History of the Peloponnesian War

Consequently the kingdom attained to a great degree of power. For of all the kingdoms in Europe between the Ionian Gulf and the Euxine Sea it was the greatest in revenue of money and in general prosperity; but as regards the strength and size of its army, it was distinctly inferior to the Scythian kingdom.[*](Contradicting Θρηίκων δὲ ἔθνος μέγιστον ἐστὶ μετά γε Ἰνδοὺς πάντων ἀνθρώπων· εἰ δὲ ὑπ’ ἑνὸς ἄρχοιτο ἢ φρονέοι κατὰ τὠυτό, ἄμαχόν τ’ ἂν εἴη καὶ πολλῷ κράτιστον πάντων ἐθνέων κατὰ γνώμην τὴν ἐμήν.Hdt. 5.3.)

With that not only are the nations of Europe unable to compete, but even in Asia, nation against nation, there is none which can make a stand against the Scythians if they all act in concert. However, with reference to wise counsel and intelligence about the things that belong to the enrichment of life the Scythians are not to be compared with other nations.

Such then was the extent of the country over which Sitalces ruled at the time when he was preparing his army. But when everything was ready, he set out for Macedonia, proceeding first through his own territory, then through the desolate range of Cercine, which lies between the Sinti and Paeonians. And he passed over this mountain by the road which he himself had constructed before, when he made an expedition against the Paeonians, cutting a path through the forest.

As his army crossed the mountain, leaving the country of the Odrysians, they had the Paeonians on the right and on the left the Sinti and Maedi;

and when they came out on the other side they arrived at Doberus in Paeonia. On the march his army suffered no loss, except from sickness, but rather was augmented; for many of the independent Thracians joined the expedition unsummoned, in the hope of plunder, so that the whole number is said to have been not less than a hundred and fifty thousand, the greater part being infantry, about onethird cavalry.

Of the cavalry the Odrysians themselves furnished the largest contingent, and next to them the Getae; while of the infantry the swordwearers, independent tribes that came down from Mount Rhodope, were the best fighters, the rest of the army that followed, a miscellaneous horde, being formidable chiefly on account of its numbers.