Seuthes I.

Seuthes I ( Greek  Σεύθης ) was from 424 to 410 BC. BC King of the Odrysen in Thrace . He was the son of Sparadokos , grandson of Teres , presumably father of Maisades , nephew of Sitalkes (440-424 BC), who was before him King of Odryses and son-in-law of the Athenian Xenophon . Xenophon reports in part 7 of his anabasis of Seuthes I. Seuthes I. subjugated several neighboring peoples.

431 BC BC Sitalkes allied themselves with the Athenians and, at their request for help, began a campaign against Macedonia in late autumn 429 with a force of 150,000 men. Seuthes went down in glorious history when, five years before his accession to the throne (429 BC), he accompanied Sitalkes on his campaign against Macedonia and was bribed by Perdiccas II of Macedonia by offering him his sister Stratonice as his wife, to assert his influence on Sitalkes and moved him to break off the campaign. The campaign was interrupted by Seuthe's influence, the second in command after Sitalkes, and on his “advice” after just 30 days. As agreed, he married Stratonike on his return to Thrace.

After Seuthes I became king in 424 BC, he doubled his tribute demands on the Greek coastal cities. During his reign the prosperity and power of the Odrysen Empire grew to an unprecedented level. Thucydides reported in his work "The Peloponnesian War" that the regular income of the empire amounted to 400 talents , to which tribute payments of approximately the same amount in the form of gold and silver were added. Thucydides further speculated that Seuthes had a hand in the death of Sitalkes. Sitalkes was killed in a battle with the Triballians , a strong tribe in northwestern Thrace, which were not part of the Odrysenian Empire. Thucydides also reports that Seuthes maintained friendly relations with the Athenians.

411 BC BC Seuthes I led a not very successful campaign against Athens with the aim of ruling the Gallipoli peninsula . A year later he died after a serious illness in 410 BC. After Seuthe's death, the Odrysian Empire was divided into three parts, which were ruled by Amadokos I , Maides and Euryzelmes I.

literature

Ulrike Peter: Seuthes I. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 482.