Dromichaetes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dromichaetes was ruler of the Getae on both sides of the lower Danube (present day Romania and Bulgaria) around 300 BC. His capital was named Helis and Romanian historians traditionally located it somewhere in the Romanian Plain (in Wallachia). However, the discovery of the Thracian tomb at Sveshtari (1982) in the western Ludogorie in Bulgaria suggested that Helis was located perhaps in its vicinity^[1], where remains of a large ancient city are found along with dozens of other Thracian mound tombs.

Ancient chronicles (Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Polybius, Plutarch, Pausanias) recorded his victory over Lysimachus, King of Thracia, former general of Alexander the Great who held a fortress at Tirizis (modern Kaliakra).

The remarkable thing about Dromichaetes was his diplomacy. After he captured Lysimachus, a symbolic feast was staged in which Lysimachus was treated with the best food and ate from silver plates, while the Getae ate modest food from wooden plates. The point made by Dromichaites was: 'if you had all these silver plates in your country, why did you come here to take our wooden plates?' Eventually, Lysimachus was set free and was offered lavish gifts, a peaceful relationship between he and the Getae being thus established. The peace between the Getae and Lysimachus was strengthened further by the marriage between Dromichaetes and Lysimachus' daughter.