From ancient tales to archaeological riches
The Thracians made a keen impression on both their neighbours and the archaeological record, but how much do we really know about them? Sara E Cole and Jens Daehner introduced Matthew Symonds to an enigmatic group of peoples.
The Thracians may not be as famous as the Greeks and Romans, but they were certainly no strangers to the ancient literature. One memorable appearance takes the form of a cameo in the Iliad, where a contingent of Thracian warriors were late arrivals to the Trojan cause. The mythical leader of these Thracians, King Rhesos, is portrayed as a man who knew how to make an entrance. One of his horses was as white as snow and fast as the wind, while the king’s golden armour was seen as more fitting wear for a god than a mortal. The contingent’s contribution to the fighting was rather less striking, though. A great many were slain as they slept by the Greek heroes Odysseus and Diomedes, who promptly made off with the king’s accoutrements. Short though this incident is, it captures a number of the stock traits associated with Thracians in ancient literature: they were warriors, riders, workers of sumptuous metalwork, and they had an uncanny knack for finding themselves sandwiched between two greater and competing powers. They were also branded barbarians, for the Thracians did not write literature to equal their metallurgical marvels. Instead, our surviving sources were written by outsiders, primarily the ancient Greeks.
Thrace can more or less be equated with modern Bulgaria, along with parts of Romania, Greece, and Turkey. Archaeology has revealed that this region was indeed a source of breathtaking ancient metalwork, ranging all of the way from extravagant banqueting sets to a striking royal portrait. Such artefacts present some of the highlights of the current Ancient Thrace and the Classical World exhibition at the Getty Villa Museum in California (see further information box). This forms part of a series dedicated to putting the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan worlds in context by exploring their relationships with neighbouring cultures. Thanks to a partnership with Bulgarian institutions, material has been loaned from 14 regional museums, while other museums around the world have also contributed objects. The result is only the third major exhibition dedicated to the Thracians in the US, and the first on the West Coast. While the exquisite metalwork from ancient Thrace showcases the talents of their artisans, these archaeological riches pose a question, too: just who were the Thracians? Any attempt to answer it requires a careful weighing of the historical and archaeological sources.
Seen from the outside
‘The bulk of what we know from the ancient literature comes from the historians Herodotus and Thucydides’, says Sara E Cole, associate curator of antiquities at the Getty Museum. ‘In both instances, we have to be very careful about how we assess them. Herodotus is arguably taking more of what we would call an ethnographic approach, by describing different peoples and their practices. He talks about the military prowess of the Thracians, as well as how they practise tattooing as a sign of noble birth, and their dress and customs. Herodotus notes that they are organised into many different tribal groups, and he believes that the Thracians lack power because of an inability to organise among themselves. Thucydides, by contrast, provides a historical account of the Peloponnesian War, from 431-404 BCE. He does, though, have a personal connection to Thrace, as he seems to be of at least partial Thracian ancestry and has mining rights in the region. Nevertheless, when talking about the events of the war, he highlights a massacre that characterises them as a very violent and brutal people. Both of these authors are coming at Thrace from a particular cultural perspective, which holds that Greece is a very organised, sophisticated, and civilised society, while people who don’t act or look like them are chaotic, barbaric, and inferior. We have to be aware of this agenda when we consider these sources.’
‘And yet, while we have to be conscious of the biases, our main sources for the set up of Thrace as a political entity are those ancient historiographers and other Greek texts of various forms,’ says Jens Daehner, acting senior curator of antiquities at the Getty Museum. ‘There are also Thracian inscriptions, but we cannot read them. While archaeology can provide a counterbalance, there are gaps. We encountered one when we were putting together the exhibition: we tried to find images showing what Thracians look like when they depict themselves, but it is not an easy task. Different cultural influences are apparent in their art, so sometimes a seemingly locally produced piece represents people in a recognisibly Greek style. In other cases, we find objects showing Thracians that had clearly been manufactured in the Greek world. So those outsider perspectives do not just appear in the literature. Ultimately, we need the ancient sources, because they are what allow us to construct history, and we need archaeology to show us how that measures up to the material evidence from the region.’
Among that evidence, the most renowned must be the surviving metalwork, which typically comes from two types of context. One is aristocratic or royal tombs. While many of these were looted in antiquity, some survived intact and contained artefact assemblages that often combine both locally produced goods and objects from further afield in the Mediterranean world. The other context is treasure hoards, which have produced some of the most fabulous examples of metalwork from Thracian territory. These include the Valchitran treasure, the Panagyurishte group, and the Rogozen hoard. It seems that such sets were deliberately gathered together and then stashed in the ground, seemingly to keep valuables safe during periods of invasion or internal strife. Fortunately for modern scholars, in at least some cases any ancient hopes of recovering these caches were dashed. As these hoards were generally buried away from tombs, settlements, or temples, interpreting their ownership and purpose can, though, prove challenging.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Ancient Thrace and the Classical World: treasures from Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece will run at the Getty Villa Museum, California, until 3 March 2025. For more details, see www.getty.edu/exhibitions/ ancient-thrace-and-the-classical-world-treasures-from-bulgaria-romania-and-greece.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the J. Paul Getty Museum; the Ministry of Culture, Republic of Bulgaria; and the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Science.
A fascinating publication accompanying the exhibition is also available: J Spier, T Potts, S E Cole, and M Damyanov (eds) Ancient Thrace and the Classical World (ISBN 978-1606069400, £55).
This is an extract of an article that appeared in CWA 129. Read on in the magazine (Click here to subscribe) or on our website, The Past, which offers all of the magazine’s content digitally. At The Past you will be able to read each article in full as well as the content of our other magazines, Current Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and Military History Matters.
