Listed 13 sub titles with search on: The inhabitants for destination: "THRAKI Ancient country BALKANS".
Thracian tribe at the lake Bistonis, to the E of Abdera.
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Bessi (Bessoi), a Thracian tribe occupying the country about the rivers Axius, Strymon, and Nestus. They appear to have been a very numerous people, and at different times to have occupied a more or less extensive country. According to Herodotus (vii. 111), they belonged to the Satrae, a free Thracian people, and had the management of an oracle of Dionysus situated in the highest part of the mountains. In the time of Strabo (vii. p. 318) the Bessi dwelt all along the southern slope of Mount Haemus, from the Euxine to the frontiers of the Dardanians in the west. In the second century of our era their territory might seem to have been greatly reduced, as Ptolemy (iii. 11. § 9) mentions the Bessike among the smaller strateniai of Thrace; but his statement evidently refers only to the western portion of the Bessi, occupying the country between the Axius and Strymon, and Pliny (iv. 11. 18) speaks of Bessi living about the Nestus and Mount Rhodope. Looking at the country they occupied, and the character given them by Herodotus, there can be no doubt that they were the chief people of Thrace; they were warlike and independent, and were probably never subdued by the Macedonians; the Romans succeeded in conquering them only in their repeated wars against the Thracians. It would seem that the whole nation of the Bessi was divided into four cantons (Steph. Byz. s. v. Tetrachopitai), of which the Diobessi mentioned by Pliny may have been one. In the time of Strabo the Bessi are said to have been the greatest robbers among the Thracians, who were themselves notorious as lestai. That they were not, however, wholly uncivilised, is clear from the fact that they inhabited towns, the chief of which was called Uscudama (Entrop. vi. 10). Another town, Bessapara, is mentioned by Procopius and others. (Comp. Dion Cass. liv. 34, and Baehr on Herodotus).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Melanditai), a people of Thrace, mentioned only by Xenophon (Anab. vii. 2. § 32).
(Melinophagoi), a people of Thrace upon the coast of the Euxine, near Salmydessus.
(Xen. Anab. vii. 5. 12 ; Theopomp. ap. Steph. B. s. v.) They are, perhaps. the
same people as the Asti (Astoi) whom Strabo places in the same neighbourhood (vii.
pp. 319, 320).
Cicones (Kikones), a Thracian people inhabiting the coast district
between the rivers Hebrus in the E. and Lissus in the W., where they appear to
have lived from very remote times. (Hom. Il. ii. 846, Od. iv. 39; Herod. vii.
59,110; Orph. Arg. 77; Steph. Byz. s. v. Maroneia; Mela, ii. 2, 8; Plin. iv. 18;
Virg. Georg. iv. 520; Sil. Ital. xi. 477; Ov. Met. x. 2, xv. 313.)
Coeletae, a Thracian people, divided into majores and minores, the
former of whom dwelt at the foot of Mount Haemus, and the latter about Mount Rhodope.
(Plin. iv. 18; Liv. xxxviii. 40; Tac. Ann. iii. 38.) The district which they inhabited
was called Coeletica.
Doloncae, Dolonci (Dolonkoi), a Thracian tribe, which seems to have
belonged to the race of the Bithynians. (Plin. iv. 18; Solin. 10; Steph. B. s.
v.; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 323.)
Edones (Edones, Strab. x. p. 470, xv. p. 687) or Edoni (Edonoi, Steph.
B., Plin. iv. 11), a Thracian people, whose name was often used by the Greek and
Latin poets to express the whole of the nation of which they formed a part.. (Aesch.
Pers. 493; Soph. Ant. 955; Eurip. Hec. 1153; Ov. Met. xi. 69, Trist. iv. 1. 42;
Propert i. 3.5; Hor. Carm. ii. 7. 27.) It appears from Thucydides (ii. 99) that
this Thracian clan once held possession of the right bank of the Strymon, as far
as Mygdonia, but were driven from this by the Temenid princes of Macedonia. Afterwards
they, are found occupying, on the left bank of the Strymon, the district called
Edonis (Edonis, Ptol. iii. 13. § 31), which extended from Lake Cercinitis as far
E. as the river Nestus, between the spurs of Mt. Orbelus, and the Pieres to the
S. (Comp. Herod. v, 11, vii. 110,. 114; Thuc. iv. 102, 109.) Edonis was included
in the first region of Macedonia, after the Roman conquest, B.C. 167. (Liv. xlv.
29.) The following are the principal towns of this important district: Amphipolis
with its harbour Eion; Myrcinus; Phagres; Oesyma; Gasorus; Domerus; Philippi;
Drabescus; Neapolis; Acontisma; Tragilus; Pergamus.
A large coin of Geta, king of the Edoni, has been published by Mr.
Millingen, the characters on which agree with the time when the Edoni possessed
Drabescus and the Nine Ways, and had therefore the power of working some of the
mines. It has been supposed that the coins of the Orescii, with the type, a satyr
carrying off a nymph, belong to Edonis or its vicinity. The Satyrs were the Satrae,
and refer to the worship of Dionysus in the mountains Pangaeum and Orbelus. (Herod.
vii. 11.) Apollodorus (iii. 5) has handed down some traditions showing the connection
between the kings of the Edoni, and the legends about Dionysus and the Satyrs.
(Leake, Northern: Greece, vol. iii. p. 213.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Treres, a people repeatedly mentioned by Strabo, generally as a tribe
of, or at least. as closely connected with, the Cimmerii, but in a few passages
as Thracians. They are not named by Homer or Herodotus. Strabo was evidently undecided
whether to regard them as a distinct race, or as identical with the Cimmerii,
in whose company they several times made destructive inroads into Asia Minor.
The Cimmerii, whom they name Treres also, or some tribe of them, often overran
the southern shores of the Euxine and the adjoining countries, sometimes throwing
themselves upon the Paphlagonians, at other times upon the Phrygians, at the time
when they say Midas died from drinking bull's blood. And Lygdamis led his army
as far as Lydia and Ionia, and took Sardes, but perished in Cilicia. And the Cimmerii
and Treres often made such expeditions. But they say that the Treres and Cobus
[their leader] were at last driven out [of Asia] by Madys, the king of the Scythians.
1 (Strab. i. p. 61). Callisthenes states that Sardes was taken
several times; first by the Cimmerians; then by the Treres and Lycians, as Callinus
also shows; lastly in the time of Cyrus and Croesus. (Id. xiii. p. 627). In olden
times, it befel the Magnetes [the people of Magnesia on the Maeander] to be utterly
destroyed by the Treres, a Cimmerian tribe. (Id. xiv. p. 647; see also xi. p.
511, xii. p. 573; Cimmerii Vol. I. p. 623, seq.; Muller, Hist. Lit. Anc. Greece,
pp. 108, 109; and cf. Herod. i. 6, 15, 16, 103.)
Various attempts have been made to fix the dates of these events;
but the means of doing so appear to be wanting, and hence scholars have arrived
at very different conclusions on the subject. Strabo infers from some expressions
of Callinus that the destruction of Sardes preceded that of Magnesia, which latter
occurred, he considers, after the time of that poet, and during the age of Archilochus,
who alludes to it.
Thucydides (ii. 96) states that the kingdom of Sitalces was bounded
on the side next to the Triballi by the Treres and Tilataei, who dwelt on the
northern slope of Mount Scombrus (Scomius), and extended towards the W. as far
as the river Oscius (Oescus). Whether this relative clause applies to the Treres
as well as to the Tilataei is doubtful; but the collocation of the words seems
to confine it to the latter.
Strabo (i. p. 59) speaks of the Treres as dwelling with the Thracians;
and says that the Treres, who were Thracians, possessed a part of the Troad after
the time of Priam (xiii. p. 586).
Pliny does not mention the Treres as a Thracian people; but in the
description of Macedonia (iv. 10. s. 17), says that they, with the Dardani and
Pieres, dwelt on its borders; it is not clear, however, which borders are meant.
(Cf. Theopom. Frag. 313, where they are called Trares and Steph. B. p. 664, where
also a district of Thrace inhabited by them is named Treros.)
It is possible that these Thracian Treres were the descendants of
a body of the Cimmerian Treres, left N. of the Haemus when the main body advanced
to Asia Minor; for there can be little doubt that Niebuhr's view respecting the
course of their inroads is correct. The general opinion, which is presupposed
in Herodotus also, is that the Cimmerians invaded Asia Minor from the E., along
the coasts of the Euxine. But it would seem that, on the contrary, they came through
Thrace, for they make their first appearance in lonia and Lydia. The former road
is almost entirely impassable for a nomadic people, as the Caucasus extends to
the very shores of the Euxine. (Lect. Anc. Hist. i. p. 32, note.)
In confirmation of the conjecture above made, we may refer to the
parallel case mentioned by Caesar (B. G. ii. 29), that the Aduatuci, a Belgian
tribe, were the descendants of the 6000 men whom the Cimbri and Teutoni, on their
march towards Italy, left behind them W. of the Rhine, to guard that part of their
property which they were unable to take with them any farther.
1 The reading in the text is hupo Maduos tou ton Kiumerion basileos; but as
just before we find Maduos tou Skuthikou, we can have no hesitation in adopting
Kramer's emendation of Skuthikon for Kimmerion.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A Thracian tribe said to believe in immortality, defeat Lysimachus, conquered by Trajan.
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Bassareus, a surname of Dionysus (Hor. Carm. i. 18. 11; Macrob. Sat. i. 18), which, according to the explanations of the Greeks, is derived from bassara or bassaris, the long robe which the god himself and the Maenads used to wear in Thrace, and whence the Maenads themselves are often called bassarae or bassarides. The name of this garment again seems to be connected with, or rather the same as, bassaris, a fox (Hesych. s. v. bassarai), probably because it was originally made of fox-skins. Others derive the name Bassareus from a Hebrew word, according to which its meaning would be the same as the Greek protruges, that is, the precursor of the vintage. On some of the vases discovered in southern Italy Dionysus is represented in a long garment which is commonly considered to be the Thracian bassara.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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