Scythia Minor

Scythia Minor, " Lesser Scythia " (Greek Μικρά Σκυθία, Mikrá Scythia ), called in ancient times the region was framed west and north by the Danube and the Black Sea in the east. The boundaries correspond approximately to today's Dobruja, which lies partly in Romania and Bulgaria.

The earliest description of the region can be found in Herodotus, who saw north of the Danube Delta the beginning of Scythia. In a Roman inscription from the 2nd century BC, a decree of Histria in honor of Agathocles, the area was known as Scythia; the first use of the name " Scythia Minor " ( Mikrá Scythia ) is found in Strabo's Geography.

From the 7th century BC, several Greek colonies were established along the coast of the Black Sea. The first written Greek reports indicated that the area was originally inhabited by Thracians, first in the form of Getae, Dacians later. In later times, the region victim of Celtic and Scythian invasions was. For a time it was part of the Kingdom of Dacia. After it was conquered by the Roman Empire and part of the Roman province of Moesia inferior ( Niedermösien ). As part of the reforms of Diocletian, the region of the province of Moesia ( Moesia ) was separated and the separate province " Scythia " reclassified, which was part of the diocese of Thrace. After the division of the kingdom of 395 the province was added to the Eastern Roman Empire. They kept the name Scythia Minor, to the region of the kingdom was lost in the 7th century in the wake of the Conquest of the Slavs in the Balkans. Then the classical name was replaced by Slavic Dobruja.