Zyraxes was a
Getae king who ruled the northern part of what is today
Dobrogea in the 1st century BC. He was mentioned in relation with the campaigns of
Marcus Licinius Crassus (grandson of the triumvir). His capital,
Genucla, was besieged by the Romans in 28 BC, but he managed to escape and flee to his
Scythian
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
allies.
Earlier,
Antonius Hybrida, the governor of
Moesia, was defeated beneath the walls of
Histria in 61 BC. The
Getae under Zyraxes and the
bastarnae
The Bastarnae ( Latin variants: ''Bastarni'', or ''Basternae''; grc, Βαστάρναι or Βαστέρναι) and Peucini ( grc, Πευκῖνοι) were two ancient peoples who between 200 BC and 300 AD inhabited areas north of the Roman front ...
of
Scythia
Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe.
Hi ...
were allied with the Histrians, but it seems that the main victors of this conflict were the Getae, as they were the keepers of the battle trophies and brought them back to
Genucla, Zyraxes' capital.
The trophies were recovered by
Marcus Licinius Crassus when he attacked the Genucla fortress, situated somewhere on the bank 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 , p ...
, in 28 BC. Zyraxes knew well enough that he could not hold on his own and retreated across the Danube to the Bastarnae (Scythians), with whom he was allied, while also taking the treasure with him. The fortress fell in his absence, after a brief but hard siege.
References
*''Dicţionar de istorie veche a României'' ("Dictionary of ancient Romanian history") (1976) Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, pp. 625
Dacian kings
History of Dobruja
1st-century BC rulers in Europe
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