List of ancient Daco-Thracian peoples and tribes

This is a list of four ancient peoples and their tribes that were possibly related and formed an extinct Indo-European branch of peoples and languages in the eastern Balcans, low Danube basin. These peoples dwelt from west of the Tyras (Dniester) river and east of the Carpathian Mountains in the north, to the north coast of the Aegean Sea in the south, from the west coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) in the east, to roughly the Angrus (modern South Morava) river basin, Tisia (modern Tisza) and Danubius (modern Danube) rivers in the west. This list is based in the possible ethnolinguist affiliation of these peoples - Geto-Dacians, Moesians, Thracians and Paeonians (including possibly or partly Thracian or Dacian tribes) and not only on a geographical base (that includes other peoples that were not Dacians or Thracians like the Celts that lived in Dacia or in Thrace).

Ancestors

edit
 
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony
 
Map 4: Geographical distribution of attested placenames with the -dava suffix, according to Olteanu (2010). The dava distribution confirms Dacia and Moesia as the zone of Dacian speech. The dava zone is, with few exceptions, consistent with Ptolemy's definition of Dacia's borders. There is no conclusive evidence that Dacian was a predominant language outside the dava zone in the 1st century AD. According to Strabo, the Thracians spoke the same language as the Dacians, in which case Dacian was spoken as far as the Aegean sea and the Bosporus. But Strabo's view is controversial among modern linguists: dava placenames are absent south of the Balkan mountains, with one exception (see Thracian, below)
 
Map 5: Dacian kingdom during the reign of Burebista, 82 BC, showing Dacian and Getae tribes.
 
Map 6: Dacian tribes.

Dacians mixed with other peoples

edit

Thracians

edit
 
Map 8: 1849 map of Roman regions, fortresses and tribes in Thrace and Dacia (about 150 AD)
 
Map 9: Thracian tribes in Thrace and the Odrysian Kingdom, Odrysians were one of the most powerful Thracian tribes. Sapeia, a name derived from the Sapaei tribe, was Northern Thrace and Asteia, a name derived from the Astae or Asti tribe, was Southern Thrace.

Certain tribes and subdivisions of tribes were named differently by ancient writers but modern research points out that these were in fact the same tribe.[16] The name Thracians itself seems to be a Greek exonym and we have no way of knowing what the Thracians called themselves.[17] Also certain tribes mentioned by Homer are not indeed historical.

Thracians mixed with other peoples

edit

Mixed tribes of Thracians and Phrygians, however Phrygians seem to have been a people ethnolinguistically closer to the Hellenic peoples, Greeks and ancient Macedonians, and not to the Thracians.

Possible Daco-Thracian peoples

edit

Paeonians (Paeones)

edit

There are different views and still no agreement among scholars about the Paeonians' ethnic and linguistic kinship. Some such as Wilhelm Tomaschek and Paul Kretschmer claim that the language spoken by the Paeonians belonged to the Illyrian family, while Dimitar Dechev claims affinities with Thracian. Irwin L. Merker considers that the language spoken by the Paeonians was closely related to Greek (and ancient Macedonian if it was a distinct language from ancient Greek), a Hellenic language with "a great deal of Illyrian and Thracian influence as a result of this proximity".[53]

 
Map 10: Paionian tribes (in yellow, north and northeast of Ancient Macedonians)

Phrygians

edit

Some scholars as Strabo believe that the Phrygians are Thracian tribe.[61]

Cimmerians

edit

Sources

edit

Ancient

edit
  • Appian (165). Historia Romana [Roman History] (in Ancient Greek).
  • Dio, Cassius (2008). Rome. Vol. 3 (of 6). Echo Library. ISBN 978-1-4068-2644-9.
  • Cassius, Dio Cocceianus; Cary, Earnest; Foster, Herbert Baldwin (1968). Dio's Roman history, volume 8. W. Heinemann.
  • Herodotus. Histories (in Ancient Greek).
  • Pliny (the Elder); Rackham, Harris (1971). Pliny Natural History, Volume 2. Harvard University Press.
  • Strabo. Geographica [Geography] (in Ancient Greek).
  • Strabo; Jones, Horace Leonard; Sterrett, John Robert (1967). The geography of Strabo. Harvard University Press.

Modern

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, ISBN 0-415-41252-8, 2007, page 46
  2. ^ a b c d Gudmund, Schutte (1917). Ptolemy's maps of northern Europe, a reconstruction of the prototypes by Gudmund Schutte.
  3. ^ E.g., Romanian History and Culture
  4. ^ E.g., Smith, s.v. Osi
  5. ^ E.g., Celtic Encyclopedia
  6. ^ Getae, Britannica Online," an ancient people of Thracian origin, inhabiting the banks of the lower Danube region and nearby plains. First appearing in the 6th century bc, the Getae were subjected to Scythian influence and were known as expert mounted archers and devotees of the deity Zalmoxis. Although the daughter of their king became the wife of Philip II of Macedon in 342 BC, the Macedonians under Philip II’s son Alexander crossed the Danube and burned the Getic capital seven years later. Getic technology was influenced by that of the invading Celts in the 4th and 3rd centuries bc. Under Burebistas (fl. 1st century BC), the Getae and nearby Dacians formed a powerful but short-lived state. By the middle of the following century, when the Romans had gained control over the lower Danube region, thousands of Getae were displaced, and, not long thereafter, references to the Getae disappeared from history. Later writers wrongly gave the name Getae to the Goths. The Getae and Dacians were closely related; some historians even suggest that these were names applied to a single people by different observers or at different times. Their culture is sometimes called Geto-Dacian."
  7. ^ The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 256: "The tribe of Thracians called Crobyzi"
  8. ^ a b John Boardman in his History wrote “However, a text of the Hellanicus associates the Crobyzi as well the Terizi (From the Tirizian promontory) with the Getae, who “immortalize” (Hdt IV94) that is “render immortal” by ritual. The Crobizi were a subgroup of the Getae tribes. Already known to Hecataeus they are grouped by Herodotus with Thracians” The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 598
  9. ^ a b c The Cambridge ancient history Volume 3, page 598, by John Boardman, 1991, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, "Getic tribes were probably the Aedi, the Scaugdae and the Clariae ... They were known in antiquity as Getae..."
  10. ^ The Cambridge ancient history. Volume 3, page 598, by John Boardman, 1991, ISBN 0-521-22717-8
  11. ^ Romania: An Illustrated History by Nicolae Klepper, 2003, page 33: "... the Carps and the Roxolani), by Bastarns, and by Tyragetae (another Geto-Dacian tribe)..."
  12. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 598: "The cultural level of some Getic tribes was so low that they lived in 'houses' dug into the earth (such underground villages are known among Phrygians and Armenians). The Greeks called them Troglodytae"
  13. ^ Pârvan (1982) p.165 and p.82
  14. ^ The Cambridge ancient history Volume 3, page 599, by John Boardman - 1991 "Pliny speaks of the Moesic tribes...but their names remain almost unknown; in the Roman period, the tribes of the Artakioi"
  15. ^ The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss, ISBN 1-4165-3205-6, 2009, page 183: "... their women, who likely stood in the rear ranks. The Triballi, a tough Thracian people, ..."
  16. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 601
  17. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 597: "We have no way of knowing what the Thracians called themselves and if indeed they had a common name...Thus the name of Thracians and that of their country were given by the Greeks to a group of tribes occupying the territory..."
  18. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History: pt. 1. The prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C. Cambridge University Press, 1991. University of Minnesota/
  19. ^ a b c d Early symbolic systems for communication in Southeast Europe, Part 2 by Lolita Nikolova, ISBN 1-84171-334-1, 2003, page 529, "eastern Paionians (Agrianians and Laeaeans)"
  20. ^ Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley), 9.119.1, "CXIX. As Oeobazus was making his escape into Thrace, the Apsinthians of that country caught and sacrificed him in their customary manner to Plistorus the god of their land; as for his companions, they did away with them by other means. Artayctes and his company had begun their flight later, and were overtaken a little way beyond the Goat's Rivers, where after they had defended themselves a long time, some of them were killed and the rest taken alive. The Greeks bound them and carried them to Sestus, and together with them Artayctes and his son also in bonds."
  21. ^ a b c d The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46 (Men-at-Arms) by Christopher Webber and Angus McBride, ISBN 1-84176-329-2, 2001, page 11: "After the battle, 10,000 Thracians drawn from the Astii, Caeni, Maduateni and Coreli occupied each side of a narrow forested pass ..."
  22. ^ The Cambridge ancient history Volume 3, page 604, by John Boardman - 1991, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, "The Astae appeared only from the late Hellenistic era, second-first century B.C."
  23. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 606: "In the middle Hebrus valley and to the east of the Odrysae and the Coleates minores are the Benni..."
  24. ^ The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46 (Men-at-Arms) by Christopher Webber and Angus McBride, ISBN 1-84176-329-2, 2001, page 13: "... of the Emperor Augustus) who returned the favour, defeating the Bessi when they attacked Macedonia. This tribe must have impressed the Romans, as they took to calling all Thracians 'Bessi'; they wrote it down as the tribe of origin ..."
  25. ^ An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, 2005, ISBN 0-19-814099-1, page 854, "... Various tribes have occupied this part of Thrace: Bisaltians (lower Strymon valley), Odomantes (the plain to the north of the Strymon) ..."
  26. ^ a b c d e The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubrey de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 452: "... I10 The Thracian tribes lying along his route were the Paeti, Cicones, Bistones, Sapaei, Dersaei, Edoni, and Satrae..."
  27. ^ a b Strabo, Geography, book 7, chapter fragments: ... and a fourth to Pelagonia. Along the Hebrus dwell the Corpili, the Brenæ still higher up, above them, and lastly
  28. ^ a b Polyaenus: Stratagems - BOOK 7, The generals of the Cebrenii and Sycaeboae, two Thracian tribes, were chosen from among the priests of Hera. Cosingas, according to the tradition of the country, was elected to be their priest and general; but the army took some objection to him, and refused to obey him. To suppress the rebelliousness that had taken hold of the troops, Cosingas built a number of long ladders, and fastened them one to another. He then put out a report, that he had decided to climb up to heaven, in order to inform Hera of the disobedience of the Thracians. The Thracians, who are notoriously stupid and ridiculous, were terrified by the idea of their general's intended journey, and the resulting wrath of heaven. They implored him not to carry out his plan, and they promised with an oath to obey all of his future commands.
  29. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 606: "The other branch of this tribe, the Coelaletae maiores, lived in the region of the High Tonzos between Stara ..."
  30. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 601-602
  31. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 600
  32. ^ Plin. Nat. 4.18, "Thrace now follows, divided into fifty strategies1, and to be reckoned among the most powerful nations of Europe. Among its peoples whom we ought not to omit to name are the Denseletæ and the Medi, dwelling upon the right bank of the Strymon, and joining up to the Bisaltæ above2 mentioned; on the left there are the Digerri and a number of tribes of the Bessi"
  33. ^ a b The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 607: "The existence of a tribe called Diobessi (Plin.Loc.Cit.) links together ethnically the Bessi and the Dii..."
  34. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 607: "Of these interminable struggles which never ceased to plague Thrace the best known were those between the Apsynthii and the Dolonci..."
  35. ^ The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss, ISBN 1-4165-3205-6, 2009, page 31: "... ancient text might have referred not to nomads but to Maedi (singular, Maedus). The Maedi were a Thracian tribe..."
  36. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 601: "Earlier certain tribes of the Maedi emigrated to Asia minor where they were known by the name of the MaedoBythini..."
  37. ^ a b c Anabasis by H. G. Dakyns, 2006, ISBN 1-4250-0949-2, page 321: "... his sway extended over the Melanditae, the Thynians, and the Tranipsae. Then the affairs of the Odrysians took ..."
  38. ^ A Lexicon to Xenophon's Anabasis: Adapted to All the Common Editions, for the Use Both of Beginners by Alpheus Crosby, Xenophon, ISBN 1-110-27521-8, 2009, page 83, " Melinophagi, a Thracian people near Sahnydessus on the Euzine, perhaps Srabo's Agra, ..."
  39. ^ a b The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 271, "The Thracians of... those who live beyond Apollonia and Mesembria, known as the Scyrmiadae and Nipsaeans, surrendered without fighting; but the Getae..."
  40. ^ Thrace in the Graeco-Roman world, p. 112 but others claim that together with the Agrianes and Odomanti, at least the latter of which were with certainty Thracian, not Paeonian.
  41. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece Messenia, 4.33.1, "...but settled among the Odrysae when pregnant, for Philammon refused to take her into his house. Thamyris is called an Odrysian and Thracian on these grounds..."
  42. ^ a b An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, 2005, ISBN 0-19-814099-1, page 803: "... a [...] decree from Gonnoi. Originally populated by Thracian Pieres, Leibethra and this part of Pieria were conquered by the ..."
  43. ^ Pausanias's Description Of Greece V4: Commentary On Books VI-VIII by James G. Frazer, 2006, page 132: "... led an army against ... Abrupolis, king of the Sapaeans etc. The Sapaeans were a Thracian tribe in the neighbourhood of Abdera..."
  44. ^ Euripides: Hecuba (Euripides) by M. Tierney, 2003, ISBN 0-906515-17-3, Back Matter: "... tells of an oracle of Dionysus among tlae Satrae, a Thracian tribe. The Greeks also regarded him as a god of ..."
  45. ^ Greek colonisation: an account of Greek colonies and other settlements overseas, ISBN 90-04-15576-7, by Gocha R. Tsetskhladze - 2008, page 488, "The territory of the Thracian Sintians..."
  46. ^ The central Balkan tribes in pre-Roman times: Triballi, Autariatae, Dardanians, Scordisci and Moesians, ISBN 90-256-0793-4, page 69, by Fanula Papazoglu - 1978, "...were directed against the Thracian coast. The Greeks came into contact with the ... says that "...the outstanding Thracian tribes were the Sithones..."
  47. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 2: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires and Other States of the Near East, from the Eighth to the Sixth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, and N. G. L. Hammond, ISBN 0-521-22717-8, 1992, page 600: "The Triballi were the western neighbours of the Treres and the Tilataei who occupied in general the region of Serdica..."
  48. ^ Psyche: the cult of souls and the belief in immortality among the Greeks -page 281 by Erwin Rohde, ISBN 0-415-22563-9, 2000, "It appears that a branch of the Thracian tribe of the Tralles..."
  49. ^ Plutarch\'s Lives Volume III by Plutarch, 2007, ISBN 1-4264-7592-6, page 183: "... have been connected with diem. Liddell and Scott speak of "Trallians" as "Thracian barbarians employed in Asia as mercenaries, torturers, and executioners."
  50. ^ Herodotus, "The Trausi in all else resemble the other Thracians, but have customs at births and deaths which I will now describe. When a child is born all its kindred sit round about it in a circle and weep for the woes it will have to undergo now that it is come into the world, making mention of every ill that falls to the lot of humankind; when, on the other hand, a man has died, they bury him with laughter and rejoicings, and say that now he is free from a host of sufferings, and enjoys the completest happiness." (Histories, 5.4)
  51. ^ History of Greece: Volume 3 by George Grote, ISBN 1-4021-7005-X, 2001, page 253: "... to speak of several invasions, in which the Trêres, a Thracian tribe, were concerned, and which are not clearly discriminated..."
  52. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69 (Volume 10) by Alan Bowman, Edward Champlin, and Andrew Lintott, 1996, p. 580, "...Danubian and Balkan provinces Tricornenses of Tricornium (Ritopek) replaced the Celegeri, the Picensii of Pincum..."
  53. ^ "The Ancient Kingdom of Paionia". Balkan Studies 6. 1965.
  54. ^ The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Robert B. Strassler, Richard Crawley, and Victor Davis Hanson, 1998, ISBN 0-684-82790-5, page 153,"... of them still live round Physcasb- and the Almopians from Almopia.
  55. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History, Martin Percival Charlesworth, ISBN 0-521-85073-8, ISBN 978-0-521-85073-5 Volume 4, Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, C. 525 to 479 B.C, John Boardman, page 252, "The Paeonians were the earlier owners of some of these mines, but after their defeat in the coastal sector they maintained their independence in the mainland and coined large denominations in the upper Strymon and the Upper Axius area in the names of the Laeaei and the Derrones"
  56. ^ The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 452, "... Then he passed through the country of the Doberes and Paeoplae (Paeonian tribes living north of Pangaeum), and continued in a ..."
  57. ^ An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, 2005, ISBN 0-19-814099-1, page 854, ... Various tribes have occupied this part of Thrace: Bisaltians (lower Strymon valley), Odomantes (the plain to the north of the Strymon) ...
  58. ^ Thrace in the Graeco-Roman world, p. 112 but others claim that together with the Agrianes and Odomanti, at least the latter of which were with certainty Thracian, not Paeonian.
  59. ^ The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 315, ... "was that a number of Paeonian tribes – the Siriopaeones, Paeoplae, ..."
  60. ^ The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN 0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 315, "... was that a number of Paeonian tribes – the Siriopaeones, Paeoplae, ..."
  61. ^ Strabo, The Geography, VII.3: Mysia, Dacia, and the Danube (SE Europe) [1] published in Vol. III of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1924, p. 294‑308
edit