and ornaments have been found in some of them, it is plain that this mode of burial continued to be practised until a late period. The country was overrun several times by Darius and his generals, and the Thracian Greeks contributed 120 ships to the armament of Xerxes (Herod, vii. 185). The most powerful Thracian tribe was that of the Odrysae, whose king, Teres, .in the middle of the 5th century B.C. extended his dominion so as to include the greater part of Thrace. During the Peloponnesian War his son Sitalces was an ally of some importance to the Athenians, because he kept in check the Macedonian monarch, who opposed the interests of the Athenians in the Chalcidic peninsula. Again, in the time of Philip of Macedon we find Cersobleptes, who ruled the south-eastern portion of the country, exercising an important influence on the policy of Athens. During the early period of the Roman Empire the Thracian kings were allowed to maintain an independent sovereignty, while acknowledging the suzerainty of Rome, and it was not until the reign of Vespasian that the country was reduced to the form of a province (Kalopathakas, De Thracia, provincia romana, 1894; Mommsen, Roman Provinces, Eng. trans., 1886). From its outlying position in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula it was much exposed to the inroads of barbarian invaders. It was overrun by the Goths on several occasions, and subsequently by the Huns; but its proximity to Constantinople caused its fortunes to be closely connected with those of that city, from the time when it became the capital of the Eastern Empire. In the course of the middle ages the northern parts of Thrace and some other districts of that country were occupied by a Bulgarian population; and in 1361 the Turks made themselves masters of Adrianople, which for a time became the Turkish capital. When Constantinople fell in 1453 the whole country passed into the hands of the Turks, and in their possession it remained until 1878, when, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin, the northern portion of it was placed under a separate administration, with the title of Eastern Rumelia; this province has now become, to all intents and purposes, a part of the principality of Bulgaria. The population is composed of Turks, Greeks and Bulgarians. (H. F. T.)
Ancient Peoples.—The name “Thracians,” from being used both ethnically and geographically, has led to confusion. There were the true indigenous Thracians and also Celtic tribes such as the Treres in the early period, the Getae and Trausi later, and the Gallic Scordisci in Roman days. These were the “red” Thracians of Greek writers, and they differed not merely in physique and complexion, but also in their customs and religion from the native Thracians (Herod, v. 14). The native Thracians were inferior in morals, allowing their girls complete licence till marriage. The chief native deities were Dionysus, Ares and Bendis (Artemis), but many of these tribes had Celtic chiefs, who traced their descent from and worshipped a god called Hermes by the Greeks, but possibly Odin. The substantial features of the ancient Dionysiac rites, including a ritual play by “goat-men” carrying a wooden phallus, may still be seen at Bizye, the old residence of the Thracian kings (see R. M. Dawkins in Hellenic Journal, 1906, p. 191). The true Thracians were part of that dark-complexioned, long-skulled race, which had been in the Balkan peninsula from the Stone Age, closely akin to the Pelasgians (q.v.), the aborigines of Greece, to the Ligurians, the aborigines of Italy, and to the Iberians. The name “Illyrian” (see Illyria) was applied to all the tribes of this stock who dwelt west of the northern extensions of the Pindus range and in what was termed Upper Macedonia in later times, and who extended right up to the head of the Adriatic. In Homer the name Macedonia is not yet known, and the term Thracian is applied to all the tribes dwelling from Pieria to the Euxine. There is no well-defined difference between aboriginal Thracians and Illyrians. Thus there was an Illyrian tribe Brygi, a Thracian one Bryges; some of the latter had passed into Asia and settled in the land called from them Phrygia, whence some of them later passed into Armenia; some of the Mysians (regarded by Strabo as Thracians) had also crossed into what was later known as Mysia: closely connected with the Mysians were the Dardanii, of Trojan fame, who had a city Dardania or Dardanus. In Strabo's time a tribe called Dardanii, then reckoned Illyrian, living next the Thracian Bessi (in whose land was the oldest oracle of Dionysus), were probably as much Thracian as Illyrian. All the Thracian and Illyrian tribes tattooed, thus being distinguished from the Celtic tribes who had conquered many of them. The Thracians differed only dialectically from the Illyrians (Strabo), their tongue being closely allied to Greek. The Thracians of the region from Olympus to the Pangaean district, usually regarded as rude tribes, had from a very early time worked the gold and silver of that region, had begun to strike coins almost as early as the Greeks, and displayed on them much artistic skill and originality of types. The most famous were the Bisaltae, the Orrescii, Odomantcs and Edoni. Alexander I. of Macedon on his conquest of the Bisaltae adopted the native coinage, merely placing on it his own name (see, further, Numismatics: Greek, §§ Thrace and Macedonia). They were famous for their skill in music and literature. Orpheus, Linus, Thamyris and Eumolpus were theirs, and in later days the Dardanii were noted for their love of music as well as for their uncleanliness.
See Herodotus v. 3–8 ; H. Kiepert, Lehrbuch der alien Geographie (Berlin, 1878); A. Boué, La Turquie d’Europe (4 vols., Paris, 1840); G. Finlay, History of Greece, vols, i.–iv. (Oxford, 1877); W. Ridgeway, Early Age of Greece, i. 351 seq. (Cambridge, 1902); Tomaschek, Die alten Thraker (1893–1895); Hiller von Gaertringen, De Graecorum fabulis ad Thraces pertinentibus (1886). (W. Ri.)
THRALL, a slave, a captive or bondman, a term especially applied to the serfs (Lat. servi) of the early northern Teutonic peoples. It only occurs in Old English as a word borrowed from the Norse, the proper term in Old English being “theow” (þreow); the Icel. þraell (Dan. trael, Swed. trâl) is probably represented by O. H. Ger. dregil, trigil, trikil, a slave, and would therefore be derived from the root meaning “to run,” seen in O. Eng. þraegian, Goth, thagjan, cf. Gr. τρέχειν; Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1898) compares the “trochilus” (Gr. τροχίλος), the small bird that according to Herodotus waits or attends on the crocodile and picks insects out of his teeth.
THRASEA PAETUS, PUBLIUS CLODIUS, Roman senator and Stoic philosopher, lived during the reign of Nero. He was the husband of Arria the daughter of Arria (q.v.), father-in-law of Helvidius Priscus, and a friend and kinsman of the poet Persius. He was born at Patavium, and belonged to a distinguished and wealthy family. The circumstances under which he came to settle in Rome are unknown. At first he was treated with great consideration by Nero, probably owing to the influence of Seneca, and became consul in A.D. 56 and one of the keepers of the Sibylline books. In 57 he supported in the senate the
cause of the Cilician envoys, who came to Rome to accuse their late governor, Cossutianus Capito, of extortion. In 59 Thrasea first openly showed his disgust at the behaviour of Nero and the obsequiousness of the senate by retiring without voting after the emperor's letter justifying the murder of Agrippina had been read. In 62 he prevented the execution of the praetor Antistius, who had written a libel upon the emperor, and persuaded the senate to pass a milder sentence. Nero showed his displeasure by refusing to receive Thrasea when the senate
went in a body to offer its congratulations on the birth of a princess. From this time (63) till his death in 66 Thrasea retired into private life and did not enter the senate-house again. But his death had been decided upon. The simplicity of his life and his adherence to Stoic principles were looked upon as a reproach to the frivolity and debaucheries of Nero, who “at last yearned to put Virtue itself to death in the persons of Thrasea and Soranus” (Tacitus). Cossutianus Capito, the son-in-law of Tigellinus, who had never forgiven Thrasea for securing his condemnation, and Eprius Marcellus. undertook
to conduct the prosecution. Various charges were brought against him, and the senate, awed by the presence of large bodies of troops, had no alternative but to condemn him to death. When the news was brought to Thrasea at his house, where he was entertaining a number of friends, he retired to his chamber, and had the veins of both his arms opened. The narrative
