Odomanti or Odomantes ( grc, Ὀδόμαντες) were an ancient tribe. Some regard it as

Paeonian In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia ( grc, Παιονία, Paionía) was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians or Paionians ( grc, Παίονες, Paíones). The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, a ...

, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethn ...

and

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

. The district which they occupied, was called after them, Odomantice (). The tribe were settled upon the whole of the great mountain Orbelus, extending along the northeast of the lower Strymonic plain, from about Melnik (Bulgaria) and Sidirokastro (Greece) to Zikhne inclusive, where they bordered on Pangaion, the gold and silver mines of which they worked with the

Pieres The Pieres ( Ancient Greek: Πίερες) were an ancient tribe that long before the archaic period in Greece occupied the narrow strip of plain land, or low hill, between the mouths of the Peneius and the HaliacmonE.C. Marchant, Commentary on Th ...

and Satrae. (Herod. ''l. c.'') Secure in their inaccessible position, they defied Megabazus. (Herod. v. 16.) The northwest portion of their territory lay to the right of

Sitalces Sitalces (Sitalkes) (; Ancient Greek: Σιτάλκης, reigned 431–424 BC) was one of the great kings of the Thracian Odrysian state. The Suda called him Sitalcus (Σίταλκος). He was the son of Teres I, and on the sudden death ...

as he crossed Mount Cercine; and their general situation agrees with the description of Thucydides (ii. 101), according to whom they dwelt beyond the Strymon to the north, that is to say, to the north of the Lower Strymon, where, alone, the river takes such a course to the east as to justify the expression.

Cleon Cleon (; grc-gre, Κλέων, ; died 422 BC) was an Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself. He strongly advocat ...

invited Polles, their chieftain, to join him with as many Thracian mercenaries as could be levied. (Thuc. v. 6; Aristoph. Acharn. 156, 164; Suid. s. v. ἀποτεθρίακεν; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 210, 306, 465.) During the Roman period, most of their land belonged to the territory ("chora") of the ancient city of Sirra (today

Serres Sérres ( el, Σέρρες ) is a city in Macedonia, Greece, capital of the Serres regional unit and second largest city in the region of Central Macedonia, after Thessaloniki. Serres is one of the administrative and economic centers of Northe ...

)
Dimitrios C. Samsaris, A history of Serres (in the Ancient and Roman times) (in Greek), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 137 (Website of Municipality of Serres)

References

{{Paionians Ancient tribes in the Balkans Thracian tribes of Macedonia Paeonian tribes Serres (regional unit) Thracian tribes

See also

References