Konstantin A. Anisimov

History teacher, Center of education No 23

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-3-6

Abstract. The article deals with various aspects of political life in the Odrysian kingdom of the 5th – 4th centuries BC. It focuses on the mechanisms used by the Odrysian kings to ensure the management and exploitation of the vast territories inhabited by Thracian tribes and the Greek empires and polities under their control. The administrative structure of the state was based on the old Thracian tribal structure. The different tribes had different statuses. They can be divided into three groups. The tribes of Dobrudja and the adjoining territories of the Lower Danube Plain had the status of allies and retained their own chiefs. The Paionians tribes on the Upper Strimon and the tribes of the Sofia Plain were conquered, but also retained self-government. The tribes living in the Maritsa basin, between the mountain systems of the Rhodopes and Balkan Mountain Range (Haemus Mons of the ancient authors) to the coasts of the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea were under the direct rule of the Odrysian. We call this area 'Inner Thrace'. The Odrysians developed a complex system of administration for its management. The key elements of the administrative apparatus of the Odrysian power were the royal residences, which network covered practically the whole "Inner Thrace", and the institution of the vicegerency. The residences were both centres of political power and sanctuaries. The Odrysian had no permanent capital. The kings and their entourage travelled around the country. This was due to the need to be personally involved in governing the state and to maintain the royal court. Viceroys, who had the status of co-rulers (paradynasteua) and powers virtually equal to those of kings, were given vast regions corresponding to the lands of the tribal unions (Thyns, Apsinthians and others) subjugated by the Odrisians. These roughly coincided with the boundaries of the administrative districts of the late Hellenistic Thracian kingdom and the Roman province of Thrace in the first and second centuries AD. Sources also refer to the paradynasteua as "strategists", "archons" and "hyparchs", which reinforces the similarities with the strategists of Roman times. The power of the paradinasts was hereditary. The Greek polities and empires, located mainly on the seacoast, had a special status in the Odrysian kingdom. The large polities retained full political independence, except for the right to pay tribute. Small polities and empires fell under the control of the Odrysian kings and paradynasteua. They were subject to various levies, they could be garrisoned by Odrysian garrisoners, donated to third parties or granted immunity from levies.
Keywords: Thrace, Odrysian kingdom, royal power, sovereigns' sacred functions, paradynasteua, system of government, administration.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Anisimov, KA 2021, ‘The system of government in the Odrysian kingdom’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 3 (7), pp. 6–18, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2021-3-6 (in Russ.)

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