Thracology is the scientific study of Ancient Thrace and Thracian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. 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 in late 19th century. 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.

Contents 1 Thracologists 2 International Congress of Thracology 2.1 Thracians and Myceneans 3 See also 4 References 5 Sources 6 External links

[edit] Thracologists

Researchers who have been noted in the field of Thracology include:

• Vladimir I. Georgiev - A famous Bulgarian linguist.
• Georgi Kitov - A Bulgarian archaeologist.
• Alexander Fol - A Bulgarian Thracologist.
• Ion Niculiţă - A Moldavian Thracologist and archaeologist.
• Nikolay Ovcharov - A Bulgarian archaeologist.

[edit] 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.

Number	Hosted in	Date	Theme
1	Sofia, Bulgaria	July 1972
2	Bucharest, Romania	September 1976
3	Vienna, Austria	June 1980
4	Rotterdam, Netherlands	September 1984
5		1988
6		1992
7	Constanţa-Tulcea-Mangalia, Romania	May 1996	Thracians and Myceneans
8	Yambol, Bulgaria	September 2000	Thracians and the Aegean
9	Chisinau, Moldavia	September 2004	Thracians and the Circumpontic World
10	Athens, Greece	October 2005

[edit] Thracians and Myceneans

On September 21-26, 1984, the Fourth International Congress of Thracology was held in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam, 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). 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.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Bulgarian Academy of Science
• Thrace
• Thracians
• Thracian Language
• Thracian Mythology
• Thracian Kings
• Thracian Tribes

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Best, Jan and De Vries, Nanny. Thracians and Mycenaeans. E.J. Brill Academic Publishers, Boston, MA. 1989. ISBN 90-04-08864-4

[edit] External links

• Institute of Thracology - Bulgarian Academy of Science - Institute of Thracology Official Site
• Thracology.dir.bg - 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ancient Thrace and Ancient Thracians