Trallians (tribe)

The Trallians, Tralles or Tralli were a Thracian tribe that served Hellenistic kings. They were barbarians, employed as mercenaries, executioners and torturers in Asia. Strabo in Geographica attributed the foundation of the ancient city of Tralles, in the valley of the Maeander River in Asia Minor to Trallians and Argives. This tradition has been deemed fictitious and coincidental. W. M. Ramsay believed that the Trallians, a warrior tribe, had crossed the Hellespont and settled Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, Caria and Lycia, in what is today western Turkey. Livy called them Illyrians, because a branch of the tribe migrated to Illyria.