A Companion to Ancient Thrace

A Companion to Ancient Thrace presents a series of essays that reveal the newly recognized complexity of the social and cultural phenomena of the peoples inhabiting the Balkan periphery of the Classical world.

• Features a rich and detailed overview of Thracian history from the Early Iron Age to Late Antiquity

• Includes contributions from leading scholars in the archaeology, art history, and general history of Thrace

• Balances consideration of material evidence relating to Ancient Thrace with more traditional literary sources

• Integrates a study of Thrace within a broad context that includes the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, southwest Asia, and southeast Europe/Eurasia

• Reflects the impact of new theoretical approaches to economy, ethnicity, and cross-cultural interaction and hybridity in Ancient Thrace

Editors’ Preface xi

Notes on Contributors xiii

Abbreviations xvi

Part I Thrace and Thracians 1

1 An Introduction to Studying Ancient Thrace 3
Nikola Theodossiev

2 Geography 12
Jan Bouzek and Denver Graninger

3 Ethnicity and Ethne 22
Denver Graninger

Part II History 33

4 Early History of Thrace to the Murder of Kotys I (360 BCE) 35
Michael Zahrnt

5 Thrace from the Assassination of Kotys I to Koroupedion (360–281 BCE) 48
Peter Delev

6 From Koroupedion to the Beginning of the Third Mithridatic War (281–73 BCE) 59
Peter Delev

7 Roman Thrace 75
Ivaylo Lozanov

8 Thrace in Late Antiquity 91
Boyan Dumanov

Part III Evidence 107

9 Settlements 109
Hristo Popov

10 Dolmens and Rock-Cut Monuments 126
Georgi Nekhrizov

11 “Ritual Pits” 144
Rumyana Georgieva

12 Tomb Architecture 158
Daniela Stoyanova

13 The Decoration of Thracian Chamber Tombs 180
Julia Valeva

14 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Vessels 197
Julia Valeva

15 Adornments 212
Milena Tonkova

16 The Pottery of Ancient Thrace 229
Anelia Bozkova

17 Inscriptions 243
Dan Dana

18 Introduction to the Numismatics of Thrace, ca. 530 BCE–46 CE 265
Evgeni I. Paunov

Part IV Influence and Interaction 293

19 The Greek Colonists 295
Margarit Damyanov

20 Athens 308
Matthew A. Sears

21 Persia 320
Maya Vassileva

22 Thracian and Macedonian Kingship 337
William S. Greenwalt

23 Thracians and Scythians: Tensions, Interactions and Osmosis 352
David Braund

24 Celts 366
Julij Emilov

Part V Controversies 383

25 Social Life of Thrace 385
Zosia Archibald

26 Urbanization 399
Emil Nankov

27 Trade 412
Chavdar Tzochev

28 Warfare 426
Totko Stoyanov

29 Religion 443
Kostadin Rabadjiev

Index 457

"Despite the enormous volume of information and the extent of the topics covered in the Companion, the individual chapters show a remarkable cohesion.... Sincere praise is due to the editors for their achivement. The Companion offers a concise but reliable and often in-depth orientation for anyone researching Thracian matters and their connections to the neighboring cultures. I would strongly recommend its purchase...." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

“...a useful and engaging guide for students and academics alike interested in aspects of ancient Thrace, and adjacent cultures.” - Assemblage

"...this volume offers comprehensive and up-to-date essays on a variety of historical and socio-cultural issues that represent mainly contemporary Bulgarian scholarship on ancient Thrace...it largely fulfils what it promises and reveals potential for furtherbridging of the methodological insufficiency clearly inferred in a great number of texts."
- Ancient West and East, Volume 17, 2018

Julia Valeva is Professor at the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is the author of The Painted Coffers of the Ostrusha Tomb (2005) and Typology of the Thracian Tombs (2013).

Emil Nankov is the Archaeology Program Officer of the American Research Center in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is a co-editor of Heraclea Sintica: from Hellenistic polis to Roman civitas, (4th c. BC-6th c. AD) (2014).

Denver Graninger is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside and faculty member of the Tri-Campus Graduate Program in Classics. He is the author of Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly (2011).

A Companion to Ancient Thrace presents an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural complexity of the ancient Indo-European peoples inhabiting the Balkan periphery of the Classical world. Although the Thracians have often had limited interest from Western scholars, recent discoveries in archaeology and other fields have brought about an interdisciplinary reappraisal of this powerful ancient culture.

Featuring contributions from leading scholars in Thracian archaeology, art, and history, essays focus on the five centuries comprising Classical and Hellenistic Thrace. Other readings consider problems of continuity and discontinuity with the preceding Early Iron Age and the succeeding Roman Imperial period. By shedding new light on the spread of Thrace’s cultural influences beyond its borders to the eastern Mediterranean and European worlds, A Companion to Ancient Thrace sets a new standard in Thracian scholarship while furthering our understanding of antiquity.