myth, all three turn into birds – Procne into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, and Tereus into a hoopoe. The Dicaea city in Thrace was named after, the son of Poseidon, Dicaeus. History Ancient and Roman history The indigenous population of Thrace was a people called the Thracians, divided into numerous tribal groups. Of the firsts to take control of Thracia, in part or whole, were the Achaemenian Persians late into the 6th century BC. The region was incorporated into the empire as the Satrapy of Skudra following the Scythian campaign of Darius the Great. Thracian soldiers were known to be used in the Persian armies and Thracian soldiers are depicted on the rock carvings of the Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam as well. Persians' presence in Thracia lasted for more than a century, but by the end of the 4th century BC, Alexander of Macedon had overthrown the Persians, dividing the acquired vast realm between his generals. Notably, Thracian troops are known to have accompanied Alexander when he crossed the Hellespont which abuts Thrace, during the invasion of the Persian Empire itself. The Thracians did not describe themselves by name; terms such as Thrace and Thracians are simply the names given them by the Greeks. Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not form any lasting political organizations until the founding of the Odrysian state in the 4th century BC. Like Illyrians, the locally ruled Thracian tribes of the mountainous regions maintained a warrior tradition, while the tribes based in the plains were purportedly more peaceable. Recently discovered funeral mounds in Bulgaria suggest that Thracian kings did rule regions of Thrace with distinct Thracian national identity. During this period, a subculture of celibate ascetics called the Ctistae lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers, priests, and prophets. Sections of Thrace particularly in the south started to become hellenized before the Peloponnesian War as Athenian and Ionian colonies were set up in Thrace before the war. Spartan and other Doric colonists followed them after the war. The special interest of Athens to Thrace is underlined by the numerous finds of Athenian silverware in Thracian tombs. In 168 BC, after the Third Macedonian war and the subjugation of Macedonia to the Romans, Thrace also lost its independence and became tributary to Rome. Towards the end of the 1st century BC Thrace lost its status as a client kingdom as the