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Thrace (, , Attic Greek: Thrāíkē, , ) is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace), and European Turkey (Eastern Thrace). Thrace borders on three seas: the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. In Turkey, it is also called Rumeli. Ancient Thrace (i.e. the territory where ethnic Thracians lived) also included present day northern Bulgaria, north-eastern Greece and parts of eastern Serbia and eastern Republic of Macedonia. Thracian troops were known to accompany neighboring ruler Alexander the Great, when he crossed the Hellespont which abuts 'Thracia' and took on the Persian Empire of the day. The portion of the Balkans peninsula nearest Istanbul is ancient Thracia, with Macedonia abutting on the west. (See second map below in high resolution mode.)