Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between 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 ...

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 thus r ...

, which had invaded the province of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor

Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor 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 Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...

, in the years 86–88 AD.

Background

Since the reign of Burebista, widely considered the greatest Dacian king (r. 82-44 BC), the Dacians had represented a threat to the

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 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. He ...

himself had drawn up a plan to launch a campaign against

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 ...

. The threat was reduced when dynastic struggles in Dacia led to a division into four (or five, depending on the source) separately governed tribal states after Burebista died in 44 BC.

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

later came into conflict with Dacia after it sent envoys offering its support against

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

in exchange for "requests". Augustus rejected the offer and Dacia supported Antony. In 29 BC, Augustus sent several punitive expeditions into Dacia led by Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives, the consul of the prior year, that inflicted heavy casualties and apparently killed three of their five kings. Although Dacian raids into

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

and

continued for several years despite the defeat, the threat of Dacia had effectively ended. In the winter of 85/86 AD after years of relative peace along the Roman frontier, King Duras led by General Diurpaneus, swarmed over the frozen Danube and pillaged

. It seems that the Romans were caught by surprise since the governor, Oppius Sabinus, and his forces, possibly including the Legio V Alaudae, were annihilated.Mócsy (1974), p82. Following this attack, Domitian led legions into the ravaged province accompanied by Cornelius Fuscus, Prefect of the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...

, personally arrived in Moesia, reorganised the province into

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

and Moesia Superior 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 Legio IV Flavia Felix ("Lucky Flavian Fourth Legion"), was a Roman legion, legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 70 by the emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79) from the Cadre (military), cadre of the disbanded Legio IV Macedonica, Legio IV ' ...

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.

The War

First Battle of Tapae

With the arrival of fresh legions in 87 AD, Domitian began what became the First Dacian War. General Diurpaneus sent an envoy to Domitian offering peace but it was rejected. Cornelius Fuscus crossed the Danube into Dacia with 5 or 6 legions on a pontoon bridge. However, at the First Battle of Tapae his army was ambushed by Decebalus and attacked on all sides. Although Fuscus attempted to rally his men, the attempts proved unsuccessful and Fuscus himself died in the battle. The battle standard of the Praetorian Guard was also lost, and although the Praetorian cohorts would be restored, the Legio V Alaudae was permanently destroyed. It was one of the most humiliating defeats of the period and Rome lost two entire legions, a defeat on par with the massacre of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.

88 AD

The war was resumed after a year of preparations. Domitian promoted as new commander in chief, Tettius Julianus, who, having crossed the Danube, probably at the legionary fortress of

Viminacium Viminacium (also ''Viminatium)'' was a major city, military camp, and the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman province of Moesia (modern-day Serbia). Following the division of Moesia in 87, following Domitian's Domitian's Dacian War, Dacian War, i ...

, managed in the following autumn to reach the plain of Caransebeș, in front of the Iron Gates, perhaps after an enveloping approach conducted in several columns, and not without great difficulties due to the continuous attacks of the Dacians. At Tapae Roman victory at the major Second Battle of Tapae was followed by a massacre of Dacians. Tettius, however, did not march on the enemy capital of

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 ...

as Decebalus managed to halt their advance into enemy territory due perhaps to the difficulty of crossing the Iron Gates in a season close to winter.

89 AD

After the battle, the course of events is unclear.

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

mentions that there were "several battles of varying success" (against the Dacians). The Roman victory had reduced Decebalus to the defensive, but he was saved by a series of events: *the revolt of Lucius Antonius Saturninus who had proclaimed himself emperor among the legions of Upper Germany *an armed revolt of the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman Empire, north of the River Danube, and are mentioned in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD. They were one of the most important members of th ...

Quadi The Quadi were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people during the Roman era, who were prominent in Greek and Roman records from about 20 AD to about 400 AD. By about 20 AD they had a kingdom centred in the area of present-day western Slovakia, north ...

and

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

who until then had recognised the sovereignty of Rome and had protected the Pannonian frontier for decades.

Peace

These events inevitably caused the withdrawal of the Roman armies from Dacia and the signing of a peace treaty. Conciliatory and diplomatic attitudes prevailed on both sides and honour was safe for both. Decebalus became "client king",Salmon (1944), p249. albeit only nominally, earning Roman gratitude and help by sending expert carpenters, engineers who helped him build defensive fortifications and an annual subsidy of 8 million sesterces.Jones (1992), p150. His brother Diegis was sent to RomeMócsy (1994), p84. to receive from the hands of Domitian himself the crown to be given to the king of the Dacians as a sign of alliance and submission.

Aftermath

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

client kingdom A client state in the context of international relations is a state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, associated state ...

, 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 cohorts brought from Pannonia.

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 ...

continued Domitian's policy and added two more units to the auxiliary forces of Upper Moesia, using 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