WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Glad to be here. If 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:05.440 you're tuning in right now, I know exactly why 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:07.320 you're here. You have that relentless curiosity, 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:10.419 that drive to learn something completely new 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:13.359 and fascinating. But you absolutely do not want 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:16.519 to be bogged down by a dry academic lecture. 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:19.510 Exactly. You want the good stuff, the historical 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:22.670 aha moments without feeling overwhelmed by, you 00:00:22.670 --> 00:00:25.050 know, a barrage of dates and hard to pronounce 00:00:25.050 --> 00:00:27.629 names. Well, you are in the perfect place. Today, 00:00:27.809 --> 00:00:30.730 our mission is to unpack a stack of recent historical 00:00:30.730 --> 00:00:33.409 analyses and fresh archaeological discoveries. 00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:36.189 Specifically concerning the Thracians. Right, 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:38.649 the Thracians. We're going to uncover the truth 00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:41.350 behind a sprawling ancient civilization that 00:00:41.350 --> 00:00:45.020 history has... largely forgotten. Or at the very 00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:47.560 least, completely misunderstood. That is exactly 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:49.640 what we're looking at today. To set the stage 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.579 for you, the Thracians were a vast Indo -European 00:00:52.579 --> 00:00:54.380 people. We're talking about a huge population. 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:57.359 A massive population that inhabited an immense 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.579 swath of Southeast Europe. If you look at a modern 00:01:00.579 --> 00:01:02.899 map, you'd find their territory covering modern 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:06.599 day Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia. Northern 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:09.459 Greece. Yeah, northern Greece, European Turkey, 00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:12.040 and even stretching into northwestern Anatolia. 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.920 Wow. Their culture really began to emerge during 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:17.760 the early Bronze Age, so starting around 3500 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:21.700 BC. They were an undeniable, monumental presence 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:23.780 in the ancient world for thousands of years. 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:26.019 And here's the paradox we're about to explore, 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.180 which I think is the real hook of this whole 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:30.939 deep dive. It really is. The Greeks and the Romans, 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:34.079 who wrote most of the history we rely on, painted 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:36.989 the Thracians in an incredibly harsh light. They 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:40.109 called them bloodthirsty, ferocious, unsophisticated 00:01:40.109 --> 00:01:43.030 barbarians. But at the exact same time, this 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.689 is the very culture that gave the ancient world 00:01:45.689 --> 00:01:49.069 the origins of wine. Yes. They gave us legendary 00:01:49.069 --> 00:01:52.329 mythic figures like Orpheus, real -life historical 00:01:52.329 --> 00:01:55.049 icons like Spartacus, and even several Roman 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.170 emperors. It's a fascinating duality. You have 00:01:57.170 --> 00:02:00.769 this entrenched image of wild, untamed warriors 00:02:00.769 --> 00:02:03.450 on one hand, and then you see the profound cultural 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:05.469 and historical legacy they left behind on the 00:02:05.469 --> 00:02:07.989 other. It really forces us to question the reliability 00:02:07.989 --> 00:02:10.030 of the narrators who recorded their history. 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:12.430 OK, let's unpack this. Let's look at the actual 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:15.349 propaganda, because the ancient writers really 00:02:15.349 --> 00:02:17.710 did a number on the Thracians' reputation. They 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:19.949 really did. And I want to look at this with a 00:02:19.949 --> 00:02:23.310 bit of skepticism. Plato, for example, grouped 00:02:23.310 --> 00:02:25.330 them right alongside the Scythians in his Republic, 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:27.909 calling them extravagant and high -spirited. 00:02:28.030 --> 00:02:30.830 Which wasn't exactly a compliment in that context. 00:02:31.169 --> 00:02:33.129 Not at all. And Tacitus, the Roman historian, 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:36.530 went even further in his annals. He wrote that 00:02:36.530 --> 00:02:39.560 they were wild, savage, and impatient. Claiming 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:41.580 they were disobedient even to their own kings. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.000 Right. And it wasn't just the ancients. A 19th 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.219 century French historian named Victor Giroux 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:50.099 later noted that the Thracians considered farming 00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:53.159 entirely beneath them. He said they knew no source 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:56.680 of gain but war and theft. War and theft? Wait, 00:02:56.699 --> 00:02:58.659 so if Victor Giroux is saying they only knew 00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.060 war and theft, how does that square with the 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:02.879 fact that they literally gave us the origins 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.099 of wine? You don't build complex generational 00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:08.969 vineyards through hit and run theft. That is 00:03:08.969 --> 00:03:11.150 the perfect question to ask, and it cuts right 00:03:11.150 --> 00:03:13.689 to the heart of the bias. The Greeks and Romans 00:03:13.689 --> 00:03:15.909 judged the concept of civilization through a 00:03:15.909 --> 00:03:19.789 very specific urban lens. Meaning walled cities. 00:03:20.110 --> 00:03:23.509 Exactly. To them, if you didn't have sprawling 00:03:23.509 --> 00:03:26.969 walled cities made of stone, centralized bureaucracies, 00:03:26.969 --> 00:03:29.789 and a specific type of agriculture, you were 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:32.129 a barbarian. So the Thracians didn't have that. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.439 Well, they were largely a rural pastoral society. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.860 They lived mostly in simple, open villages spread 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:41.500 across the mountains and plains. But a lack of 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:43.900 stone cities does not mean a lack of civilization 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:47.139 or agricultural prowess. Not at all. And their 00:03:47.139 --> 00:03:49.319 physical appearance was heavily stereotyped too, 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:51.479 right? Uh -uh, heavily. The ancient Greek poet 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:53.740 Xenophanes described the Thracians as having 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:57.199 blue eyes and red hair. In fact, ancient Greek 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.159 artwork often depicted them as redheads. Yeah, 00:04:00.219 --> 00:04:03.060 and the name Rufus, which literally means redhead, 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.819 became a very common name given to enslaved people 00:04:05.819 --> 00:04:08.259 in Rome because so many of them were of Thracian 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:10.360 origin. But I was reading the anthropological 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:13.319 data in our sources, and modern science pushes 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:16.439 back on that narrative entirely. It does. While 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:18.860 ancient authors love to categorize entire groups 00:04:18.860 --> 00:04:21.860 as red -haired as a way to exoticize them. Which 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:23.660 they did to other groups too, right? Yes, they 00:04:23.660 --> 00:04:25.939 did the exact same thing to the Slavs and the 00:04:25.939 --> 00:04:28.800 Scythians. But modern academic studies point 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.740 in a completely different direction. Anthropologist 00:04:31.740 --> 00:04:34.959 Eris N. Poulianos states that the ancient Thracians 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:38.300 actually belonged mainly to the Aegean anthropological 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:41.279 type. Let's clarify that term for a second. What 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:43.839 exactly does the Aegean type look like in reality? 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.379 essentially it means they looked like typical 00:04:46.379 --> 00:04:49.540 mediterranean populations okay they likely shared 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:51.980 the olive skin darker hair and darker facial 00:04:51.980 --> 00:04:55.019 features of modern bulgarians and greeks they 00:04:55.019 --> 00:04:57.379 weren't a monolith of bright red hair and blue 00:04:57.379 --> 00:05:00.040 eyes so where did the red hair thing come from 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.300 the red hair descriptions were likely a mix of 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:05.379 encountering a few specific northern tribes combined 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:07.879 with a literary trope meant to make them sound 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.800 alien and other to a greek audience that makes 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:12.980 a lot of sense what's fascinating here is that 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.899 the whole barbarian label is a textbook case 00:05:15.899 --> 00:05:18.439 of history being written by the victors. Or the 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.720 urban elites, in this case. Precisely. Even the 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:23.740 Romans and Greeks who insulted them constantly 00:05:23.740 --> 00:05:26.579 had to reluctantly admit that the Thracians were 00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:28.980 renowned for their highly sophisticated poetry 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:31.220 and music. And we have the physical artifacts 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:33.879 to prove it. It's not just ancient hearsay. No, 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.360 the archaeology is stunning. When archaeologists 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:38.639 started digging, especially after World War II 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:40.980 in southern Bulgaria, they found things that 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:43.399 completely dismantle that savage stereotype. 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:46.139 I am looking at the notes on the Valley of the 00:05:46.139 --> 00:05:49.199 Thracian Rulers and specifically the Panegyrish 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.860 Day gold treasure. Oh, the Panegyrish Day treasure 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.519 is incredible. We are talking about a breathtaking 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:58.759 set of 24 karat gold vessels from the 4th or 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:01.439 3rd century BC. Right. There are drinking horns 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:03.699 intricately shaped like the heads of stags and 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:07.180 rams and amphoras detailed with complex mythological 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:10.819 scenes. These people were master goldsmiths and 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:13.420 silversmiths. Absolutely. The level of artistry 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:15.600 is... staggering. You don't create the Panagiotis 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:19.079 State treasure if your entire society only knows 00:06:19.079 --> 00:06:21.839 how to raid your neighbors. Exactly. The material 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.899 wealth, the understanding of metallurgy, and 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:27.459 the sheer artistic skill required to make those 00:06:27.459 --> 00:06:30.620 artifacts point to a highly stratified, wealthy, 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.259 and sophisticated society. They had elite classes. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.339 Yes. Elites who commissioned art that rivaled 00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:38.860 anything coming out of Athens or Rome. Speaking 00:06:38.860 --> 00:06:40.920 of their society, let's dive into their social 00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:44.129 customs, because they are incredibly complex 00:06:44.129 --> 00:06:47.069 very much so in some ways they feel surprisingly 00:06:47.069 --> 00:06:50.569 modern and in others completely foreign for one 00:06:50.569 --> 00:06:54.050 they were heavily tattooed both men and women 00:06:54.050 --> 00:06:56.790 tattooed their bodies which the greeks and romans 00:06:56.790 --> 00:06:59.529 thought was bizarre And we should contextualize 00:06:59.529 --> 00:07:01.649 why that was so shocking to the Greeks. In ancient 00:07:01.649 --> 00:07:04.329 Greek society, tattoos were generally used as 00:07:04.329 --> 00:07:06.689 a penal measure. Like for criminals. Yeah, you 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:09.129 tattooed criminals or the enslaved to mark them. 00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:11.610 But for the Thracians, tattoos were a mark of 00:07:11.610 --> 00:07:13.829 high nobility and status. Wow, total opposite. 00:07:14.029 --> 00:07:16.990 A profusely tattooed Thracian was likely an aristocrat, 00:07:17.050 --> 00:07:19.649 which completely inverted the Greeks' social 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:23.230 norms. That makes so much sense. And their views 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.490 on relationships were just as contrary to the 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:28.949 Greeks. According to Herodotus, virginity among 00:07:28.949 --> 00:07:31.670 women was not valued at all prior to marriage. 00:07:32.430 --> 00:07:35.250 Unmarried Thracian women had total sexual freedom 00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:37.810 to be with whatever men they pleased. However, 00:07:37.990 --> 00:07:40.810 once they were married, wives were strictly guarded. 00:07:41.339 --> 00:07:43.500 And marriage itself was a completely different 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:46.660 institution. It was. They practiced extreme polygamy, 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:49.160 which was highly unusual for the region. There 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.360 is a quote from the Greek writer Menander that 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.639 perfectly captures how the rest of the Mediterranean 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:56.720 view this. I love this quote. He wrote, all Thracians, 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:59.399 especially us in the Getae, are not much abstaining 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:02.980 because no one takes less than 10, 11, 12 wives. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:06.180 12 wives. If one dies and has only four or five 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.120 wives, he's called ill -fated, unhappy, and unmarried. 00:08:09.470 --> 00:08:11.550 It's just wild to think about. It's like showing 00:08:11.550 --> 00:08:13.589 up to a modern high school reunion with a flip 00:08:13.589 --> 00:08:16.250 phone society. Just looks at you with sheer pity. 00:08:16.550 --> 00:08:19.149 But logistically, how did that even work in a 00:08:19.149 --> 00:08:22.730 society of simple villages? Having 10 wives implies 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:26.009 an enormous economic burden. You've hit the nail 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:29.310 on the head. That kind of extreme polygamy was 00:08:29.310 --> 00:08:32.389 almost certainly restricted to the tribal elites 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:34.470 and chieftains. Okay, that makes more sense. 00:08:34.669 --> 00:08:37.620 It was an indicator of immense wealth. If you 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:40.279 could support 12 wives and their subsequent children, 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:43.700 you are projecting your power and resources to 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:46.620 the rest of the tribe. But what makes Thracian 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:49.179 society so dynamic is that for every extreme, 00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.940 there was a counter extreme. While the elite 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:55.539 men were practicing this intense polygamy, they 00:08:55.539 --> 00:08:58.419 also had a highly honored subculture of male 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:01.110 ascetics known as the Tiste. Right. The monks. 00:09:01.309 --> 00:09:03.269 Yes, these were Thracian monks, philosophers, 00:09:03.389 --> 00:09:05.850 and prophets who lived completely celibate lives. 00:09:05.990 --> 00:09:08.250 So no wives for them. None. They lived without 00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:11.049 women entirely, often abstained from eating meat, 00:09:11.149 --> 00:09:13.330 and dedicated themselves strictly to the gods. 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:16.149 That's a huge contrast. Despite being the polar 00:09:16.149 --> 00:09:18.370 opposite of the wealthy chieftains, they were 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:20.750 held in places of highest honor and reverence 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:23.529 within the society. If we connect this to the 00:09:23.529 --> 00:09:26.350 bigger picture, you start to see how deeply spiritual 00:09:26.350 --> 00:09:29.210 the Thracians were. Their religion was incredibly 00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:32.889 rich. They followed a polytheistic system, but 00:09:32.889 --> 00:09:35.909 with very strong monotheistic elements. Like 00:09:35.909 --> 00:09:38.470 the Thracian horsemen. Yes. Also known as Sabazios, 00:09:38.549 --> 00:09:42.070 who was a god of the underworld, often depicted 00:09:42.070 --> 00:09:44.690 slaying a beast with a spear. And then there 00:09:44.690 --> 00:09:46.950 was another god for the northern tribes. The 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:49.710 Getae tribe, up near modern Romania, followed 00:09:49.710 --> 00:09:52.610 a god named Zalmoxis who promised them eternal 00:09:52.610 --> 00:09:55.769 life after death. Got it. But crucially, Thrace 00:09:55.769 --> 00:09:58.250 is considered by many historians to be the literal 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:01.049 motherland of wine culture. This is the part 00:10:01.049 --> 00:10:03.190 that blows my mind. We are talking about a winemaking 00:10:03.190 --> 00:10:06.110 tradition dating back 6 ,000 years. They were 00:10:06.110 --> 00:10:08.409 the very first to worship the god of wine, a 00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:11.470 deity they called Zagreus. And Zagreus eventually 00:10:11.470 --> 00:10:13.570 makes his way into Greek mythology and gets... 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:16.159 rebranded as Dionysus, right? Precisely. The 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:18.899 Greeks adopted the god of wine from the Thracians, 00:10:18.899 --> 00:10:21.399 though it's worth noting the Greeks were often 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:23.480 scandalized by how the Thracians drank their 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.440 wine. Oh, so? Well, the Greeks always diluted 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:28.879 their wine with water, considering it civilized. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:31.659 The Thracians drank it straight, often in large 00:10:31.659 --> 00:10:34.059 quantities during religious rituals to achieve 00:10:34.059 --> 00:10:36.940 a state of divine ecstasy. So every time you 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:39.559 enjoy a glass of undiluted wine, you might just 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:41.379 have the Thracians to thank for starting the 00:10:41.379 --> 00:10:43.779 trend. Exactly. But it's important we don't swing 00:10:43.779 --> 00:10:46.740 the pendulum too far the other way and romanticize 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.929 them as just peaceful. wine -drinking monks. 00:10:50.250 --> 00:10:53.730 They lived in a brutal ancient world. Very brutal. 00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.429 And the archaeology shows they participated in 00:10:56.429 --> 00:10:59.269 its darkest aspects. For instance, archaeological 00:10:59.269 --> 00:11:02.269 evidence does confirm that the Thracians practiced 00:11:02.269 --> 00:11:04.769 human sacrifice. They did. It was a complex, 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:08.330 rugged world. Yeah. Human sacrifice, often involving 00:11:08.330 --> 00:11:10.389 prisoners of war or sometimes even their own 00:11:10.389 --> 00:11:13.330 people in times of extreme crisis, was a reality 00:11:13.330 --> 00:11:15.909 of their religious practices. So what does this 00:11:15.909 --> 00:11:19.350 all mean? Which brings us to a fascinating geopolitical 00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:22.129 puzzle. Right. If you have this incredibly wealthy, 00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:25.850 heavily armed civilization, I mean, Herodotus 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:27.509 said they were the second most numerous people 00:11:27.509 --> 00:11:29.509 in the known world, right behind the Indians. 00:11:29.750 --> 00:11:31.950 That's a massive population. Why didn't they 00:11:31.950 --> 00:11:34.730 just conquer the Mediterranean? With that kind 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:38.049 of vast population and martial culture, why aren't 00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:40.610 we speaking Thracian today? That is the exact 00:11:40.610 --> 00:11:44.090 question ancient historians wrestled with. Herodotus 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:46.350 himself said that if the Thracians could ever 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:49.129 unite under one ruler, they would be invincible. 00:11:49.490 --> 00:11:52.269 But they didn't. The short answer for why they 00:11:52.269 --> 00:11:55.309 didn't is severe political fragmentation. They 00:11:55.309 --> 00:11:58.750 were fractured into roughly 200 distinct independent 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:02.240 tribes. 200 that... That is a logistical nightmare. 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:05.159 It was. You had major groups like the Idrisians 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.500 in the south and the Gitei in the north near 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:10.460 the Danube River. But the geography of the Balkans 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:12.799 with its dense forests and the towering road 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.259 open Balkan mountain ranges fostered isolation. 00:12:15.639 --> 00:12:17.879 So they were cut off from each other. Mostly, 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.879 yes. These tribes were fiercely independent and 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:22.620 fought each other for territory and resources 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:25.340 almost as much as they fought outsiders. They 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:27.799 simply could not form a unified front. But there 00:12:27.799 --> 00:12:30.360 was one moment in the 6th century BC when someone 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:33.659 else united them by force, right? The Persians. 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:37.600 Yes, the Persian Achaemenid Empire under Darius 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.500 I launched a colossal campaign into Europe and 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:43.960 conquered Thrace. And they made it a province. 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:46.200 Right, incorporating it into their empire as 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:49.100 a satrapy called Scudra. Wait, so a fiercely 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:52.539 independent warrior culture just accepted being 00:12:52.539 --> 00:12:55.159 conquered by an outside empire. That seems totally 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:57.120 counterintuitive. It does sound strange, but 00:12:57.120 --> 00:12:59.460 the historical record shows something very surprising. 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:02.580 What's that? The Thracians actually seemed to 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:05.230 like Persia. or at least they found it highly 00:13:05.230 --> 00:13:07.629 beneficial. Really? The Persians were pragmatic 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:10.509 administrators. They treated the Thracians with 00:13:10.509 --> 00:13:13.169 favor, sometimes giving local chieftains more 00:13:13.169 --> 00:13:15.389 land and authority. Ah, playing the politics. 00:13:15.629 --> 00:13:18.210 Exactly. More importantly, the Thracians realized 00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.610 that being part of the sprawling Persian Empire 00:13:20.610 --> 00:13:24.110 provided a powerful economic and military buffer. 00:13:24.370 --> 00:13:26.870 Against who? It protected them against Greek 00:13:26.870 --> 00:13:29.389 expansion from the south, and it stopped the 00:13:29.389 --> 00:13:32.070 relentless devastating raids from the Scythian 00:13:32.070 --> 00:13:34.669 nomads. to the north. So it was essentially a 00:13:34.669 --> 00:13:38.149 mutually beneficial security pact. Exactly. In 00:13:38.149 --> 00:13:40.830 fact, during the Ionian Revolt, when various 00:13:40.830 --> 00:13:43.789 Greek cities rebelled against Persian rule, the 00:13:43.789 --> 00:13:46.289 Thracians flat out refused to help the Greeks. 00:13:46.509 --> 00:13:49.049 They stuck with the Persians. They actively supported 00:13:49.049 --> 00:13:51.370 the Persians because the arrangement brought 00:13:51.370 --> 00:13:54.330 them stability and wealth. But eventually, the 00:13:54.330 --> 00:13:56.129 Persians were pushed out of Europe by the Greeks. 00:13:56.350 --> 00:13:59.370 And when that superpower left, the Thracians 00:13:59.370 --> 00:14:02.440 finally had their moment of internal unity. The 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:04.740 Idrisian Kingdom. Right. This is the rise of 00:14:04.740 --> 00:14:07.259 the Idrisian Kingdom. Under a king named Teres 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:09.919 I, the Idrisian tribes started conquering their 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.000 neighbors and making strategic alliances. He 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.500 was very effective. They managed to unite over 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:17.620 40 different Thracian tribes into one unprecedented 00:14:17.620 --> 00:14:20.779 state. The Idrisian Kingdom became incredibly 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:23.200 powerful to the point where they allied with 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:25.600 Athens and even joined the Peloponnesian War 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:28.279 on the Athenian side. It was their golden age 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:30.899 of political unity. They controlled trade routes, 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.840 fielded huge armies and held vast territories 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:36.080 from the Aegean Sea all the way up toward the 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.419 Danube. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.700 Even when they weren't united into one kingdom, 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:45.559 the entire ancient world relied heavily on Thracian 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.539 military might. They were the ultimate ancient 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:51.000 mercenaries. They were highly sought after. They 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:53.039 developed a highly specialized type of light 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:56.220 infantry soldier called a peltast. The peltast 00:14:56.220 --> 00:14:58.720 completely revolutionized ancient warfare. Right. 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:01.600 Instead of fighting in a clunky, heavily armored 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.759 Greek phalanx, the peltast was lightly armed. 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.460 They carried a crescent shaped wicker shield 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:10.080 called a pelt and a bundle of javelins. Very 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.799 mobile. They relied on speed, mobility and hit 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:14.779 and run tactics. It's almost like comparing a 00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:17.580 slow moving tank to a highly mobile special ops 00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:19.840 unit. That's a great comparison. They were so 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.139 effective that Alexander the Great recruited 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:24.980 Thracian cavalry and infantry into his own army. 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:27.759 Alexander the Great understood their value perfectly. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:30.399 Thracian soldiers fought right alongside him 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.419 in his most pivotal battles, like Isis and Gagamella. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.200 Those were massive. The specific battles where 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:39.000 Alexander literally toppled the Persian Empire. 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.220 He couldn't have done it without Thracian mobility 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.860 on his flanks. And that leads us to some of the 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:46.179 most famous Thracians in history. We already 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:48.740 mentioned Orpheus, the mythical bard whose music 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:51.659 could charm stones and trees. Right. But the 00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:54.820 most famous historical Thracian has to be Spartacus. 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:57.600 Yes, that's Spartacus. The gladiator. He was 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.080 a Thracian who was enslaved, forced to become 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:03.019 a gladiator, and then led a massive slave uprising 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:05.639 that literally brought the Roman Republic to 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:08.679 its knees. And when you realize he likely had 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:11.720 training in those highly mobile, peltast, hit 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.720 -and -run tactics, it suddenly makes sense. It 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:17.500 completely does. It explains how a group of gladiators 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.799 and enslaved people could outmaneuver and defeat 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:23.000 organized Roman legions. It is a brilliant connection. 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:26.379 Spartacus perfectly embodies that Thracian martial 00:16:26.379 --> 00:16:29.059 spirit and tactical brilliance that the Romans 00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:31.460 both feared and heavily exploited. But eventually 00:16:31.460 --> 00:16:34.419 Rome did come for Thrace itself. Of course they 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:37.039 did. By the mid -2nd century BC, the Romans were 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:39.960 slowly conquering the region. The Thracians, 00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:42.740 true to form, rebelled constantly. There are 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.159 accounts of a particularly fierce mountain tribe 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:48.629 called the Dai. Yes, the Dai. They were armed 00:16:48.629 --> 00:16:51.669 with a terrifying weapon called a romphea, which 00:16:51.669 --> 00:16:54.190 was a long, slightly curved blade that could 00:16:54.190 --> 00:16:56.830 literally cleave a Roman shield in half. That 00:16:56.830 --> 00:16:59.750 sounds terrifying. It was. The daia were responsible 00:16:59.750 --> 00:17:02.190 for horrifying atrocities during their conflicts, 00:17:02.370 --> 00:17:05.609 famously decapitating Roman soldiers and impaling 00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:07.890 their heads on those long swords to strike fear 00:17:07.890 --> 00:17:11.039 into the legions. But the Romans... with their 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:14.039 endless resources, were relentless. They always 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.960 were. Eventually, the Odrysian heartlands were 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:19.099 converted into the official Roman province of 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:22.619 Thracia around 46 AD. But here's the ultimate 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:25.220 historical irony. I love this part. The people 00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:27.859 Rome conquered and enslaved eventually ended 00:17:27.859 --> 00:17:30.660 up ruling Rome itself. Several later Roman and 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:32.680 Byzantine emperors were actually of Thracian 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.079 descent. It's incredible. You have Maximinus 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:37.539 Thrax, a literal giant of a man who ruled in 00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.500 the 3rd century. You have Justin I, and maybe 00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:43.559 most famously, Justinian the Great. Yes, Justinian. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.519 The emperor who rewrote Roman law and built the 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:49.579 iconic Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, he was 00:17:49.579 --> 00:17:51.920 of Thracian origin, born in the region of Dardania. 00:17:52.299 --> 00:17:54.960 It shows how deeply intertwined they became with 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:56.819 the Roman world. They weren't just conquered 00:17:56.819 --> 00:18:00.480 and erased. They assimilated into the very fabric 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.180 of the empire's leadership. Which brings us to 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:05.799 the Great Vanishing Act. Where did this vast 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:08.319 civilization go? Because you don't hear about 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:10.539 the country of Thrace today. You really don't. 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:13.319 Part of it is a very dark story of human exploitation. 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:16.660 For centuries, the Greeks engaged in widespread 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:20.799 slave raids into Thracian territory. It was so 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:23.819 common that in ancient Athenian comedies, the 00:18:23.819 --> 00:18:27.259 generic default name for any female slave character 00:18:27.259 --> 00:18:30.220 was literally Thrata. Thrata, yeah. Which translates 00:18:30.220 --> 00:18:32.900 to Thracian woman. This raises an important question 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.019 about how a population of millions seemingly 00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:38.119 disappears from the map. The truth is, geography 00:18:38.119 --> 00:18:40.680 was their ultimate undoing. How so? They were 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.740 standing at the little crossroads of Europe and 00:18:42.740 --> 00:18:45.019 Asia. Over the centuries, they were repeatedly 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:47.579 invaded and overrun by subsequent migrations. 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:50.039 We are talking about the Celts, the Goths, the 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:52.480 Huns, the Romans, and eventually the Slavs. Just 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:55.960 wave after wave. Exactly. By the 6th century 00:18:55.960 --> 00:18:59.079 AD, the last remnants of their distinct independent 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:01.440 culture were fading. But they held on in some 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.819 incredibly remote places, right? They did. I 00:19:03.819 --> 00:19:05.799 read about a fascinating report from the year 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.880 570 AD by a traveler named Antoninus Placentius. 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.079 He wrote about visiting a remote monastery in 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:16.220 the deep valleys of Mount Sinai, way down in 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:18.720 Egypt. Very remote. And the monks there spoke 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.160 several languages, and one of them was Bessian, 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.779 the language of the Thracian Bessi tribe. Exactly. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:26.640 So you had this tiny pocket of Thracian language 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:29.079 still being spoken by monks in the desert long 00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:31.339 after their homeland had been conquered. That's 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:33.579 wild. But eventually, even that language died 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:36.079 out completely, and the Thracians were fully 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.799 assimilated into the Byzantine and Slavic societies 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.640 that took over the Balkans. And this is the crucial 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.150 part of our deep dive today. they didn't disappear 00:19:44.150 --> 00:19:47.490 biologically. A major genetic study published 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:50.910 in 2013 looked at the DNA of ancient Thracian 00:19:50.910 --> 00:19:53.390 remains and compared it to modern populations. 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:56.849 They found an incredible genetic similarity between 00:19:56.849 --> 00:19:59.849 ancient Thracians and modern Bulgarians. Yes, 00:19:59.849 --> 00:20:02.930 the study looked at their autosomal genetic legacy. 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:05.329 Which means what exactly? For those unfamiliar, 00:20:05.670 --> 00:20:08.269 autosomal DNA is essentially the broader genetic 00:20:08.269 --> 00:20:10.690 code you inherit from all your ancestors across 00:20:10.690 --> 00:20:13.769 the board. Not just your direct strict maternal 00:20:13.769 --> 00:20:16.849 or paternal lines. It gives us a full picture 00:20:16.849 --> 00:20:19.630 view of lineage. And what did that full picture 00:20:19.630 --> 00:20:23.150 show? It showed that roughly 55 % of the modern 00:20:23.150 --> 00:20:26.769 Bulgarian autosomal genetic legacy is Paleo -Bulcan 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:30.819 and Mediterranean. Wow. 55%. Yeah. Paleobalkan 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:33.599 simply means the indigenous pre -Slavic populations 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:37.099 of the region. This directly ties modern populations 00:20:37.099 --> 00:20:39.339 to the ancient Thracians. They didn't vanish 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:41.559 into thin air or get entirely wiped out. Their 00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:44.740 DNA is still walking around today in southeastern 00:20:44.740 --> 00:20:47.319 Europe. That is just incredible. To summarize 00:20:47.319 --> 00:20:49.720 the journey we've been on today for you, we started 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.480 with this caricature of bloodthirsty, savage 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:55.720 barbarians that the Greek Roman elites wanted 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:58.539 us to believe. But by looking at the archaeology 00:20:58.539 --> 00:21:00.819 in the broader context, we've uncovered a highly 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:03.519 sophisticated society. Truly sophisticated. A 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.799 society that crafted stunning 24 -carat gold 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.059 treasures, maintained complex social customs, 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:13.599 operated as a crucial geopolitical buffer, and 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.460 served as the motherland for a 6 ,000 -year -old 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.160 wine culture. Absolutely. They were fractured 00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:21.619 into hundreds of tribes, but they still provided 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:23.740 the ancient world with its most innovative warriors, 00:21:24.180 --> 00:21:27.099 its most enduring myths, and eventually, the 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:29.569 emperors who ruled over their conquerors. And 00:21:29.569 --> 00:21:32.349 as we wrap up, I want to leave you with one final 00:21:32.349 --> 00:21:35.809 lingering thought to mull over. Okay. We are 00:21:35.809 --> 00:21:38.849 talking about an immense population, millions 00:21:38.849 --> 00:21:42.410 of people that shaped European history for millennia. 00:21:42.450 --> 00:21:45.150 Right. Yet today, despite all their wealth and 00:21:45.150 --> 00:21:47.789 influence, we only have four short inscriptions 00:21:47.789 --> 00:21:49.650 of their written language in existence. Only 00:21:49.650 --> 00:21:51.950 four? Just four. One of them is the mysterious 00:21:51.950 --> 00:21:55.549 Ring of Azarovo, a gold ring inscribed with eight 00:21:55.549 --> 00:21:58.150 lines of text that remains entirely undeciphered 00:21:58.150 --> 00:22:01.140 to this day. It really makes you wonder if a 00:22:01.140 --> 00:22:03.819 civilization of millions spanning thousands of 00:22:03.819 --> 00:22:07.039 years can leave behind essentially zero deciphered 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:10.200 words of their own. What other profound, incredible 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:12.759 cultures in human history have been entirely 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:16.480 silenced or rewritten simply because their enemies 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.319 held the pen? That is a haunting and fascinating 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:21.799 thought to end on. Thank you so much for joining 00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:24.400 us on this deep dive into the Thracians. We hope 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.240 you walk away with a totally new perspective 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.259 on the ancient world. And maybe a little extra 00:22:28.259 --> 00:22:29.859 appreciation the next time you pour yourself 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:32.700 a glass of wine. Keep that curiosity alive, and 00:22:32.700 --> 00:22:34.799 we will catch you on the next deep dive.