The Trallians, Tralles or Tralli ( el, Τράλλεις, ''Tralleis'') were a
Thracian tribe that served
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
kings.
They were
barbarians, employed as mercenaries, executioners and torturers in Asia.
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
(64 BC–24 AD) in ''Geographica'' attributed the foundation of the ancient city of
Tralles, in the valley of the
Maeander River in
Asia Minor to Trallians and
Argives. This tradition has been deemed fictitious and coincidental.
(1851–1939) believed that the Trallians, a warrior tribe, had crossed the
Hellespont
The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
and settled
Mysia,
Lydia
Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...
,
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...
,
Caria and
Lycia,
in what is today western
Turkey.
Livy (59 BC–17 AD) called them
Illyrians,
because a branch of the tribe migrated to
Illyria
In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tralles
Ancient tribes in the Balkans
Ancient mercenaries
Thracian tribes