Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
The ancient Thracians spoke a now-lost language. Greek-language sources, myth and
supposition depict them as warlike sorts, devoted to mystery religions like the Great
Gods cult, which influenced Greek pagan religion too. At the Thracians' supreme temple
on Samothraki island, ancient Macedonian, Roman and Egyptian rulers were initiated.
Secret rituals were associated with Orpheus, the mythical, tragic Thracian father of mu-
sic.
During the 7th century BC, powerful Greek city-states vied with the Persians for
Thrace's coast. Athens prevailed at the Battle of Plataea, though Philip II of Macedon
took over in 346 BC. Later, with the Roman Empire's 395 AD division, Thrace's stra-
tegic positioning on the Via Egnatia trade route made it important. Eastern Thrace's sig-
nificant wheat production also gave it the nickname 'the breadbasket of Constantinople'.
Constantinople's defensive zone was the Thracian plain, though its flatness made it
vulnerable to marauding Goths, Huns, Vandals, Bulgars, Pechenegs, Cumans and poorly
behaved Latin Crusaders - relatively few historic structures thus remain predating the
Ottomans' 14th-century invasion.
In the 19th century, Thrace's turbulent past reawakened. The 1877 Russo-Turkish
War, the 1912-13 Balkan Wars, WWI and finally Greece's failed 1922 invasion of
