‘Thracian’ Identities in the time of Rome: Bessi and others
‘Thracian’ Identities in the time of Rome: Bessi and others

Summary/Abstract: The Bessi and the brutal force that they were often treated with by the Romans provides a very alluring story of the interaction between the Roman administration and local groups during the years when the Roman state was continuously expanding or tried to secure its imperial authority over lands and people. With its turns of barbarity, heroism and mysticism this was a narrative predominated by a mixture of ethnographic, and idealized stereotypes of barbarism. The case of Bessi is illustrative of a historical narrative that revolves around the existence of a homogeneous social group, a tribe which managed to survive through the imperial period due to its martial abilities. The scope of the paper is to discuss some considerations regarding identity issues focusing mostly on the notion of ethnic identity and what it might have meant in the imperial context. Assessing identity of well-known groups like the Bessi entails a number of issues and considerations that must be taken into account. Then what can we say about other, less well known groups of Thracians like for instance the groups of people living on the Aegean shore? Due to lack of credible textual sources, can archaeology (acknowledging all the pitfalls that such a process entails) provide the means to approach and understand different layers of identity of the Thracians living in the lands south of Rhodope?

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