The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace: Orpheus Unmasked (Oxford Monographs on Classical Archaeology Series)

     Spectacular archaeological discoveries were made during the 1970s and 1980s in Bulgaria and North Aegean Greece which sparked international interest in the forgotten Odrysian kingdom of Thrace. Here, for the first time, these and earlier discoveries are presented in their archaeological and historical context. The Thracians were the fabulously wealthy and populous neighbours of the ancient Greeks, whose golden age began in the fifth century BC when an inter-tribal state was created by the ruling dynasty of the tribe — the Odrysians. A vogue in the Greek world for Orpheus the Thracian coincided with the period of the Odrysians's greatest prominence. Not only does this book analyse the fascinating cultural amalgam of native, Persian, and Greek elements by the Odrysian governing elite, it also provides new data on the external relations of Athens, Thasos, and Macedon in the Classical and Early Hellenistic periods.

Table of contents

List of Figures

List of Plates

Abbreviations

Part I: The Early Iron Age Background

1. Problems of Chronology and Methodology

2. Death, Burial, Memorial, and Renewal

3. On the Threshold of the Persian Wars

Part II: Wealth: Its Symbols and Substance

4. The Rise of the Odrysian Kingdom, c.480—c.389 BC

5. The Archaeological Evidence, c.480—c.400 BC (Excluding Burials)

6. Princely Burials and Funerary Customs

7. Imported Luxuries and their Meaning

8. The Warrior's Image: Arms and the Artist's Projection

Part III: Towards a Closer Union with the Greek World

9. The Odrysian Kingdom before Alexander the Great

10. Thracian Knights and the Macedonian Conquest

11. Metalware and Silver Plate of the Fourth century BC

12. Tomb Architecture and Decoration

13. Epilogue: An Early Hellenistic Kingdom

Appendix 1: Inscription from Asar dere near Vetren, Pazardzik Region

Appendix 2: Catalogue of Metal Objects from Thrace, Fifth to Fourth Centuries BC

Gazetteer of Archaeological Sites

References

Index

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