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115-740: Located in western Turkey, it is bordered by the Aegean Sea to the west, the Marmara region to the north, the Central Anatolia Region to the east, and the Mediterranean Region to the south. Among the four coastal regions, the Aegean Region has the longest coastline. The ecoregions of this region are all Terrestrial , more specifically Palearctic , and still more so, Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub . Different parts are within

230-715: A Thracian warrior from the Maedi tribe who was enslaved as a gladiator by the Romans, led a revolt that posed a significant challenge to Roman authority, prompting a series of military campaigns against it. The aftermath of the rebellion saw the crucifixion of 6,000 surviving rebels along the Appian Way . Thracians were described as " warlike " and " barbarians " by the Greeks and Romans since they were neither Romans nor Greeks but in spite of that they were favored as excellent mercenaries. While

345-469: A Thracian woman. The ethnicity of a slave was a significant criterion for major purchasers: Ancient practice was to avoid a concentration of too many slaves of the same ethnic origin in the same place, in order to limit the risk of revolt . During the Macedonian Wars , conflict between Rome and Thrace was unavoidable. The rulers of Macedonia were weak, and Thracian tribal authority resurged. But after

460-567: A hat with red hair, which classicists believe was Thracian in origin. Other ancient writers who described the hair of the Thracians as red include Hecataeus of Miletus , Galen , Clement of Alexandria , and Julius Firmicus Maternus . Nevertheless, academic studies have concluded that people often had different physical features from those described by primary sources. Ancient authors described as red-haired several groups of people. They claimed that all Slavs had red hair , and likewise described

575-634: A huge campaign against the Emirate of Crete in 960 to 961. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Empire threatened Byzantine control of Northern Greece and the Aegean coast to the south. Under Presian and his successor Boris I , the Bulgarian Empire managed to obtain a small portion of the northern Aegean coast. Simeon I of Bulgaria led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion, and managed to conqueror much of

690-643: A large body of water. This is most predominant in the west and east coasts of the Aegean, and within the Aegean islands. In the north of the Aegean Sea, the climate is instead classified as Cold semi-arid (BSk) , which feature cooler summers than Hot-summer Mediterranean climates. The Etesian winds are a dominant weather influence in the Aegean Basin. The below table lists climate conditions of some major Aegean cities: Numerous Greek and Turkish settlements are located along their mainland coast, as well as on towns on

805-566: A mixture of indigenous peoples and Indo-Europeans from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the Early Bronze Age when the latter, around 1500 BC, mixed with indigenous peoples. According to one theory, their ancestors migrated in three waves from the northeast: the first in the Late Neolithic , forcing out the Pelasgians and Achaeans , the second in the Early Bronze Age , and

920-586: A mythological Thracian king, was so named because of his red hair and is depicted on Greek pottery as having red hair and a red beard. Ancient Greek writers also described the Thracians as red-haired. A fragment by the Greek poet Xenophanes describes the Thracians as blue-eyed and red haired: ...Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair. Bacchylides described Theseus as wearing

1035-463: A point west of Karpathos . The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south, generally from west to east: Kythera , Antikythera , Crete , Kasos , Karpathos and Rhodes . The Anatolian peninsula marks the eastern boundary of the sea, while the Greek mainland marks the west. Several seas are contained within the Aegean Sea; the Thracian Sea

1150-576: A subculture of celibate ascetics called the " ctistae " lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers, priests and prophets. They were held in a place of honor by the Thracians, with their lives being dedicated to the gods. During this period, contacts between the Thracians and Classical Greece intensified. After the Persians withdrew from Europe and before the expansion of the Kingdom of Macedon, Thrace

1265-533: A warlike nation, grouping them with Celts , Persians , Scythians , Iberians and Carthaginians . Polybius wrote of Cotys's sober and gentle character being unlike that of most Thracians. Tacitus in his Annals writes of them being wild, savage and impatient, disobedient even to their own kings. The Thracians have been said to have "tattooed their bodies, obtained their wives by purchase, and often sold their children". The French historian Victor Duruy further notes that they "considered husbandry unworthy of

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1380-457: A warrior, and knew no source of gain but war and theft". He also states that they practiced human sacrifice , which has been confirmed by archaeological evidence. Polyaenus and Strabo write how the Thracians broke their pacts of truce with trickery. Polyaneus testifies that the Thracians struck their weapons against each other before battle, "in the Thracian manner". Diegylis , leader of

1495-620: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia . It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia , and covers an area of some 215,000 km (83,000 sq mi). In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea , which in turn connects to the Black Sea , by

1610-479: Is a considerable difference between fish catches between the pelagic and demersal zones; with respect to pelagic fisheries, the catches from the northern, central and southern Aegean area groupings are dominated, respectively, by anchovy , horse mackerels , and boops . For demersal fisheries, the catches from the northern and southern Aegean area groupings are dominated by grey mullets and pickerel ( Spicara smaris ) respectively. The industry has been impacted by

1725-587: Is a section of the Aegean located to the north, the Icarian Sea to the east, the Myrtoan Sea to the west, while the Sea of Crete is the southern section. The Greek regions that border the sea, in alphabetical order, are Attica , Central Greece , Central Macedonia , Crete, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace , North Aegean , Peloponnese , South Aegean , and Thessaly . The traditional Greek region of Macedonia also borders

1840-744: Is believed to refer to Macedonians . The three ethnicities (Saka, Macedonian, Thracian) enrolled in the Achaemenid army , as shown in the Imperial tomb reliefs of Naqsh-e Rostam , and participated in the Second Persian invasion of Greece on the Achaemenid side. When Achaemenid control over its European possessions collapsed once the Ionian Revolt started, the Thracians did not help the Greek rebels, and they instead saw Achaemenid rule as more favourable because

1955-614: Is located in the Aegean, despite being administered as part of Central Greece . Nine out of twelve of the Administrative regions of Greece border the sea, along with the Turkish provinces of Edirne , Çanakkale , Balıkesir , İzmir , Aydın and Muğla to the east of the sea. Various Turkish islands in the sea are Imbros , Tenedos , Cunda Island , and the Foça Islands . The Aegean Sea has been historically important, especially regarding

2070-510: Is said to have participated in the Trojan War , which is believed to have taken place around 12th century BC. This population is referred to with the following name: "...And Hippothous led the tribes of the Pelasgi , that rage with the spear, even them that dwelt in deep-soiled Larisa ; these were led by Hippothous and Pylaeus, scion of Ares , sons twain of Pelasgian Lethus, son of Teutamus . But

2185-578: Is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the third largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs , Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe and the top container port in the Eastern Mediterranean . Piraeus is also the commercial hub of Greek shipping . Piraeus bi-annually acts as

2300-636: The Arteskos river and then proceeded through the valley-route of the Hebros river. This was an act of conquest by Darius I, who sought to create a new satrapy in the Balkans, and had during his march sent emissaries to the Thracians found on the path of his army as well as to the many other Thracian tribes over a wide area. All these peoples of Thrace, including the Odrysae, submitted to the Achaemenid king until his army reached

2415-504: The Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Roman authority over Macedonia seemed inevitable, and the governance of Thrace passed to Rome. Initially, Thracians and Macedonians revolted against Roman rule. For example, the revolt of Andriscus , in 149 BC, drew the bulk of its support from Thrace. Incursions by local tribes into Macedonia continued for many years, though a few tribes, such as the Deneletae and

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2530-711: The Caeni , was considered one of the most bloodthirsty chieftains by Diodorus Siculus . An Athenian club for lawless youths was named after the thracian tribe Triballi which might be the origin of the word tribe . According to ancient Roman sources, the Dii were responsible for the worst atrocities in the Peloponnesian War , killing every living thing, including children and dogs in Tanagra and Mycalessos . The Dii would impale Roman heads on their spears and rhomphaias such as in

2645-832: The Chalkidiki Peninsula including the Cassandra and the Singitic Gulfs , northward the Strymonian Gulf and the Gulf of Kavala and the rest are in Turkey ; Saros Gulf , Edremit Gulf, Dikili Gulf , Gulf of Çandarlı , Gulf of İzmir , Gulf of Kuşadası , Gulf of Gökova , Güllük Gulf. The Aegean Sea is connected to the Sea of Marmara by the Dardanelles , also known from Classical Antiquity as

2760-798: The Dodecanese , the Cyclades , the Sporades , the Saronic islands and the North Aegean Islands , as well as Crete and its surrounding islands. The Dodecanese, located to the southeast, includes the islands of Rhodes, Kos , and Patmos ; the islands of Delos and Naxos are within the Cyclades to the south of the sea. Lesbos is part of the North Aegean Islands. Euboea , the second-largest island in Greece,

2875-569: The First Bulgarian Empire . The Fourth Crusade weakened Byzantine control of the area, and it was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Empire , with the exception of Crete, which was a Venetian colony until 1669. The Greek War of Independence allowed a Greek state on the coast of the Aegean from 1829 onwards. The Ottoman Empire held a presence over the sea for over 500 years until it was replaced by modern Turkey . The rocks making up

2990-620: The Great Recession . Overfishing and habitat destruction is also a concern, threatening grouper, and seabream populations, resulting in perhaps a 50% decline of fish catch. To address these concerns, Greek fishermen have been offered a compensation by the government. Although some species are defined as protected or threatened under EU legislation, several illegal species such as the molluscs Pinna nobilis , Charonia tritonis and Lithophaga lithophaga , can be bought in restaurants and fish markets around Greece. The Aegean islands within

3105-798: The Hellenes "). At some point in the 7th century BC, a portion of the Thracian Treres tribe migrated across the Thracian Bosporus and invaded Anatolia . In 637 BC, the Treres under their king Kobos ( Ancient Greek : Κώβος Kṓbos ; Latin : Cobus ), in alliance with the Cimmerians and the Lycians , attacked the kingdom of Lydia during the seventh year of the reign of the Lydian king Ardys . They defeated

3220-579: The Kallinikos skirmish at 171 BC. Strabo treated the Thracians as barbarians, and held that they spoke the same language as the Getae . Some Roman authors noted that even after the introduction of Latin they still kept their "barbarous" ways. Herodotus writes that "the thracians sell their children and let their maidens commerce with whatever men they please". The accuracy and impartiality of these descriptions have been called into question in modern times, given

3335-522: The Lydians and captured the capital city of Lydia, Sardis , except for its citadel, and Ardys might have been killed in this attack. Ardys's son and successor, Sadyattes , might possibly also have been killed in another Cimmerian attack on Lydia. Soon after 635 BC, with Assyrian approval the Scythians under Madyes entered Anatolia. In alliance with Sadyattes's son, the Lydian king Alyattes , Madyes expelled

3450-586: The Moesi achieved significant importance during Roman rule. What's notable about the Moesians is that they practiced vegetarianism, feeding themselves on honey, milk, and cheese. Thracians were regarded by ancient Greeks and Romans as warlike, ferocious, bloodthirsty, and barbarian. Plato in his Republic groups them with the Scythians , calling them extravagant and high spirited; and in his Laws portrays them as

3565-948: The Nea Moni of Chios , the island of Delos , and the Medieval City of Rhodes. Greece is one of the most visited countries in Europe and the world with over 33 million visitors in 2018, and the tourism industry around a quarter of Greece's Gross Domestic Product. The islands of Santorini, Crete, Lesbos, Delos, and Mykonos are common tourist destinations. An estimated 2 million tourists visit Santorini annually. However, concerns relating to overtourism have arisen in recent years, such as issues of inadequate infrastructure and overcrowding. Alongside Greece, Turkey has also been successful in developing resort areas and attracting large number of tourists, contributing to tourism in Turkey . The phrase " Blue Cruise " refers to recreational voyages along

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3680-603: The Punic Wars . During Roman rule, the land around the Aegean Sea fell under the provinces of Achaea , Macedonia , Thracia , Asia and Creta et Cyrenaica (island of Crete) The fall of the Western Roman Empire allowed its successor state, the Byzantine Empire , to continue Roman control over the Aegean Sea. However, their territory would later be threatened by the early Muslim conquests initiated by Muhammad in

3795-691: The Recapture of Constantinople from the Latins in 1261 and defeat Epirus. Byzantine successes were not to last; the Ottomans would conquer the area around the Aegean coast, but before their expansion the Byzantine Empire had already been weakened from internal conflict. By the late 14th century, the Byzantine Empire had lost all control of the coast of the Aegean Sea and could exercise power around their capital, Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire then gained control of all

3910-536: The Scythians as red haired. According to Beth Cohen, Thracians had "the same dark hair and the same facial features as the Ancient Greeks ." However, Aris N. Poulianos states that Thracians, like modern Bulgarians , belonged mainly to the Aegean anthropological type. The earliest known mention of Thracians is in the second song of Homer's Iliad , where the population inhabiting the Thracian Chersonesus

4025-624: The Turkish Riviera , including across the Aegean. The ancient city of Troy , a World Heritage Site, is on the Turkish coast of the Aegean. Thracians The Thracians ( / ˈ θ r eɪ ʃ ən z / ; Ancient Greek : Θρᾷκες , romanized :  Thrāikes ; Latin : Thraci ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history . Thracians resided mainly in Southeast Europe in modern-day Bulgaria , Romania , North Macedonia and northern Greece , but also in north-western Anatolia (Asia Minor) in Turkey . The exact origin of

4140-413: The 1st century AD. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria , spreading to parts of Southeastern Romania ( Northern Dobruja ), parts of Northern Greece and parts of modern-day European Turkey . By the 5th century BC, the Thracian population was large enough that Herodotus called them the second-most numerous people in the part of the world known by him (after the Indians ), and potentially

4255-434: The 4th century BC made the Odrysian kingdom extinct for several years. After the kingdom was reestablished, it was a vassal state of Macedon for several decades under generals such as Lysimachus of the Diadochi . In 336 BC, Alexander the Great began recruiting thracian cavalry and javelin men in his army, who accompnied him on his continuous conquest to expand the borders of the Macedonian Empire . The strength of

4370-443: The 7th century. Although the Rashidun Caliphate did not manage to obtain land along the coast of the Aegean Sea, its conquest of the Eastern Anatolian peninsula as well as Egypt, the Levant, and North Africa left the Byzantine Empire weakened. The Umayyad Caliphate expanded the territorial gains of the Rashidun Caliphate, conquering much of North Africa, and threatened the Byzantine Empire's control of Western Anatolia, where it meets

4485-450: The Aegean Sea are disputed between Greece and Turkey. The Aegean dispute has had a large effect on Greece-Turkey relations since the 1970s. Issues include the delimitation of territorial waters , national airspace , exclusive economic zones , and flight information regions . The name Aegaeus , used by Late Latin authors, referred to Aegeus , who was said to have jumped into that sea to drown himself (rather than throw himself from

4600-433: The Aegean Sea are significant tourist destinations. Tourism to the Aegean islands contributes a significant portion of tourism in Greece , especially since the second half of the 20th century. A total of five UNESCO World Heritage sites are located the Aegean Islands; these include the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse on Patmos , the Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos in Samos ,

4715-405: The Aegean Sea. During the 820s, Crete was conquered by a group of Berbers Andalusians exiles led by Abu Hafs Umar al-Iqritishi , and it became an independent Islamic state. The Byzantine Empire launched a campaign that took most of the island back in 842 and 843 under Theoktistos , but the re-conquest was not completed and was soon reversed. Later attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover

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4830-405: The Aegean beginning at the South and moving clockwise include on Crete, the Mirabello , Almyros , Souda and Chania bays or gulfs, on the mainland the Myrtoan Sea to the west with the Argolic Gulf , the Saronic Gulf northwestward, the Petalies Gulf which connects with the South Euboic Sea , the Pagasetic Gulf which connects with the North Euboic Sea , the Thermian Gulf northwestward,

4945-400: The Aegean coast with the exception of Crete, which was a Venetian colony until 1669. The Greek War of Independence allowed a Greek state on the coast of the Aegean from 1829 onward. The Ottoman Empire held a presence over the sea for over 500 years until its dissolution following World War I , when it was replaced by modern Turkey. During the war, Greece gained control over the area around

5060-402: The Aegean islands. The largest cities are Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece and İzmir in Turkey. The most populated of the Aegean islands is Crete, followed by Euboea and Rhodes. Athens [REDACTED] İzmir Thessaloniki [REDACTED] Bodrum Greece has established several marine protected areas along its coasts. According to the Network of Managers of Marine Protected Areas in

5175-443: The Aegean, was essential for the Mycenaean economy. Their syllabic script , the Linear B , offers the first written records of the Greek language and their religion already included several deities that can also be found in the Olympic Pantheon . Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace -centered states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At

5290-430: The Athenian acropolis, as told by some Greek authors). He was the father of Theseus , the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens . Aegeus had told Theseus to put up white sails when returning if he was successful in killing the Minotaur . When Theseus returned, he forgot these instructions, and Aegeus thought his son had died, so he drowned himself in the sea. The sea was known in Latin as Mare Aegaeum while under

5405-405: The Athenian fleet gained a decisive victory over the Persian fleet of the Xerxes II of Persia at the Battle of Salamis . Thus ending any further attempt of western expansion by the Achaemenid Empire . The Aegean Sea would later come to be under the control, albeit briefly, of the Kingdom of Macedonia . Philip II and his son Alexander the Great led a series of conquests that led not only to

5520-477: The Black Sea, and with the central Thracian plain , which gave this region an important strategic value. Persian sources describe the province as being populated by three groups: the Saka Paradraya ("Saka beyond the sea", the Persian term for all Scythian peoples to the north of the Caspian and Black Seas ); the Skudra themselves (most likely the Thracian tribes), and Yauna Takabara . The latter term, which translates as " Ionians with shield-like hats",

5635-520: The Danube, he crossed the river and campaigned against the Scythians , after which he returned to Anatolia through Thrace and left a large army in Europe under the command of his general Megabazus . Following Darius I's orders to create a new satrapy for the Achaemenid Empire in the Balkans, Megabazus forced the Greek cities who had refused to submit to the Achaemenid Empire, starting with Perinthus , after which led military campaigns throughout Thrace to impose Achaemenid rule over every city and tribe in

5750-454: The Danube. In the interior, the Western border of the satrapy consisted of the Axius river and the Belasica - Pirin - Rila mountain ranges till the site of modern-day Kostenets . The importance of this satrapy rested in that it contained the Hebros river, where a route in the river valley connected the permanent Persian settlement of Doriscus with the Aegean coast, as well as with the port-cities of Apollonia , Mesembria and Odessos on

5865-401: The Greek Dark Ages in the 8th century BC. Greece became divided into small self-governing communities, and adopted the Phoenician alphabet , modifying it to create the Greek alphabet . By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged as dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta, Corinth , and Thebes , of which Athens, Sparta, and Corinth were closest to the Aegean Sea. Each of them had brought

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5980-423: The Greeks. In Greek mythology , Thrax (his name simply the quintessential Thracian) was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the god Ares . In the Alcestis , Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was "Thrax". Since Ares was regarded as the patron of Thrace his golden or gilded shield was kept in his temple at Bistonia in Thrace . The origins of the Thracians remain obscure due to

6095-410: The Hellespont with a large fleet and army, re-subjugated Thrace without any effort and made Macedonia full part of the satrapy of Skudra . Mardonius was however attacked at night by the Bryges in the area of Lake Doiran and modern-day Valandovo , but he was able to defeat and submit them as well. Herodotus's list of tribes who provided the Achaemenid army with soldiers included Thracians from both

6210-486: The Hellespont. The Dardanelles are located to the northeast of the sea. It ultimately connects with the Black Sea through the Bosporus strait, upon which lies the city of Istanbul . The Dardanelles and the Bosporus are known as the Turkish Straits . According to the International Hydrographic Organization , the limits of the Aegean Sea as follows: Aegean surface water circulates in a counterclockwise gyre , with hypersaline Mediterranean water moving northward along

6325-475: The Mediterranean ( MedPAN ), four Greek MPAs are participating in the Network. These include Alonnisos Marine Park , while the Missolonghi–Aitoliko Lagoons and the island of Zakynthos are not on the Aegean. The current coastline dates back to about 4000 BC. Before that time, at the peak of the last ice age (about 18,000 years ago) sea levels everywhere were 130 metres (430 ft) lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of

6440-426: The Odrysian kingdom lost independence to Macedon , becoming incorporated into the empire, but it regained independence following Alexander the Great 's death. The Thracians faced conquest by the Romans in the mid 2nd century BC under whom they faced internal strife. They composed major parts of rebellions against the Romans along with the Macedonians until the Third Macedonian War . Beginning in 73 BC, Spartacus ,

6555-421: The Thracians Acamas led and Peirous , the warrior, even all them that the strong stream of the Hellespont encloseth." The first Greek colonies along the Thracian coasts (first the Aegean , then the Marmara and Black Seas ) were founded in the 8th century BC. Thracians and Greeks lived side-by-side. Ancient sources record a Thracian presence on the Aegean islands and in Hellas (the broader "land of

6670-401: The Thracians are described as allies of the Trojans in the Trojan War against the Ancient Greeks. The ethnonym Thracian comes from Ancient Greek Θρᾷξ ( Thrāix ; plural Θρᾷκες, Thrāikes ) or Θρᾴκιος ( Thrāikios ; Ionic : Θρηίκιος, Thrēikios ), and the toponym Thrace comes from Θρᾴκη ( Thrāikē ; Ionic: Θρῄκη, Thrēikē ). These forms are all exonyms as applied by

6785-403: The Thracians co-operating with the Persians by sending supplies and military reinforcements down the Hebrus river route, Achaemenid authority in central Thrace lasted until around 465 BC, and the governor Mascames managed to resist many Greek attacks in Doriscus until then. Around this time, Teres I , the king of the Odrysae tribe, in whose territory the Hebrus flowed, was starting to organise

6900-474: The Thracians is uncertain, but it is believed that Thracians like other Indo-European speaking groups in Europe descended from a mixture of Proto-Indo-Europeans and Early European Farmers . Around the 5th millennium BC, the inhabitants of the eastern region of the Balkans became organized in different groups of indigenous people that were later named by the ancient Greeks under the single ethnonym of "Thracians". The Thracian culture emerged during

7015-487: The Thracians were perceived as unsophisticated by the Romans and Greeks, their culture was reportedly noted for its sophisticated poetry and music . Since the 19th century-early 20th century, Bulgaria and Romania have used Archaeology to learn more about Thracian culture and way of life. Thracians followed a polytheistic religion with monotheistic elements. One of their customs was tattooing , common among both men and women. The Thracians culturally interacted with

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7130-401: The Thracians were uncivilized and remained largely disunited, until the establishment of their first permanent state the Odrysian kingdom in the 5th century BC. The Thracian kingdom faced subjugation by the Achaemenid Empire around the same time. After the Persians were defeated by the Greeks in the Persian Wars , the Thracians experienced a short period of peace. In the late 4th century BC

7245-419: The Thracians—was known as Perki (Περκη) and Aria (Αρια) before being named Thrace by the Greeks, presumably due to the affiliation of the Thracians with the god Ares and Perki is the reflexive name of the god Ares as *Perkʷūnos. Thucydides mentions about a period in the past, from his point of view, when Thracians had inhabited the region of Phocis , also known as the location of Delphi . He dates it to

7360-496: The Treres from Asia Minor and defeated the Cimmerians so that they no longer constituted a threat again, following which the Scythians extended their domination to Central Anatolia until they were themselves expelled by the Medes from Western Asia in the 600s BC. In the 6th century BC the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered Thrace, starting in 513 BC, when the Achaemenid king Darius I amassed an army and marched from Achaemenid-ruled Anatolia into Thrace, and from there he crossed

7475-412: The absence of written historical records before they made contact with the Greeks . Evidence of proto-Thracians in the prehistoric period depends on artifacts of material culture . Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with the multi-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancing timber grave culture or Srubnaya. It is generally proposed that a Thracian people developed from

7590-444: The administrative division of the Hellespont, which extended on both sides of the sea and included the Bosporus , the Propontis , and the Hellespont proper and its approaches. Otanes then proceeded to capture Byzantium , Chalcedon , Antandrus , Lamponeia , Imbros , and Lemnos for the Achaemenid Empire. The area included within the satrapy of Skudra included both the Aegean coast of Thrace, as well as its Pontic coast till

7705-458: The ancient provinces of Thrace , Moesia , Macedonia , Beotia , Attica , Dacia , Scythia Minor , Sarmatia , Bithynia , Mysia , Pannonia , and other regions of the Balkans and Anatolia . This area extended over most of the Balkans region, and the Getae north of the Danube as far as beyond the Bug and including Pannonia in the west. According to Ethnica , a geographical dictionary by Stephanus of Byzantium , Thrace —the land of

7820-413: The area around the Aegean Sea was fragmented into multiple entities, including the Latin Empire , the Kingdom of Thessalonica , the Empire of Nicaea , the Principality of Achaea , and the Duchy of Athens . The Venetians created the maritime state of the Duchy of the Archipelago , which included all the Cyclades except Mykonos and Tinos . The Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine rump state, managed to affect

7935-412: The area. With the help of Thracian guides, Megabazus was able to conquer Paeonia up to but not including the area of Lake Prasias, and he gave the lands of the Paeonians inhabiting these regions up to the Lake Prasias to Thracians loyal to the Achaemenid Empire. The last endeavours of Megabazus included his the conquest of the area between the Strymon and Axius rivers, and at the end of his campaign,

8050-401: The civilization of Ancient Greece , which inhabited the area around the coast of the Aegean and the Aegean islands. The Aegean islands facilitated contact between the people of the area and between Europe and Asia. Along with the Greeks, Thracians lived along the northern coasts. The Romans conquered the area under the Roman Empire, and later the Byzantine Empire held it against advances by

8165-412: The climate of Greece and Western Turkey, which is to say, predominantly Mediterranean . According to the Köppen climate classification , most of the Aegean is classified as Hot-summer Mediterranean ( Csa ), with hotter and drier summers along with milder and wetter winters. However, high temperatures during summers are generally not quite as high as those in arid or semiarid climates due to the presence of

8280-641: The coast and from the central Thracian plain, attesting that Mardonius's campaign had reconquered all the Thracian areas which were under Achaemenid rule before the Ionian Revolt. When the Greeks defeated a second invasion attempt by the Persian Empire in 479 BC, they started attacking the satrapy of Skudra , which was resisted by both the Thracians and the Persian forces. The Thracians kept on sending supplies to

8395-660: The control of the Roman Empire . The Venetians , who ruled many Greek islands in the High and Late Middle Ages , popularized the name Archipelago ( Greek : αρχιπέλαγος , meaning "main sea" or "chief sea"), a name that held on in many European countries until the early modern period . In South Slavic languages , the Aegean is called White Sea ( Bulgarian : Бяло море , romanized :  Byalo more ; Macedonian : Бело море , romanized :  Belo more ; Serbo-Croatian : Belo more / Бело море ). The Turkish name for

8510-452: The early Bronze Age , which began about 3500 BC. From it also developed the Getae , the Dacians and other regional groups of tribes. Historical and archaeological records indicate that the Thracian culture flourished in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Writing in the 6th century BC, Xenophanes described Thracians as "blue-eyed and red-haired". According to Greek and Roman historians,

8625-539: The east coast of Greece. The physical oceanography of the Aegean Sea is controlled mainly by the regional climate, the fresh water discharge from major rivers draining southeastern Europe, and the seasonal variations in the Black Sea surface water outflow through the Dardanelles Strait . Analysis of the Aegean during 1991 and 1992 revealed three distinct water masses: The climate of the Aegean Sea largely reflects

8740-405: The end of the 3rd century BC. From Thrace, three Celtic tribes advanced into Anatolia and established the kingdom of Galatia . In western parts of Moesia , Celts ( Scordisci ) and Thracians lived alongside each other, as evident from the archaeological findings of pits and treasures, spanning from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century BC. Slave raids were a specific form of banditry that

8855-470: The first advanced civilization in Europe, leaving behind massive building complexes, tools, stunning artwork, writing systems, and a massive network of trade. The Minoan period saw extensive trade between Crete, Aegean, and Mediterranean settlements, particularly the Near East. The most notable Minoan palace is that of Knossos , followed by that of Phaistos . The Mycenaean Greeks arose on the mainland, becoming

8970-457: The first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, which lasted from approximately 1600 to 1100 BC. It is believed that the site of Mycenae , which sits close to the Aegean coast, was the center of Mycenaean civilization. The Mycenaeans introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean, including

9085-499: The floor of the Aegean are mainly limestone, though often greatly altered by volcanic activity that has convulsed the region in relatively recent geologic times. Of particular interest are the richly colored sediments in the region of the islands of Santorini and Milos , in the south Aegean. Notable cities on the Aegean coastline include Athens , Thessaloniki , Volos , Kavala , and Heraklion in Greece, and İzmir and Bodrum in Turkey. Several issues concerning sovereignty within

9200-479: The focus for a major shipping convention, known as Posidonia, which attracts maritime industry professionals from all over the world. Piraeus is currently Greece's third-busiest port in terms of tons of goods transported, behind Agioi Theodoroi and Thessaloniki . The central port serves ferry routes to almost every island in the eastern portion of Greece, the island of Crete, the Cyclades, the Dodecanese, and much of

9315-714: The following classifications: Provinces that are entirely in the Aegean Region: Provinces that are mostly in the Aegean Region: Provinces that are partially in the Aegean Region: The climate of the Aegean Region has a Mediterranean climate at the coast, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters and a semi-arid continental climate in the interior with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. 38°00′N 29°00′E  /  38.000°N 29.000°E  / 38.000; 29.000 This article about an Aegean Region of Turkey location

9430-565: The general term Aegean civilization . In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations – the Minoans of Crete and the Mycenaeans of the Peloponnese . The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands, flourishing from around 3000 to 1450 BC before a period of decline, finally ending at around 1100 BC. It represented

9545-466: The governor of Eion when the Greeks besieged it. When the city fell to the Greeks in 475 BC, Cimon gave its land to Athens for colonisation. Although Athens was now in control of the Aegean Sea and the Hellespont following the defeat of the Persian invasion, the Persians were still able to control the southern coast of Thrace from a base in central Thrace and with the support of the Thracians. Thanks to

9660-618: The head of this society was the king, known as wanax . The civilization of Mycenaean Greeks perished with the collapse of Bronze Age culture in the eastern Mediterranean, to be followed by the so-called Greek Dark Ages . It is undetermined what cause the collapse of the Mycenaeans. During the Greek Dark Ages, writing in the Linear B script ceased, vital trade links were lost, and towns and villages were abandoned. The Archaic period followed

9775-538: The island were without success. For the approximately 135 years of its existence, the emirate of Crete was one of the major foes of Byzantium. Crete commanded the sea lanes of the Eastern Mediterranean and functioned as a forward base and haven for Muslim corsair fleets that ravaged the Byzantine-controlled shores of the Aegean Sea. Crete returned to Byzantine rule under Nikephoros II Phokas , who launched

9890-481: The islands in the Aegean have safe harbours and bays. In ancient times, navigation through the sea was easier than travelling across the rough terrain of the Greek mainland, and to some extent, the coastal areas of Anatolia. Many of the islands are volcanic , and marble and iron are mined on other islands. The larger islands have some fertile valleys and plains. Of the main islands in the Aegean Sea, two belong to Turkey – Bozcaada (Tenedos) and Gökçeada (Imbros);

10005-592: The king of Macedonia , Amyntas I , accepted to become a vassal of the Achaemenid Empire. Within the satrapy itself, the Achaemenid king Darius granted to the tyrant Histiaeus of Miletus the district of Myrcinus on the Strymon's east bank until Megabazus persuaded him to recall Histiaeus after he returned to Asia Minor, after which the Thracian tribe of the Edoni retook control of Myrcinus. The new satrapy, once created,

10120-452: The lands around the northeastern Mediterranean . Although these historians characterized the Thracians as "primitive" partly because they lived in simple, open villages, the Thracians in fact had a fairly advanced culture that was especially noted for its poetry and music. Their soldiers were valued as mercenaries, particularly by the Macedonians and Romans . Thracians inhabited parts of

10235-458: The latter had treated the Thracians with favour and even given them more land, and also because they realised that Achaemenid rule was a bulwark against Greek expansion and Scythian attacks. During the revolt, Aristagoras of Miletus captured Myrcinus from the Edones and died trying to attack another Thracian city. Once the Ionian Revolt had been fully quelled, the Achaemenid general Mardonius crossed

10350-538: The lifetime of Tereus – mythological Thracian king and son of the god Ares . Due to the lack of historical records that predate Classical Greece it's presumed that the Thracians did not manage to form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the 5th century BC. In the 1st century BC, during King Burebista 's rule, emerged the powerful state of Dacia . Currently, there are about 200 identified Thracian tribes . The most prominent tribe,

10465-414: The most powerful, if not for their lack of unity. The Thracians in classical times were broken up into a large number of groups and tribes, though a number of powerful Thracian states were organized, the most important being the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, and also the short lived Dacian kingdom of Burebista . The peltast is a type of soldier of this period that originated in Thrace. At this time,

10580-423: The northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the present-day islands including Milos with its important obsidian production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared around 9,000 years ago, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that. The subsequent Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to

10695-676: The northern and the eastern Aegean Sea, while the western part of the port is used for cargo services. As of 2007, the Port of Thessaloniki was the second-largest container port in Greece after the port of Piraeus, making it one of the busiest ports in Greece. In 2007, the Port of Thessaloniki handled 14,373,245 tonnes of cargo and 222,824 TEU's . Paloukia, on the island of Salamis , is a major passenger port. Fish are Greece's second-largest agricultural export, and Greece has Europe's largest fishing fleet. Fish captured include sardines , mackerel , grouper , grey mullets , sea bass , and seabream . There

10810-476: The northern and western coasts of the Aegean. The Byzantines later regained control. The Second Bulgarian Empire achieved similar success along, again, the northern and western coasts, under Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria . The Seljuk Turks , under the Seljuk Empire , invaded the Byzantine Empire in 1068, from which they annexed almost all the territories of Anatolia, including the east coast of the Aegean Sea, during

10925-548: The northern coast of the Aegean. By the 1930s, Greece and Turkey had about resumed their present-day borders. In the Italo-Turkish War of 1912, Italy captured the Dodecanese islands, and had occupied them since, reneging on the 1919 Venizelos – Tittoni agreement to cede them to Greece. The Greco-Italian War took place from October 1940 to April 1941 as part of the Balkans Campaign of World War II . The Italian war aim

11040-450: The peoples surrounding them – Greeks , Persians , Scythians and Celts Thracians spoke the now extinct Thracian language and shared a common culture. The last reported use of a Thracian language was by monks in the 6th century AD. The scientific study of the Thracians is known as Thracology . The first historical record of the ethnonym Thracian is found in the Iliad , where

11155-531: The property of the mutilators of the Hermai mentions 32 slaves whose origins have been ascertained: 13 came from Thrace , 7 from Caria , and the others came from Cappadocia , Scythia , Phrygia , Lydia , Syria , Ilyria , Macedon , and Peloponnese . The names given to slaves in the comedies often had a geographical link, thus Thratta, used by Aristophanes in The Wasps , The Acharnians , and Peace , simply meant

11270-630: The reign of Alp Arslan , the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire. After the death of his successor, Malik Shah I , the empire was divided, and Malik Shah was succeeded in Anatolia by Kilij Arslan I , who founded the Sultanate of Rum . The Byzantines yet again recaptured the eastern coast of the Aegean. After Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade ,

11385-533: The rest belong to Greece. Between the two countries, there are political disputes over several aspects of political control over the Aegean space, including the size of territorial waters, air control and the delimitation of economic rights to the continental shelf . These issues are known as the Aegean dispute . Multiple ports are located along the Greek and Turkish coasts of the Aegean Sea. The port of Piraeus in Athens

11500-581: The rise of his kingdom into a powerful state. With the end of Achaemenid power in the Balkans, the Thracian Odrysian kingdom , the Kingdom of Macedonia , and the Athenian thalassocracy filled the ensuing power vacuum and formed their own spheres of influence in the area. The Odrysian Kingdom was a state union of over 40 Thracian tribes and 22 kingdoms that existed between the 5th century BC and

11615-435: The sea is Ege Denizi , which is derived from the Greek name, and Adalar Denizi meaning "the sea of islands". The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea and covers about 214,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi) in area, measuring about 670 kilometres (420 mi) longitudinally and 390 kilometres (240 mi) latitudinal. The sea's maximum depth is 2,639 metres (8,658 ft), located at

11730-573: The sea's eastern coast. Greece had entered the Hellenistic period . The Macedonian Wars were a series of conflicts fought by the Roman Republic and its Greek allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms. They resulted in Roman control or influence over the eastern Mediterranean basin, including the Aegean, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after

11845-493: The sea, to the north. The Aegean Islands, which almost all belong to Greece , can be divided into seven groups: Many of the Aegean islands or island chains, are geographical extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, and a third extends across the Peloponnese and Crete to Rhodes, dividing the Aegean from the Mediterranean. The bays and gulfs of

11960-621: The seeming embellishments in Herodotus's histories, for one. Archaeologists have attempted to piece together a fuller understanding of Thracian culture through the study of their artifacts. Several Thracian graves or tombstones have the name Rufus inscribed on them, meaning "redhead" – a common name given to people with red hair which led to associating the name with slaves when the Romans enslaved this particular group. Ancient Greek artwork often depicts Thracians as redheads. Rhesus of Thrace ,

12075-491: The straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus , respectively. The Aegean Islands are located within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes . The sea reaches a maximum depth of 3,544 m (11,627 ft) to the east of Crete . The Thracian Sea and the Sea of Crete are main subdivisions of the Aegean Sea. The Aegean Islands can be divided into several island groups, including

12190-477: The surrounding rural areas and smaller towns under their control, and Athens and Corinth had become major maritime and mercantile powers as well. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC many Greeks migrated to form colonies in Magna Graecia ( Southern Italy and Sicily ), Asia Minor and further afield. The Aegean Sea was the setting for one of the most pivotal naval engagements in history, when, on 20 September 480 B.C.,

12305-548: The territory of Thracian tribe of the Getae who lived just south of the Danube river and who in vain attempted to resist the Achaemenid conquest. After the resistance of the Getae was defeated and they were forced to provide the Achaemenid army with soldiers, all the Thracian tribes between the Aegean Sea and the Danube river had been subjected by the Achaemenid Empire. Once Darius had reached

12420-516: The third around 1200 BC. They reached the Aegean islands , ending the Mycenaean civilization . They did not speak the same language. The lack of written archeological records left by Thracians suggests that the diverse topography did not make it possible for a single language to form. Ancient Greek and Roman historians agreed that the ancient Thracians were superior fighters; only their constant political fragmentation prevented them from overrunning

12535-568: The thracian cavalry quickly grew from 150 men, to 1000 men by the time Alexander advanced into Egypt , and numbered 1600 when he reached the persian city of Susa . The thracian infantry was under the command of the Odrysian prince Sitalces II who led them in the siege of Telmissus and in the battles of Issus and Gaugamela . In 279 BC, Celtic Gauls advanced into Macedonia , southern Greece and Thrace . They were soon forced out of Macedonia and southern Greece, but they remained in Thrace until

12650-591: The unification of the Greek mainland and the control of the Aegean Sea under his rule, but also the destruction of the Achaemenid Empire . After Alexander the Great's death, his empire was divided among his generals. Cassander became king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Macedon, which held territory along the western coast of the Aegean, roughly corresponding to modern-day Greece. The Kingdom of Lysimachus had control over

12765-409: The west coast of Turkey, before being displaced by less dense Black Sea outflow. The dense Mediterranean water sinks below the Black Sea inflow to a depth of 23–30 metres (75–98 ft), then flows through the Dardanelles Strait and into the Sea of Marmara at velocities of 5–15 cm/s (2–6 in/s). The Black Sea outflow moves westward along the northern Aegean Sea, then flows southwards along

12880-464: Was divided into three regions (east, central, and west). A notable ruler of the East Thracians was Cersobleptes , who attempted to expand his authority over many of the Thracian tribes. He was eventually defeated by the Macedonians . The Thracians were typically not city-builders and their only polis was Seuthopolis . The conquest of the southern part of Thrace by Philip II of Macedon in

12995-469: Was named Skudra ( 𐎿𐎤𐎢𐎭𐎼 ), derived from Scythian the name [Skuδa] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) , which was the self-designation of the Scythians who inhabited the northern parts of the satrapy. Once Megabazus had returned to Asia Minor, he was succeeded in Skudra by a governor whose name is unknown, and Darius appointed the general Otanes to oversee

13110-582: Was the primary method employed by the ancient Greeks for gathering slaves. In regions such as Thrace and the eastern Aegean , natives, or " barbarians ", captured in these raids were the main source of slaves , rather than prisoners of war . As described by Xenophon , and Menander in Aspis , after the slaves were captured in raids, their actual enslavement took place when they were resold through slave-dealers to Athenians and other slaveowners throughout Greece . The fragmentary list of slaves confiscated from

13225-655: Was to establish a Greek puppet state , which would permit the Italian annexation of the Sporades and Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, to be administered as a part of the Italian Aegean Islands . The German invasion resulted in the Axis occupation of Greece . The German troops evacuated Athens on 12 October 1944, and by the end of the month, they had withdrawn from mainland Greece. Greece was then liberated by Allied troops. Many of

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