History of the Peloponnesian War

It was also in the course of the same summer that Nymphodorus son of Pythes, a man of Abdera, whose sister was the wife of Sitalces, and who had great influence with that monarch, was made their [*]( i. e. was publicly appointed by them to show hospitality to any of their citizens going to that country, and to look after their interests there; very nearly like a consul of modern Europe. See note, III. 70. 5.) proxenus by the Athenians, who had before considered him hostile to them, and was sent for by them, because they wished Sitalces, son of Teres, king of the Thracians, to become their ally.

Now this Teres, the father of Sitalces, was the first who founded the great kingdom of the Odrysae on a larger scale than those in the rest of Thrace;

for indeed a large part of the Thracians are independent. This Teres is not at all connected with Tereus who married from Athens Procne, the daughter of Pandion; nor were they of the same part of Thrace. The latter lived in Daulis, a part of what is now called Phocis, which was then inhabited by Thracians. It was in this land that the women perpetrated the [cruel] deed to Itys, and by many of the poets, when they mention the nightingale, it is called the Daulian bird. Besides, it is probable that Pandion should have formed the connexion for his daughter [with one who lived] at that distance, with a view to mutual succour, rather than at the distance of several days' journey, [as it is] to the Odrysae. On the other hand, Teres, besides not having the same name, was the first king of the Odrysae that attained to any power.

Sitalecs then, being this man's son, the Athenians made their ally, wishing him to join them in conquering the Thrace-ward towns and Perdiccas.

So Nymphodorus came to Athens and concluded the alliance with Sitalces, and made his own son Sadocus a citizen of Athens, and undertook to bring to a close the war on the side of Thrace; for he said he would persuade Sitalces to send the Athenians a Thracian force of cavalry and targeteers.

Moreover, he reconciled Perdiccas to the Athenians, and also persuaded them to restore Therme to him; and Perdiccas immediately joined in an expedition against the Chalcidians with the Athenians and Phormio.

Thus Sitalces son of Teres, king of the Thracians, became an ally of the Athenians, as also did Perdiccas son of Alexander, king of the Macedonians.