Introduction:
The Thracians were a people who came from the ancient kingdom of Thrace which is located somewhere within modern day Greece and were a warlike nation much influenced by their cultural surroundings. Hoddinott’s book is a classic text which was published in 1981 and which brings together several years of detailed study about this people with some observations that are uncannily interesting and rather intriguing. Hoddinott’s background as an academic professor adds the necessary authority to the text and his vast research on the Thracians which went on for several decades is clearly reflected in the book. The book was written by the author in an attempt to bring more clarity to the Thracians and their history. The book is a case study and its intended audience is the scholar and also the man in the street.
The beginnings of the Thracians:
Hodinott argues that the Thracians had beginnings as a barbarian tribe but they did not organize themselves politically until as late as the 5th century BC. They were similar to the Illyrians but were much more pacific and Hoddinott describes their forms of political organization and government in considerable detail which also makes for highly interesting reading.
Apparently the Thracians were settled over a considerable swathe of area which included present day Macedonia, Dacia and other parts of the Balkans. Hoddinott uses several archeological finds to back up his body of evidence in this respect and everything comes together quite nicely. Hoddinott then moves over to the period of Greek influence where he describes their influence on the Thracian people who were loosely disorganized and rather out of kilter with what they were actually doing.
Later periods and Roman influence
Hoddinott devotes a large part of the book to the description of Roman rule which established the Thracians as some sort of client state of the Roman Empire. This perhaps is the best part of the book as it goes into considerable detail on the influence which the Romans had on the Thracians and is also quite interesting to read. Occasionally Hodinott may be slightly too detailed and scholarly in his presentations yet the book does include some quite priceless information on this period which cannot be discounted, in fact no one has really studied the Thracian people in such extensive and mind boggling detail.
Dicsussion:
Although Hoddinott is considered as being the classic text for anything to do with Thrace there are some grey areas since the book has been published which was way back in 1981. Several more archeological discoveries have been made since that time so some of the information is obviously quite dated and needs some updating. However the intrinsic descriptions of the Thracian peoples have probably never been bettered in the sense that Hodinott provides incredible class and authority to his complex narrative. The book is also replete with pictures and maps which also add spice and character to proceedings and which are an added bonus to all that goes on.
I particularly enjoyed the detailed descriptions in the chapters which discuss the lifestyle and customs of the Thracians which demonstrates the unprecedented level of research which Hoddinott has gone into in the book. The accounts of the battles especially in the times of Philip and Alexander from Macedonia are also important parts of the book which truly bring the vanished Thracians back to life in more ways than one.
Other parts of the book which are extremely enjoyable include the Roman rule period which indicates how much the Thracians changed in that respect. The descriptions of the revolts which took place until the Thracians were tamed by Rome also create interesting situations for the reader as one can truly sense that this people retained a proud sense of independence and loyalty to their own traditions.
Conclusion: is the book recommended as a history of the Thracians?
The Thracians is certainly a book I wouldn’t want to be without if I was studying this period in history. And although some information in it is quite dated, one can console him/herself with the fact that everything moves along in an orderly and well fashioned manner thus creating a text which is not only essential reading for the historian but also an enjoyable one too. Ralph F Hoddinott is an author who perhaps writes in a slightly oldish and fussy style but otherwise he does bring together several aspects of his own study in a clear, logic and very direct manner.
What this book certainly did for me is that it opened a whole new window on the Thracians which I had not known about and was definitely not conscious of. It is certainly an opportunity for those who perhaps do not really know anything at all about this important nation which left a considerable mark on Indo-European culture although their disappearance makes that influence limited. Hoddinott has left a classic text which will be an eye opener to those who have not had the opportunity to delve deeper into this subject and although other books on the Thracians have been written, this one is definitely the book to have, both for the scholar and the man in the street. It fits very well into the context of ancient history as a class.
References:
Hoddinott Ralph F (1981); The Thracians; London, Thames and Hudson
