Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/336

Rh to which so many of the tales refer. Yet with all their faults the Nights have beauties enough to deserve their popularity, and to us their merit is enhanced by the pleasure we feel in being transported into so entirely novel a state of society.

The original of some of the most interesting tales in Galland's version, as "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," "AH Baba and the Forty Thieves," has just been discovered by Dr Zotenberg in a MS. recently acquired by the National Library at Paris. A careful examination of this MS. and of the Wortley-Montagu MS. in the Bodleian may lead perhaps to a more certain conclusion as to the time of composition.

The Thousand and One Nights became known in Europe through A. Galland's French version (12 vols., 12mo, Paris, 1704-12); the publication was an event in literary history, the influence of which can be traced far and wide. This translation, however, left much to be desired in point of accuracy, and especially failed to reproduce the colour of the original with the exactness which those who do not read merely for anmsement must desire. It was with a special view to the remedying of these defects that Lane produced in 1840 his admirably accurate, if somewhat stilted, translation, enriched with most valuable notes and a discussion of the origin of the work (new edition, with some additional notes, 3 vols., 8vo., London, 1859). Lane's translation omits the tales which he deemed uninteresting or unfit for a European public. No full translation into English can be published, and, though two such have been privately printed, and one of these (by Sir E. Burton) is being reproduced in an expurgated form, Lane's version is still unsuperseded for all serious use. Of the Arabic text of the Nights the principal editions are (1) M Nagh ten's edition, 4 vols., 8vo, Calcutta, 1839-42; (2) the Breslau edition, 12 vols., 12mo, 1835-43, the first 8 vols. by Habicht, the rest by Fleischer (com pare as to the defects of Habicht's work, Fleischer, De Glossis aabichtianis, Leipsic, 1836); (3) the first Bulak edition, 4 vols., 1862-3.

 THRACE is a name which was applied at various periods to areas of different extent, but for the purposes of this article it will be taken in its most restricted sense, as signifying the Roman province which was so called (Thracia, see Plate of the Roman empire in vol.1 xx.) after the district that intervened between the river Ister (Danube) and the Haemus Mountains (Balkan) had been formed into the separate province of Moesia, and the region between the rivers Strymon and Nestus, which included Philippi, had been added to Macedonia. The boundaries of this were towards the N. the Hsemus, on the E. the Euxine Sea, on the S. the Propontis, the Helles pont, and the ^Egean, and towards the W. the Nestus. The most distinguishing features of the country were the chain of Rhodope (Despoto-dagh) and the river Hebrus (Maritza). The former separates at its northernmost point from the Hsemus. at right angles, and runs southward at first, nearly parallel to the Nestus, until it approaches the sea, when it takes an easterly direction: this bend is referred to by Virgil in the line (G-eorg., iii. 351)—

The summits of this chain are higher than those of Haemus, and not a few of them range from 5000 to 8000 feet; the highest point, so far as is at present known (for these mountains have been imperfectly explored), rises towards the north-west, near the point where now stands the famous Bulgarian monastery of Rilo. The Hebrus, together with its tributaries which flow into it from the north, east, and west, drains nearly the whole of Thrace. It starts from near the point of junction of Hsemus and Rhodope, and at first takes an easterly direction, the chief town which lies on its banks in the earlier part of its course being Philippopolis; but, when it reaches the still more important city of Hadrianopolis, it makes a sharp bend towards the south, and enters the sea nearly opposite the island of Samothrace. The greater part of the country is hilly and irregular, though there are considerable plains; but besides Rhodope two other tolerably definite chains intersect it, one of which descends from Hsemus to Adrianople, while the other follows the coast of the Euxine at no great distance inland. One district in the extreme north-west of Thrace lay beyond the watershed that separates the streams that flow into the ^Egean from those that reach the Danube: this was the territory of Sardica, the modern Sophia. In the later Roman period two main lines of road passed through the country. One of these skirted the southern coast, being a continuation of the Via Egnatia, which ran from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, thus connecting the Adriatic and the ^Egean; it became of the first importance after the foundation of Constan tinople, because it was the direct line of communication between that city and Rome. The other followed a north westerly course through the interior, from Constantinople by Hadrianopolis and Philippopolis to the Hsemus, and thence by Naissus (Nisch) through Moesia in the direction of Pannonia, taking the same route by which the post-road now runs from Constantinople to Belgrade. The climate of Thrace was regarded by the Greeks as very severe, and that country was spoken of as the home of the north wind, Boreas. The coast in the direction of the Euxine also was greatly feared by sailors, as the harbours were few and the sea proverbially tempestuous; but the southern shore was more attractive to navigators, and here we find the Greek colonies of Abdera and Mesambria on the ^Egean, Perinthus on the Propontis, and, the most famous of all, Byzantium, at the meeting-point of that sea and the Bosphorus. Another place which proved attractive to colonists of that race was the curious narrow strip of ground, called the Thracian Chersonese, that intervened between the Hellespont and the Bay of Melas, which pene trates far into the land on its northern side. Among the cities that occupied it, Sestos and Callipolis (Gallipoli) are the most worthy of mention. In order to prevent the incursions of the Thracians, a wall was built across its isthmus, which was less than five miles in breadth. The north-eastern portion of the ^Egean, owing to its proximity to the coast of Thrace, was known as the Thracian Sea, and in this were situated the islands of Thasos, Samo thrace, and Imbros.

There is no sufficient evidence to determine the ethnological affinities of the Thracian race. Their language has perished, and the information respecting them which has come down to us hardly furnishes more than material for conjecture, so that the most that we can affirm on the subject is that they belonged to the Indo-European family. The most striking archaeological monuments of the prehistoric period are the sepulchral mounds, which have been compared in appearance to the tumulus on the plain of Marathon; these are found by thousands in various parts of the country, espe cially in the neighbourhood of the ancient towns. As Roman implements and ornaments have been found in some of them, it is plain that this mode of burial continued to be practised until a late period. The deity whose worship prevailed most extensively in the country was Dionysus. The most powerful Thracian tribe was that of the Odrysse, whose king, Teres, in the middle of the 5th century extended his dominion so as to include the greater part of Thrace. During the Peloponnesian War his son Sitalccs was an ally of some importance to the Athenians, because he kept in check the Macedonian monarch, who opposed the interests of the Athenians in the Chalcidic peninsula. On the death of that prince his kingdom was divided, and the power of the Thracians was consequently diminished; but in the time of Philip of Macedoh we find Cersobleptes, -who ruled the south-eastern portion of the country, exercising an important influence on the policy of Athens. During the early period of the Roman empire the Thracian kings were allowed to maintain an independent sovereignty, while acknowledging the suzerainty of Rome, and it was not until the reign of Vespasian that the country was reduced to the form of a province. From its outlying position in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula, it was much exposed to the inroads of barbarian invaders, so that it was overrun by the Goths on several occasions, and subsequently by the Huns; but its proximity to Constantinople caused its fortunes to be closely connected with those of that city, from the time when it became the capital of the Eastern empire. In the course of time its inhabitants seem to have been thoroughly Romanized, and to have adopted the Latin language, and there is