A Companion to Ancient Thrace

A Companion to Ancient Thrace presents an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to the social and cultural complexity of the ancient Indo–European peoples inhabiting the Balkan periphery of the Classical world. Although the Thracians have often had limited interest from Western scholars, recent discoveries in archaeology and other fields have brought about an interdisciplinary reappraisal of this powerful ancient culture. Featuring contributions from leading scholars in Thracian archaeology, art, and history, essays focus on the five centuries comprising Classical and Hellenistic Thrace. Other readings consider problems of continuity and discontinuity with the preceding Early Iron Age and the succeeding Roman Imperial period. By shedding new light on the spread of Thrace’s cultural influences beyond its borders to the eastern Mediterranean and European worlds, A Companion to Ancient Thrace sets a new standard in Thracian scholarship while furthering our understanding of antiquity.

I. Introduction An Introduction to Studying Ancient Thrace  Nikola Theodossiev   II. Thrace and Thracians Geography  Jan Bouzek and Denver Graninger Ethnicity and Ethne   Denver Graninger         III. History            Early History of Thrace to the Assassination of Kotys I (360 BCE)   M. Zahrnt Thrace from the Assassination of Kotys I to Koropedion (360–281 BCE)  Peter Delev   Thrace from Koropedion to the Third Mithridatic War (281–73 BCE)  Peter Delev Roman Thrace  Ivaylo Lozanov Late Antique Thrace  Boyan Dumanov   IV. Evidence Settlements  Hristo Popov Dolmens and Rock–cut monuments  Georgi Nehrizov Ritual pits  Rumiyana Georgieva Tomb architecture     Daniela Stoyanova The Decoration of Thracian Chamber Tombs  Julia Valeva Gold, silver, and bronze vessels  Julia Valeva Adornments  Milena Tonkova                      The Pottery of Ancient Thrace  Anelia Boshkova Inscriptions  Dan Dana       Introduction to the numismatics of Thrace, ca. 530 BCE – 46 CE Evgeni Paunov   V. Influence and Interaction The Greek colonists  Margarit Damyanov Athens Matthew Sears Persia  Maya Vassileva Thracian and Macedonian Kingship W. S. Greenwalt Thracians and Scythians: tensions, interactions, and osmosis David Braund Celts  Julij Stoyanov   VI. Controversies Social Structure  Zosia Archibald Urbanization  Emil Nankov Trade  Chavdar Tzochev Warfare  Totko Stoyanov Religion Kostadin Rabadjiev

Julia Valeva is Professor at the Institute for Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She is the author of The Painted Coffers of the Ostrusha Tomb (2005) and Typology of the Thracian Tombs (2013). Emil Nankov is the Archaeology Program Officer of the American Research Center in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is a co–editor of Heraclea Sintica: from Hellenistic polis to Roman civitas, (4th c. BC–6th c. AD) (2014). Denver Graninger is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside and faculty member of the Tri–Campus Graduate Program in Classics. He is the author of Cult and Koinon in Hellenistic Thessaly (2011).