THRACE was in earlier times the name of the country bounded N. by the Danube, S. by the Propontis and the /Egean Sea, E. by the Black Sea, and W. by the river Strymon and the chain of mountains which form the continuation of Mount Rhodope. This country is divided into two parts by Mount Htemus (now the Balkan), which runs from west to east, separating the plain of the Lower Danube from the riven which flow into the iEgean Sea. Two extensive ranges branch off from the southern side of Mount Hremus : one at about a hundred miles from the Euxine, which runs in a south-eastern direction to wards Constantinople ; the other, which is far larger, branches off near the sources of the Ilebrus, and likewise rune to the south-east. The latter bore the name of Rhodope, and is now called the Despots) Mountains. Between these two ranges there are many plains, which are drained by the Iiebrus (the folaritza), the principal river of Thrace, and its tributaries. [BALKAN MOUNTAINS; MARITZA.) In ancient times there was a great quantity of corn and wine grown in the valley of the Hcbrus. In the 'Iliad' the ships of the ft:chiral). are described as bringing wine every day to Agamemnon from Thrace (ix. 72); and the Maronean wine, which retained its reputation in the time of Pliny (` Hist. Nat.,' xiv. 6), is spoken of in the 'Odyssey' (ix. 197). In the mountainous parts of the country there were also mines of precious metals. (Justin, viii. 3.) The Thracians were divided into many separate and independent tribes; but the name of Thraciane seems to have been applied to them collectively in very early times. Oceanus, it was said, had four daughters, Asia, Libya, Europa, and Thrace, from whom the four parts of the world were named. Josephus and mauy Biblical scholars suppose that the name Thrace is derived from Tints, the son of Japhet.
The Thracian nation, according to Herodotus (v. 3), was, next to the Indians, the most numerous of all, and if united under one head would have been invincible. The Thracians, says Herodotus (v. 6), sell their children to be carried out of the country ns slaves ; they do not guard their young women, but permit them to have inter course with whatever men they please ; they purchase their wives with great sums; they puncture or tattoo their bodies, which they regard as a sign of noble birth ; agriculture they despise, and con sider it most liononrahle to live by war and robbery. Deep drinking prevailed among them extensively, and the quarrels over their cups became almost proverbial. In earlier times however there must have been a greater degree of civilisation among some of their tribes at least, than prevailed at a later period. The earliest Greek poets, Orpheus, Linus, 31usmus, and others, are all represented as coming from Thrace; and I:um:tipss too, who founded, according to tradition, the Eleminian mysteries at Attica, is also said to have been a Thracian.
At en early period likewise the Thracians spread extensively over southern Greece.
The-first historical event respecting them is their conquest by Megabazus, the general of Darius, who conquered all the separate tribes, with the exception of the Settee, who were the only Thracian people that had retained their independence down to the time of lierodotua. (Herod., v. 2; vii. Ill.) After the failure of the expe dition of Xerxes, the Thraciane recovered their independence; and in the time of the Peloponnesian war we find a powerful native empire in Thrace, which was under the dominion of Sitalces, who is called by Thneydides (ii. 29) king of the Thracian& The empire was founded by the father of Sitalces, Term, the king of the Odrysx, one of the most powerful of the Thracian tribes. The power of the Odrysian empire however did not last long. In little more than twenty years from the death of Sitalces it had lost its former great ness; and when Xenophon crossed over lute Thrace, n.o. 400, he found Iledoraa, the reigning king of the Odrysiaus, unable to command the obedience of his Thracian subject'. (Compare 'Anab.,' vii. 2, a. 32, &e.) Philip, the father of Alexander, reduced the whole of Southern Thrace et least, and compelled it to pay tribute. (Diodorus, xvi. 71.) On the death of Philip there was a general movement among the Thracian. to throw off the Macedonian supremacy, at the head of which the Tribelli pineal themselves. But Alexander crossiug the Hwmus, defeated the Triballi, advanced as far as the Danube, which ho crossed, and offered up a sacrifice on its right book. (Arrian, 'Anab.,' 1, 2, 3; Strube, vii. 301.) On the death of Alexander, Thrace fell to the share of Lysimachus, who erected it into an independent monarchy; but it subsequently came under the domi nion of the Macedonian kings. On the conclusion of the war with Perseus however, Cotys, a native Thracian prince, was allowed to continue in possession of his kingdom, notwithstanding the assistance he had rendered to Perseus. (Livy, xlv. 42.) Thrace was not reduced to the form of a Roman province till a late period. The part north of the llxmcis was conquered by the Romans in the reign of Augustus, and was afterwards erected into a separate province under the name of Mcesia. The name of Thrace was then confined to the country south of the livemus, and between the Euxine, the Propontis, and the Agean Sea. Its boundary on the west differed at various times : in the time of Ptolemy (iii. 11) it seems to have been the Nestus • but the Strymon was anciently the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace.