The Antiquity in Romania spans the period between the foundation of
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 ...
colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
in present-day
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
and the withdrawal of the
Romans
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 lette ...
from "
Dacia Trajana
Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...
"
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
. The earliest records of the history of the
regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
which now form
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
were made after the establishment of three Greek townsHistria,
Tomis, and
Callatis
Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern D ...
on the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coast in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. They developed into important centers of commerce and had a close relationship with the natives. The latter were first described by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
, who made mention of the
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 ...
of the
Lower 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 ...
region, the
Agathyrsi of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
and the Sygannae of
Crişana.
Archaeological research prove that
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
dominated Transylvania between the middle of the 5th century and the end of the 3rd century BC. The
Bastarnaea warlike Germanic tribesettled in the regions to the east of the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
around 200 BC. Confrontations between the natives and 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 ...
began in the late 1st century BC. Among the former, the
Dacians
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 consid ...
who were closely connected to the Getaerose to eminence under King
Burebista
Burebista ( grc, Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61BC to 45/44BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area locat ...
( 80–44 BC). He unified the tribes dwelling between the
Middle 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 ...
, the
Northern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
, the
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
and the
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...
into a powerful, but ephemeral empire. It disintegrated into at least four parts after his death. Large territories to the north of the Lower Danubethe lands between the
Tisa
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
, the Northern Carpathians, the Dniester and the Lower Danubewere again unified for less than two decades by King
Decebalus of the Dacians (87–106 AD).
Modern
Dobruja
Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...
the territory between the Lower Danube and the Black Seawas the first historical region of Romania to have been incorporated in the Roman Empire. The region was attached to 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 ...
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 ...
between 46 and 79 AD. The Romans also occupied
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
,
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
and Transylvania after the fall of Decebalus and the disintegration of his kingdom in 106. The three regions together formed the new province of
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 ...
. The new province was surrounded by "
barbarian
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...
" tribes, including the
Costoboci
The Costoboci (; lat, Costoboci, Costobocae, Castabocae, Coisstoboci, grc, Κοστωβῶκοι, Κοστουβῶκοι or Κοιστοβῶκοι) were a Dacian tribe located, during the Roman imperial era, between the Carpathian Mountains an ...
, 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 ...
and the
Roxolani
The Roxolani or Rhoxolāni ( grc, Ροξολανοι , ; la, Rhoxolānī) were a Sarmatian people documented between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD, first east of the Borysthenes (Dnieper) on the coast of Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), a ...
. New Germanic tribesthe
Buri and the
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The ...
arrived and settled in the vicinity of Dacia province in the course of the
Marcomannic Wars
The Marcomannic Wars (Latin: ''bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum'', "German and Sarmatian War") were a series of wars lasting from about 166 until 180 AD. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi ...
in the second half of the 2nd century.
Background
Hoes
Hoe or HOE may refer to:
* Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish
* Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter
* Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming
** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture
* Backhoe, a piece of excavatin ...
,
coulters and other tools made of
antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...
were unearthed at nine "
Schela Cladovei" settlements along the
Lower 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 ...
, suggesting that cultivation of plants began in the lands now forming
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
between around 9500 and 7500 BC. Animal husbandry appeared 1500 or 2000 years later with the arrival of a new populationthe bearers of the "
Gura Baciului-Cârcea/Precriş culture"from the southern parts of the
Balkan Peninsula
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
. They lived in
pit-house
A pit-house (or ''pit house'', ''pithouse'') is a house built in the ground and used for shelter. Besides providing shelter from the most extreme of weather conditions, these structures may also be used to store food (just like a pantry, a larder ...
s and used chiseled
stone tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
s. They decorated their fine pottery with geographical figures and produced clay
figurine
A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...
s.
![CucuteniReprezentareZoonirfica](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/CucuteniReprezentareZoonirfica.jpg)
The antrophomorphic figurines of the "
Hamangia culture
The Hamangia culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of Dobruja (Romania and Bulgaria) between the Danube and the Black Sea and Muntenia in the south. It is named after the site of Baia-Hamangia, discovered in 1952 along Golovița Lak ...
", which flourished in the region between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea until around 4000 BC, are outstanding representatives of
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
art. In addition to figurines, colored pottery featured the "
Cucuteni-Trypillian culture" of
Muntenia
Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...
, northeastern
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
and southern Transylvania. "Cucuteni-Trypillian" settlements, which often covered an area reaching , flourished until around 2000 BC. Production of
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
tools and artifactspins, hooks, and pendantsand the use of gold can also be demonstrated from the last centuries of the Stone Age.
Practically nothing is known of the languages spoken by the locals in this period. Historiansfor instance,
Vlad Georgescu
Vlad Georgescu (October 20, 1937–November 13, 1988), was a Romanian historian and the director of the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe between 1983 and 1988.
Biography
Born in Bucharest, Georgescu studied history at the Univers ...
and Mihai Roteasay that the spread of
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
began in the period between 2500 and 2000 BC. Fortified settlements and the great number of weaponsarrowheads, spears and knife bladesunearthed in them show that the stability featuring the Stone Age cultures of "
Old Europe" came to an end in the same period.
Coexistence of a great number of transitory cultures, including the "
Coțofeni" and "
Glina cultures" characterized the first centuries of the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
.
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
developed in the following period; deposits containing thousands of bronze tools, weapons and jewels from between around 2000 and 1500 BC were unearthed at many places, including
Uioara de Sus and
Șpălnaca in Transylvania. Finds of
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
delivered from the coast of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and weapons produced in
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in ...
show the importance of trading with these distant regions of Europe. From around 1100 BC, a homogenization of pottery decorations and the development of new archaeological cultures can be detected. These new cultures spread over large territories; for instance, the "
Basarabi culture
The Basarabi culture was an archaeological culture in Southeastern Europe (mainly in Romania), dated between 8th - 7th centuries BC. It was named after Basarabi, a village in Dolj County, south-western Romania, nowadays an administrative componen ...
" flourished in the wider region of the Lower Danube. The sporadic use of iron also began around 1100 BC, but it only became widespread about 350 years later.
Before the Romans
Greek colonies
Ionian colonists from
Miletus
Miletus (; gr, Μῑ́λητος, Mī́lētos; Hittite transcription ''Millawanda'' or ''Milawata'' (exonyms); la, Mīlētus; tr, Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in a ...
founded
Histria, the first Greek town on the Black Sea coast of present-day Romania. According to
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...
's ''
Chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
'', this happened in 657 BC. Archaeological findsmainly potterysuggest that the first Greek colonists settled in Histria between the 650s and 620s BC. The second colony,
Tomis was also founded by settlers from Miletus who arrived in the 7th or 6th century BC. However, the sparseness of archaeological evidence from the first centuries of the history of Tomis implies that it was initially administered from Histria. The third Greek town,
Callatis
Mangalia (, tr, Mankalya), ancient Callatis ( el, Κάλλατις/Καλλατίς; other historical names: Pangalia, Panglicara, Tomisovara), is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanța County, Northern D ...
was founded by
Dorian colonists from
Heraclea Pontica in the second half of the 6th century BC.
Inscriptions from Histria and Callatis prove that the townsfolk preserved their ancestral traditions for more than half a millennium. They maintained the ancient denominations for their tribes, magistrates, and public bodies, and remained faithful to cults taken from the motherland. The three colonies developed into important centers of trade in olive oil, wine, fine pottery and jewelry. A level of houses and temples destroyed proves that an unidentified enemyaccording to the scholar
Paul MacKendrick
Paul Lachlan MacKendrick (February 11, 1914 in Taunton, Massachusetts – February 10, 1998 in Madison, Wisconsin) was an American classicist, author, and teacher.
Biography
MacKendrick was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, but most of his productiv ...
,
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved f ...
took and sacked Histria in the late 6th century BC.
Initially, the constitution of Histria was an
oligarchy
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
, but, as
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
recorded, "it ended in the rule of the populace". MacKendrick writes that this change from the rule of aristocratic families to
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
occurred around 450 BC. Thereafter an assembly and council administered Histria; their members were elected by the free male citizens of the town. Callatis also became democracy in the second half of the 5th century BC. According to MacKendrick, the fragment "KA…" in an inscription listing the Greek towns paying tribute to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
refers to Callatis, proving that the town became a member of the
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...
.
![CallatisMangalia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/CallatisMangalia.JPG)
For defensive purposes, both Histria and Callatis were surrounded by walls: the former in the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, the latter in the 4th century BC. King
Lysimachus
Lysimachus (; Greek: Λυσίμαχος, ''Lysimachos''; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Thessalian officer and successor of Alexander the Great, who in 306 BC, became King of Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.
Early life and career
Lysimachus was b ...
of Thrace forced Histria to accept his suzerainty in the 310s BC, and
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
sacked the town in 279 BC. Histria and Callatis attempted to take the port of Tomis, but they were defeated around 262 BC.
Getae
![CucuteniDacianTombexterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/CucuteniDacianTombexterior.JPG)
The natives of the Lower Danube region came to the attention of classical authors after the establishment of Greek colonies along the Black Sea shore. In the early 5th century BC,
Hecataeus of Miletus
Hecataeus of Miletus (; el, Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Μιλήσιος; c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer.
Biography
Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Per ...
's ''Europe'' referred to two local tribes, the Crobydae and the
Trixae
Trixae was a Dacian tribe.
See also
*List of ancient cities in Thrace and Dacia
This is a list of ancient cities, towns, villages, and fortresses in and around Thrace and Dacia. A number of these settlements were Dacian and Thracian, but some ...
.
Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
wrote of a local ruler named
Charnabon in his ''
Triptolemos
In Greek mythology, Triptolemus ( el, Τριπτόλεμος, ''Triptólemos'', lit. "threefold warrior"; also known as Buzyges) is a figure connected with the goddess Demeter of the Eleusinian Mysteries. He was either a mortal prince, the el ...
''.
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
was the first writer who thoroughly described the tribes dwelling to the north of the Lower Danube. He wrote of the
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 ...
in connection with King
Darius I of Persia
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his d ...
's
campaign against the Scythians in about 513 BC. According to Herodotus, the Getae, "the most courageous and upright
Thracian
The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...
tribe, offered stiff resistance", but the
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
defeated and enslaved them. He also described the Getae's belief in the immortality of the soul and their practice of
human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...
s in order to send messages to their principal god,
Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis ( grc-gre, Ζάλμοξις) also known as Salmoxis (Σάλμοξις), Zalmoxes (Ζάλμοξες), Zamolxis (Ζάμολξις), Samolxis (Σάμολξις), Zamolxes (Ζάμολξες), or Zamolxe (Ζάμολξε) is a divinity of the ...
.
![Coif Aghigiol IMG 9824](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Coif_Aghigiol_IMG_9824.JPG)
The "Ferigile-Bârseşti" group of cremation ''
tumuli'' appeared in the foothills of the
Southern Carpathians in this period. These graves yielded artifactspottery, weapons and jewelrywhich reveals the influence of Scythian,
Illyrian and Thracian art on the locals. Greek amphorae found in the native settlements unearthed at
Zimnicea
Zimnicea () is a town in Teleorman County, Romania (in the historic region of Muntenia), a port on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov.
Geography
Zimnicea is situated on the left bank of the Danube river. It is the southernmost pla ...
and other places prove that the locals were involved in the trading of wine between the Greek colonies and the regions over the
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
. For instance, the natives at Priscu Crăşani used amphorae produced in the Aegean islands of
Thasos
Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area.
The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate re ...
,
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
and
Cos. They lived in wattle-and-daub huts. Silver artifacts (including a helmet and a cup) from the princely tomb unearthed at
Agighiol
Valea Nucarilor is a commune in Tulcea County, Northern Dobruja, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the nor ...
, and the gold helmet found at
Coțofănești evidence the wealth accumulated by native chieftains through their connections with the Greek colonies in the 4th century BC.
The "Getae beyond
Haemus In Greek mythology, King Haemus (; , ''Haîmos'') of Thrace, was the son of Boreas, the north wind.
Mythology
Haemus was vain and haughty and compared himself and his wife, Queen Rhodope, to Zeus and Hera. The gods changed him and his wife into ...
" who "border on the Scythians" paid tribute to the neighboring
Odrysian
The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria and ...
kings in the 5th century BC, according to
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...
. He adds that the Getae, who were mounted archers, supported King
Sitalkes
Sitalces (Sitalkes) (; Ancient Greek: Σιτάλκης, reigned 431–424 BC) was one of the great kings of the Thracian Odrysian state. The Suda called him Sitalcus (Σίταλκος).
He was the son of Teres I, and on the sudden death of ...
of the Odyssians against Athens in 429 BC. In 335 BC, according to
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; )
was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period.
''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...
,
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
launched a one-day raid across the Lower Danube against the Getae who could not prevent him from crossing the river. In connection with the raid, Arrian refers to "a deep cornfield" of the Getae and makes mention of their "poorly fortified" city.
After Alexander the Great's death, Lysimachus of Thrace ruled the northern regions of the
Balkan Peninsula
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
. He waged wars against King
Dromichaetes
Dromichaetes ( grc, Δρομιχαίτης, Dromichaites) was king of the Getae on both sides of the lower Danube (present day Romania and Bulgaria) around 300 BC.
Background
The Getae had been federated in the Odrysian kingdom in the 5th ce ...
of the Getae, but could not defeat him. The latter even captured Lysimachus and forced him to withdraw his troops from the lands between the Lower Danube and the Haemus in 292 BC. The subsequent history of Dromichaetes and his realm are unknown. According to the historian
Vlad Georgescu
Vlad Georgescu (October 20, 1937–November 13, 1988), was a Romanian historian and the director of the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe between 1983 and 1988.
Biography
Born in Bucharest, Georgescu studied history at the Univers ...
, Dromichaetes's kingdom disintegrated into smaller polities. Inscriptions from Histria prove that in the 3rd century BC the Greeks paid tribute to local chieftains, including the Getic
Zalmodegicus and
Rhemaxos
Rhemaxos was an ancient king who ruled to the north of Danube around 200 BC and who was the protector of the Greek colonies in Dobruja, receiving a tribute from them in exchange of protection against outside attacks. It appears that the links with ...
, in exchange for their protection against raids by other neighboring "barbarians".
Syginnae
The Syginnae, who had "small, short-faced, long-haired horses", according to Herodotus, were the bearers of the "
Szentes-Vekerzug culture". This archaeological culture, which is featured by
bridle
A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the "bridle" includes both the that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit.
Headgear w ...
s and
bits made of iron, flourished in the plains along the river
Tisa
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
from around 600 to the second half of the 4th century BC. The Syginnae's ethnic affiliation remained uncertain, but they were neither Thracians nor Scythians, according to the historian Timothy Taylor. Their territory was surrounded by rural settlements, including the villages of the "Sanislău-Nir culture" in
Crişana, which suggests that the Syginnae were immigrants who forced the local population to accept their rule.
Agathyrsi
Herodotus writes that the
Mureș River "rises in Agathyrsian territory", proving that this tribe of warriors dominated large territories in Transylvania in the late 5th century BC. Inhumation graves unearthed at
Aiud,
Blaj,
Ciumbrud
Aiud (; la, Brucla, hu, Nagyenyed, Hungarian pronunciation: ; german: Straßburg am Mieresch) is a city located in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. The city's population is 22,876. It has the status of municipality and is the 2nd-largest c ...
, and other sites along the rivers Mureș and
Târnava
The Târnava (full name in ro, Râul Târnava; hu, Küküllő; german: Kokel; tr, Kokul or Kokulu) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the ...
yielded artifacts, both metal work and pottery, with analogies in sites attributed to the Scythians in the
Pontic steppes
Pontic, from the Greek ''pontos'' (, ), or "sea", may refer to:
The Black Sea Places
* The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores
* Pontus (region), a region on its southern shores
* The Pontic–Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from nor ...
. However, the identification of the Agathyrsi as a Scythian tribe is controversial, because the making of their artifacts, especially their swords, found in Transylvania differs from the technique applied in the Pontic steppes. The Agathyrsi's "way of life" was actually "similar to that of the Thracians", as it was emphasized by Herodotus himself.
Quivers decorated with metal crosses, mirrors and other featuring artifacts of the "Agathyrsian territory" appeared in the easternmost regions of the plains along the River Tisa around 500 BC, suggesting that the Agathyrsi expanded their rule over these territories in the subsequent century. Although
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
in his ''
Problems'' still referred to the Agathyrsi, stating that they "sang their laws, so as not to forget them", thereafter no written source makes mention of them. Their cemeteries ceased to be used around 350 BC. Whether the Agathyrsi were assimilated by other tribes, or abandoned their lands, cannot be decided.
Celts
![Celtic Helmet from Satu Mare, Romania](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Celtic_Helmet_from_Satu_Mare%2C_Romania.jpg)
In the period between 450 and 200 BC, the vast territory between the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
and the
Eastern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
experienced the spread of the "
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defini ...
". It is without doubt that this culture emerged in a
Celtic-speaking population, but it cannot be decided whether its spread was only the consequence of migrations or acculturation also contributed to it. In Transylvania, the arrival of the Celts is exclusively evidenced by archaeological finds, because no documents refer to this event. Isolated graves yielding "La Tène" metalworkhelmets, weapons and horse harnessprove that the first Celtic groups settled in Crişana and Transylvania after around 335 BC.
"La Tène" settlements were consisted of semi-sunken huts, each with a nearby storage pit.
Large "La Tène" cemeteries were unearthed, for instance, at
Ciumeşti,
Orosfaia, and
Pişcolt. Their inhabitants practiced both inhumation and cremation burials, and in the latter case the ashes were placed into a pit or an urn. Their unearthed artifacts, mainly pottery, also point at the cohabitation of groups preserving different traditions in the same settlements. About 10% of the graves yielded weapons, proving the existence of a class of warriors. For instance, at Ciumeşti
a helmet decorated with a raven from the early 3rd century BC was found. "La Tène" cemeteries disappeared from Transylvania around 175 BC.
Bastarnae
The Bastarnae settled in the region between the rivers
Siret and
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
around 200 BC. According to
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
, their army crossed "the Danube with a large body of infantry and cavalry" in 179 BC to support King
Philip V of Macedonia
Philip V ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 238–179 BC) was king (Basileus) of Macedonia from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of the Roman Republic. He would lead Macedon aga ...
in his wars in the Balkan Peninsula. Strabo,
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
and
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
list them among the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, but the latter also writes that they intermarried with the nomad Sarmatians.
Rustoiu identifies the Bastarnae as the bearers of the "Poieneşti–Lukašovka culture" of the regions to the east of the Carpathian Mountains, but this identification is not universally accepted. For instance, "Poieneşti–Lukašovka" settlements were inhabited by a sedentary population, but the historian Malcolm Todd says that the mobility of the Bastarnic warriors suggests that they were mustered by a
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
or semi-nomad people. Besides ceramics featuring the culture, "Poieneşti–Lukašovka" sites yielded pottery with analogies in Dacian and Celtic sites.
Towards Roman occupation
Greek colonies
![PonticKingdom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/PonticKingdom.png)
Callatis, Histria and Tomis accepted the suzerainty of King
Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates or Mithradates VI Eupator ( grc-gre, Μιθραδάτης; 135–63 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus in northern Anatolia from 120 to 63 BC, and one of the Roman Republic's most formidable and determined opponents. He was an e ...
around 110 BC. His expansionist policy clashed with the interests of the Romans who had by that time started to advance in Southeastern Europe. The governor of the Roman province of
Macedonia,
Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus forced Callatis to sign a treaty of alliance with 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 ...
in 72 or 71 BC. According to MacKendrick, it is plausible that Histria and Tomis concluded a similar treaty with the Romans around the same time, because the empire needed their ports for naval bases in the Black Sea.
The three towns made an anti-Roman alliance with the
Bastarnae, the Getae and other "barbarian" tribes in 61 BC. They inflicted a decisive defeat on the Roman armies which were under the command of
Gaius Antonius Hybrida
Gaius Antonius Hybrida (flourished 1st century BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus; his mother is unknown. He was also the uncle of the famed triumvir Mark ...
,
Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
of Macedonia. King
Burebista
Burebista ( grc, Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61BC to 45/44BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area locat ...
of the Dacians subjugated the three Greek colonies in about 50 BC. An inscription from the same time refers to the "second founding" of Histria, implying that it had been nearly destroyed during the previous wars.
Callatis, Histria and Tomis regained their freedom after the death of Burebista in 44 BC. However, their independence became nominal and they accepted Roman protectorate after the expedition of 27 BC by
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...
in the lands between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea. The Roman poet,
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
spent his last years in exile in Tomis between 9 and 17 AD. His poems evidence that barbarian attack was a constant menace for the townsfolk in this period.
Dacians
The earliest records of the Dacians are connected to their conflicts with the Roman Empire in the 2nd century BC.
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
writes, in his ''
Geographica
The ''Geographica'' (Ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά ''Geōgraphiká''), or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Ancient Greek, Greek and attributed to Strabo, an educated citizen ...
'', that
their language "is the same as that of the Getae".
He adds that the distinction between the Getae and the Dacians is based on their location: the Getae are "those who incline towards the
Pontus and the east," and the Dacians are "those who incline in the opposite direction towards Germany and the sources of the
Ister Ister, The Ister, or Der Ister may refer to:
*The Danube river, known as the Ister in Ancient Greek (Ἴστρος) and Thracian
*The Dniester river, known as the Ister in Thracian
*"Der Ister", a poem by Friedrich Hölderlin
**''Hölderlin's Hymn " ...
".
[
]
Archaeological findscremation graves yielding horse bits, curved daggers or '' sica'', swords and other weaponsevidence the development of a military elite in the territories to the north of the Lower Danube in the 3rd-1st centuries BC. ''Tumuli'' with similar grave goods appeared in the same region and expanded towards southwest Transylvania and southern Moldavia from around 100 BC. The military character of the new elite is proven by the frequent raids against the neighboring territories, primarily in Thrace and Macedonia, from the 110s BC, which provoked counter-attacks by the Romans. For instance, Frontinus writes of Marcus Minucius Rufus's victory over "the Scordiscans and Dacians" in 109 BC, and Florus says that Gaius Scribonius Curio, Proconsul of Macedonia "reached Dacia, but shrank from its gloomy forests" in 74 BC.
The native tribes of the wider region of the Lower Danube were for the first time united under King Burebista
Burebista ( grc, Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61BC to 45/44BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area locat ...
who ruled from around 80 or 70 BC. He defeated the Boii
The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom the ...
and the Taurisci
The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's Carinthia and northern Slovenia ( Carniola) before the coming of the Romans (c. 200 BC). According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same as the people known as the Norici.
Etym ...
, who dwelled in the Middle 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 ...
region, around 60 BC, subdued the Scordisci and made plundering raids against Thracia, Illyricum and Macedonia in the subsequent years. In the middle of the 1st century BC, his empire was bordered by the Middle Danube, the Northern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
, the Black Sea and the Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...
. Its center was located in the Orăştie Mountains where Burebista had a number of fortifications erected. This forts were built by Greek craftsmen who introduced the use of chiseled stone.
Strabo writes that Burebista "had as his coadjutor Deceneus
Deceneus or Decaeneus (Greek: Δεκαίνεος, ''Dekaineos'') was a priest of Dacia during the reign of Burebista (82/61–45/44 BC). He is mentioned in the near-contemporary Greek ''Geographica'' of Strabo and in the 6th-century Latin ''Getica' ...
, a wizard", who assisted him to stabilize his rule among the Dacians. Deceneus reformed the cult of Zalmoxis. He persuaded the Dacians "to cut down their vines and to live without wine",[ according to Strabo. The 6th-century historian, ]Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...
, who preserved information originally recorded by Dio Chrysostom
Dio Chrysostom (; el, Δίων Χρυσόστομος ''Dion Chrysostomos''), Dion of Prusa or Cocceianus Dio (c. 40 – c. 115 AD), was a Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Eighty of his ...
, writes that Deceneus "chose from among" the Dacians "those that were at that time of noblest birth and superior wisdom and taught them theology, bidding them worship certain divinities and holy places". These ''pilleates'' or '' tarabostes'' formed the ruling stratum of the Dacian society; the commoners were called ''capillati
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 consid ...
'' or ''comati
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 ...
''.
Strabo writes that Burebista "was deposed"[ during an uprising. The year of Burebista's fall cannot exactly be determined, but most historians write that he was assassinated in 44 BC. Strabo narrates that after Burebista's death his empire fall apart and four (later five) smaller polities developed in its ruins. The names of some of their kings were recorded by Roman writers. For instance, Dicomes, "the king of the Getae, promised to come and join" ]Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...
"with a great army", according to Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
.
A new empire dominated by the Dacians emerged in the reign of Decebalus who ruled from 87 AD. In the first year of his reign, he defeated a Roman army sent against Dacia in retaliation of a plundering raid in the Roman 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 ...
. Although the Romans defeated Decebalus in the Battle of Tapae in 88, he concluded a favorable peace treaty with the Roman Empire. It not only acknowledged Decebalus's status as ''rex amicus'' or 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, ...
, but the Romans also gave "large sums of money" to him "as well as artisans of every trade pertaining to both peace and war", according to Cassius Dio. Taking advantage of his treaty with the Romans, Decebalus improved the defenses of his kingdom. He also expanded his rule over the neighboring territories in the next decade. After these conquests, Decebalus's multiethnic empire was bordered by the Tisa, the Northern Carpathians, the Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
and the Lower Danube, according to Gábor Vékony.
Bastarnae
Cassius Dio narrates that the Bastarnae "crossed the Ister and subdued the part of Moesia opposite them" in 29 or 28 BC. Marcus Licinius Crassus in short routed them. In the first decades of the next century, the Sarmatians who arrived from the Pontic steppes became the dominant power of the regions up to that time inhabited by the Bastarnae.
Roman provinces and the neighboring tribes
Lower Moesia
The year when the lands between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea, including the three Greek colonies of Callatis, Histria and Tomis, were annexed by the Roman Empire is uncertain. According to the historians Kurt W. Treptow and Marcel Popa, this happened in 46 AD. In contrast, Coriolan Horaţiu Opreanu writes that the territory was only integrated in the province of Moesia in the reign of Emperor Vespasianus
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
(69–79). When Moesia was divided into two parts in 86, the territory became part of Lower Moesia. The new province was administered by former consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
who commanded two Roman legion
The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...
s, the ''Legio V Macedonica
''Legio V Macedonica'' (the Fifth Macedonian Legion) was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied in 43 BC by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus (later known as the Emperor Augustus). It was bas ...
'' and the ''Legio I Italica
Legio I Italica ("First Italian Legion") was a Roman legion, legion of the Imperial Roman army founded by emperor Nero on September 22, 66 (the date is attested by an inscription). The epithet ''Italica'' is a reference to the Italian origin ...
''.
The region flourished under Antoninus Pius who had the roads repaired. On the other hand, an inscription written in Greek from the village of Scraptopara evidences that the locals were complaining of the heavy taxation and the irksome duty of accommodating the Roman soldiers. The walls of Callatis and Tomis were reinforced after the Costoboci
The Costoboci (; lat, Costoboci, Costobocae, Castabocae, Coisstoboci, grc, Κοστωβῶκοι, Κοστουβῶκοι or Κοιστοβῶκοι) were a Dacian tribe located, during the Roman imperial era, between the Carpathian Mountains an ...
had marched through the region in 170. After the end of the Marcomannic War
The Marcomannic Wars (Latin: ''bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum'', "German and Sarmatian War") were a series of wars lasting from about 166 until 180 AD. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi ...
, Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
had 12,000 free Dacians
The so-called Free Dacians ( ro, Daci liberi) is the name given by some modern historians to those Dacians who putatively remained outside, or emigrated from, the Roman Empire after the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars (AD 101-6). Dio Cassius named th ...
settled in the province.
Dacia Trajana
The peaceful relationship between the Roman Empire and Decebalus's realm came to an end after 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 ...
ascended the throne in 98. He waged two wars against the Dacian king in the first decade of the 2nd century. After Trajan's First Dacian War
The First Roman–Dacian War took place from 101 to 102. The Kingdom of Dacia, under King Decebalus, had become a threat to the Roman Empire, and defeated several of Rome's armies during Domitian's reign (81–96). The Emperor Trajan was set on ...
, which lasted from 101 to 102, Decebalus was forced to approve of the stationement of Roman garrisons in Dacian territory, for instance at Drobeta
''Drobeta'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was erected by Francis Walker (entomologist), Francis Walker in 1858.
Species
* ''Drobeta albicauda'' (Hampson, 1910)
* ''Drobeta albirufa'' (Druce, 1909)
* ''Drobeta andrevia'' ...
, Romula
Romula or Malva was an ancient city in Roman Dacia, later the village of Reşca, Dobrosloveni Commune, Olt County, Romania. It was the capital of Dacia Malvensis, one of the three subdivisions of the province of Dacia.
History
The Roman ci ...
and Tibiscum
Tibiscum (''Tibisco'', ''Tibiscus'', ''Tibiskon'') was a Dacian town mentioned by Ptolemy, later a Roman castra and municipium. The ruins of the ancient settlement are located in Jupa, Caraș-Severin County, Romania.
See also
* Dacian dav ...
. During the Second Dacian War, the Romans annihilated the Dacian kingdom. Its core territoriesBanat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
, Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
and Transylvaniawere transformed into a new Roman province named 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 ...
in 106. The Romans also occupied Muntenia
Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...
and the southern parts of Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
, which were annexed to the province of Moesia, but they withdrew from these territories in 119.
Under Emperor Trajan a procuratora former consulruled the province. He commanded two legions, the '' Legio XIII Gemina'' and the ''Legio IV Flavia Felix
Legio IV Flavia Felix ("Lucky Flavian Fourth Legion"), was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 70 by the emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79) from the cadre of the disbanded Legio IV ''Macedonica''. The legion was active in Moesia Supe ...
''. The Roman territories to the north of the Lower Danube were divided into three provincesUpper Dacia, Lower Dacia, and Dacia Porolissensisin the reign of Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
. He also withdrew the ''Legion IV Flavia Felix'' from the province. Upper Dacia, where the only Roman legion stationed in the next century, was administered by former praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
s; the two other provinces were ruled by governors from the '' ordo equester''. During the Marcomannic Wars, a new legionthe ''Legio V Macedonica
''Legio V Macedonica'' (the Fifth Macedonian Legion) was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied in 43 BC by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus (later known as the Emperor Augustus). It was bas ...
''was transferred to Dacia. Thereafter the two legions stationed in the three provincesnow named Dacia Apulensis
Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...
, Dacia Malvensis
Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...
, and Dacia Porolissensis
Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...
were under the command of a former consul, the Propraetor of the Three Dacias.
Eutropius writes that Emperor Trajan transferred "vast numbers of people from all over the Roman world to inhabit the countryside and the cities", because "Dacia had, in fact, been depopulated" during the Second Dacian War. Indeed, inscriptions prove that the colonists came from many parts of the Roman Empire, but especially from Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...
and Noricum
Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celts, Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were th ...
. Although evidence of the presence of the natives after the establishment of the province is scarce, archeological sites at Boarta, Cernat, and other places in southern Transylvania prove the survival of rural communities.
The exploitation of natural resourcesprimarily mining of copper, gold, iron, lead, salt, and silverhad a preeminent role in the economy of Dacia province. Archaeological research also revealed the existence of workshops producing pottery, weapons, glass for the local market. Roads built for military purposes also contributed to the development of long-distance trade.
Dacia became subject of frequent plundering raids by the Carpi and other neighboring tribes from the 230s. Literary sourcesfor instance, Eutropiuseven recorded that "Dacia, which had been added beyond the Danube by Trajan, was lost" in the reign of Gallienus (260-268). From around 259, no inscriptions prove the presence of the two legions at their headquarters in Apulum and Potaissa
Turda (; hu, Torda, ; german: link=no, Thorenburg; la, Potaissa) is a city in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in the southeastern part of the county, from the county seat, Cluj-Napoca, to which it is connected by the Europ ...
. The Romans officially abandoned the province under Emperor Aurelius
The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the third century BC to the latest period of the Empire. The first of the Aurelian gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 252 BC. From then to ...
(270-275) who "led away both soldiers and provincials, giving up hope that it could be retained", according to the ''Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...
''.
Sarmatians
Costoboci
The Costoboci were a free Dacian
The so-called Free Dacians ( ro, Daci liberi) is the name given by some modern historians to those Dacians who putatively remained outside, or emigrated from, the Roman Empire after the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars (AD 101-6). Dio Cassius named ...
group mentioned in the 1st and 2nd centuries in Roman sources. Their territory"the land of the Costoboci", according to Cassius Diowere located northwest of Dacia province. According to the archaeologist Gheorghe Bichir, the Costoboci were the bearers of the "Lipiţa culture
Lipitsa culture (Romanian ''Lipița'', Polish ''Lipica'', German: ''Lipitza'') is the archaeological material culture supposedly representative of a Dacian tribe.The enhtholihgiustic associaltion of both the culture and the supposedly connecte ...
", but this identification has not been universally accepted by scholars. A Roman inscription recorded the name of a ''rex Coisstobocensis'' ("king of the Costoboci") Pieporus, suggesting that he was an ally of the empire.
During the Marcomannic War, the Costoboci plundered the Roman provinces in the Eastern Balkans as far as Eleusis
Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...
in 170. The governor or Dacia, Sextus Cornelius Clemens persuaded the Germanic Hasdingi The Hasdingi were one of the Vandal peoples of the Roman era. The Vandals were Germanic peoples, who are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language, and were first reported during the first centuries of the Roman empire in the area which is n ...
to invade and occupy their land around 171. This was the last record of the Costoboci who disappeared from the sources. Gheorghe Bichir writes that many of them settled among the Carpi.
Germanic tribes
The Marcomannic Wars, which lasted from 162 to 180, caused a series of population shifts along the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire. The Buri were the first Germanic people who invaded Dacia. The governor of Dacia, Sabinianus Sabinianus may refer to:
* Sabinian (proconsul) (fl. 240), proconsul of the Roman province of Africa
* Sabinianus Magnus (died 481), general of the Eastern Roman Empire
* Sabinianus (consul 505) (fl. 505–508), politician and general of the Easter ...
defeated them in 180. Pottery and weapons featuring the "Przeworsk culture
The Przeworsk culture () was an Iron Age material culture in the region of what is now Poland, that dates from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD. It takes its name from the town Przeworsk, near the village where the first artifacts wer ...
" appeared in Apa, Boineşti, Medieșu Aurit and other sites to the northwest of Dacia province in the last decades of the 2nd century. Their spread point at the arrival of the Hasdingi, who settled in these regions after their conquest of "the land of the Costoboci". "Przeworsk" pottery, weapons and other artifacts were also found at Roman forts in Dacia, suggesting a close contact between the German tribesmen and the Romans.
A new enemy of the Roman Empire, the Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
emerged in the Pontic steppes in the first half of the 3rd century. According to their own tradition recorded by Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...
, their migration from present-day Poland to the northern coasts of the Black Sea was a gradual process. Their first raid against the Roman Empire occurred in 238. They laid siege to Histria and forced the Romans to grant them an annual subsidy. Jordanes narrates that "some of the Taifali and Astringi, and also three thousands of the Carpi"[''The Gothic History of Jordanes'' (16:91), p. 77.] joined the Goths during their invasion of Dacia and Moesia in 250, suggesting that the Goths had by that time become the predominant power among the tribes dwelling in the vicinity of the Roman Empire's Lower Danube frontier.
Carpi
The natives dwelling to the east of the Carpathians were collectively known as Carpi from the 3rd century. Written sources, inscriptions and literary works, evidence that the Carpi were a powerful enemy of the Roman Empire up until the 250s. For instance, Petrus Patricius
Peter the Patrician ( la, Petrus Patricius, el, , ''Petros ho Patrikios''; –565) was a senior Byzantine official, diplomat, and historian. A well-educated and successful lawyer, he was repeatedly sent as envoy to Ostrogothic Italy in the pr ...
recorded that they stated that they were "stronger than the Goths" when the Romans agreed to pay an annual tribute to the latter.
Afterwards
References
Sources
Primary sources
*''Aristotle: Problems, Books 1–19'' (Edited and Translated by Robert Mayhew) (2011). President and Fellows of Harvard College. .
*''Eutropius: Breviarium'' (Translated with and introduction and commentary by H. W. Bird) (1993). Liverpool University Press. .
*''Herodotus: The Histories'' (A new translation by Robin Waterfield) (1998). Oxford University Press. .
*''Livy: Rome and the Mediterranean'' (Translated by Henry Bettenson with an Introduction by A. H. McDonald) (1976). Penguin Books. .
*"Ovid: Tristia" In ''Ovid: The Poems of Exile – Tristia and the Black Sea Letters'' (Translated with an Introduction by Peter Green) (2005), pp. 1–106. University of California Press. .
*"The Anabasis by Arrian". In ''Arrian: Alexander the Great – The Anabasis and the Indica'' (A new translation by Martin Hammond) (2013), pp. 1–225. Oxford University Press. .
*''The Gothic History of Jordanes'' (in English Version with an Introduction and a Commentary by Charles Christopher Mierow, Ph.D., Instructor in Classics in Princeton University) (2006). Evolution Publishing. .
*''The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides'' (2013). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. .
*''The Politics of Aristotle'' (Translated, with Introduction, Analysis and Notes by Peter L. Phillips Simpson) (1997). The University of North Carolina Press. .
Secondary sources
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{{Romanian topics
Ancient history of Romania