Roman conquest of Dacia ( modern day Romania ) part 1/5
Inhabited by the ancient
Dacians, today's territory of
Romania was conquered by the
Roman Empire in 106, when
Trajan's army defeated the army of
Dacia's ruler Decebalus (
Dacian Wars). The
Roman administration withdrew two centuries later, under the pressure of the
Goths and
Carpi.
The Romanian people was formed by the
Romanization of the
Roman Province of Dacia. The
Romanians are descended from local populations:
Dacians (Getae, Thracians) and Roman legionnaires and colonists
. In the course of the two wars with the
Roman legions, between
101 - 102
A.D. and. 105 - 106 A.D. respectively, the emperor Trajan succeeded after in defeating the Dacians and the greatest part of Dacia became a
Roman province. The colonization with Roman or Romanized elements, the use of the
Latin language and the assimilation of
Roman civilization as well as the intense development of urban centres led to the Romanization of the autochthonous population. The intermarriage of Dacians with Roman colonists, formed the Daco-Roman population, which is part of the ethnogenesis process of the
Romanian people. This process was concluded by the
10th century when the assimilation of the
Slavs by the Daco-Romanians was completed.
Kings of the Dacians
The best known
Dacian king were Dromihetes,
Burebista and Decebalus who organized powerful states and proved to be skilful military strategists. The Dacian king reigned with the help of a council of noblemen and with the advice of the high priest.
Dromihetes is known due to his conflict around
300 BC with Lisimah, a general of
Alexander the Great who became king of
Thrace after
Alexander's death. Lisimah attempted to extend his kingdom to the north of the
Danube, but Dromihetes wanted Lisimah to return some fortresses from the south of the Danube. Dromihetes won all of the battles capturing Agatocles, the son of Lisimah. Dromihetes won again in 292 BC when Lisimah took his army across the Danube. Dromihetes' capital was
Helis which is generally thought to have been in Muntenia. Other kings in this period were Zalmodegicos and Rhemaxos of Dobrogea and
Oroles of
Transylvania.
Burebista reigned from 82 BC to around 44 BC, probably inheriting the position from his father.
The kingdom of Burebista included all the
Dacian tribes, plus some others. When Burebista offered to support
Pompey against
Caesar (48 BC) his kingdom stretched from the Beskids mountains in the north, the
Middle Danube in the west, the river Dniester in the east, and to the
Balkan Mountains in the south. Burebista developed a system of fortifications in the
Orastie mountains as
a natural stronghold. Burebista notable military campaigns were:
•60-59 BC - successful against the
Celts that were threatening Dacia from the north-west
•55 BC - conquered the
Greek cities on the
Black Sea coast, from
Olbia to
Apollonia
•The retreat of the
Scythians to the river Don
•after 48 BC - defeated the Celts to the north-west and the south-west of Dacia
The kingdom split into smaller kingdoms after Burebista's death. The kings reigning from
Sarmizegetusa situated in the
Orastie Mountains were
Deceneu, Comosicus, Scorilo, and Duras.
Decebal reigned from 87 AD to 106 AD, having been given the throne from Duras. He was previously the leader nobleman of the Dacians at
Tapae. He was originally called Diurpaneus, but took the name of Decebal meaning "the powerful one". Decebal's state was smaller than that of Burebista with the borders being the rivers Tisza in the west,
Siret in the east, Danube in the south and the northern
Carpathians.
The Dacian state was powerful enough to win a confrontation with the
Romans during the reign of
Domitian (87-89). It took a further two fierce wars during 101 -102 AD and 105-106 AD for the
Roman empire under
Emperor Trajan (98-117) to defeat Decebal and turn most of his kingdom into the Roman province called Dacia.