Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 982

CHRISTOPHER BARON

University of Notre Dame

Thracian tribe living in northwest Anatolia (BA 52 F4; Müller II, 790–91). Herodotus mentions the Bithynians twice. First, they are among the peoples west of the HALYS RIVER conquered by the Lydian king CROESUS (1.28). Later, in his CATALOGUE of XERXES’ invasion force, Herodotus describes the equipment of the “Thracians of Asia” and says they came to be called Bithynians when they crossed to ASIA from EUROPE, having previously been called Strymonians according to their own account (7.75). Their small shields or peltai were typical of Thracian fighters; the increasing use of Thracians as MERCENARIES in the late fifth century BCE led to the incorporation of peltasts (light‐armed infantry) into many Greek ARMIES. In the classical period the Bithynians were feared by Greek travelers through the region (Xen. An. 6.4.2). During the wars between Alexander’s successors (323–276), an independent Bithynian kingdom emerged and played a role in Hellenistic affairs until 75/4 BCE, when the last king ceded his realm to the Romans.

The presence of a Thracian tribe in Anatolia was already known to Pherecydes in the second quarter of the fifth century (BNJ 3 F27, though he includes the PAPHLAGONIANS as Thracian). The legend of a Teucrian and Mysian invasion of Europe which forced the Strymonians to move and change their name, however, is an attempt to explain passages of HOMER which include Thracians as Trojan ALLIES (Asheri 1990, 153–54).

SEE ALSO: Migration; Mysia; Strymon; Teucrians; Thrace; Thynians; Weapons and Armor