Bessi

The Bessi (ˈbɛsaɪ; Βῆσσοι, or Βέσσοι, ) or Bessae were a Thracian tribe that inhabited the upper valley of the Hebros and the lands between the Haemus and Rhodope mountain ranges in historical Thrace. The exact geographic location of the Bessi is still unclear. According to Herodotus, the Bessi occupied the highest summits of the Satrae in south-western Thrace, while Polybius alludes to the Bessi as having been situated on the plains between the Dentheletae and Odrysians. The geographic extent of the Bessi is further expanded upon by Strabo in his Geographica, where he states that the Bessi inhabited a land beginning near the source of the Hébros and encompassing the highlands between the Haemus and Rhodope mountain ranges that bordered the Paeonians and Illyrian Autariatae and Dardani to the west. Strabo also places the Bessi as bordering the Odrysians and Sapaeans. There are also indications that the Bessi gradually came to settle the lowlands between the Hébros and Tonsus near Philippopolis and modern Pazardzhik, consequently expanding eastwards near Beroe. In light of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, modern scholars have formulated a number of theories on the location of the lands associated with the Bessi during the period of Roman imperialism - known as Bessica. The first major paradigm, originally advanced by Gavril Katsarov, largely coincided with ancient accounts although was later expanded by Georgi Mihailov to also coincide with Philippopolis and the surrounding environs located to the east of the Bessi core, as well as including the area around modern Yakoruda to the south. The paradigm would then maintain that, during the reign of Trajan, the territory would come to be administratively incorporated into Philippopolis as a consequence of the emperor's urbanizing projects in Thrace. On the other hand, Margarita Tacheva proposed that Roman Bessica had no civic centre and was based around the Rhodope, Rila, and Strandzha mountains.