The
Odrysian kingdom (
Ancient Greek ?as??e??? ?d??s??) was a union of
Thracian tribes that endured between the
5th century BC and the
3rd century BC. It consisted largely of present-day
Bulgaria, spreading to parts of
Romanian Northern Dobruja, parts of Northern
Greece and modern-day
European Turkey. King
Seuthes III later moved the capital to
Seuthopolis[1].
The Odrysians (Odrysae or Odrusai, Ancient Greek "?d??sa?") were one of the most powerful Thracian tribes[2] that dwelled in the plain of the Hebrus[3] river.This would place the tribe in modern European Turkey[4] close to Edirne. The river Artescus[5] passed through their land as well. Xenophon[6] writes that the Odrysians held horse races and drunk large amounts of wine and after the burial of their dead warriors. Thucydides writes on their custom, practised by most Thracians, of giving gifts for getting things done.[7] Herodotus is the first that mentions the Odrysae.
Thrace had nominally been part of the Persian empire since 516 BC[8] and was re-subjugated by Mardonius[9] in 492 BC. The Odrysian state was the first Thracian kingdom that acquired power in the region, by the unification[10] of many Thracian tribes under a single ruler, King Teres[11] in the 5th century BC.
Initially, during the reign of Teres or[12] Sitalces the state was at its zenith and extented from the Black Sea to the east, Danube to the north, the region populated with the tribe called Triballi to the north-west, and the basin of the river Strymon to the south-west and towards the Aegean. Later its extent changed from present day Bulgaria, Turkish Thrace and Greece between the Hebrus and the Strymon except for the coastal strip the Greek cities occupied[13]. Sovereignty was never exercised over all of its lands as it varied in relation to tribal politics.
