The Odrysian kingdom was the first large state of the eastern Balkans, a union of Thracian tribes led by the Odrysians that rose in the fifth century BC across what is now Bulgaria, northern Greece, European Turkey and northern Dobruja. Founded by Teres I, it was for a time one of the strongest powers in Europe, an ally of Athens and a rival of Macedon. It split apart after 360 BC, was conquered by Philip II of Macedon in 340 BC, revived on a smaller scale under Seuthes III, and then fades from the record in the third century BC.
Out of the Persian retreat
With no Thracian writings, the story rests on archaeology, coins and Greek authors. Around 513 BC the armies of the Achaemenid Empire crossed into Europe, and Persian garrisons held points on the Thracian coast. After Xerxes' failed invasion of Greece in 480–479 BC, Persian power in Europe collapsed, and Thracian peoples moved into the gap. The Odrysians, whose homeland lay along the Hebros (today's Maritsa) and its tributaries, were the most successful.
Teres and Sitalces
The historian Thucydides names Teres I as the first powerful Odrysian king, who built a great realm over much of Thrace, though many tribes stayed independent. Teres married a daughter to the Scythian king Ariapeithes, securing his north-east. His son Sitalces ruled a realm reaching from the Strymon and Iskar rivers to the Black Sea and from the Aegean to the Danube; Thucydides judged it the richest kingdom between the Ionian Sea and the Black Sea. In 431 BC, at the start of the Peloponnesian War, Sitalces allied with Athens. At the turn of the year 428 BC he led a huge army against Macedon, said to number 150,000, though the figure is probably inflated, but withdrew after about a month when the promised Athenian help never came.
Kings, gifts and warriors
Odrysian kingship borrowed much from the Persian court. A king's authority rested on war, religion and the giving and receiving of gifts; under Seuthes I tribute reached 400 talents of gold and silver, shared with the leading nobles. There was no fixed capital: kings moved between fortified residences. The army relied on aristocratic horsemen and light infantry with crescent-shaped shields, the peltasts, who so impressed the Greeks that they hired them and copied them.
Division and Macedonian conquest
Around 400 BC the kingdom showed signs of strain, with rival rulers, and the Athenian commander Xenophon briefly served one of them, Seuthes II. Cotys I, king from 383 BC, reunited the realm and took the Thracian Chersonese from Athens, but he was murdered in 360 or 359 BC. Three kings then divided the land, while the Getae of the north-east had by then gone their own way. Philip II of Macedon picked them off one by one and, after a hard campaign from 342 to 340 BC, conquered the Odrysian interior.
Seuthes III and Seuthopolis
Some time between the late 330s and mid-320s BC, an Odrysian named Seuthes rebelled against Macedonian rule. After Alexander's death he fought an indecisive battle against Lysimachus, the new governor of Thrace, and the two eventually settled for dividing the country. Seuthes founded Seuthopolis near modern Kazanlak, a small Greek-style town of perhaps 1,000 people that served as his capital. It was destroyed in the first half of the third century BC, perhaps by Celtic invaders in the 270s or, by a newer view, in the 250s.
A fading memory
After Seuthopolis there is little firm evidence for an Odrysian state. A Thracian king Cotys who fought for Macedon against Rome in 171–168 BC was called an Odrysian, but this is doubted. By the first century BC the Sapaeans and Asti were the leading Thracian powers, and after about 31 BC Rome built up a Sapaean client kingdom that it turned into the province of Thracia in 45 or 46 AD.
On our maps
Our 1 BC map still draws an Odrysian Kingdom bordering the Roman Empire, although an Odrysian state is not securely attested after the third century BC; by then much of inland Thrace belonged to Rome's Sapaean client kingdom.
Sources
In pictures
1 images · scroll →Rulers of the Odrysian Kingdom
- c. 480–by 431 BCTeres I
- by 431–424 BCSitalces
- 424–c. 410/405 BCSeuthes I
- c. 410/405–c. 389 BCAmadocus I
- c. 405–383 BCSeuthes II (in the east, as a rival king)
- c. 389–c. 384 BCHebryzelmis
- 383–360/359 BCCotys I
- 359–341 BCCersebleptes (east)
- 359–352 BCBerisades (west)
- 359–351 BCAmadocus II (centre)
- 358–c. 347 BCCetriporis (west)
- 351–c. 341 BCTeres II (centre)
- c. 330–after 312 BCSeuthes III
- early 3rd century BCRoigos
Key dates
- c. 480 BCETeres I begins building an Odrysian realm as Persian power withdraws from Thrace.
- 431 BCESitalces allies with Athens at the start of the Peloponnesian War.
- 428 BCESitalces invades Macedon with a vast army but withdraws after about thirty days.
- 424 BCESitalces is killed fighting the Triballi, and his nephew Seuthes I succeeds him.
- 400 BCESeuthes II hires Xenophon's Greek mercenaries to extend his rule in eastern Thrace.
- 383 BCECotys I comes to the throne and soon reunites the Odrysian realm.
- c. 360 BCECotys I is murdered, and three rival kings divide the kingdom.
- 340 BCEPhilip II of Macedon completes his conquest of the Odrysian interior.
- c. 330 BCESeuthes III leads a Thracian rebellion against Macedonian rule.
- c. 250 BCESeuthopolis, Seuthes' capital, is destroyed, by Celts or perhaps a Seleucid army.
- c. 46 CERome turns its Sapaean client kingdom in Thrace into the province of Thracia.
From the atlas
Odrysian Kingdom on our maps
Borders of Time draws the Odrysian Kingdom on one of its 54 world maps, the one for 1 BCE. There it covers about 67,500 km² (26,100 sq mi), roughly the size of Ireland today.
On that map it borders Rome (Diocletianus).
On the map before it appears (100 BCE), the same area belongs to the Dacians. On the map after its last appearance (100 CE), it belongs to the Roman Empire.
Measured from the historical-basemaps snapshots this atlas uses. Borders in those maps are approximate, especially for early periods.
Quick answers
- When did the Odrysian Kingdom exist?
- From 460 BCE to 46 CE, about 510 years. The atlas draws it on its maps for 1 BCE.
- Where was the Odrysian Kingdom?
- At its largest, on the 1 BCE map, its land lies in today’s Bulgaria (56%) and Turkey (36%), with smaller parts in Greece. On that map it borders Rome (Diocletianus).
- What was the capital of the Odrysian Kingdom?
- Seuthopolis.
- How big was the Odrysian Kingdom?
- The Odrysian Kingdom was largest on the 1 BCE map, at about 67,500 km² (26,100 sq mi).
- Who founded the Odrysian kingdom?
- Teres I, named by Thucydides as the first powerful Odrysian king. Soon after 480 BC he built a large realm over much of Thrace from the Odrysian heartland on the Hebros (Maritsa), and his son Sitalces expanded it further.
- Who conquered the Odrysian kingdom?
- Philip II of Macedon. After Cotys I was murdered in 360 or 359 BC, the kingdom split between three kings, whom Philip weakened one by one before a hard campaign from 342 to 340 BC brought the Thracian interior under Macedonian control.
- What language did the Odrysians speak?
- They spoke Thracian, which has left almost no written texts of its own. Greek was used for writing, trade and administration, which is why most of what is known about the kingdom comes from Greek historians, inscriptions and coins.
- Was the Odrysian kingdom an ally of Athens?
- For much of the fifth century, yes. Sitalces allied with Athens in 431 BC against Macedon and married the sister of an Athenian envoy. Later relations soured: Cotys I fought Athens for the Thracian Chersonese and the Hellespont in the 360s BC.
- What happened to the Odrysians after Philip II?
- Around 330 BC Seuthes III led a revolt, fought Lysimachus to a standstill and ruled a smaller kingdom from Seuthopolis, near Kazanlak. After Seuthopolis was destroyed in the third century BC, an Odrysian state is barely attested, and Rome later ruled Thrace through the Sapaean kings.