Thrace

Thrace, a name used by the ancients somewhat vaguely for a large region to the west of the Euxine (Black Sea) so as to include the whole country between the Ister (Danube) and the Ægean, and even part of the Scythian country beyond the Ister. Under the Romans, however, part of this vast region was joined to Macedonia; the country between the Ister and the Hæmus (Balkans) became the province of Mæsia (mod. Bulgaria); so that the province of Thracia was the remaining district between the Hæmus and the Propontis, and from the Nestus River (mod. Karasu) to the Euxine; see the map of the Roman empire, Vol. VIII. Thracia was hilly in surface, Rhodope (q.v.) being the chief mountain-system; the chief river was the Hebrus (Maritza); great part of the area was occupied by forest. Who the ancient Thracians were has been much disputed; their language has perished utterly; but there seems no doubt that they were a branch of the Indo-European stock, and kinsmen, more or less remote, of the Greeks, though they were regarded by the Greeks as barbarians. Thrace never constituted one powerful monarchy, though at times the kings of one or other of the Thracian clans extended his power over great part of the country, so as to be formidable to the Athenian colonists or to the Macedonian monarchs. The accepted Roman suzerainty long remained half independent; but under Vespasian Thrace became a province of the empire, and its people became Romanised so entirely that it seems not improbable the Thracian provincials were the direct ancestors of the Vlachs, speaking Roumanian, who are still numerous south of the Danube. Goths and Huns overrun the country; Bulgarians occupied the north; and since the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks the fortunes of Thrace have been largely bound up with those of that city. Latterly the northern part of Thrace has become the province of Eastern Roumelia (see BULGARIA), while the remainder is still an integral part of the Ottoman empire.