By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek…
“The Thracians are the biggest nation in the world, next to the Indians; were they under one ruler, or united, they would in my judgment be invincible and the strongest nation on earth…” — Herodotus, Book V, Chapter 3
Thrace is a historic region in the southeastern corner of Europe, encompassing modern-day Bulgaria, the European part of Türkiye, and a small portion of northern Greece. Ancient Thracians were a warlike tribal people known mainly through the writings of their Greek neighbors and the magnificent tombs where their kings were buried. The Thracian Odrysian kingdom ruled much of the region from approximately 460 BCE until it was absorbed by the Macedonian king Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, around 340 BCE. Odrysian cavalry served as scouts in Alexander’s army. The Odrysian kings produced a fascinating series of coins that have been extensively studied by Bulgarian numismatists and other scholars in recent years.
Although intriguing, this coinage was of limited output and had a moderate impact on the overall pool of money in circulation in Thrace from the fifth century to the middle of the first century CE. The available statistical data demonstrate that such coinage should be regarded more as a powerful symbolic claim by the kings of Thrace rather than as a regular currency with economic value. The sequence of rulers and their coin issues remains uncertain in some cases.
Key Rulers and Their Coinage
The Odrysian kingdom was founded by Teres I, who ruled c. 460–445 BCE, uniting some 40 different tribes into a powerful state.
Sparadokos
Image: CNG / CoinWeek.
His son, Sparadokos, who ruled c. 445–435 BCE, was the first Odrysian king to issue coins in his own name. His name is abbreviated as ΣΠA (“SPA”). Three denominations in silver were struck, probably at the Greek city of Olynthus, which had extensive trade with Thrace. The diobol (about 1.5 grams) shows the front half of a running horse on the obverse and a flying eagle with a snake in its beak on the reverse.
Seuthes I
the second known (the other in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris). Image: CNG / CoinWeek.
Seuthes I, who ruled c. 424–405 BCE, was a son of Sparadokos. Only about half a dozen silver coins in the name of Seuthes are known, and there is some uncertainty about whether they should be assigned to him or a later king of the same name, Seuthes II, who ruled c. 405–386 BCE. A cataloguer writes of Seuthes I that he:
is ingloriously remembered for ending the campaign of his uncle King Sitalkes in Macedon, after allowing himself to be bribed by the Macedonian king Perdikkas II. Thucydides speculated that Seuthes had a hand in the death of his uncle, to whose throne he succeeded in 424 BC. Yet, under his rule, the Odrysian kingdom grew to new heights of power and wealth.
A very rare silver didrachm (8.56 grams, only two examples known) bears a horseman brandishing a javelin, with the bold inscription ΣEYΘA/APΓV/PION (“Silver of Seuthes”) on the reverse.
Saratokos
Saratokos ruled c. 410–380 BCE. He issued an extensive coinage (167 examples on CoinArchives Pro) of silver diobols (a bit under 1 gram) bearing a youthful, long-haired male head that may be a portrait of the king. Some show a bunch of grapes on the reverse with the royal name abbreviated as Σ-Α. Other reverses show a large monogram surrounded by the name spelled out in full, ΣAPATOKO.
Metokos
Metokos, who ruled c. 405–391 BCE, was a descendant of Teres I. His silver diobols bear his bearded portrait, with a double-headed axe (labrys) surrounded by his name on the reverse. The double-headed axe was an attribute of the Thracian god Zalmoxis and was evidently the dynastic symbol of another royal family.
Amatokos II
Amatokos II was the son of Amatokos I (the name is often Latinized as “Amadocus”). The precise dates of his reign and the area he controlled are uncertain. One source gives his dates as 389–380 and 359–356, and his territory as central Thrace “west of the Hebrus river.” The Hebrus river is today known as the Maritsa. Amatokos II fought against the neighboring kingdom of Kersebleptes. Bronze coinage in the name of Amatokos II bears the double-headed axe, emblematic of his dynasty. The reverse bears a stylized grape vine, the symbol of the nearby Greek coastal town of Maroneia. Teres III was probably the son of Amatokos II. An extremely rare silver tetrobol bearing the head of a lion (only three examples known), a double-headed axe, and the letters AMA was likely struck as a tax payment to Amatokos II by the Greek towns of the Thracian Chersonesus (today the Gallipoli peninsula of Turkey).
Hebryzelmis
Hebryzelmis is a rather mysterious figure. He seems to have succeeded Amatokos as the king of Thrace around 390 BCE. He was opposed by Seuthes II and is mentioned as an ally in an Athenian inscription dated to c. 386. Four types of bronze coins in his name are known; some bear the two-handled drinking vessel (kotyle) that was a dynastic emblem, and one type bears a bearded male head that may be the king’s portrait. The reverse bears the king’s name and the forepart of a lion. Hebryzelmis died in 384 BCE, possibly murdered, and was succeeded by Kotys I.
Kotys I
Kotys (or Cotys) ruled Thrace for 24 years (384–360 BCE) and his reign is relatively well-documented in ancient Greek sources. All of his coins bear the emblem of the two-handled drinking cup. His mint was located at the town of Kypsela on the Hebrus (Maritsa) river. A bronze coin of uncertain denomination (about 8 grams) shows the king on a galloping horse. Kotys came into conflict with Athens as he tried to extend his control over coastal towns that were part of the Athenian empire. In September 360 BCE, Kotys was assassinated during a banquet by two young Greeks who were treated as heroes by the Athenians. Kotys was the last Odrysian ruler who controlled most of the territory of Thrace.
Seuthes III
The ancestry of Seuthes III and how he came to power in Thrace is uncertain. He established his capital at Seuthopolis (near Kazanlak, Bulgaria), modestly naming it for himself. He ruled from about 330 to 295 BCE. His magnificent tomb was discovered in 2004. Seuthes issued a diverse and extensive coinage in bronze. One type features an obverse portrait that might be either the king or the god Zeus, with a warrior on horseback on the reverse. Soon after the death of Seuthes III around 297 BCE, the Odrysian lands were incorporated into the kingdom of Lysimachus (ruled 306–281 BCE), one of Alexander the Great’s successors. In later centuries, a number of Thracian kingdoms arose as Roman client states and issued coins, but that is a story for another day.
Collecting the Odrysian Coins
Most coins of the Thracian kings are found in Bulgaria. While ancient coins are collected in Bulgaria, they cannot be legally exported. Under a 2014 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US State Department, “Thracian and Hellenistic coins struck in gold, silver, and bronze by city-states and kingdoms that operated in the territory of the modern Bulgarian state” may not be legally imported into the United States. Coins that appear on the numismatic market must be documented to be outside of Bulgaria before the effective date of this regulation.
References
- Paunov, Evgeni. “Introduction to the Numismatics of Thrace, ca. 580 BCE – 46 CE.” In J. Valeva et. al. A Companion to Ancient Thrace. Wiley (2015).
- Sear, David. Greek Coins and Their Values, Vol. 1: Europe. London (1978).
- Topalov, Stavri. The Odrysian Kingdom from the Late 5th to the Mid-4th C. B.C., Sofia, 1994.
- Youroukova, Yordanka. (trans. by V. Athanassov). Coins of the Ancient Thracians, Oxford (1976).
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