Thracian, lat. Thrake, gr. was an Indo-European language and the Thracians were closely related to the Daki (Dacians).

The Thracian tribes were:

  1. the Getae in the north who originally extended into Bessarabia,
  2. the Odrysae south of them,
  3. the Bessi still further south,
  4. the Dentheletae on the upper Styrmon,
  5. the Sapaei on the lower Nestos,
  6. the Dolonci on the Thracian Chersonese (Gallipoli)
There are very few relics of Thracian available for study.

The Thracian linguistic material currently available includes:
  1. Words, attested in the ancient sources and in one inscription – 23 words altogether.
  2. Inscriptions, of which four are most important, while the rest (around 20) are very short.
  3. Geographical names.
  4. Personal names.
  5. Tribal names.
  6. Names of deities.
The Thracians extended in early times (>1300 BCE) from the Crimea (place-names) to the Aegean in the south and to the Adriatic in the west. Elsewhere the Bithynians and the Phrygians (both historically in Asia Minor) were said to be originally Thracian. About 1300 BCE, Illyrian tribes moving down the east coast of the Adriatic expelled the Thracians, pushing them back into Macedonia.

Persia
The Thracians became subject to Persia in 510 BCE. Prior to this the Persians under Darius I had operated in Thracia with a large army and had crossed the Danube to reduce the Getae and their Scythian allies. Some Thracian tribes marched with Xerxes in 480 BCE against the Greek city states. Thracia was briefly united by Teres of the Odrysae and his son Sitales but after an abortive invasion of Macedonia in 429 BCE this unity collapsed and Thracia split into western and an eastern regions.

Macedon
Philip of Macedonia conquered and absorbed the eastern region in 360 BCE. In 335 BCE, Alexander the Great campaigned in northern Thrace against the Triballians, who took refuge on an island at the Danube mouth. Alexander crossed the river against the Getae, burning their forts.

Zopyrion the Macedonian governor of Thrace was killed in 326 during an expedition against the Getae. Lysimachus, Alexander's local successor, crossed the Danube in 290 BCE and campaigned in Bessarabia. Forced to surrender by the Thracian king Dromichaetes, he was nevertheless allowed to go free.

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