In Greco-Roman imagery of otherness Thracians, Getae and the Dacians were placed among the secondary actors in history as "barbarians" at the expense of facts and historical information which they blended with precise misinformation, anecdotal details and legends.
Ancient scholars have passed from one to the other information, clichés and stereotypes enriching, falsifying or correcting testimony about the Thracians,Getae and Dacians.
They kept little direct evidence about the ancient world of the Balkan Mountains, the Black Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. Ancient sources have been critically analyzed by contemporary experts, which renders better than historical facts were presented by ancient narrators.
The paper proposes a review of ancient sources and some comments today, trying to give the reader an insight into the history of controversy and certainty of the Thracians, Getae and the Dacians.