group in the region. After the Turkish invasions of the 14th-15th centuries, a powerful Turkic element was added to them, gradually increasing its presence in the region primarily due to the assimilation of the remaining Greeks and partly the Bulgarians. Currently, the population of Eastern Thrace is represented almost exclusively by Turks; there is a significant, but already Islamized, Roma community. At the same time, a significant number of Turkic-Muslim minorities remain in the neighboring regions of Greece and Bulgaria.

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Excerpt characterizing Thrace

- Dunyasha! – she whispered. - Dunyasha! – she screamed in a wild voice and, breaking out of the silence, ran to the girls’ room, towards the nanny and girls running towards her.

On August 17, Rostov and Ilyin, accompanied by Lavrushka, who had just returned from captivity, and the leading hussar, from their Yankovo camp, fifteen versts from Bogucharovo, went horseback riding - to try a new horse bought by Ilyin and to find out if there was any hay in the villages.
Bogucharovo had been located for the last three days between two enemy armies, so that the Russian rearguard could have entered there just as easily as the French vanguard, and therefore Rostov, as a caring squadron commander, wanted to take advantage of the provisions that remained in Bogucharovo before the French.
Rostov and Ilyin were in the most cheerful mood. On the way to Bogucharovo, to the princely estate with an estate, where they hoped to find large servants and pretty girls, they either asked Lavrushka about Napoleon and laughed at his stories, or drove around, trying Ilyin’s horse.
Rostov neither knew nor thought that this village to which he was traveling was the estate of that same Bolkonsky, who was his sister’s fiancé.
Rostov and Ilyin let the horses out for the last time to drive the horses into the drag in front of Bogucharov, and Rostov, having overtaken Ilyin, was the first to gallop into the street of the village of Bogucharov.
“You took the lead,” said the flushed Ilyin.
“Yes, everything is forward, and forward in the meadow, and here,” answered Rostov, stroking his soaring bottom with his hand.
“And in French, your Excellency,” Lavrushka said from behind, calling his sled nag French, “I would have overtaken, but I just didn’t want to embarrass him.”
They walked up to the barn, near which stood a large crowd of men.
Some men took off their hats, some, without taking off their hats, looked at those who had arrived. Two long old men, with wrinkled faces and sparse beards, came out of the tavern and, smiling, swaying and singing some awkward song, approached the officers.
- Well done! - Rostov said, laughing. - What, do you have any hay?
“And they are the same...” said Ilyin.
“Vesve...oo...oooo...barking bese...bese...” the men sang with happy smiles.
One man came out of the crowd and approached Rostov.
- What kind of people will you be? - he asked.
“The French,” Ilyin answered, laughing. “Here is Napoleon himself,” he said, pointing to Lavrushka.
- So, you will be Russian? – the man asked.
- How much of your strength is there? – asked another small man, approaching them.
“Many, many,” answered Rostov. - Why are you gathered here? - he added. - A holiday, or what?
“The old people have gathered on worldly business,” the man answered, moving away from him.
At this time, along the road from the manor's house, two women and a man in a white hat appeared, walking towards the officers.
- Mine in pink, don’t bother me! - said Ilyin, noticing Dunyasha resolutely moving towards him.
- Ours will be! – Lavrushka said to Ilyin with a wink.
- What, my beauty, do you need? - Ilyin said, smiling.
- The princess ordered to find out what regiment you are and your last names?
“This is Count Rostov, squadron commander, and I am your humble servant.”
- B...se...e...du...shka! - the drunk man sang, smiling happily and looking at Ilyin talking to the girl. Following Dunyasha, Alpatych approached Rostov, taking off his hat from afar.
“I dare to bother you, your honor,” he said with respect, but with relative disdain for the youth of this officer and putting his hand in his bosom. “My lady, the daughter of General Chief Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, who died this fifteenth, being in difficulty due to the ignorance of these persons,” he pointed to the men, “asks you to come... would you like,” Alpatych said with a sad smile, “to leave a few, otherwise it’s not so convenient when... - Alpatych pointed to two men who were running around him from behind, like horseflies around a horse.
- A!.. Alpatych... Eh? Yakov Alpatych!.. Important! forgive for Christ's sake. Important! Eh?.. – the men said, smiling joyfully at him. Rostov looked at the drunken old men and smiled.
– Or perhaps this consoles your Excellency? - said Yakov Alpatych with a sedate look, pointing at the old people with his hand not tucked into his bosom.
“No, there’s little consolation here,” Rostov said and drove off. - What's the matter? - he asked.
“I dare to report to your excellency that the rude people here do not want to let the lady out of the estate and threaten to turn away the horses, so in the morning everything is packed and her ladyship cannot leave.”
- Can't be! - Rostov screamed.
“I have the honor to report to you the absolute truth,” Alpatych repeated.
Rostov got off his horse and, handing it over to the messenger, went with Alpatych to the house, asking him about the details of the case. Indeed, yesterday’s offer of bread from the princess to the peasants, her explanation with Dron and the gathering spoiled the matter so much that Dron finally handed over the keys, joined the peasants and did not appear at Alpatych’s request, and that in the morning, when the princess ordered to lay money to go, the peasants came out in a large crowd to the barn and sent to say that they would not let the princess out of the village, that there was an order not to be taken out, and they would unharness the horses. Alpatych came out to them, admonishing them, but they answered him (Karp spoke most of all; Dron did not appear from the crowd) that the princess could not be released, that there was an order for that; but let the princess stay, and they will serve her as before and obey her in everything.

Geography

History of Thrace

Ancient Thrace

Ancient Thrace is a region traditionally inhabited by pastoral tribes of Thracian origin, which later underwent strong Hellenization. The territory of historical Thrace (the northernmost region of ancient Hellas, extending all the way to Scythia) covered the basins of the Marmara, Aegean and Black Seas. In ancient times it was inhabited mainly by Thracians, after whom it received its name; In ancient times, Greek settlements were founded along the sea coast, the largest of which was located on the shores of the Bosporus Strait and was called Byzantium - a strategically important trading point on the way from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and from Europe to Asia. The wealth of Byzantium attracts the Romans here. The territory of Thrace came under the control of Ancient Rome already in the 1st century BC. e. Then, in 330 AD. e., the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to the city of Byzantium on the shores of the Bosphorus, renamed in honor of Emperor Constantine - Constantinople. Thrace becomes a strategically important region of the newly formed Eastern Roman Empire (see: Byzantium).

Middle Ages

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Links

Catalog of sites of Greek Thrace (Greek)
Komotini On-Line - portal of the city of Komotini (Greek)

Provinces of the Roman Empire in 120

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Historical region in the east of the Balkan Peninsula, between the Aegean, Black and Marmara seas (from the name of the ancient population of the Thracians). East Thrace from Edirne (to the Maritsa River) as part of Turkey, West. Thrace Greece, North. Thrace of Bulgaria (these borders... ...

Historical-geographical region in northeastern Greece. 8.6 thousand km². Population 345 thousand people (1981). The largest cities are Xanthi, Komotini... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Thracia, Θράχη). A vast area between the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea and the Danube, inhabited by the warlike Thracian tribe. (Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, published by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 country (281) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Bosphorus, Galatia, Gallipoli Peninsula, Stara Zagora Geographical names of the world: Toponymic dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001... Geographical encyclopedia

Thrace- (Thrace), region. in the Balkans between the Black Sea and the ancient. Macedonia, inhabited by diff. Indo-European tribes. OK. 516 BC Thracian tribes were conquered by the Persians and fought on their side during the Greco-Persian wars. In con. 5th century Teres, king... ... The World History

Historical region in the east of the Balkan Peninsula, between the Aegean, Black and Marmara seas (from the name of the ancient population of the Thracians). Eastern Thrace from Edirne (up to the Maritsa River) as part of Turkey, Western Thrace of Greece, Northern Thrace ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Θράκη, Thracia) was defined by the ancient Greeks as a country that occupied part of the present day. Balkan peninsula from the north. the coast of the Aegean Sea (including Macedonia) and the Propontis to the Danube, and Scythia was often included in it; later the border of one’s own... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

- (2Mac.12:35) land northeast of Macedonia. The ancient inhabitants of Thrace trace their origins to Tiras, the son of Japheth. Thrace was famous in ancient times for its wealth of metals, beautiful horses and skillful horsemen (2 Mac. 12:35). Currently… … Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Biblical encyclopedia arch. Nikifor.

A little history

The presence of humans in eastern Macedonia and Thrace dates back to the Neolithic era. During the Iron Age, the Achaeans settled in eastern Macedonia.

In the 7th century b.c.e. Hellenes from the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea and the coasts of Asia Minor founded the first colonies on the coast of Thrace. Some of the colonies turned into important cities. In the 5th century b.c.e. a powerful kingdom of the Odrysians was formed, which stretched from the Danube to the Aegean Sea on one side, and from the Strymon River to the Black Sea on the other. This kingdom was liquidated in the 4th century. b.c.e. Philip II, who annexed Thrace to the Macedonian kingdom. During the same period, colonies were founded on the coasts of Macedonia by settlers from the south of Hellas. The subjugation of the poleis of eastern Macedonia began in the 5th century. b.c.e. and ended during the reign of Philip II.

After the battle of Pydna, where the Romans won, Macedonia was completely subjugated to Rome. The entire area up to the Nestos River was a Roman province with the capital Amphipolis, cities such as Abdera, Maronia and Enos were proclaimed free cities. In the northern part of Thrace, the king of Odres Kotius was forced to recognize the dominance of Rome. Thrace officially became a Roman province in 46 BC, and Macedonia was declared an imperial Roman province from 20 BC. During the years of Roman rule, the Hellenization of the Thracians, who were mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, took place. In eastern Macedonia, the major cities were Amphipolis, Philippi and Limenas on the island of Thasos. Roman emperors contributed to the development of eastern Macedonia and Thrace by founding new cities. And, most importantly, the Romans built a road called Egnatia, which connected the city of Byzantium with Dures and was the main connecting artery for many centuries.

During the Byzantine Empire, Thrace and Macedonia were the two most important provinces of the empire. However, this did not save them from invasions and robbery. The first major invasion was carried out by the Huns and Slavs, it occurred in the 5th century. From the middle of the 7th century. and until the liquidation of the Bulgarian kingdom by the Byzantine emperor Vasily II the Bulgarian Slayer in 1018, the Bulgarians made repeated invasions into the territories of Macedonia and Thrace. The re-formation of the Bulgarian state in 1186 resulted in renewed Bulgarian invasions in the territory of Macedonia and Thrace.

After the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders, Thrace and some territories of Macedonia passed to the Latin kingdom of Constantinople. However, the crusaders met resistance from the Bulgarians, who in 1230 achieved almost complete control over Thrace and Macedonia, except for the sea coast. Macedonia and Thrace were conquered by the Byzantines in the 13th century.

Thrace is also a region on whose territory in the 14th century. The largest scenes of the internecine war of the Byzantine Empire unfolded. In addition to the destruction of many cities and fortresses, the devastation of provinces, economic decline, and the physical destruction of the inhabitants of these areas, this civil strife brought with it another disastrous result. It was the reason for the appearance of the Ottomans on the territory of Thrace, whom the warring parties used for their own purposes, regardless of further consequences.

The Ottomans reappeared in Thrace in the 14th century, this time not as allies of any of the warring parties, but as invaders. The Byzantines managed to push them back for some time and forced the Ottomans to conclude a peace treaty in 1357. However, this peace did not last long; in 1361, the Ottomans began a holy war in order to spread Islam among the population of Thrace. In 1361 Didimoticho was captured, in 1363 - Komontini, Maronea, Perifori and Xanthi. And after the Battle of Cyrene in 1371, Thrace was completely under the rule of the Ottomans, except for some fortresses located near Constantinople. Very soon the conversion of the local population to the Muslim faith began, which intensified even more in the 15th century. The Christian population, in order to avoid all this, left cities and ancient cities, settling in mountainous or remote areas. The population that remained in place and did not want to change their faith was converted into serfs who cultivated land owned by the Ottomans.

From the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. the situation has changed. The beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire coincides with the settlement of Jewish refugees in Macedonia and Thrace, as well as the return of the Greek population to the plains, since living in the mountains was associated with great difficulties. As part of this movement of human masses, compact parts of the Greek population from the Peloponnese, Thessaly and Macedonia advanced into Thrace. Cities such as Adrianople, Philippopolis, Heraklion, Redestos, Enos, Silivria and Kallipoli were important trading centers. The Greek population continued to grow and become richer throughout the 18th century. Greek schools existed at the very beginning of the Ottoman yoke, but in small numbers and were located in large cities. However, after the birth of the Greek Enlightenment, the number of schools increased.

Thrace is one of the few regions that did not take part in the Uprising of 1821, although, of course, some rebel centers were formed, but they very soon ceased to exist. The constant presence of the Ottoman army on the territory of Thrace and its location at a short distance from Constantinople, as well as the flat landscape of this area, were the main reasons standing in the way of the active assistance of the Greek population of Thrace in the fight against the Ottoman yoke. Likewise, in eastern Macedonia the Uprising did not find adequate support for the above-mentioned reasons.

In subsequent years, the Ottomans hardened their stance towards the Greek population. There was a general decline in the economy and a breakdown in administrative rule, all of which worsened the lives of the Christian population, and in particular the Greeks of Thrace and Macedonia. At the same time, an increasing number of Bulgarians begin to acquire national consciousness and compete with the Greeks in all social spheres of activity. During the 1860s, the Greek-Bulgarian conflict took a dramatic turn due to the religious emancipation of the Bulgarians. The position of the Bulgarians was further strengthened after the formation of the Church Exarchate.

The crisis of the Eastern Question was caused by the uprising of the Christian population of Bosnia in 1875 and the Bulgarians in 1876, which caused massacres of the Christian population, this in turn led to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War. The Russian army reached Constantinople, in 1877 the Treaty of San Stefano was signed, according to which Bulgaria acquired vast territories: all of today's Bulgaria, Thrace and Macedonia, except Thessalonica and Chalkidiki. However, the decisions of this treaty were revised at the Berlin Congress in 1878. This time, instead of vast territories, Bulgaria was limited to a small autonomous state. However, in 1885, Bulgaria arbitrarily and illegally annexed Eastern Rumilia. These actions were eventually recognized by the Great Powers. The Greek population was a major political force in the area of northern Thrace until 1906, when serious unrest broke out and most of the Greek population, who had lived in the area for centuries, was forced to leave the area.

In southern Thrace and Macedonia, after 1878, competition began between Greeks and Bulgarians in the fields of education, religion and various professions. Since 1897, Bulgarian military detachments appeared on the territory of Macedonia and in some regions of Thrace, which forcefully forced the Christian population to submit to the Bulgarian Exarchate and demanded that children enter Bulgarian schools. Greek anti-propaganda began to appear after 1906.

During the First Balkan War, all of southern Thrace and eastern Macedonia were captured by the Bulgarian army. In the 2nd Balkan War, the Greek army reached Alexandropol and expelled the Bulgarians. However, according to the Treaty of Bucharest, Thrace was ceded to Bulgaria, except for a small area around Constantinople, which remained under Ottoman rule. As a result, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Neuilly in 1919, Greece annexed western Thrace (up to the Evros River), and after the conclusion of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920, eastern Thrace, except for Constantinople and its environs, went to Greece.

However, the Asia Minor disaster marked the final loss of eastern Thrace. The Greek population was forced to leave eastern Thrace and settle in Macedonia and western Thrace. In total, more than 145 thousand refugees from the regions of eastern Thrace, Asia Minor, Bulgaria, the Caucasus and Armenia settled in Thrace. In turn, 23 thousand people moved to Bulgaria. The population exchange continued in eastern Macedonia, Muslims left these areas, and Greek refugees from the Pontus region settled in their place.

During World War II, Thrace and eastern Macedonia were occupied by German and Bulgarian troops, after which these areas came under the control of the Bulgarian occupation forces, and their center was the city of Drama. The Bulgarians made attempts to change the ethnic composition of the Greek population, and thereby create a new order of things in the political arena. However, their actions met resistance from the local population, in particular, in many cases the Greek population took up arms. The Bulgarian occupation ended in 1944. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace again became part of Greece.

Geochronology of the region

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace are part of the Balkan Peninsula. Today we know that the territory of the Balkan Peninsula, Hellas, the Aegean Sea and the territory of today's Turkey were for many millions of years the bottom of a huge sea, which scientists symbolically call Tithis. Approximately 30 million years ago, at the beginning of the Miocene, the floor of the Tithis Sea began to rise, resulting in the formation of a large land mass - Aegis. The Aegis spread out across the region that is today Greece, Türkiye and the Aegean Sea. At the beginning of the next geological period, the Pleistocene, approximately 2 million years ago, the geographical map of Greece begins to take on its present form, resulting in the final formation of the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea.

The region's mountains are mostly crystalline, but there is also a significant amount of volcanic deposits. In particular, the Rhodope mountain range is rich in granite, slate, etc. To the west, some of the mountains of eastern Macedonia, Falakro, Orvilos, etc., are rich in limestone and marble.

Prehistoric flora and fauna

Remains of prehistoric flora, mainly fossilized tree trunks, leaves and seeds, have been discovered in the region. In the prehistoric period, the territory of eastern Macedonia and Thrace was inhabited by various animals that do not exist today, for example, mammoths and other proboscideans. Lions are also known to be found in the region.

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace today

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace consists of the districts of Drama, Kavala, Xanthi, Serres, Rhodope and Evros, which are part of the administrative jurisdiction of the Regional District of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The district of Serres covers an area of 3968 square meters. km., with a population of 201 thousand people. The administrative center of the district is the city of Serres. Drama district has an area of 3468 square meters. km., its population is 104 thousand people. The administrative center of the district is the city of Drama. Kavala district covers an area of 2111 square meters. km., its population is 63,293 people, the administrative center is the city of Kavala. The district of Xanthi occupies an area of 1793 square meters. km., with a population of 102 thousand people, the administrative center of the district is the city of Xanthi. The territory of the Rhodope region is 2543 square meters. km., and on its territory the population is 110 thousand people, the administrative center is the city of Komotini. The Evros district covers an area of 4242 square meters. km., with a population of 105 thousand people, the administrative center of the district is the city of Alexandropol.

The landscape of this area is characterized by mountain ranges, plains stretching all the way to the sea coast, and large rivers. The largest mountain ranges are: in Thrace – Papiko (1827 m); in Macedonia - Falakro (2111 m), Bleles (2031 m) and Pangeon (1956 m). The major rivers are the Strymon, Nestos and Evros, which originate in Bulgaria, cross Greece and flow into the Aegean Sea, forming a delta. Large lakes are Kerkini, located in the Serres district, and Lake Vistonida, located on the borders of the Xanthi and Rhodope districts. The only islands existing in this region are Thasos and Samothrace.

The climatic conditions are slightly different from the rest of Greece. Due to the northern and northwestern winds, in winter there is a strong drop in temperature in mountainous areas, in particular, the Nevrokop plateau is considered the coldest inhabited area of Greece. In coastal areas the climate is milder.

Vegetation

The difference in climatic conditions is reflected in the vegetation of the region. At the foot of the mountains, mainly Mediterranean shrubs (Mediterrnean maqui) grow. Above is a zone of deciduous trees - oaks, which usually reaches 100 m or a little more. Trees that grow in this zone include Broadleaf Oak (Quercus frainetto), Shaggy Oak (Quercus pubescens) and Holm Oak (Quercus petraea). Above this zone, at an altitude of up to 2000 m, there is a zone of coniferous forests. Black pine (Pinus nigra), Macedonian pine (Abies borisiiregis), forest pine (Pinus sylvestris) and red pine (Picea abies) grow here. This zone partially contains beech forests of species such as Fagus silvatica, Fagus orientalis, or mixed forests of coniferous and deciduous trees. On mountain peaks exceeding 2000 m, only perennial dwarf grasses grow

In addition to the above-mentioned zones, there is also a zone of valleys, which is mostly intensively cultivated by the population, and there is practically no natural vegetation here.

Flora and fauna

The flora of eastern Macedonia and Thrace contains approximately more than 2,500 species of different plants. Among them, mountain endemics such as Dianthus dimulans and Diantgus noeanus, Rhodope lily (Lilium rhodopeum), Viola rhodopeja, Viola ganiatsasii, Viola sereiana rhodopes, Haberlea rhodopensis, etc. are of particular value. There are also many species of rare trees.

The fauna of this region is also rich. Due to the numerous and large biocenoses, almost all waterfowl of the country live here. On the other hand, the existence of mountain ranges favors the presence of migratory birds. It is roughly estimated that of the 410 bird species, 400 live in eastern Macedonia and Thrace. As for mammals, there is no other area in Greece where there are so many mammals. These are bear, wolf, jackal, wild boar, fox, hedgehog and many others. Other classes of animals here include amphibians, reptiles, insects, etc.

Where was Thrace located on the modern map? History of Eastern Macedonia and Greek Thrace. Sources of information about the Thracian language are extremely scarce

Geography

History of Thrace

Ancient Thrace

Middle Ages

New time

Population

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Geography

History of Thrace

Ancient Thrace

Middle Ages

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Population

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See what "Thrace" is in other dictionaries: