The Dentheletae (Greek: Δενθελῆται),[1] also Danthaletae (Δανθαλῆται)[2] or Denseletae,[3] were a Thracian tribe that in antiquity lived near the sources of the River Strymon,[4] and are mentioned in texts by Polybius, Cassius Dio, Tacitus and by Livy. They lived in the neighbourhoods of the modern towns Kyustendil (ancient Pautalia) and Dupnitsa (ancient Germania, from the Thracian word for "hot", due to its springs), stretching to as far as the mountains to the west towards the valleys of the Morava and the Vardar river, with territories situated next to the Thracian tribes Agrianes (per Theopompus) and the Maedi (per Strabo).[5][6] Their main city, called Dentheletica, was presumably Pautalia (modern-day Kyustendil) as this was the capital of the Roman region Dentheletica. They possibly built fortifications around Stara Planina in the 1st century BC[citation needed], lived around Sofia[7][8] and Skaptopara (modern Blagoevgrad) was their town.[9][10]
Livy mentions them in passing in his account of King Philip V of Macedon, who in 214BC plundered them for supplies even though they were his ally.[11] The Dentheletae were allies of Rome.[12][13] Along with the Scordisci, the Dentheletae invaded Macedonia.[14]
^The Cambridge Ancient History: pt. 1. The prehistory of the Balkans; and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth to eighth centuries B.C. Cambridge University Press, 1991. University of Minnesota/ The only writer who describes the Agrianes (under the form Agrii) as Thracians, is Theopom- pus (f 257(a)), but his evidence, isolated as it is, carries less weight.28 To the south of these two tribes lived the Dentheletae,29 in the neighbourhood of the towns of Stanke Dimitrov and of Kjustendil (Pautalia), as well as in the mountains to the west towards the valleys of the Morava and the Vardar