Thracology ( bg, Тракология, Trakologiya; ro, Tracologie) is the scientific study of

Ancient Thrace The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

and

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

. A practitioner of the discipline is a Thracologist. Thracology investigates the range of ancient Thracian culture (language, literature, history, religion, art, economics and ethics) from 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule in the 4th–7th centuries AD. Modern Thracology (as opposed to an antiquarian interest in the land of Thrace) started with the work of

Wilhelm Tomaschek Wilhelm Tomaschek, or Vilém Tomášek (May 26, 1841, Olomouc – September 9, 1901, Vienna) was a Czech-Austrian geographer and orientalist. He is known for his work in the fields of historical topography and historical ethnography.

in the late 19th century.

Thracology in Bulgaria

In the second part of the 20th century, Bulgarian historian Alexander Fol founded the Institute of Thracology in the Bulgarian Academy of Science. With subsequently ever-increasing Thracian tombs unearthing, the study of the Ancient Thracian civilization was able to proceed with greater academic rigor.

Thracology in Romania

Since Dacians are considered a branch of the

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

by most mainstream research and historical sources, Romanian historians and archaeologists have also been heavily involved in Thracology since at least the 19th century. The related term Thraco-Dacology also exists, alluding to Thraco-Dacian, and one of the first uses is from around 1980, in the Romanian government archive. But since other theories sustain that Daco-Thracian relation is not as strong as originally thought, Dacology may evolve as an independent discipline from Thracology. Unfortunately, the terms ''Dacology/Dacologist'' have been negatively affected by the association with

protochronism Dacianism is a Romanian term describing the tendency to ascribe, largely relying on questionable data and subjective interpretation, an idealized past to the country as a whole. While particularly prevalent during the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu ...

and risk to be severely compromised, prompting some reputable Romanian researchers to call themselves Thracologists instead of Dacologists, even in the context of their research being focused more on Dacians than on Thracians, and even without necessarily promoting a strong connection between the two peoples. The ''Romanian Thracology Institute I.G Bibicescu'', part of

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

and based in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, was founded in 1976, after the 2nd ''International Congress of Thracology'' held in September of same year in Bucharest. One of his first directors was the thracologist

Dumitru Berciu Dumitru Berciu (27 January 1907, Bobaița, Mehedinți – 1 July 1998, Bucharest) was a Romanian historian and archaeologist, honorary member of the Romanian Academy. He conducted research in South-Eastern and Central Europe, focusing on Geto ...

(1907–1998).

Thracologists

Researchers who have been noted in the field of Thracology include: * Gavril Katsarov – Bulgarian historian, classical philologist and archeologist * Vladimir I. Georgiev – Bulgarian linguist *

Georgi Kitov Georgi Kitov ( Bulgarian: Георги Китов) (March 1, 1943 – September 14, 2008) was a Bulgarian archaeologist and thracologist. He specialized in Thracian archaeology. He participated in the excavations of many sites including th ...

– Bulgarian archaeologist * Alexander Fol – Bulgarian Thracologist * Ion Niculiţă – Moldavian archaeologist * Sorin Olteanu – Romanian Thracologist, focused on Thraco-Daco-Moesian languages * Engin Beksac – Turkish archaeologist and art historian *

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

– Romanian Daco-Thracologist and historian *

Ion I. Russu An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electric charge, electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be po ...

- Romanian Daco-Thracologist and historian *

– Director of the Romanian Thracology Institute * Margarita Tacheva – Bulgarian Thracologist

International Congress of Thracology

The ''International Congress of Thracology'' was organised by the Institute of Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It has been held regularly since 1972 when it was founded by Alexander Fol. Fol himself became the chairman of the congress, and emphasized an international approach to the study of Thracology.

Thracians and Myceneans

On September 21–26, 1984, the Fourth International Congress of Thracology was held in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, Netherlands. The Congress was organized by the Henri Frankfort Foundation, which is a private institution whose main purpose is to augment the study of Mediterranean pre-history and proto-history. The opening of the symposium began on September 24 and was addressed by the Minister of Education and Science Dr. W. J. Deetman. "Thracians and Mycenaeans" was the theme name for the symposium, which held discussions pertaining to the potential ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic interrelations between proto-Thracians and proto-Greeks (i.e.

Myceneans Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...

). It was believed that such interrelations had to exist since both groups have lived in the same geographic area in the past. According to Alexander Fol, the concept of "Mycenean Thrace" was first developed in 1973 in order to explain the relative cultural unity between the Thracians and the Myceneans..

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

{{commons, Ancient Thrace and Ancient Thracians
Institute of Thracology – Bulgarian Academy of Science
– Institute of Thracology Official Site

– Sonya Ilieva's Web Page About Ancient Thrace and Thracology
Thracology.org
– A site dedicated to the enigmatic ancient Thracian civilization
Thracology Scientific Lab of State University of Moldova
* http://www.imadrugpat.org/krovatova.pdf Area studies by ancient history Archaeology of Bulgaria Archaeology of Romania