Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

and the

Dacian Kingdom Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It t ...

, which had invaded the province of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

, in the years 86–88 AD.

Dacian attack and defeat of Oppius Sabinus

At the end of 85 or the beginning of 86 AD, the

Dacian king This article lists rulers of Thrace and Dacia, and includes Thracian, Paeonian, Celtic, Dacian, Scythian, Persian or Ancient Greek up to the point of its fall to the Roman Empire, with a few figures from Greek mythology. Mythological * Haemus, b ...

Duras ordered his troops to attack the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

on the southern course of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

river. The Dacian army was led by Diurpaneus, often cited as one and the same with the later king named

Decebalus Decebalus (), sometimes referred to as Diurpaneus, was the last Dacians, Dacian king. He is famous for fighting three wars, with varying success, against the Roman Empire under two emperors. After raiding south across the Danube, he defeated a Rom ...

, although these assumptions remain obscurely founded and problematic. It seems that the Romans were caught by surprise since the governor, Oppius Sabinus, and his forces, possibly including the

Legio V Alaudae Legio V Alaudae ("Fifth Legion of the Lark"), sometimes also known as ''Gallica'', was a legion of the Roman army founded in 52 BC by the general Gaius Julius Caesar (dictator of Rome 49-44 BC). It was levied in Transalpine Gaul to fight the arm ...

, were annihilated.Mócsy (1974), p82. Following this attack, Domitian, accompanied by

Cornelius Fuscus Cornelius Fuscus (died 86 AD) was a Roman general who fought campaigns under the Emperors of the Flavian dynasty. He first distinguished himself as one of Vespasian's most ardent supporters during the civil war of 69 AD, known as the Year of the ...

, Prefect of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

, personally arrived in Moesia, reorganized the province into

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

and

Moesia Superior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

, and planned a future attack into Dacia. To replenish their forces and greatly strengthen the Roman army in this territory, the Legio IV Flavia Felix from Dalmatia and two more legions, the I and II Adiutrix, were moved to Moesia from the western provinces. The region of Sirmium was attached to Moesia Superior, in order to have a single command over the endangered Dacian frontier. Historians are divided as to what happened next. A. Mócsy suggests that after handing over the command to Fuscus, Domitian returned to Rome in the same year, while Fuscus cleared the Dacian invaders from the province.Mócsy (1974), p83. According to E. T. Salmon and M. Bunson, however, Domitian personally led the successful operations, then returned to Rome to celebrate a double triumph.Salmon (1944), p248.Bunson (1994), p181.

Defeat of Cornelius Fuscus

In the same year (86), after the initial success against the Dacians, Cornelius Fuscus crossed the Danube. However, his army was ambushed and destroyed while Fuscus himself died in the battle. Grumeaza has speculated that, after this victory, Diurpaneus received the name of

, a term he translated as meaning "as strong as ten wild men".Grumeza (2009), pp 163-164

Peace

After the battle, the course of events is unclear and a satisfactory chronological reconstruction is not possible.

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

mentions that there were "several battles of varying success" (against the Dacians).

Lucius Antonius Saturninus Lucius Antonius Saturninus was a Roman senator and general during the reign of Vespasian and his sons. While governor of the province called Germania Superior, motivated by a personal grudge against Emperor Domitian, he led a rebellion known as ...

, commander of the Roman army in Germania Superior, revolted. In addition, the

Iazyges The Iazyges (), singular Ἰάζυξ. were an ancient Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In BC, they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Dacian steppe between th ...

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Origin ...

, and

Quadi The Quadi were a Germanic * * * people who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman Empire. The only surviving contemporary reports about the Germanic tribe are those of the Romans, whose empire had its bord ...

refused to provide troops to Domitian for his Dacian war. Domitian killed their peace emissaries and attacked them, then he left for the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

frontier. He was forced to return to Pannonia after the Romans had suffered a defeat there. All these problems halted the Roman offensive and Decebalus, now the

, sued for peace, sending his brother,

Diegis Diegis was a Dacian chief, general and brother of Decebalus. He served as his representative at the peace negotiations held with Domitian in 89AD. After the peace negotiation, Domitian placed a diadem upon Diegis' head, symbolically saying that he ...

, as his plenary representative.Mócsy (1994), p84. Under the terms of the treaty, Decebalus returned the Roman prisoners of war but he was also lent a number of Roman engineers who helped him in building defensive fortifications. The Romans would pay an annual subsidy of 8 million

sesterce The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The na ...

sJones (1992), p150. and Decebalus was recognized as a

client king A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...

of Rome.Salmon (1944), p249.

Aftermath

For the remainder of Domitian's reign Dacia remained a relatively peaceful

client kingdom A client state, in international relations, is a State (polity), state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as ...

, but Decebalus used the Roman money to fortify his defences. Domitian probably wanted a new war against the Dacians, and reinforced Upper Moesia with two more cavalry units brought from Syria and with at least five

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit ...

s brought from Pannonia.

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

continued Domitian's policy and added two more units to the

auxiliary forces The General Inspectorate of Auxiliary Forces ( ar, القوات المساعدة, alquwaat almusa'ida; ber, ⵉⴷⵡⴰⵙⴻⵏ ⵉⵎⴰⵡⵡⴰⵙⴻⵏ, idwasen imawwasen; french: Forces Auxiliaires) is a security institution in Morocco, ...

of Upper Moesia, and then he used the buildup of troops for his Dacian wars.

Notes

References

*Bunson, Matthew (1994),
Encyclopedia Of The Roman Empire
', Infobase Publishing, 2002 *Bury, J. B. (1893),
A History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation
' *Grumeza, Ion (2009),
Dacia: Land Of Transylvania, Cornerstone Of Ancient Eastern Europe
', University Press of America, 2009 * Jones, Brian W. (1992), ''The Emperor Domitian'', Routledge. *Mócsy, András (1974)
Pannonia and Upper Moesia
', Routledge, 1974 *Salmon, E. T. (1944),
A History of the Roman World from 30 B.C. to A.D. 138
', Routledge, 1990

Bibliography

* * * * {{Dacia topics Tapae 87 Flavian military campaigns Wars involving Dacia 1st century 86 87 88 80s in the Roman Empire Domitian 80s conflicts