Thrace is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe. It is split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. It comprises southeastern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and the European part of Turkey. The region's boundaries are based on that of the Roman Province of Thrace; the lands inhabited by the ancient Thracians extended in the north to modern-day Northern Bulgaria and Romania and to the west into the region of Macedonia.
Tourism in Bulgaria is a significant contributor to the country's economy. Situated at the crossroads of the East and West, Bulgaria has been home to many civilizations: Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Eastern Romans or Byzantines, Slavs, Bulgars, and Ottomans. The country is rich in tourist sights and historical artifacts, scattered through a relatively small and easily accessible territory. Bulgaria is internationally known for its seaside and winter resorts.
The Thracians were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history. Thracians resided mainly in the Balkans but were also located in Anatolia and other locations in the southeast of Europe.
The Thracian Tomb of Svestari is 2.5 km southwest of the village of Sveshtari, Razgrad Province, which is 42 km northeast of Razgrad, in northeast Bulgaria. The tomb is probably the grave of Dromichaetes who was a king of the Getae on both sides of the lower Danube around 300 BC, and his wife, the daughter of King Lysimachus who was a general and diadochus of Alexander the Great. The tomb is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Odrysian kingdom was an ancient Thracian state that thrived between the early 5th century BC and the early 3rd / late 1st century BC. Located in present-day Bulgaria, southeastern Romania, northern Greece and European Turkey, it was a tribal amalgamation dominated by the Odrysians and the first larger political entity to develop in the eastern Balkans. Before the foundation of Seuthopolis in the late 4th century it had no fixed capital.
Amadocus was an Odrysian ruler in Thrace, who ruled from 360 to c. 351 BC.
The Thracian religion refers to the mythology, ritual practices and beliefs of the Thracians, a collection of closely related ancient Indo-European peoples who inhabited eastern and southeastern Europe and northwestern Anatolia throughout antiquity and who included the Thracians proper, the Getae, the Dacians, and the Bithynians. The Thracians themselves did not leave an extensive written corpus of their mythology and rituals, but information about their beliefs is nevertheless available through epigraphic and iconographic sources, as well as through ancient Greek writings.
East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically a part of Southeast Europe. It accounts for 3.4% of Turkey's land area but comprises 15% of its total population. The largest city of the region is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosporus between Europe and Asia. East Thrace is of historic importance as it is next to a major sea trade corridor and constitutes what remains of the once-vast Ottoman region of Rumelia. It is currently also of specific geostrategic importance because the sea corridor, which includes two narrow straits, provides access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea for the navies of five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The region also serves as a future connector of existing Turkish, Bulgarian, and Greek high-speed rail networks.
The Panagyurishte Treasure is a Thracian treasure.
The Rogozen Treasure, called the find of the century, is a Thracian treasure.
The Valchitran Treasure is an early Thracian treasure.
The Lukovit Treasure is a silver Thracian treasure.
Skudra was a province (satrapy) of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in Europe between 510s BC and 479 BC. Its name is attested in Persian and Egyptian inscriptions. It is believed to have comprised the lands now known as Thrace and Macedon.
Teres II or Teres III was a king of the Odrysians in Thrace from 351 BC to 341 BC.
The history of Thracian warfare spans from the 10th century BC up to the 1st century AD in the region defined by Ancient Greek and Latin historians as Thrace. It concerns the armed conflicts of the Thracian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans. Apart from conflicts between Thracians and neighboring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Thracian tribes.
The Helmet of Iron Gates is a Geto-Dacian silver helmet dating from the 4th century BC, housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts, United States.
The Borovo Treasure, also known as the Borovo Silver Treasure, is a Thracian hoard of five matching silver-gilt items discovered in late 1974 while ploughing a field in Borovo, Bulgaria.
The gold wreaths from Thrace are jewellery wreaths found in inner Thrace, which is within present day Bulgaria. The gold wreaths were found in the mounds and tombs of aristocrats at various locations in Thrace that have been dated to a period from the latter half of the fourth century and early part third century BC.
The Golden Orphism Book is a Thracian golden artifact consisting of 6 bound sheets with total weight of 100 grams, with a size 5 to 4.5 cm, made of 23.82-karat gold. As the sheets are linked bookwise, it is considered the oldest surviving codex, or book. Its contents are related to Orphism, which existed in the Thracian and Hellenistic world. Illustrations of priests, a horse-rider, a mermaid, a harp and soldiers, as well as writing in Etruscan, hint at burial process of an aristocrat devoted to the cult of Orphism. Found when a tomb was inadvertently opened during construction of a canal in Bulgaria, the book can be seen by the public in the National Historical Museum in Sofia
Vazovo Thracian Pegasus
Kralevo Treasure
Letnitsa treasure
Sinemorets Gold figurines
Yakimovo Thracian Treasure
Ravnogor Thracian Treasure
Mogilanska Mogila Funeral Offerings
Golden mask of Teres I, the first ruler of the Odrysian kingdom
Bronze Head of Seuthes III found in Golyamata Kosmatka
King Cotys I's Borovo Treasure
Odrysian Wreath of Cersobleptes, Zlatinica-Malomirovo
A thracian golden necklace found in Arabadjiiska Mogila
Thracian helmet found in Pletena
Golden treasure found at the Great Sveshtari Mound
