The history of Thrace may be sketched in a few words. The Greeks first became acquainted with the inhabitants when they began to plant colonies on the coasts. Of these the principal were Byzantium (675 B.c.). Selymbria, Abdera (560 n.e.), Mesembria, Diana, Maronea, tEnus, Cardia, Sestus, Amphipolis, etc. ; but their want of union—the fatal weakness of Hellenic civilization—hindered them from acquiring that measure of power to which they might have otherwise aspired, and enabled the Thracian chiefs of the interior to preserve their independence. In 513 B.C., Darius, king of Persia, marched through Thrace on his way to punish the European Scythians, and on his return left Megabazus, with ;.-.0,000 men, to subdue the country. In this he partially succeeded, but new disturbances and complications arose between the Persians and Greeks, which resulted (480 me.) in the famous expedition of Xerxes, the details of which belong to Thracian history. We have only to mention that a consequence of the expulsion of the Persians from Europe was the resumption of liberty and the revival of prosperity among the Greek colonies in Thrace. Shortly before the Pelopon
nesian war, a native Thracian state—the Odrysian—had attained to great power and emi nence under a ruler named Sitalces, who joined the Athenian alliance, but could not, in spite of his resources, prevent the triumph of Sparta in the north as well as in the south. The rise of the Macedonian kingdom, under Philip II. (359 n.c.), destroyed the inde pendence of great part of Thrace. All the region between the Strymon and Nestus was incorporated with Macedonia, and Macedonian garrisons were established further east. Under the government of Lysimachus the subjugation of Thrace became complete. On the fall of the Macedonian kingdom (168 B.c.) It passed into the hands of the Romans, and subsequently shared the vicissitudes of the Roman empire. In 334 A.D. a colony of Sarmatians was planted in Thrace by Constantine, and in 376 another of Goths by permis sion of Valens. In 395 it was overrun by Alaric, and in 447 by Attila. In 1353 Amurath •obtained possession of all its fortresses, except Constantinople, and it has ever since remained subject to Turkey. But see BULGARIA and ROUMELIA, EASTERN.