The Decebalus treasure was a 2nd-century hoard of precious metal objects, supposedly concealed by

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 R ...

beneath a watercourse (the modern

Strei The Strei () is a left tributary of the river Mureș in Transylvania, Romania. The upper reach of the river, upstream of the village of Baru, is also known as ''Râul Petros''. It flows through the town Călan and the villages Petros, Baru, Li ...

) in the ancient kingdom 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 ro ...

. It features in the historical work of

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, who claims that the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

seized the treasure after a captive Dacian nobleman revealed its hiding place.

Story

During the

Second Dacian War Trajan's Second Dacian War was fought between 105 and 106 because the Dacian king, Decebalus, had broken his peace terms with the Roman Emperor Trajan from the Trajan's First Dacian War. Before the War Following his subjugation, Decebalus compl ...

(105–106), many Dacian nobles surrendered or were caught. One of them, Bicilis, disclosed the location of a treasure, supposedly buried at the bottom of a river.

"The treasures of Decebalus were also discovered, though hidden beneath the river Sargetia, which ran past his palace. With the help of some captives Decebalus had diverted the course of the river, made an excavation in its bed, and into the cavity had thrown a large amount of silver and gold and other objects of great value that could stand a certain amount of moisture; then he had heaped stones over them and piled on earth, afterwards bringing the river back into his course. He also had caused the same captives to deposit his robes and other articles of a like nature in caves, and after accomplishing this had made away with them to prevent them from disclosing anything. But Bicilis, a companion of his who knew what had been done, was seized and gave information about these things."

According to the story, the Dacian king

(reigned 87–106) used Roman prisoners to deviate the course of the Sargetia river and buried a treasure at the bottom. He buried "so much silver and gold and some other artefacts who can survive moisture", after which the river was returned to its original course. The rest of the treasure was deposited in surrounding caves, and the Roman prisoners were slaughtered.

Sources

T. Statilius Crito of Heraclea,

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

's procurator and medic, compiling a ''Getica'', wrote that the Decebalus treasure included 5,000,000 lbs (2,200

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s) of gold and 10,000,000 lbs (4,500 tonnes) of silver. Some modern historians, such as

Julian Bennett Julian Bennett may refer to: *Julian Bennett (footballer) (born 1984), English footballer *Julian Bennett (archaeologist) (1949–2025), British archaeologist * Julian Bennett (politician) Julian Bennett (May 3, 1929 – October 27, 2013) was a ...

, believe that this is a copy error.

Jérôme Carcopino Jérôme Carcopino (27 June 1881 – 17 March 1970) was a French historian, author, and Nazi collaborator. He was the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française, in 1955. Biography Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-A ...

has estimated the treasure at 165,500 kg of gold and 331,000 kg of silver. Between 1540 and 1759, in

Sarmizegetusa Regia Sarmizegetusa Regia (also known as ''Sarmisegetusa'', ''Sarmisegethusa'', ''Sarmisegethuza''; ) was the capital and the most important military, religious and political centre of the Dacians before the wars with the Roman Empire. Built on top ...

, 700 kg of gold was discovered, and much more was found in the 19th century.(Strobel, Dakerkriegen) The Roman claim that they looted in a single hoard 165 tons of gold and 300 tons of silver is accepted by some historians. This amount is perhaps credible in terms of the massive Dacian exploitation of precious metals in the

Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...

, along with trade payments and tributes from abroad (including from the Roman empire) paid to Dacia. Also, its existence in one spot suggests that the Dacian state had central control of precious metal circulation.

References

Bibliography

* {{Commons, Dacian and Dacians Military history of Dacia Thracian archaeological artifacts Buried treasure

Story

Sources

See also

References

Bibliography