Thracian distribution area

Thrace or Thrace/Thracia, where Thracians have lived for generations, is located in the east of the Balkans, and its historical boundaries have changed. Except for Pompone Mela, ancient writers did not seem to give a clear definition of the geographical scope of Thrace at that time. Roughly centered on the East River (now the Danube) and the area south of Bulgaria, it extends to the Aegean coast in the south, including Sasos Island, Samotras Island and even Remnos Island, facing north and the Darcy area north of the Danube River, reaching the Carpathian Mountains and the upper reaches of the Tisza River, and facing the Yukexin Sea in the east.

However, in the more distant historical period, the living area of Thracians was much wider than the above-mentioned scope, "once occupied the entire Balkan Peninsula from the Yukexin Sea to the Adriatic Sea", and even extended eastward to Lake Miotis (now the Azov Sea) and the West Meria Strait (now the Kerch Strait). That is to say, the Thracians' activity area is not limited to Bulgaria, Romania, northeastern Greece, northwestern Turkey and eastern Hungary as seen in classical times, and even covers a large part of Albania, Serbia and Croatia and the southern coastal areas of Ukraine. In the western Balkans, as the Illyrians quickly went south along the Adriatic coast, the Thracians were forced to retreat eastward to the central Balkans. According to some people's speculation, the time for Illyrians to expel Thracians eastward was about 1300 BC, and at least before 1 100 BC, the area west of the Aksius River had been occupied by Illyrians. Later, the Macedonian army rose and further pushed the Thracians eastward. After 480 BC, the land west of the Strimont River was incorporated into the territory of Macedonia. In this way, the western border of Thrace was formed, which laid the basic distribution pattern of ancient nationalities in the Balkans: Illyrians lived in the west, Thracians lived in the east, Greeks lived in the south, and there were Macedonians living together in the hinterland between them. The historical residence of Thracians in the western Balkans seems to have left some traces. It is said that their descendants once stayed on individual islands off the coast of Albania and lived with Illyrians until they were finally assimilated by the latter. Some elements of Thracian also influenced the later formation of Albanian.

It is worth mentioning that the geographical scope of Thrace sometimes extends to the northwest of Asia Minor. According to Xenophon, it is called "the Asian part of Thrace", and its scope starts from the mouth of Youkesin and extends to Herakria (about today's Egli, Turkey), also known as Bitinia. In Pompone Mera's works, the Bosphorus itself is called "Thrace Strait". In the history of toponymy, it was called "Bosporus Strait of Thrace", just as the area around Byzantium (now Istanbul) at the western end of the Strait was called "Thrace Delta" in ancient times. In a word, in history, the northwest of Asia Minor may be the residence of Thrace immigrants from the Balkans, and the narrow Bosphorus and Helegu (now Daniil) have never been obstacles to the immigration movement in history. According to legend, as early as around 1200 ~ 1000 BC, Thracians crossed the Strait and entered the northwest of Xiaoya. Later, it seems that immigrants from the Balkans kept pouring in, and they worked as mercenaries in Xiaoya. It can be seen that in different historical periods, the geographical scope of Thrace has also advanced and retreated in space with the changes of Thracian activities.