Thracians

The Thracians () were an Indo-European–speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history. Thracians resided mainly in Southeast Europe in modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, northern Greece and European Turkey, but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey. The exact origin of the Thracians is uncertain, but it is believed that Thracians like other Indo-European speaking groups in Europe descended from a mixture of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers. During the 5th and 4th millennium BC, the inhabitants of the eastern region of the Balkans became organized into different groups of indigenous people that were later named by the ancient Greeks under the single ethnonym of "Thracians". The Thracian culture emerged during the early Bronze Age, which began about 3500 BC. From it, the Getae, the Dacians and other regional tribal groups also developed. Historical and archaeological records indicate that the Thracian culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. According to ancient Greek and Roman historians, the Thracians were uncivilized and remained largely disunited, until the establishment of their first permanent state the Odrysian kingdom in the very beginning of 5th century BC, founded by king Teres I, exploiting the collapse of the Persian presence in Europe due to the failed invasion of Greece in 480–79. Teres and his son Sitalces pursued a policy of expansion, making the kingdom one of the most powerful of its time. Throughout much of its early history, it remained an ally of Athens and even joined the Peloponnesian War on its side. By 400 BC, the state showed first signs of fatigue, although Cotys I initiated a brief renaissance that lasted until his murder in 360 BC. Around 340 BC, the Odrysian kingdom lost independence to Macedon and became incorporated into the empire, but it regained independence...