Thrace Europe. The word "Thrace" was established by the Greeks for referring to the Thracian tribes, from ancient Greek Thrake (Θρᾴκη), descending from "Thrāix" (Θρᾷξ). The name of the continent Europe first referred to Thrace proper, prior to extending its meaning to the whole continent. The region could have been named after the principal river there, Hebros, possibly from the Indo-European "arg" "white river" (the opposite of Vardar, meaning "black river"), . According to an alternative theory, Hebros means "goat" in Thracian. In Turkey, it is commonly referred to as "Rumeli", "Land of the Romans", owing to this region being the
Thrace (theme) the Palaiologan period, but it is still encountered in some historians of the time as an antiquarian term. Thrace (theme) The Theme of Thrace () was a province ("thema" or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in the south-eastern Balkans, comprising varying parts of the eponymous geographic region during its history. Traditionally, it has been held that the theme (at the time primarily a military command) was constituted in c. 680, as a response to the Bulgar threat. This is based on the mention of a certain "patrikios" Theodore, Count of the "Opsikion" and "hypostrategos" of Thrace, in 680/681. However,