Greco-Thracian relations: selected issues

Abstract

The author presented the issue of contacts between the Greeks and Thracian tribes from the Bronze Age to historical times. The aim of the article is to show the nature and importance of these relations for the development of civilisation in the Balkans and the northern part of the Aegean world. The author used a historical method. He used literary sources, archaeological research results and findings of modern tractionology. The article discusses the most important directions of influence between the Thracian and Greek populations before the beginning of colonization and in subsequent periods of antiquity. Particular attention is paid to mythological evidence and literary traditions that may reflect very early Greek-Thracian connections dating back to the Mycenaean period. The author also analysed accounts of Thracian heroes and rulers, such as Orpheus, Tereus, Rezos, Phineus and Diomedes. He pointed out the importance of these figures for the reconstruction of the oldest cultural contacts. Greek-Thracian relations included economic exchange, religious influences, artistic influences and the mutual interpenetration of socio-political traditions. The geographical location of Thrace also favored intensive contacts between the Greeks and the Scythians, Cimmerians and the people of Asia Minor. Greek-Thracian relations should be perceived as a long-term process of cooperation that played an important role in shaping the history of the ancient region.