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The prehistoric remains in Thrace is not of great
number, in comparison to Anatolia. But there is enough to have the
oldest inhabited cave at Yarimburgaz in Turkey, which dates back to
about 400,000 years ago. The mound at Hocacesme near the ancient town
of Ainos has provided some rich findings from Neolithic and
Chalcolithic ages. It is well worth to mention number of megaliths
(dolmens ) found in Istranca mountains and in the vicinity of the
county Lalapasa. Thrace saw a wave of immigration at the end of the 2nd
millennium BC and the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Some of these
immigrant peoples moved down to Anatolia and settled there, some
settled in Thrace. From the archaeological evidence, it is known that
this immigration wave was not of great volume and did not cause much
changes in the ethnic structure of Thrace. Thracians of numerous tribes
lived side by side and were in constant warfare with each other.
Herodotus tells about the war between Apshyntians and Dolonks
that was in the 6th C. BCE.
Towards the first half of the 7th C. BCE, Gallipoli peninsula and the
northern shores of the Propontis sea was the scene of immigration by
Aeolians, Ionians and Megarians. Although they received some resistance
from local peoples, they have been able to hold on and build cities
such as, Abdera, Byzantium, Sestos, Ainos, Maroenia etc. The southern
part of the region formed by Chersoneses (Kallipolis=Gallipoli
peninsula) came under control of the Athenians in 555 BCE, and later
was invaded and controlled by the Persian King Darius the Great in 513
BCE. In the 6th C BCE, Odrysians under their King Teres and his son
Sitalkes have been able to establish a kingdom that stretched from the
town Abdera on the Aegean coast in the south to the mouth of river
Istros (Danube=Tuna) on the Black Sea coast. Following the death of the
king Kotys in 360 BCE., the region got into a turmoil that resulted
with the collapse of the Odrysian kingdom. Philip II (359-336 BCE), the
king of Macedonia pushed hard to establish his hegemony over Thrace and
succeeded to control the interior regions. Philip, beginning from 342
BCE., he started to build colonies in order to keep his control in this
area. The well known city of Philipopolis ( Puldudeva=Plovdiv=Filibe)
was built in his time. After Philip's death, his son Alexander the
Great continued his father's policies, and built the city of
Alexandropolis after his name, whose location is unknown. When
Alexander began his well known campaign against the Persian Empire in
334 BCE., he trusted the control of Thrace to one of his generals
Antipater. While Alexander was in Persia, the Odrysians rebelled under
the leadership of their king Seuthes. Seuthes like Alexander and
Alexander's successors built a city on his own and named it
Seuthopolis. Following the death of Alexander the Great, Thrace changed
hands between the Diadochi (Former Generals and Successors to
Alexander), and following a series of wars between the generals,
Lysimachus was able to secure Thrace for himself. Lysimachus had to
make many wars against his rivals for the control of Thrace, and during
this time, burned down the city Seuthopolis in 301 BCE. Thrace, in 279
BCE., was invaded by the Galatians who were warrior and plunderer group
of people from eastern Europe. Only the wealthy coastal cities
withstood their attacks and avoided being invaded by Galatians.
Following this chaos, Thrace was shared between many tribes. Philip V
(221-179 BCE), the Macedonian king, tried to take advantage
of this chaotic status and started a campaign to include this area
under his hegemony, but his achievement lived very short and Thrace was
able to get rid of the Macedonian hegemony. With the peace treaty of
Apameia signed between Antiochus III and the Romans in 188 BCE.,
Chersoneses (Gallipoli) was left to the Pergamum kingdom whose star
began to flare in Western Anatolia. Romans became the only power in the
area when the Macedonian kingdom came to the end of its political
existence in 168 BCE. Attalus III (138-133 BCE), the last king of
Pergamum bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans before his death, and
Thracian Chersoneses along with the rest of Pergamum kingdom was taken
over by the Romans. Romans showed great interest in this area through
which the main route from Europe to Asia passed. During the reign of
Augustus, Thrace was formed into a local kingdom under the Sapaei
dynasty, and Romans kept this royal dynasty under their control. The
first member of the Sapaei kingdom was Kotys, who at the same time
ruled the neighbor Korpili tribe. As Rhascuporis his son was not a free
man, Kotys was not allowed to use the title of King. But his son Kotys
used this title and agreed with the Astians to unite Thrace under his
leadership. The Bessian tribe was incorporated in 57 BC. During the
reign of Rhoemetalces, the unification of Thrace was completed. The
roman historian, Tacitus reports that when Rhoemetalces died, all of
Thrace was ruled by himself. But, in 46 BCE, Thracian kingdom came to
an abrupt end, all of the region came under the Roman rule as the
Province of Thrace. Romans divided Thrace into local administrative
units called "Strategia" whose number totaled to 33.
Plinius reports the number of Strategia as 50. Most of these Strategia
were named after the name of the old Thracian tribes. Only few cities
were excluded from the Strategia system and accepted as free cities,
those were Abdera, Ainois and Byzantium and Thracian Chersoneses
(Dardanelles) in the south enjoyed freedom and exclusion from the
Strategia. In the following years, Agrippa gained the control of
Thrace, but after his death, the whole region became the imperial
property of the Romans under Augustus. The administrative system in
Thrace was maintained as organized by Augustus down to the time of
Trajan and Hadrian. These two emperors raised the status of the
province of Thrace to a higher level and tried to erase the old fashion
system of tribal organization. After one and a half century,
Diocletian, the emperor (284-305 CE), made changed in the
administration of the region and broke the Thracian province into
smaller and many units. When Constantine the Great, the emperor of the
Eastern Roman Empire known as the Byzantine Empire, moved the capital
city from Rome to Byzantium which was renamed to Constantinople after
the emperor's name, Thrace continued to develop and flourish as as it
was on the main route between east and west.
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