''Dacica'' (or ''De bello dacico'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

work by Roman Emperor

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 ...

, written in the spirit of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

's commentaries like ''

De Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...

'', and describing Trajan's

campaigns Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme *Bl ...

Dacia 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 thus r ...

. It is assumed to be based on

Criton of Heraclea Criton of Heraclea ( el, Κρίτων, la, Titus Statilius Crito) was a 2nd-century (c. 100 AD) Greek chief physician and procurator of Roman Emperor Trajan (98–117) in the campaign in Dacia. He is perhaps the Criton mentioned in Martial's ''E ...

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of th ...

, a work on the history of the

Daco The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consi ...

Getae The Getae ( ) or Gets ( ; grc, Γέται, singular ) were a Thracian-related tribe that once inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania. Both the singular form ''Get'' an ...

. Criton was Trajan's

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

chief physician and

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...

, during the Dacian wars. Based on the research so far, ''Dacica'' is considered lost. However, one sentence survived in the Latin grammar work by

Priscian Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...

. To describe a grammatical rule, Priscian cites Trajan: ''inde Berzobim, deinde Aizi processimus '', meaning ''We then advanced to Berzobim, next to Aizi''. The phrase describes the initial penetration into Dacia by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

army. It also mentions two

n towns where later Roman

castra In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term. In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...

were built:

Berzovia Berzovia ( hu, Zsidovin) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, Banat, Romania with a population of 4,165 people. It is composed of three villages: Berzovia, Fizeș (''Krassófűzes'') and Gherteniș (''Gertenyes''). It is mentioned on the Tabula ...

and

Aizis Aizis (''Aixis'', ''Aixim'', ''Airzis'', ''Azizis'', ''Azisis'', ''Aizisis'', ''Alzisis'', ''Aigis'', ''Aigizidava ', ''Zizis'', grc, Αίζισίς) was a Dacian town mentioned by Emperor Trajan in his work ''Dacica''. Located at ''Dealul Ru ...

Notes

References

*
Sprache Und Literatur (Einzelne Autoren Seit Der Hadrianischen Zeit Und Allgemeines Zur Literatur Des 2. Und 3. Jahrhunderts), Volume 2; Volume 34 by Wolfgang Haase

External links

Writers of lost works Lost books 2nd-century historians Books about Dacia Trajan {{Romania-hist-book-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links