Southeast Europe (909 BCE – 819 CE): Iron Kingdoms, Roman Frontiers, and Byzantine Beginnings

Regional Overview

Between the Adriatic and the Black Sea, Southeast Europe stood for a millennium as the hinge between the Mediterranean world and the steppe.
Its twin landscapes—the eastern Danubian–Thracian plains and the western Adriatic–Illyrian mountains—produced parallel yet intertwined histories.
Both absorbed Hellenic colonization, entered the Roman orbit, and later weathered the migrations that forged medieval Europe.
The region’s story from the early Iron Age to late Antiquity is thus one of fusion and frontier, where Greek, Roman, Thracian, Illyrian, and Slavic worlds met and reshaped one another.

Geography and Environment

The region divides naturally:

• Eastern Southeast Europe embraces the Lower Danube, Thracian plain, and Black Sea coast, enclosed by the Balkan and Carpathian arcs. Fertile lowlands sustained dense agrarian settlement, while the Danube served as both artery and barrier.

• Western Southeast Europe rises into karstic uplands and Adriatic coasts, with sheltered island chains and mountain basins suited to mixed farming and seaborne trade.

Climatic variation—humid along the coasts, continental inland—produced complementary economies: grain, salt, and metals from the east; timber, livestock, and maritime goods from the west.
Seasonal river floods and Adriatic storms shaped transport calendars; alpine passes and sea lanes linked every valley to the wider Mediterranean.

Societies and Political Developments

Greek Colonies and Indigenous Kingdoms

From the 8th to 5th centuries BCE, Greek settlers established poleis along both coasts: Apollonia and Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic; Odessos, Mesambria, and Histria on the Black Sea.
Behind them, Illyrian, Thracian, and Geto-Dacian tribes forged early kingdoms—the Odrysian realm in Thrace, the Ardiaean and Dardanian dominions in the west.
These polities traded metals, grain, and slaves for imported wine, oil, and ceramics, mediating between the Mediterranean and the interior.

Rome and the Imperial Frontier

Between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE, Rome absorbed the entire peninsula: Macedonia, Illyricum, Dalmatia, Moesia, Thrace, and briefly Dacia north of the Danube.
Roman roads—the Via Egnatia, Via Militaris, and Sava-Drava corridors—stitched the provinces together.
Urban centers such as Salona, Skupi, Nicomedia, and Serdica reflected Roman law and architecture, while legionary camps and bridgeheads (Apollodorus’ bridge at Drobeta) turned the Danube into the empire’s longest fortified line.
Mining in Dacia, shipyards on the Adriatic, and grain estates in Moesia underpinned prosperity until the 3rd-century crises.

Migrations and the Byzantine Transition

From the 3rd to 7th centuries CE, the frontier dissolved under waves of Goths, Huns, Avars, and Slavs.
Cities were sacked, repopulated, and repurposed as Byzantine forts.
The Eastern Roman Empire, centered on Constantinople, re-emerged as the stabilizing power, holding Thrace and the coastal Adriatic while fostering Christianization.
By the late 7th century, the First Bulgarian Empire rose in Moesia and Thrace; Croatian and Serbian principalities took form in the western mountains, bridging the late antique and medieval orders.

Economy and Exchange

Agriculture remained the foundation:

• The Thracian plain and Wallachian lowlands exported grain and livestock along the Danube.

• The Adriatic coasts specialized in wine, oil, salted fish, and amphora industries.

• Mining of gold, silver, and iron in Dacia and the western ranges enriched both local chieftains and Roman prefects.

Trade routes—riverine, overland, and maritime—made the region a corridor between the Aegean, the Pannonian plain, and the steppe.
After Rome’s decline, Byzantine and Bulgar administrations preserved key arteries, ensuring continuity of commerce despite political fragmentation.

Technology and Material Culture

Iron metallurgy and Roman engineering reshaped daily life.
Stone bridges, aqueducts, and bath complexes signaled urban sophistication; rural estates used the iron plow to expand cultivation.
Local craftsmanship persisted: Thracian and Illyrian metalwork, Dacian goldsmithing, and later Slavic wood and textile arts.
Christian churches and monasteries, often rising atop pagan sanctuaries, announced new spiritual geographies while reusing classical masonry.

Belief and Symbolism

Religious life reflected the region’s pluralism:

• Indigenous cults—Zalmoxis, the Thracian Horseman—coexisted with Greek polytheism and Roman state worship.

• Christianity spread from urban bishoprics by the 4th century CE, producing early saints and councils.

• Slavic and Bulgar paganisms, with sky- and ancestor-deities, persisted until conversion in the 8th–9th centuries.
  Thus the region became a spiritual palimpsest, each new faith overlaying rather than erasing the old.

Adaptation and Resilience

Southeast Europe’s resilience lay in its geographical layering: river corridors, mountain refuges, and island coasts offered fallback zones in war or climate stress.
Agro-pastoral economies allowed mobility; fortified towns and hillforts provided refuge during invasions.
Byzantine fiscal systems and Bulgar tribute networks recycled Roman infrastructures, ensuring survival of settlement and trade patterns despite continual upheaval.

Regional Synthesis and Long-Term Significance

By 819 CE, Southeast Europe had completed its ancient cycle.
In the east, Byzantine Thrace and the Bulgar kingdom defined a Christian–steppe frontier along the Danube.
In the west, Slavic kingdoms grew amid the ruins of Roman Dalmatia, while the Adriatic cities preserved classical urbanism under imperial and papal influence.
Greek colonies, Roman provinces, and barbarian migrations had fused into a single cultural continuum—one that naturally divides into eastern (Danubian–Thracian) and western (Adriatic–Illyrian) spheres yet remains bound by geography, trade, and faith.

This equilibrium of coast and hinterland, empire and tribe, set the pattern for the medieval Balkans: a region perpetually contested but never peripheral, mediating between the Mediterranean world and the steppes beyond.

Eastern Southeast Europe (909 BCE – 819 CE) Early Iron & Antiquity — Greek Poleis, Thracians & Dacians, Rome & Byzantium, Migrations and Bulgars

Geographic and Environmental Context

Eastern Southeast Europe includes Turkey-in-Europe (Thrace); Greece’s Thrace; Bulgaria (except its southwest); Romania & Moldova; northeastern Serbia; northeastern Croatia; extreme northeastern Bosnia & Herzegovina.

• Anchors: Greek Black Sea poleis (Histria, Tomis/Constanța, Callatis/Mangalia, Odessos/Varna, Mesambria/Nessebar, Apollonia/Sozopol), Thrace (Odrysian kingdom), Moesia (Danube limes), Dacia(Transylvania & Wallachia), Lower Danube legionary line, Carpathian–Balkan passes.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• First-millennium variability; fertile Thracian and Wallachian plains supported dense settlement; Danube avulsions required continual river management.

Societies & Political Developments

• Greek colonies flourished (7th–5th c. BCE) along the western Black Sea.

• Thracian Odrysian kingdom (5th–4th c. BCE) and Geto-Dacians north of the Danube rose to prominence.

• Rome annexed Moesia and Thrace; Dacia (106–271 CE) north of the Danube briefly Romanized with cities, mines, roads; Danube limes fortified.

• Migrations: Goths (3rd–4th c.), Huns (5th c.), Avars and Slavs (6th–7th c.) reconfigured the region;

• First Bulgarian Empire (from 681 CE) entrenched in Moesia/Thrace; Byzantium held Thrace and coastal cities.

Economy & Trade

• Grain, wine, salt, and livestock moved along the Danube; Black Sea ports exported to the Aegean–Mediterranean; mining (gold/silver in Dacia, iron in Thrace).

• Roman urbanism (roads, bridges e.g., Apollodorus’ bridge near Drobeta) integrated the frontier.

Technology & Material Culture

• Iron plowshares; Roman engineering; Thracian/Dacian metalwork; Byzantine fortifications.

• Urban mosaics, inscriptions, temples; later churches and monasteries.

Belief & Symbolism

• Thracian and Dacian cults (horseman, Zalmoxis); Greek polytheism; Roman state cults → Christianity (by late Roman/Byzantine era).

• Early Slavic and Bulgar paganisms persisted into 8th–9th c., gradually Christianizing.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Riverine transport and oasis agriculture stabilized supply; fortified towns and hillforts provided refuge; steppe pastoralism remained flexible under aridity pulses.

Legacy & Transition

By 819 CE, Eastern Southeast Europe was a braided frontier of Byzantine Thrace, Bulgar power, Slavic communities, and legacy Roman–Greek Black Sea cities. The Lower Danube’s fortified line, Thracian plain granaries, and coastal emporia formed the scaffolding for the medieval dynamics to come.

The Delphic oracle establishes a festival in Magnesia to honor the goddess Artemis, who reportedly appears there in 220.

The architect Hermogenes of Priene erects the Temple of Artemis Leukophryena in Magnesia to commemorate her appearance; a sculptured frieze depicting an Amazonomachy decorates the building.

The geographer Strabo mentions this temple, the third greatest temple after those in Didyma and Ephesus, but considered finest of all for its proportions.

East Europe (189–46 BCE): Consolidation of Sarmatian Power and Expansion of Hellenistic Influence

Political and Military Developments

Sarmatian Consolidation and Expansion

Between 189 and 46 BCE, the Sarmatians solidified their dominance over the Pontic–Caspian steppe, extending their influence westward toward central and eastern Europe. Their formidable cavalry units increasingly interacted with, and sometimes clashed with, emerging European tribes, such as the early Germanic groups and Celtic tribes.

Growth and Influence of the Bosporan Kingdom

The Bosporan Kingdom expanded significantly, incorporating territories previously held by smaller tribal states like Sindica. The kingdom served as a vital political and economic hub linking Greek city-states, local tribes, and powerful nomadic confederations such as the Sarmatians.

Economic and Technological Developments

Enhanced Eurasian Trade Networks

Sarmatian control of key trade routes facilitated thriving commerce linking Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Mediterranean. Commodities such as precious metals, furs, and horses moved extensively through these routes, significantly enriching Sarmatian and Bosporan elites.

Continued Military Innovations

The Sarmatians further refined cavalry warfare, particularly their heavily armored horsemen (cataphracts), influencing European and Central Asian military tactics. Technological improvements in metallurgy allowed for stronger armor and weaponry, which became increasingly common among Eurasian warriors.

Cultural and Artistic Developments

Flourishing Sarmatian Art

Sarmatian artistic traditions flourished, showcasing sophisticated metalwork, intricate jewelry, and richly decorated weaponry. The fusion of steppe and Mediterranean styles became more pronounced, particularly in regions near the Bosporan Kingdom.

Intensified Hellenistic Influence

The Hellenistic cultural presence grew markedly in regions adjacent to the Bosporan Kingdom and throughout Sindica. Greek cultural and artistic elements permeated local traditions, visible in burial practices, pottery, coinage, and urban architecture.

Settlement Patterns and Urban Development

Expansion and Urbanization of Settlements

Urban centers in the Bosporan Kingdom and surrounding territories expanded significantly, serving as administrative, trade, and cultural hubs. Cities such as Panticapaeum (modern Kerch) thrived, reflecting increased economic prosperity and political stability.

Rise of the Zarubintsy and Przeworsk Cultures

The Zarubintsy and Przeworsk cultures continued to expand, demonstrating more complex settlement patterns and fortified communities. These cultures displayed enhanced socio-economic organization and interactions with surrounding Sarmatian and Hellenistic influences.

Social and Religious Developments

Reinforcement of Elite Dominance

Sarmatian society remained distinctly hierarchical, dominated by elite warriors and chieftains whose status and wealth were increasingly visible through elaborate burial sites, ornate jewelry, and ceremonial weaponry.

Deepening Religious Syncretism

Religious practices continued to reflect syncretism, integrating Greek, Iranian, and local steppe traditions. Rituals and religious iconography became increasingly eclectic, incorporating diverse symbolism from these interacting cultural spheres.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

The era from 189 to 46 BCE represented the high point of Sarmatian political and cultural influence in East Europe, closely interwoven with intensified Hellenistic expansion from the Bosporan Kingdom. These interactions contributed to enduring cultural exchanges and laid the foundations for future developments in regional trade, military strategies, and socio-political structures.

Greek artists working around 180 BCE create the magnificently opulent Altar of Zeus, or Pergamon Altar, for King Eumenes II of Pergamon.

A high podium encloses the altar, decorated with a monumental frieze of the battle between the gods and the giants, portraying exaggerated emotion, movement, and physical pain, against a background of swirling draperies.

Construction had begun on the colossal Temple of Olympian Zeus in the sixth century BCE during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who had envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world.

The temple is located about five hundred meters (sixteen hundred and forty feet feet) southeast of the Acropolis, and about seven hundred meters (twenty-three hundred feet) south of the center of Athens, Syntagma Square.

Its foundations were laid on the site of an ancient outdoor sanctuary dedicated to Zeus.

An earlier temple had stood there, constructed around 550 BCE by the tyrant Pisistratus.

The building was demolished after the death of Peisistratos and the construction of a colossal new Temple of Olympian Zeus was begun around 520 BCE by his sons, Hippias and Hipparchos.

They sought to surpass two famous contemporary temples, the Heraion of Samos and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Designed by the architects Antistates, Callaeschrus, Antimachides and Porinus, the Temple of Olympian Zeus was intended to be built of local limestone in the Doric style on a colossal platform measuring forty-one meters (one hundred and thirty-four and a half feet) by one hundred and eight meters (three hundred and fifty three and a hapf feet).

It was to be flanked by a double colonnade of eight columns across the front and back and twenty-one on the flanks, surrounding the cella.

The work was abandoned when the tyranny was overthrown and Hippias expelled in 510 BCE, by which point only the platform and some elements of the columns had been completed.

The temple has remained in this state for the past three hundred and thirty-six years, left unfinished during the years of Athenian democracy, apparently because the Greeks thought it hubristic to build on such a scale.

In the treatise Politics, Aristotle cited the temple as an example of how tyrannies engaged the populace in great works for the state and left them no time, energy or means to rebel.

The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who presents himself as the earthly embodiment of Zeus, revives the project in 174 BCE and places the Roman architect Decimus Cossutius in charge.

The design is changed to feature three rows of eight columns across the front and back of the temple and a double row of twenty on the flanks, for a total of one hundred and four columns.

The columns are to stand seventeen meters (fifty-five and a half feet) high and two meters (six and a half feet) in diameter.

The building material is changed to the expensive but high-quality Pentelic marble and the order is changed from Doric to Corinthian, marking the first use of this order on the exterior of a major temple.

Gaul’s population of possibly ten million—a mix of Celtic immigrants and invaders of past centuries mingled with the native Ligure of the Alps, Iberians of the Pyrenees, and numerous folk elsewhere who were often of Phoenician, Greek, or Roman stock—possesses neither unified rule nor homogeneous roots.

The Gallic clans sometimes function separately and sometimes form into one of over four hundred tribes, which in turn often join into one of the seventy or so nations.

The Gauls, who have no single leader or authority, and except for Marseille and Nice, no cities or towns either, mostly live in scattered mud huts generally surrounded by a stockade.

The Gauls derive their basic needs from hunting, fishing, and pastoral pursuits, sending surpluses and craftwork in wood and leather to local markets for sale or exchange.

Local Gauls are not philhellenes who want to imitate Greek culture, but peoples who selectively consume a very limited range of Greek objects (mostly wine and drinking ceramics) that they incorporate into their own cultural practices according to their own systems of value.

Gallic religious life is localized and pluralistic, with pantheistic worship of rivers, woods, and other elements of nature.

Italian temple construction passes through a transitional phase which engenders both traditional buildings and radically new structures.

An example of the former is the Temple of Portunes (or Portunus), a god of keys, doors and livestock, who protects the warehouses where grain is stored.

Built in the Ionic order, the temple is still more familiar by its erroneous designation, the Temple of Fortuna Virilis ("manly fortune") given it by antiquaries.

Built around 75 BCE and located in the ancient Forum Boarium by the Tiber, the site overlooks the Port Tiberinus at a sharp bend in the river; from here, Portunus watches over cattle-barges as they enter the city from Ostia.

The rectangular building consists of a tetrastyle portico and cella, raised on high podium reached by a flight of steps, which it retains.

Like the Maison Carrée in Nîmes, it has a pronaos portico of four Ionic columns across and two columns deep.

The columns of the portico are free-standing, while the five columns on the long sides and the four columns at the rear are engaged along the walls of the cella.

This form is sometimes called pseudoperipteral, as distinct from a true peripteral temple like the Parthenon entirely surrounded by freestanding columns.

It is built of tuff and travertine with a stucco surface.

The temple owes its state of preservation from its being converted to use as a church in 872 and rededicated to Santa Maria Egyziaca (Saint Mary of Egypt).

Its Ionic order has been much admired, drawn and engraved and copied since the sixteenth century.

The original coating of stucco over its tufa and travertine construction has been lost.

Sertorius owes some of his success to his prodigious ability as a statesman.

His goal is to build a stable government in Hispania with the consent and cooperation of the people, whom he wishes to civilize along the lines of the Roman model.

He establishes a senate of three hundred members, drawn from Roman emigrants (probably including some from the highest nobles of Hispania) and keeps a Hispanian bodyguard.

For the children of the chief native families he provides a school at Osca (Huesca), where they receive a Roman education and even adopt the dress and education of Roman youths, following the Roman practice of taking hostages.

Although he is strict and severe with his soldiers, he is particularly considerate to the people in general, and makes their burdens as light as possible.

It seems clear that he had a peculiar gift for evoking the enthusiasm of the native tribes, and we can understand well how he was able to use the famous white fawn, a present from one of the natives that was supposed to communicate to him the advice of the goddess Diana, to his advantage.

Atlantic West Europe (45–34 BCE): From Caesar’s Aftermath to Augustan Stabilization

Between 45 and 34 BCE, Atlantic West Europe—including Aquitaine, the Atlantic coast, northern and central France, Alsace, and the Low Countries—underwent critical transformations, as the collapse of the Roman Republic transitioned into the early stability of Augustus’s Principate.

Political and Military Developments

Consolidation after Caesar’s Conquests

• Following Julius Caesar's assassination (44 BCE), uncertainty briefly gripped Roman Gaul. Local tribes in Aquitaine, the Loire Valley, and Belgica sought opportunities to reassert independence or renegotiate terms with Rome.

• Mark Antony's subordinate, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Octavian swiftly reinforced Roman control in Gaul through diplomacy and military intimidation, stabilizing the region.

Regional Reorganizations under Octavian

• Octavian began administrative reorganizations, strengthening Roman rule by establishing coloniae (Roman settlements) and military veterans’ communities, particularly along strategic points such as Narbo (Narbonne) and Burdigala (Bordeaux).

• Local Celtic aristocrats were co-opted into Roman administration, solidifying loyalty among tribal elites.

Economic and Social Developments

Infrastructure and Urban Growth

• Roman infrastructure projects (roads, aqueducts, early towns) accelerated, enhancing economic integration. Aquitaine's developing wine industry increasingly fed markets in Italy and elsewhere in the Roman world.

• New trade networks emerged, bolstered by stable Roman authority, connecting Atlantic ports such as Bordeaux and Nantes to Mediterranean and northern European routes.

Cultural and Social Integration

• Local elites began to adopt Roman customs, including Latin language and urban lifestyles, leading to an early form of Gallo-Roman cultural identity.

• Roman colonization and settlement increased urbanization, as Roman veterans and merchants settled in strategic locations throughout the region.

Cultural and Religious Developments

Early Romanization and Religious Syncretism

• The Roman presence fostered religious syncretism, combining Celtic and Roman deities. Roman gods like Mercury and Mars became associated with local deities in places such as Lutetia (Paris) and Avaricum (Bourges).

• Druids maintained significant influence, but Roman political authorities viewed them as potential sources of unrest, marking the beginning of gradual suppression.

Key Figures and Events

• Octavian (future Augustus): Initiated policies that brought stability to the region after initial uncertainty following Caesar’s death.

• Marcus Agrippa: Conducted infrastructure improvements and pacification efforts, particularly around strategic Atlantic centers.

Long-Term Significance

By 34 BCE, Atlantic West Europe was firmly on the path toward full integration into the Roman Empire:

• Roman rule and administrative reforms created stability after initial turmoil.

• Roman cultural influence took root among local elites, paving the way for deeper Romanization.

• Economic developments, especially in Aquitaine and along the Atlantic coast, laid the groundwork for long-term prosperity under imperial rule.

This era thus marked the pivotal transition from Republican instability to the establishment of enduring Roman control and cultural integration in Atlantic West Europe.