Thracology (Greek: Θρακολογία; Bulgarian: Тракология, romanized: Trakologiya; Romanian: Tracologie) is the scientific study of Ancient Thrace and Thracian antiquities and is a regional and thematic branch of the larger disciplines of ancient history and archaeology. A practitioner of the discipline is a Thracologist. Thracology investigates the range of ancient Thracian culture (language, literature, history, religion, art, economics and ethics) from 1000 BC up to the end of Roman rule in the 4th–7th centuries AD. It is believed 'modern' Thracology (as opposed to an 'antiquarian' interest in the land of Thrace) started with the work of Wilhelm Tomaschek in the late 19th century.