The Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a large area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family. The study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology.
The Struma or Strymónas is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. Its ancient name was Strymṓn. Its drainage area is 17,330 km2 (6,690 sq mi), of which 10,797 km2 (4,169 sq mi) in Bulgaria, 6,295 km2 (2,431 sq mi) in Greece and the rest in the Republic of Macedonia. It takes its source from the Vitosha Mountain in Bulgaria, runs first westward, then southward, forming a number of gorges, enters Greek territory at the Kula village. In Greece it is the main waterway feeding and exiting from Lake Kerkini, a significant centre for migratory wildfowl. The river flows into the Strymonian Gulf in Aegean Sea, near Amphipolis in the Serres regional unit. The river's length is 415 kilometres.
In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians (Παίονες).
Histiaeus, the son of Lysagoras, was a Greek ruler of Miletus in the late 6th century BC. Histiaeus was a Tyrant under Darius I, king of Persia, who had subjugated Miletus and the other Ionian states in Asia Minor, and was in the habit of appointing Greek tyrants to rule the Greek cities of Ionia in his territory.
The Odrysian Kingdom was a state union of over 40 Thracian tribes and 22 kingdoms that existed between the 5th century BC and the 1st century AD. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria, spreading to parts of Southeastern Romania, parts of Northern Greece and parts of modern-day European Turkey.
The Laeaeans were a Paeonian tribe who in the 4th century BC lived adjacent to the Agrianes, another Paeonian tribe, along the upper course of the Strymon river, at the western edge of Thrace. They were not incorporated into the Odrysian state or the Paeonian state, remaining an independent tribe outside the borders of those kingdoms. According to Thucydides, the Laeaeans, along with the Agrianes, the Thracian Dii, and other tribes, joined Sitalkes in his unsuccessful campaign against Perdiccas II of Macedon. The coins issued by the Laeaeans are judged to be of crude workmanship, and seem to be imitations of finer minted coins issued by other neighboring Paeonian tribes such as the Derrones. A typical coin bears the inscription LAIAI (Laeaeans) on the obverse, and a Pegasus in a double linear square on the reverse. It is unclear whether or not the Laeaeans were conquered by Philip II or Alexander the Great, although their neighbors are recorded by historians such as Arrian as client kings.
The Bessi were an independent Thracian tribe who lived in a territory ranging from Moesia to Mount Rhodope in southern Thrace, but are often mentioned as dwelling about Haemus, the mountain range that separates Moesia from Thrace and from Mount Rhodope to the northern part of Hebrus. Herodotus described them as a sort of priestly-caste among the Satrae, the Bessi being interpreters of the prophetic utterances given by a priestess in an oracular shrine of Dionysus located on a mountain-top.
The Pieres were a Thracian tribe connected with the Brygi, that long before the archaic period in Greece occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the Peneius and the Haliacmon rivers, at the foot of the great woody steeps of mount Olympus. This region was named after them as Pieria.
Eion was an ancient Greek Eretrian colony in Thracian Macedonia specifically in the region of Edonis. It sat at the mouth of the Strymon River which flows into the Aegean from the interior of Thrace. It is referred to in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War as a place of considerable strategic importance to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War.
Megabazus, son of Megabates, was a highly regarded Persian general under Darius, of whom he was a first-degree cousin. Most information about him comes from The Histories by Herodotus.
Sidirokastro is a town and a former municipality in the Serres regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sintiki, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is built near the fertile valley of the river Strymonas, on the bank of the Krousovitis River. Sidirokastro is situated on the European route E79 and the main road from northern Greece (Thessaloniki) to Bulgaria. It has a number of tourist sights, such as the medieval stone castle, Byzantine ruins, and natural spas.
Siris was an ancient city of Magna Graecia, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name flowing into the Tarentine gulf, and now called the Policoro []Sinni.
Odomanti or Odomantes were an ancient Thracian tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Pliny the Elder.
Paeoplae were an ancient Paeonian tribe in Thrace. The name is suggested to have Thracian origin.
Doberes were an ancient Paeonian tribe in Thrace.
Sirra or was an ancient Greek poleis located in Thrace, in the region between the river Strymon and the river Nestos. The city ethnic name was or and its territory was called. Sirra was located in the territory of the Odomantes.
Achaemenid Macedonia refers to the period in which the ancient Greek Kingdom of Macedonia was under the sway of the Achaemenid Persians. In 512/511 BC, Megabyzus forced the Macedonian king Amyntas I to make his kingdom a vassal of the Achaemenids. In 492 BC, following the Ionian Revolt, Mardonius firmly re-tightened the Persian grip in the Balkans, making Macedon a fully subordinate kingdom within the Achaemenid domains and part of its administrative system, until the definite withdrawal of the Persians from their European territories following the failure of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.
Serraepolis was an ancient city in Asia Minor, in coastal Cilicia, on the lower course of river Pyramos. It was also known under the names Serretilis, Ser(r)opolis, Serrai kome and Siris, as well as Kassipolis by Pliny.
