a country very frequently mentioned by the Greek and Latin writers, deriving its name, according to Josephus, from Tiras one of the sons of Japhet. It was bounded on the north by Mount Haemus; on the south, by the Aegean sea; on the west, by Macedon and the river Strymon; and on the east, by the Euxine sea, the Hellespont, and the Propontis.—The Thracian Chersonesus is a peninsula inclosed on the south by the Aegean sea, on the west by the gulf of Melas, and on the east by the Hellespont; being joined on the north to the continent by a neck of land about 37 furlongs broad. The inland parts of Thrace are very cold and barren, the snow lying on the mountains the greatest part of the year; but the maritime provinces are productive of all sorts of grain and necessaries for life; and withal so pleasant, that Mela compares them to the most fruitful and agreeable countries of Asia.

The ancient Thracians were deemed a brave and warlike nation, but of a cruel and savage temper; being, according to the Greek writers, strangers to all humanity and good nature. It was to the Thracians, however, that the Greeks were chiefly indebted for the polite arts that flourished among them; for Orpheus, Linus, Musaeus, Thamyris, and Eumolpus, all Thracians, were the first, as Eufaulius informs us, who charmed the inhabitants of Greece with their eloquence and melody, and persuaded them to exchange their Thracian, fierce and for a sociable life and peaceful manners; nay, great part of Greece was anciently peopled by Thracians. Tereus, a Thracian, governed at Daulis in Phocis, where the tragical story of Philomela and Progne was acted. From thence a body of Thracians passed over to Euboea, and possessed themselves of that island. Of the same nation were the Aones, Tembices, and Hyanthians, who made themselves masters of Boeotia: and great part of Attica itself was inhabited by Thracians, under the command of the celebrated Eumolpus. It is not therefore without the utmost ingratitude and injustice that the Greeks style them Barbarians, since to them chiefly they were indebted both for the peopling and polishing of their country.

Thrace was anciently divided into a number of petty states, which were first subdued by Philip of Macedon. On the decline of the Macedonian empire, the country fell under the power of the Romans. It continued under subjection to them till the irruption of the Turks, in whose hands it still remains.