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MACEDONIA in THRACE LD Loukopoulou in 342 Bc The CHAPTER 22 MACEDONIA IN THRACE L. D. Loukopoulou In 342 bc the Macedonian king Philip II accepted the surrender of Kersob- leptes, the last of Kotys’ heirs, and subjected Thrace beyond the Strymon and “along the mountains” to Macedonian rule. The powerful Odrysian kingdom and its reigning dynasty had ruled most of the central Thracian plain and played a notable role in Greek political history from the late 430s to the middle of the fourth century bc.1 It now fell victim to its inter- nal, dynastic rivalries and the growing Macedonian expansionism. The Macedonian conquest of Thrace marks an important turning point in the history of this region. Philip made repeated expeditions across southeastern Thrace (353–352, 346, 342–340 bc) and also further north, into the land of the Getai and beyond the Danube against the Scythians (339 bc).2 They made him fully aware of the immense potential of the nat- ural and human resources which control of this country could guarantee. However, he also experienced the precariousness of territorial conquests to the north of Mt. Rhodope, and the vulnerability of the northern frontier of Thrace. His own campaigns north of Mt. Haemus3 and especially those of his son Alexander against the revolted Maidoi, probably in 340,4 and the Triballians and Getai in 335 bc5 aimed at securing parts of the frontiers from aggressive neighbours, especially in the north and the northwest of Thrace. Subsequently, Macedonian interest focused mainly on the central Thracian plain between Mt. Haemus and Rhodope, an area which Greeks had penetrated earlier with the settlement of trading posts (emporia) and dense commercial exchanges. However, never before Philip had it been 1 Zofijia H. Archibald, The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace: Orpheus Unmasked (Oxford, 1998). 2 For a detailed narrative of Philip II’s and Alexander’s campaigns in Thrace, see N. G. L. Hammond and G. T. Grifffijith, A History of Macedonia, 2 (Oxford, 1979), pp. 264–285, pp. 358–361, and pp. 554–581. 3 Hammond, Grifffijith, History, 2, pp. 581–584, with references. 4 Plut. Alex. 9.1; cf. Hammond, Grifffijith, History, 2, p. 558. 5 For a detailed narrative and analysis, see N. G. L. Hammond and F. W. Walbank, A History of Macedonia, 3 (Oxford, 1988), pp. 32–39, with references. 468 l. d. loukopoulou controlled or colonized. For centuries the functioning of Greek emporia in Thrace had been tolerated by the Odrysian rulers who shared the benefijits of commercial exchanges with Greek colonies of the Thracian littoral.6 One such inland emporion, probably named Pistiros, has been identifijied with a small, fortifijied urban settlement excavated on the upper reaches of the river Hebros.7 An important Greek epigraphic document was dis- covered recently, associated with this site. Probably it is to be interpreted as an edict and dated to ca. 350 bc. It has been ascribed to one of the suc- cessors of the great Odrysian king Kotys, and has shed unexpected light on the legal status of such settlements in sovereign Odrysian territory, on the settlers’ ethnic identity and their symbiosis with the native tribal population, on the origin of the Greek merchants, the privileges guaran- teed to them and rulings for the taxation of goods imported and exported through emporia established in Kotys’ time (he died in 360/359 bc).8 Numismatic evidence indicates the revival of such trading posts after a brief period of decline during the last days of the Odrysian kingdom. Most importantly, Macedonian rule introduced the new phenomenon of colo- nization in the Thracian hinterland. Almost four hundred years after the settlement of the fijirst wave of Greek colonists on the Thracian littoral, a second colonizing wave in the wake of victorious Macedonian armies cre- ated a network of fortifijied military colonies, inhabited by a mixed popu- lation, along strategic land and river routes.9 Philippopolis on the Hebros10 and Kabyle on the river Tonzos,11 probably also Alexandropolis, on the river Strymon,12 introduced civic institutions into inland Thrace and, in time, developed into new trading centres for materials (mainly precious metals) and commodities which in the past had accrued to the royal trea- 6 Louisa D. Loukopoulou, “Sur le statut et l’importance de l’emporion de Pistiros,” BCH 123 (1999), 359–371; cf. Z. H. Archibald, “Inland Thrace,” in Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, eds., An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford, 2004), pp. 895–896, with a detailed discussion of bibliography on the Pistiros inscription. 7 J. Bouzek, M. Domaradzki, and Z. H. Archibald, eds., Pistiros I: Excavations and Studies (Prague, 1996); J. Bouzek, L. Domaradzka, and Z. H. Archibald, eds. Pistiros II: Excavations and Studies (Prague, 2002). 8 SEG 43 (1993) 486; cf., however, the revised text published together with a collection of studies in Dossier: nouvelles perspectives pour l’étude de l’inscription de Pistiros, BCH 123 (1999) 247–371. For an extensive commentary, see Archibald, “Inland Thrace,” pp. 886– 890. 9 Diod. 16.71.2. 10 Plin., NH 4.41. 11 Dem. 8.44; Strabo 7.6.2. 12 Plut., Alex. 9.1. .
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