Bulgaria in antiquity
Around the same time that Ancient Greece was defining its culture, the Thracian civilisation was calling Bulgaria and its surrounding nations home.
The Thracian people were a collection of tribes such as the Serdi and the Odrysai who introduced farming and building to the natural landscape. The Thracian tribes never unified into a fully established nation, but if they had, their combined population would’ve been so high that they would have been feared by other ancient civilisations.
Although battles with the Greeks were fought over the years for control of the region, eventually the two civilisations were trading and co-operating. However, by 100 CE the Romans had laid claim to the entire Balkan peninsula, with what would eventually become a Byzantine seat of power. When the Roman Empire fell, the Byzantine Empire remained a powerful player until the turn of the first millennium.