Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...
tribe that inhabited the upper valley of the
Hebros
Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Haemus and
Rhodope Rhodope may refer to:
* Rhodope (mythology), a figure of Greek mythology
* Rhodope Mountains, in Bulgaria and Greece
* Rhodope (regional unit)
Rhodope ( el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodópi'' ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the reg ...
mountain ranges in historical
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
.
Geography
The exact geographic location of the Bessi is still unclear. According to
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, the Bessi occupied the highest summits of the
Satrae The Satrae ( el, "Σάτραι") were, in ancient geography, a Thracian people, inhabiting part of Mount Pangaeus between the rivers Nestus (Mesta) and Strymon (Struma).
According to Herodotus, they were independent in his time, and had never be ...
in south-western Thrace, while Polybius alludes to the Bessi as having been situated on the plains between the
Dentheletae
The Dentheletae ( el, Δενθελῆται), also Danthaletae (Δανθαλῆται) or Denseletae, were a Thracian tribe that in antiquity lived near the sources of the River Strymon, and are mentioned in texts by Polybius, Cassius Dio, Tacit ...
and
Odrysians
The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many List of ancient tribes in Thrace and Dacia, Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BCE, BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. ...
. The geographic extent of the Bessi is further expanded upon by Strabo in his '' Geographica'', where he states that the Bessi inhabited a land beginning near the source of the Hébros and encompassing the highlands between the Haemus and Rhodope mountain ranges that bordered the
Paeonians
Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their lan ...
Autariatae
The Autariatae or Autariatai (alternatively, Autariates; grc, Αὐταριᾶται, ''Autariatai''; la, Autariatae) were an Illyrian people that lived between the valleys of the Lim and the Tara, beyond the Accursed Mountains, and the v ...
and
Dardani
The Dardani (; grc, Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; la, Dardani) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their ...
to the west. Strabo also places the Bessi as bordering the Odrysians and
Sapaeans
Sapaeans, Sapaei or Sapaioi (Ancient Greek, "Σαπαίοι") were a Thracian tribe close to the Greek city of Abdera. One of their kings was named Abrupolis
and had allied himself with the Romans. They ruled Thrace after the Odrysians until i ...
. There are also indications that the Bessi gradually came to settle the lowlands between the Hébros and
Tonsus
The Tundzha ( bg, Тунджа , tr, Tunca , el, Τόνζος ) is a river in Bulgaria and Turkey (known in antiquity as the Tonsus) and the most significant tributary of the Maritsa, emptying into it on Turkish territory near Edirne.
The riv ...
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik ( bg, Пазарджик ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality.
The Tatars founded Pazardzhik i ...
, consequently expanding eastwards near Beroe.
In light of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, modern scholars have formulated a number of theories on the location of the lands associated with the Bessi during the period of Roman imperialism - known as ''Bessica''. The first major paradigm, originally advanced by
Gavril Katsarov
Gavril Iliev Katsarov ( bg, Гаврил Илиев Кацаров) was a Bulgarian historian, classical philologist and archeologist. Rector of Sofia University. Director of the National Archaeological Museum and the Bulgarian Archeological Inst ...
, largely coincided with ancient accounts although was later expanded by Georgi Mihailov to also coincide with Philippopolis and the surrounding environs located to the east of the Bessi core, as well as including the area around modern
Yakoruda
Yakoruda ( bg, Якоруда ) is a Bulgarian town located in the southwestern part of the country. A part of the Blagoevgrad Province, it is the seat of Yakuroda Municipality which is the north-easternmost in the province. The town lies in the ...
to the south. The paradigm would then maintain that, during the reign of
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, the territory would come to be administratively incorporated into Philippopolis as a consequence of the emperor's urbanizing projects in Thrace. On the other hand,
Margarita Tacheva
Margarita Tacheva ( bg, Маргарита Тачева; June 4, 1936 – December 18, 2008) was an eminent Bulgarian historian, a full professor in ancient history
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and record ...
proposed that Roman Bessica had no civic centre and was based around the Rhodope, Rila, and Strandzha mountains. She then argues that the region was administratively attached to Philippopolis during the reign of
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
, later being divided and absorbed into the administrative units of
Scupi
Scupi (''Σκούποι'' in ancient greek) is an archaeological site located between Zajčev Rid (''Зајчев Рид'' 'Rabbit Hill') and the Vardar River, several kilometers from the center of Skopje in North Macedonia. A Roman military camp w ...
,
Serdica
Serdika or Serdica ( Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria.
Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandov ...
, and Philippopolis under Trajan. While these two paradigms dominate academia, a third theory presented by Peter Delev puts forth that Bessica was centred on the northern foothills of the Rila mountain range and was located outside of the Rhodopes.
History
According to Herodotus, the Bessi were a sub-tribe or branch of the Satrae intimately tied to the
cult of Dionysus
The cult of Dionysus was strongly associated with satyrs, centaurs, and sileni, and its characteristic symbols were the bull, the serpent, tigers/leopards, ivy, and wine. The Dionysia and Lenaia festivals in Athens were dedicated to Dionysus, ...
and responsible for interpreting the prophetic utterances of the prophetess at the deity's sanctuary, located on the highest summits of the land inhabited by the tribe. This prophetic role of the Bessi in the cult has led many scholars to suggest that they may have initially represented a priestly-caste within the greater Satrae tribal group, and that membership into the community was intrinsically entwined with their cultic role and maintenance of the sanctuary of Dionysus.
In c. 340 BCE, the Macedonian generals Antipater and
Parmenion
Parmenion (also Parmenio; grc-gre, Παρμενίων; c. 400 – 330 BC), son of Philotas, was a Macedonian general in the service of Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. A nobleman, Parmenion rose to become Philip's chief milita ...
are noted as having conducted military campaigns in the lands of the ''Tetrachoritai'' as a part of Philip II of Macedon's subjugation of various Thracian polities. The aforementioned tribal group was believed by Strabo to have been the same as that of the Bessi, which he also refers to by the name of ''Tetrakomai''. According to a modern reading of the sources, however, it is possible that the Tetrachoritai and other Thracian groups associated with the Bessi were originally smaller tribes that later became a part of a Bessian-led tribal conglomerate, on the other hand, it is also possible that the tribal designation of ''Bessi'' (and its variations) later came to bear no true ethnic meaning and was applied by classical sources to a range of different Thracian tribes inhabiting the highlands of south-western Thrace. Likewise, the
Dii
:''Dii'' ''is also the plural of Latin Deus.''
The Dii (; grc, Δίοι, Díoi) were an independent Thracian tribe, swordsmen, who lived among the foothills of Mount Rhodope in Thrace, and particularly in the east bank of Nestos, from the ...
are believed to be related to the Bessi as
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
records the ethnonym '' Diobessoi''. Later in 184 or 183 BCE, the Bessi appear as among the Thracian tribes that were attacked by
Philip V of Macedon
Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king ( Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon ag ...
. The Macedonian king had managed to push into the valley of the Hébros and captured Philippopolis, installing a garrison which was later driven out by the Odrysians.
The Bessi would achieve their greatest prominence in the historical record in their conflicts with the expanding Roman state and the formation of
Roman Macedonia
Macedonia ( grc-gre, Μακεδονία) was a province of the Roman Empire, encompassing the territory of the former Antigonid Kingdom of Macedonia, which had been conquered by Rome in 168 BC at the conclusion of the Third Macedonian War. The pr ...
in 146 BCE. Between the years 106 and 100 BCE, the Bessi would come into armed conflict with the
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
Marcus Minucius Rufus who was distinguished in his campaigns against the Thracians, to the point in which the people of Delphi erected an
equestrian statue
An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a d ...
in his honour. The statue bore a bilingual inscription which outlined the consul's victory against the Celtic
Scordisci
The Scordisci ( el, Σκορδίσκοι) were a Celtic Iron Age cultural group centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus (Sava), Dravus (Drava), Margus (Morava) and Danube rivers. They were historically n ...
and "Bessi and the rest of the Thracians" (''pros Bessous i tous loipous Thrai as'). A virtually identical statue is also noted as having been erected in Europus. The disparate locations of these statues suggests that the conflict was geographically broad and also attests to the military mobility of the Bessi, the inscriptions also present a change in the presentation of the Bessi, who are depicted as the most notable among the Thracians. In 72 BCE, following the retreat of
Mithridates VI Eupator
Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator ( grc-gre, Μιθραδάτης; 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an e ...
and his forces to Bithynia, Thrace was assigned to the
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...
of Macedonia,
Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus
Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus (116 – soon after 56 BC), younger brother of the more famous Lucius Licinius Lucullus, was a supporter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and consul of ancient Rome in 73 BC. As proconsul of Macedonia in 72 BC, he defea ...
, who initiated a campaign against the Thracians and subjugated the Bessi, occupying the settlement of ''Uscudama'' – one of the Bessian tribal centres. In 29–8 BCE, the sacred sanctuary of Dionysus was taken from the Bessi by Marcus Licinius Crassus and given to the Odrysians, rivals of the Bessi and allies of the Romans. In response, the priest Vologaesus rallied the Bessi in c. 15–1 BCE, and managed to win a number of military victories against the Odrysian nobles Rhascyporis and Rhoemetacles. This conflict further supports the thesis that the identity of the Bessi prior to complete Roman subjugation was strongly linked and rooted to the sanctuary of Dionysus, and that their rivalry with the neighbouring pro-Roman Thracians strengthened this tribal and geographic identity. According to Appian, the Bessi surrendered themselves to
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
.
As a result of their opposition to the Romans, there was a shift in the depiction of the Bessi which emphasised their war-like and predatory natures. As such, Strabo refers to the tribe as being "called brigands even by the brigands". The stereotypical image of the Bessi would also become representative for all natives of Thrace as a whole, as is evidenced by a second century CE mural painting from Valentia, Hispania Tarraconensis, which depicts a Bessian woman next to other peoples exotic to the Romans. The ethnonym of the Bessi became less associated with the core tribe and their original geographic location, it became an identity that was readily abstracted onto the inhabitants of the south-eastern Balkans.
As a result of their conflicts with the Romans, a portion of the Bessi were forcibly resettled in the region of
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
, with the poet
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
noting a community of Bessi living near Tomis. Epigraphic analysis attests to around 40–50 individuals bearing the ethnonym of ''Bessi'' or ''Bessus'' in the Roman imperial navy, while 22 appear in the auxiliary land forces, 5–7 in the ''
equites singulares Augusti
The ''equites singulares Augusti'' (lit: "personal cavalry of the emperor" i.e. imperial horseguards) were the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard during the Principate period of imperial Rome. Based in Rome, they escorted the Roman emperor whenev ...
'', and even less in the
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...
. One explanation for the significant presence of the Bessi in the navy maintains that they were from the branch that had been resettled in Dobruja and thus had become accustomed to sailing; however, the fact that the Bessian sailors did not reach high ranks within the navy suggests that they likely had no prior experience in seafaring. Thus, it is possible that the presence of the Bessi can simply be attributed to a larger population size during the time of mass recruitment under
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...
and
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...
, the latter of which was preparing for a war in Dacia. However, traditional scholarship has argued that during the Roman period ''Bessi'' became a synonym for all Thracians living south of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
and thus the tribal name did not bear an ethnic meaning. Hence why the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
author
Kekaumenos Kekaumenos ( el, Κεκαυμένος) is the family name of the otherwise unidentified Byzantine author of the '' Strategikon'', a manual on military and household affairs composed c. 1078. He was apparently of Georgian-Armenian origin and the gra ...
wrote that the
Vlachs
"Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other E ...
stem from the Dacians and Bessi who had migrated from their homeland between the Danube and
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
, and into
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
, Macedonia, and Hellas.
The name ''Bessi'' and its related variations appear across the Balkans, particularly during the Roman period. ''Bessus'' is attested among the ancient locals of the area around modern Pljevlja and
Prijepolje
Prijepolje ( sr-cyr, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2011 census, the town has 13,330 inhabitants, while the municipality has 37,059 inhabitants.
Etymology
One possibl ...
. It also appears in the Roman veteran legionary settlements of Scupi (''Colonia Flavia Aelia Scupi'') and Aprus (''Colonia Claudia Apri''). In Dacia it appears in several sites, including
Sarmizegetusa Regia
Sarmizegetusa Regia, also Sarmisegetusa, Sarmisegethusa, Sarmisegethuza, Ζαρμιζεγεθούσα (''Zarmizegethoúsa'') or Ζερμιζεγεθούση (''Zermizegethoúsē''), was the capital and the most important military, religious an ...
,
Banatska Palanka
Banatska Palanka () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Bela Crkva municipality, South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The population of the village is 837 (2002 census), of whom 752 (89.84%) are ethnic Serbs.
Name
In Serbian th ...
Towards the end of the 4th century, Nicetas of Remesiana, the Bishop of
Dacia
Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...
brought the gospel to "those mountain wolves", the Bessi. Reportedly his mission was successful, and the worship of Dionysus and other
Thracian gods
The Thracian religion refers to the mythology, ritual practices and beliefs of the Thracians, a collection of closely related ancient Indo-European peoples who inhabited eastern and southeastern Europe and northwestern Anatolia throughout antiqui ...
was eventually replaced by
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...
there was a monastery in which the monks spoke
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
,
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
and ''Bessian''. The origin of the monasteries is explained in a mediaeval hagiography written by
Simeon Metaphrastes
Symeon, called Metaphrastes or the Metaphrast (; ; died c. 1000), was a Byzantine writer and official. He is regarded as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day falls on 9 or 28 November.
He is best known for his 10-volume Gree ...
, in ''Vita Sancti Theodosii Coenobiarchae'' in which he wrote that
Saint Theodosius
Theodosius the Cenobiarch ( 423–529 AD) was a monk, abbot, and saint who was a founder and organizer of the cenobitic way of monastic life. His feast day is on January 11.Great Synaxaristes: Ὁ Ὅσιος Θεοδόσιος ὁ Κοιν ...
founded on the shore of the Dead Sea a monastery with four churches, in each being spoken a different language, among which Bessan was found. The place where the monasteries were founded was called "Cutila", which may be a Thracian name.
Albanian hypothesis
The further fate of the Bessi is a matter of dispute. German historian Gottfried Schramm derived the Albanians from the Christianized Bessi, after their remnants were pushed by Slavs and Bulgars during the 9th century westwards into today Albania, while mainstream historians support Illyrian-Albanian relation.
From a linguistic point of view it emerges that the Thracian-Bessian hypothesis of the origin of Albanian should be rejected, since only very little comparative linguistic material is available (the Thracian is attested only marginally, while the Bessian is completely unknown), but at the same time the individual phonetic history of Albanian and Thracian
clearly indicates a very different sound development that cannot be considered as the result of one language. Furthermore, the Christian vocabulary of Albanian is mainly
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, which speaks against the construct of a "Bessian church language". The elite of the Bessi tribe was gradually Hellenized. Low level of borrowings from Greek in the Albanian language is a further argument against the identification of Albanian with the Bessi. Also the dialectal division of the Albanian-speaking area in the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
contradicts the alleged migration of Albanians in the hinterland of Dyrrhachium in the first decades of the 9th century AD, especially because the dialectal division of a linguistic space is in general a result of a number of linguistic phenomena occurring during a considerable span of time and requires a very large number of natural speakers.
See also
*
Dii
:''Dii'' ''is also the plural of Latin Deus.''
The Dii (; grc, Δίοι, Díoi) were an independent Thracian tribe, swordsmen, who lived among the foothills of Mount Rhodope in Thrace, and particularly in the east bank of Nestos, from the ...
*
Satrae The Satrae ( el, "Σάτραι") were, in ancient geography, a Thracian people, inhabiting part of Mount Pangaeus between the rivers Nestus (Mesta) and Strymon (Struma).
According to Herodotus, they were independent in his time, and had never be ...
Analecta Bollandiana
The Bollandist Society ( la, Societas Bollandistarum french: Société des Bollandistes) are an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century ...