Dacians

For uses of Dacian, see Dacian.

1.1 Name
See also: Dacia, Getae and Thracians
The Dacians (/denz/; Latin: Daci, Ancient Greek: Main article: Getae Getae and Dacians
The Dacians were known as Geta (plural Getae) in
Ancient Greek writings, and as Dacus (plural Daci) or
Getae in Roman documents,[6] but also as Dagae and
Gaete as depicted on the late Roman map Tabula Peutingeriana. It was Herodotus who rst used the ethnonym
Getae in his Histories.[8] In Greek and Latin, in the writings of Julius Caesar, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, the
people became known as the Dacians.[9] Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms, or used with some
confusion by the Greeks.[10][11] Latin poets often used
the name Getae.[12] Virgilius called them Getae four
times, and Daci once, Lucian Getae three times and
Daci twice, Horace named them Getae twice and Daci
ve times, while Juvenal one time Getae and two times
Daci.[13][14][12] In AD 113, Hadrian used the poetic term
Getae for the Dacians.[15] Modern historians prefer to use
the name Geto-Dacians.[9] Strabo describes the Getae and
Dacians as distinct but cognate tribes, but also states that
they spoke the same language.[16] This distinction refers
to the regions they occupied.[16] Strabo and Pliny the Elder also state that Getae and Dacians spoke the same
language.[17]
By contrast, the name of Dacians, whatever the origin of
the name, was used by the more western tribes who adjoined the Pannonians and therefore rst became known
to the Romans.[18] According to Strabos Geographica,
[1][19]
Marble statue of a Dacian warrior surmounting the Arch of Con- the original name of the Dacians was "Daoi".
The name Daoi (one of the ancient Geto-Dacian tribes)
stantine in Rome.
was certainly adopted by foreign observers to designate
,[1] ,[1] [2] ) were an Indo-European all the inhabitants of the countries north of Danube that
people, part of or related to the Thracians. Dacians had not yet been conquered by Greece or Rome.[9][9]
were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia, located in the The ethnographic name Daci is found under various
area in and around the Carpathian Mountains and west forms within ancient sources. Greeks used the forms
of the Black Sea. This area includes the present- "Dakoi" (Strabo, Dio Cassius, and Dioscorides)
day countries of Romania and Moldova, as well as and Daoi (singular Daos).[20][1][21][22][23][19] The
parts of Ukraine,[3] Eastern Serbia, Northern Bulgaria, form Daoi was frequently used according to
Slovakia,[4] Hungary and Southern Poland.[3] The Da- Stephan of Byzantium.[14] Latins used the forms Davus,
cians spoke the Dacian language, believed to have been Dacus, and a derived form Dacisci (Vopiscus and
closely related to Thracian, but were somewhat cultur- inscriptions).[24][25][26][27][14] The same name is often
ally inuenced by the neighbouring Scythians and by the used in the geographical vocabulary of Ancient PerCeltic invaders of the 4th century BC.[5]
sia,[28] where Pliny names among the people of Sogdians

the Dahae (Greek , ; Latin Daci).[29][30][14]

By the end of the rst century AD, all the inhabitants
of the lands which now form Romania were known to
the Romans as Daci, with the exception of some Celtic

Name and etymology

1

1 NAME AND ETYMOLOGY

and Germanic tribes who inltrated from the west, and times, some Roman auxiliaries recruited from the area
Sarmatian and related people from the east.[11]
were referred to as Phrygi. The German linguist Paul
Kretschmer explained daos with the root dhau, meaning to press, to gather, or to strangle (as wolves often use
1.2 Etymology
a neck bite to kill their prey).[47] According to Romanian
historian and archaeologist Alexandru Vulpe, the Dacian
The name Daci, or Dacians is a collective ethnonym.[31] etymology explained by daos (wolf) has little plausibility,
Dio Cassius reported that the Dacians themselves used as the draco was not unique to Dacians, while the transforthat name, and the Romans so called them, while the mation of daos into dakos is phonetically improbable. He
Greeks called them Getae.[32][33][34] Opinions on the ori- thus dismisses it as folk etymology.[48] The form Daus
gins of the name Daci are divided. Some scholars con- or Davus could be also compared to a similar ethnonym
sider it to originate in the Indo-European *dha-k-, with in Old Persian Daos and to a Phrygian deity also called
the stem *dhe- to put, to place, while others think that Daos.[42]
the name Daci originates in *daca knife, dagger or
in a word similar to daos, meaning wolf in the related
language of the Phrygians.[35]
1.3 Mythological theories
One hypothesis is that the name Getae originates in the
Indo-European *guet- 'to utter, to talk'.[36][35] Another
hypothesis is that Getae and Daci are Iranian names
of two Iranian-speaking Scythian groups that had been
assimilated into the larger Thracian-speaking population
of the later Dacia.[37][38]
1.2.1

Early history of etymological approaches

In the 1st century AD, Strabo suggested that its stem

formed a name previously borne by slaves: Greek Daos,
Latin Davus (-k- is a known sux in Indo-European ethnic names).[39] In the 18th century, Grimm proposed the
Gothic dags or day that would give the meaning of
light, brilliant. Yet dags belongs to the Sanskrit wordroot dah-, and a derivation from Dah to Daci is
dicult.[14] In the 19th century, Tomaschek (1883) proposed the form Dak, meaning those who understand
and can speak, by considering Dak as a derivation of the
root da(k being a sux); cf. Sanskrit dasa, Bactrian
daonha.[40] Tomaschek also proposed the form Davus,
meaning members of the clan/countryman cf. Bactrian
Dacian Draco as from Trajans Column
daqyu, danhu canton.[40]
1.2.2

Modern times

In the Proto-Indo-European language, where *dhe-, 'to

set, place' from where dheua > dava 'settlement' and
Dhe-k > Daci 'Dacian' is supported by Russu (1967).[41]
Daos was suggested in 1957 by Decev as a possible
connection with the Phrygian daos, meaning wolf.[42]
The Phrygian meaning is supported by Hesychius's
notes.[43][44] This hypothesis has had a large diusion
due to historian Mircea Eliade.[42] The identication or
connection with wolves is not unique to Dacians but
also present for other ancient Indo-European tribes, including the Luvians, Lycians, Lucanians, Hyrcanians,
and Dahae.[45][46] The assumption of Daoi (wolf) may
also be supported by one of the Dacian standards, the
Dacian Draco, prominently featuring a wolf head. Phrygii was another name used within the region, and in later

Mircea Eliade attempted, in his book From Zalmoxis to

Genghis Khan, to give a mythological foundation to an alleged special relation between Dacians and the wolves:[49]
Dacians might have called themselves wolves or
ones the same with wolves,[50][49] suggesting religious signicance.[51]
Dacians draw their name from a god or a legendary
ancestor who appeared as a wolf.[51]
Dacians had taken their name from a group of fugitive immigrants arrived from other regions or from
their own young outlaws, who acted similarly to the
wolves circling villages and living from looting. As
was the case in other societies, those young members of the community went through an initiation,
perhaps up to a year, during which they lived as a

3
wolf.[52][51] Comparatively, Hittite laws referred founded on a military democracy, and began a period of
to fugitive outlaws as wolves.[53]
conquest.[63] More Celts arrived during the BC 3rd century, and in BC 1st century the people of Boii tried to con The existence of a ritual that provides one with the quer some of the Dacian territory on the eastern side of
ability to turn into a wolf.[54] Such a transforma- the Teiss river. The Dacians drove the Boii south across
tion may be related either to lycanthropy itself, a the Danube and out of their territory, at which point the
widespread phenomenon, but attested especially in Boii abandoned any further plans for invasion.[63]
the Balkans-Carpathian region,[53] or a ritual imitation of the behavior and appearance of the wolf.[54]
Such a ritual was presumably a military initiation,
potentially reserved to a secret brotherhood of war- 3 Identity and distribution
riors (or Mnnerbnde).[54] To become formidable
warriors they would assimilate behavior of the wolf, North of the Danube, Dacians occupied a larger terriwearing wolf skins during the ritual.[51] Traces re- tory than Ptolemaic Dacia, stretching between Bohemia
lated to wolves as a cult or as totems were found in in the west and the Dnieper cataracts in the east, and up
this area since the Neolithic period, including the to the Pripyat, Vistula, and Oder rivers in the north and
Vina culture artifacts: wolf statues and fairly rudi- northwest.[64] In BC 53, Julius Caesar stated that the Damentary gurines representing dancers with a wolf cian territory was on the eastern border of the Hercynian
mask.[55][56] The items could indicate warrior ini- forest.[63] According to Strabos Geographica, written
tiation rites, or ceremonies in which young people around AD 20,[65] the Getes (Geto-Dacians) bordered
put on their seasonal wolf masks.[56] The element of the Suevi who lived in the Hercynian Forest, which is
unity of beliefs about werewolves and lycanthropy somewhere in the vicinity of the river Duria, the presentexists in the magical-religious experience of mysti- day Vah (Waag).[66] Dacians lived on both sides of the
cal solidarity with the wolf by whatever means used Danube.[67] [68] According to Strabo, Moesians also lived
to obtain it. But all have one original myth, a pri- on both sides of the Danube.[34] According to Agrippa,[69]
Dacia was limited by the Baltic Ocean in the North and
mary event.[57][58]
by the Vistula in the West.[70] The names of the people and settlements conrm Dacias borders as described
by Agrippa.[69][71] Dacian people also lived south of the
2 Origins and ethnogenesis
Danube.[69]
See also: Prehistoric Balkans Iron Age

3.1 Linguistic aliation

Evidence of proto-Thracians or proto-Dacians in the
prehistoric period depends on the remains of material
culture. It is generally proposed that a proto-Dacian
or proto-Thracian people developed from a mixture of
indigenous peoples and Indo-Europeans from the time
of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the Early Bronze
Age (3,3003,000 BC)[59] when the latter, around 1500
BC, conquered the indigenous peoples.[60] The indigenous people were Danubian farmers, and the invading
people of the BC 3rd millennium were Kurgan warriorherders from the Ukrainian and Russian steppes.[61]
Indo-Europeanization was complete by the beginning of
the Bronze Age. The people of that time are best described as proto-Thracians, which later developed in the
Iron Age into Danubian-Carpathian Geto-Dacians as well
as Thracians of the eastern Balkan Peninsula.[62]
Between BC 15th12th century, the Dacian-Getae culture was inuenced by the Bronze Age Tumulus-Urneld
warriors who were on their way through the Balkans to
Anatolia.[63] When the La Tne Celts arrived in BC 4th
century, the Dacians were under the inuence of the
Scythians.[63]
Alexander the Great attacked the Getae in BC 335 on the
lower Danube, but by BC 300 they had formed a state

Main article: Dacian language

See also: Davae and List of Dacian towns
The Dacians and Getae were always considered as Thracians by the ancients (Dio Cassius, Trogus Pompeius,
Appian, Strabo and Pliny the Elder), and were both said
to speak the same Thracian language.[72][73] The linguistic aliation of Dacian is uncertain, since the ancient
Indo-European language in question became extinct and
left very limited traces, usually in the form of place
names, plant names and personal names. Thraco-Dacian
(or Thracian and Daco-Mysian) seems to belong to the
eastern (satem) group of Indo-European languages.[74]
There are two contradictory theories: some scholars
(such as Tomaschek 1883; Russu 1967; Solta 1980;
Crossland 1982; Vraciu 1980) consider Dacian to be a
Thracian language or a dialect thereof. This view is supported by R. G. Solta, who says that Thracian and Dacian
are very closely related languages.[75][76] Other scholars
(such as Georgiev 1965, Duridanov 1976) consider that
Thracian and Dacian are two dierent and specic IndoEuropean languages which cannot be reduced to a common language.[77] Linguists such as Polom and Katii
expressed reservations about both theories.[78]

IDENTITY AND DISTRIBUTION

The Dacians are generally considered to have been Thra- 3.2 Tribes
cian speakers, representing a cultural continuity from earlier Iron Age communities loosely termed Getic.[79] Since Main article: List of Dacian tribes
in one interpretation, Dacian is a variety of Thracian, An extensive account of the native tribes in Dacia can
for the reasons of convenience, the generic term DacoThracian is used, with Dacian reserved for the language or dialect that was spoken north of Danube, in
present-day Romania and eastern Hungary, and Thracian for the variety spoken south of the Danube. [80]
There is no doubt that the Thracian language was related to the Dacian language which was spoken in what
is today Romania, before that area was occupied by the
Romans.[81] Also, both Thracian and Dacian have one of
the main satem characteristic changes of Indo-European
language, *k and *g to *s and *z.[82] With regard to the
term Getic (Getae), even though attempts have been
made to distinguish between Dacian and Getic, there
seems no compelling reason to disregard the view of the
Greek geographer Strabo that the Daci and the Getae,
Thracian tribes dwelling north of the Danube (the Daci
in the west of the area and the Getae further east), were
Roman era Balkans
one and the same people and spoke the same language.[80]
Another variety that has sometimes been recognized is
that of Moesian (or Mysian) for the language of an intermediate area immediately to the south of Danube in
Serbia, Bulgaria and Romanian Dobruja: this and the dialects north of the Danube have been grouped together as
Daco-Moesian.[80] The language of the indigenous population has left hardly any trace in the anthroponymy of
Moesia, but the toponymy indicates that the Moesii on the
south bank of the Danube, north of the Haemus Mountains, and the Triballi in the valley of the Morava, shared a
number of characteristic linguistic features with the Dacii
south of the Carpathians and the Getae in the Wallachian
plain, which sets them apart from the Thracians though
their languages are undoubtedly related.[83]
Vladimir Georgiev disputes that Dacian and Thracian
were closely related for various reasons, most notably
that Dacian and Moesian town names commonly end
with the sux -DAVA, while towns in Thrace proper
(i.e. South of the Balkan mountains) generally end in PARA (see Dacian language). According to Georgiev, the
language spoken by the ethnic Dacians should be classied as Daco-Moesian and regarded as distinct from
Thracian.[84] Georgiev also claimed that names from approximately Roman Dacia and Moesia show dierent
and generally less extensive changes in Indo-European
consonants and vowels than those found in Thrace itself. However, the evidence seems to indicate divergence
of a Thraco-Dacian language into northern and southern groups of dialects, not so dierent as to qualify as
separate languages.[85] Polom considers that such lexical dierentiation ( -dava vs. para) would, however, be
hardly enough evidence to separate Daco-Moesian from
Thracian.[78]

be found in the ninth tabula of Europe of Ptolemys

Geography.[86] The Geography was probably written in
the period AD 140150, but the sources were often earlier; for example, Roman Britain is shown before the
building of Hadrians Wall in the AD 120s.[87] Ptolemys
Geography also contains a physical map probably designed before the Roman conquest, and containing no
detailed nomenclature.[88] There are references to the
Tabula Peutingeriana, but it appears that the Dacian map
of the Tabula was completed after the nal triumph of
Roman nationality.[89] Ptolemys list includes no fewer
than twelve tribes with Geto-Dacian names.[90][91]
The fteen tribes of Dacia as named by Ptolemy, starting
from the northernmost ones, are as follows. First, the
Anartes, the Teurisci and the Coertoboci/Costoboci. To
the south of them are the Buredeense (Buri/Burs), the
Cotense/Cotini and then the Albocense, the Potulatense
and the Sense, while the southernmost were the Saldense,
the Ciaginsi and the Piephigi. To the south of them were
Predasense/Predavensi, the Rhadacense/Rhatacenses,
the Caucoense (Cauci) and Biephi.[86] Twelve out
of these fteen tribes listed by Ptolemy are ethnic
Dacians,[91] and three are Celt Anarti, Teurisci, and
Cotense.[91] There are also previous brief mentions of
other Getae or Dacian tribes on the left and right banks
of the Danube, or even in Transylvania, to be added to
the list of Ptolemy. Among these other tribes are the
Trixae, Crobidae and Appuli.[86]
Some peoples inhabiting the region generally described in
Roman times as Dacia were not ethnic Dacians.[92] The
true Dacians were a people of Thracian descent. German elements (Daco-Germans), Celtic elements (DacoCeltic) and Iranian elements (Daco-Sarmatian) occupied territories in the north-west and north-east of
Dacia.[93][93][94][92] This region covered roughly the same

3.2

Tribes

area as modern Romania plus Bessarabia (Republic of

Moldova) and eastern Galicia (south-west Ukraine), although Ptolemy places Moldavia and Bessarabia in Sarmatia Europaea, rather than Dacia.[95] After the Dacian
Wars (AD 101-6), the Romans occupied only about
half of the wider Dacian region. The Roman province
of Dacia covered just western Wallachia as far as the
Limes Transalutanus (East of the river Aluta, or Olt) and
Transylvania, as bordered by the Carpathians.[96]

residing on the fringes of the Roman Dacia (west, east

and north of the Carpathian range), and the ethnic picture seems to be a mixed one. North of the Carpathians are recorded the Anarti, Teurisci and Costoboci.[106]
The Anarti (or Anartes) and the Teurisci were originally
probably Celtic peoples or mixed Dacian-Celtic.[94] The
Anarti, together with the Celtic Cotini, are described
by Tacitus as vassals of the powerful Quadi Germanic
people.[107] The Teurisci were probably a group of Celtic
The impact of the Roman conquest on these people is Taurisci from the eastern Alps. However, archaeology
has revealed that the Celtic tribes had originally spread
uncertain. One hypothesis was that they were eectively
being abeliminated. An important clue to the character of Da- from west to east as far as Transylvania, before
sorbed by the Dacians in the 1st century BC.[108][109]
cian casualties is oered by the ancient sources Eutropius
and Crito. Both speak about men when they describe
the losses suered by the Dacians in the wars. This sug- 3.2.1 Costoboci
gests that both refer to losses due to ghting, not due to
a process of extermination of the whole population.[97] Main article: Costoboci
A strong component of the Dacian army, including the
Celtic Bastarnae and the Germans, had withdrawn rather
view is that the Costoboci were ethnically
than submit to Trajan.[98] Some scenes on Trajans Col- The main
[110]
Dacian.
Others considered them a Slavic or Sarmaumn represent acts of obedience of the Dacian popu[111][112]
tian
tribe.
There was also a Celtic inuence, so
lation, and others show the refugee Dacians returning
[99]
that
some
consider
them a mixed Celtic and Thracian
to their own places.
Dacians trying to buy amnesty
group
that
appear,
after
Trajans conquest, as a Dacian
are depicted on Trajans Column (one oers to Trajan
[100]
group
within
the
Celtic
superstratum.[113] The Costoa tray of three gold ingots).
Alternatively, a sub[114]
stantial number may have survived in the province, al- boci inhabited the southern slopes of the Carpathians.
though were probably outnumbered by the Romanised Ptolemy named the Coestoboci (Costoboci in Roman
immigrants.[101] Cultural life in Dacia became very mixed sources) twice, showing them divided by the Dniester and
and decidedly cosmopolitan because of the colonial com- the Peucinian (Carpathian) Mountains. This suggests that
munities. The Dacians retained their names and their own they lived on both sides of the Carpathians, but it is also
two accounts about the same people were
ways in the midst of the newcomers, and the region con- possible that
[114]
[102]
combined.
There was also a group, the Transmontani,
tinued to exhibit Dacian characteristics.
The Dacians
that
some
modern
scholars identify as Dacian Transmonwho survived the war are attested as revolting against the
tani
Costoboci
of
the extreme north.[115][116] The name
Roman domination in Dacia at least twice, in the period
[117]
literally
of time right after the Dacian Wars, and in a more deter- Transmontani was from the Dacians Latin,
[103]
people
over
the
mountains.
Mullenho
identied
these
mined manner in 117 AD.
In 158 AD, they revolted
[104]
with
the
Transiugitani,
another
Dacian
tribe
north
of
the
again, and were put down by M. Statius Priscus.
Some
[118]
Carpathian
mountains.
Dacians were apparently expelled from the occupied zone
at the end of each of the two Dacian Wars, or otherwise Based on the account of Dio Cassius, Heather (2010)
emigrated. It is uncertain where these refugees settled. considers that Hasding Vandals, around 171 AD, atSome of these people might have mingled with the ex- tempted to take control of lands which previously beisting ethnic Dacian tribes beyond the Carpathians (the longed to the free Dacian group called the Costoboci.[119]
Costoboci and Carpi).
Hrushevskyi (1997) mentions that the earlier widespread
After Trajans conquest of Dacia there was recurring view that these Carpathian tribes were Slavic has no
trouble involving Dacian groups excluded from the Ro- basis. This would be contradicted by the Coestoboman province, as nally dened by Hadrian. By the can names themselves that are known from the inscripearly third century the Free Dacians, as they were ear- tions, written by a Coestobocan and therefore presumThese names sound quite unlike anything
lier known, were a signicantly troublesome group, then ably accurately.
[111]
Scholars
such as Tomaschek (1883), Shutte
Slavic.
identied as the Carpi, requiring imperial intervention on
[105]
(1917)
and
Russu
(1969)
consider these Costobocian
In 214 Caracalla dealt with
more than one occasion.
[120][121][122]
This inscription
names
to
be
Thraco-Dacian.
their attacks. Later, Philip the Arab came in person to
also
indicates
the
Dacian
background
of
the wife of the
deal with them; he assumed the triumphal title Carpicus
[123]
This indiCostobocian
king
Ziais
Tiati
lia
Daca.
Maximus and inaugurated a new era for the province of
cation
of
the
socio-familial
line
of
descent
seen
also in
Dacia (July 20, 246). Later both Decius and Gallienus
other
inscriptions
(i.e.
Diurpaneus
qui
Euprepes
Sterisassumed the titles Dacicus Maximus. In 272, Aurelian
[105]
sae
f(ilius)
Dacus)
is
a
custom
attested
since
the
historical
assumed the same title as Philip.
period (beginning in the 5th century BC) when Thracians
In about 140 AD, Ptolemy lists the names of several tribes were under Greek inuence.[124] It may not have origi-

IDENTITY AND DISTRIBUTION

nated with the Thracians, as it could be just a fashion borrowed from Greeks for specifying ancestry and for distinguishing homonymous individuals within the tribe.[125]
Shutte (1917), Parvan, and Florescu (1982) pointed also
to the Dacian characteristic place names ending in 'dava'
given by Ptolemy in the Costobocis country.[126][127]
3.2.2

Carpi

Main article: Carpi (people)

The Carpi were a sizeable Dacian (North Thracian) group
of tribes living outside the boundaries of Roman Dacia. The majority view is that they were a Thracian
tribe, a subgroup of the Dacians.[128] Some historians
classify them as Slavs.[129] According to Heather (2010),
the Carpi were Dacians from the eastern foothills of
the Carpathian range modern Moldavia and Wallachia
who had not been brought under direct Roman rule
at the time of Trajans conquest of Transylvania Dacia. After they generated a new degree of political unity
among themselves in the course of the third century,
these Dacian groups came to be known collectively as the
Carpi.[130]
The ancient sources about the Carpi, before 104 AD, located them on a territory situated between the western
side of Eastern European Galicia and the mouth of the
Danube.[131] The name of the tribe is homonymous with
the Carpathian mountains.[115] Carpi and Carpathian are
Dacian words derived from the root (s)ker- cut cf. Albanian Karp stone and Sanskrit kar- cut.[132][133] A
quote from the 6th-century Byzantine chronicler Zosimus
referring to the (Latin: Carpo-Dacae or
Carpo-Dacians), who attacked the Romans in the late
4th century, is seen as evidence of their Dacian ethnicity. In fact, Carpi/Carpodaces is the term used
for Dacians outside of Dacia proper.[134] However, that
the Carpi were Dacians is shown not so much by the
form (Latin: Carpo-Dacae) of Zosimus as
by their characteristic place-names in dava, given by
Ptolemy in their country.[135] The origin and ethnic afliations of the Carpi have been debated over the years;
in modern times they are closely associated with the
Carpathian Mountains, and a good case has been made
for attributing to the Carpi a distinct material culture, a
developed form of the Geto-Dacian La Tene culture, often known as the Poienesti culture, which is characteristic
of this area.[136]

3.3

Physical characteristics

Dacians are represented in the statues surmounting the

Arch of Constantine and on Trajans Column.[137] The
artist of the Column took some care to depict, in his opinion, a variety of Dacian peoplefrom high-ranking men,
women, and children to the near-savage. Although the

Dacian cast in Pushkin Museum, after original in Lateran Museum. Early second century AD.

artist looked to models in Hellenistic art for some body

types and compositions, he does not represent the Dacians as generic barbarians.[138]
Classical authors applied a generalized stereotype
when describing the barbariansCelts, Scythians,
Thraciansinhabiting the regions to the north of the
Greek world.[139] In accordance with this stereotype,
all these peoples are described, in sharp contrast to the
civilized Greeks, as being much taller, their skin lighter
and with straight light-coloured hair and blue eyes.[139]
For instance, Aristotle wrote that the Scythians on the
Black Sea and the Thracians are straight-haired, for both
they themselves and the environing air are moist";[140]
according to Clement of Alexandria, Xenophanes described the Thracians as ruddy and tawny.[139][141] On

4.2

Relations with Thracians

7
(and Thracians) themselves, analysis of their origins depends largely on the remains of material culture. On the
whole, the Bronze Age witnessed the evolution of the ethnic groups which emerged during the Eneolithic period,
and eventually the syncretism of both autochthonous and
Indo-European elements from the steppes and the Pontic
regions.[145] Various groups of Thracians had not separated out by 1200 BC, [145] but there are strong similarities between the ceramic types found at Troy and the ceramic types from the Carpathian area.[145] About the year
1000 BC, the Carpatho-Danubian countries were inhabited by a northern branch of the Thracians.[146] At the
time of the arrival of the Scythians (c. 700 BC), the
Carpatho-Danubian Thracians were developing rapidly
towards the Iron Age civilization of the West. Moreover,
the whole of the fourth period of the Carpathian Bronze
Age had already been profoundly inuenced by the rst
Iron Age as it developed in Italy and the Alpine lands. The
Scythians, arriving with their own type of Iron Age civilization, put a stop to these relations with the West.[147]
From roughly 500 BC (the second Iron Age), the Dacians
developed a distinct civilization, which was capable of
supporting large centralised kingdoms by 1st BC and 1st
AD.[148]

The Roman monument commemorating the Battle of Adamclisi

clearly shows two giant Dacian warriors wielding a two-handed
falx.

Trajans column, Dacian soldiers hair is depicted longer

than the hair of Roman soldiers and they had trimmed
beards.[142]
Body-painting was customary among the Dacians. It
is probable that the tattooing originally had a religious
signicance.[143] They practiced symbolic-ritual tattooing
or body painting for both men and women, with hereditary symbols transmitted up to the fourth generation.[144]

Since the very rst detailed account by Herodotus, Getae

are acknowledged as belonging to the Thracians.[8] Still,
they are distinguished from the other Thracians by particularities of religion and custom.[139] The rst written
mention of the name Dacians is in Roman sources,
but classical authors are unanimous in considering them
a branch of the Getae, a Thracian people known from
Greek writings. Strabo specied that the Daci are the
Getae who lived in the area towards the Pannonian plain
(Transylvania), while the Getae proper gravitated towards
the Black Sea coast (Scythia Minor).

4.2 Relations with Thracians

History

4.1

See also: Dromichaetes

Early history
Hyperboreans

Androphagi

Alp
is

Agathyrsi
r
Iste

Celts

Ca

is
rp

ia

Sc

h
yt

CASPIAN
SEA

Araxes

Niniveh

Tartessus
Cyrene

LIBYA

Assyria
Memphis

xes
Ara

Sogdians

Bactra

Medes
Ecbatana

Carthage

Atlas

Massagetes

Caucasus
BLACK SEA

Iberia

ATLANTIC
SEA

Arimaspians
Issedones
Sauromates

MAEOTIAN
LAKE

Getae

Thracians

ns

Lyc
u

Tyras

Oarus

Tanais

EUROPE

Susa

ASIA

Persia

Babylon

Thebes
Syene

Nile

Meroe

Arabia

Ethiopians

Ind
u

Indians

ERYTHREAN SEA

Since the writings of Herodotus in the 5th century BC,[8]

Getae/Dacians are acknowledged as belonging to the
Thracian sphere of inuence. Despite this, they are distinguished from other Thracians by particularities of religion and custom.[139] Geto-Dacians and Thracians were
kin people but they were not the same.[149] The dierences from the southern Thracians or from the neighboring Scythians were probably faint, as several ancient authors make confusions of identication with both
groups.[139]

In the 19th century, Tomaschek considered a close anity between the Besso-Thracians and Getae-Dacians, an
AUSTRAL SEA
original kinship of both people with Iranian peoples.[150]
They are Aryan tribes, several centuries before Scolotes
Getae on the World Map according to Herodotus
of the Pont and Sauromatae left the Aryan homeland and
In the absence of historical records written by the Dacians settled in the Carpathian chain, in the Haemus (Balkan)
Macrobians

and Rhodope mountains.[150] The Besso-Thracians and

Getae-Dacians separated very early from Aryans, since
their language still maintains roots that are missing from
Iranian and it shows non-Iranian phonetic characteristics (i.e. replacing the Iranian l with r).[150] He
considered that the Geto-Dacians and Besso-Thracians
would represent a new layer of people that extended in
the autochthonous fund, probably Illyrian or ArmenianPhrygian.[150]

4.3

HISTORY

but most if not all of them indicate that the native population imitated Celtic art forms that took their fancy, but
remained obstinately and fundamentally Dacian in their
culture.[152]

Relations with Celts

See also: Celts in Transylvania, Gallic invasion of the

Balkans, Boii, Taurisci, Scordisci, Anartes, Burebista,
List of Celtic cities in Thrace and Dacia and Pchov culture
Geto-Dacians inhabited both sides of the Tisa River be-

The Celtic Helmet from Satu Mare, Romania (northern

Dacia), an Iron Age raven totem helmet, dated around
4th century BC. A similar helmet is depicted on the
Thraco-Celtic Gundestrup cauldron, being worn by one
of the mounted warriors (detail tagged here). See also an
illustration of Brennos wearing a similar helmet.

Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:

core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC
maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC

fore the rise of the Celtic Boii, and again after the latter
were defeated by the Dacians under king Burebista.[151]
During the second half of the 4th century BC, Celtic
cultural inuence appears in the archaeological records
of the middle Danube, Alpine region, and north-western
Balkans, where it was part of the Middle La Tne material
culture. This material appears in north-western and central Dacia, and is reected especially in burials.[148] The
Dacians absorbed the Celtic inuence from the northwest
in the early third century BC.[152] Archaeological investigation of this period has highlighted several Celtic warrior
graves with military equipment. It suggests the forceful
penetration of a military Celtic elite within the region of
Dacia, now known as Transylvania, that is bounded on
the east by the Carpathian range.[148] The archaeological
sites of the third and second centuries BC in Transylvania revealed a pattern of co-existence and fusion between
the bearers of La Tne culture and indigenous Dacians.
These were domestic dwellings with a mixture of Celtic
and Dacian pottery, and several graves in the Celtic style
containing vessels of Dacian type.[148] There are some
seventy Celtic sites in Transylvania, mostly cemeteries,

Around 150 BC, La Tne material disappears from the

area. This coincides with the ancient writings which mention the rise of Dacian authority. It ended the Celtic domination, and it is possible that Celts were driven out of Dacia. Alternatively, some scholars have proposed that the
Transylvanian Celts remained, but merged into the local
culture and thus ceased to be distinctive.[148][152]
Archaeological discoveries in the settlements and fortications of the Dacians in the period of their kingdoms
(1st century BC and 1st century AD) included imported
Celtic vessels, and others made by Dacian potters imitating Celtic prototypes, showing that relations between the
Dacians and the Celts from the regions north and west of
Dacia continued.[153] In present-day Slovakia, archaeology has revealed evidence for mixed Celtic-Dacian populations in the Nitra and Hron river basins.[154]
After the Dacians subdued the Celtic tribes, the remaining Cotini stayed in the mountains of Central Slovakia,
where they took up mining and metalworking. Together with the original domestic population, they created the Puchov culture that spread into central and northern Slovakia, including Spis, and penetrated northeastern
Moravia and southern Poland. Along the Bodorog River
in Zemplin they created Celtic-Dacian settlements which
were known for the production of painted ceramics.[154]

4.4 Relations with Greeks

See also: Decree of Dionysopolis, List of Greek cities in
Thrace and Dacia and Lysimachus

4.7

Relations with Germanic tribes

Tyras
(Dniester) r.

Greek and Roman chroniclers record the defeat and capture of the Macedonian general Lysimachus in the 3rd
century BC by the Getae (Dacians) ruled by Dromihete,
their military strategy, and the release of Lysimachus following a debate in the assembly of the Getae.

CARPI
Sarmizegetusa
CNIVA

Viminacium

Marcianopolis

Novae

Nicopolis

Salona
Philippopolis

4.5

BLACK SEA

Abritus

Istrus (Danube) r.

Beroe
Perinthus

Relations with Persians

Cyzicus

Salonica

Herodotus says: before Darius reached the Danube, the

rst people he subdued were the Getae, who believed that
they never die.[8] It is possible that the Persian expedition
and the subsequent occupation may have altered the way
in which the Getae expressed the immortality belief. The
AEGEAN SEA
inuence of thirty years of Achaemenid presence may be
GOTHIC INVASIONS OF 250-251 AD
detected in the emergence of an explicit iconography of
the Royal Hunt that inuenced Dacian and Thracian
metalworkers, and of the practice of hawking by their upMap showing the Dacian-speaking Carpi place in invading Roper class.[155]
Nicopolis

Ephesus

Corinth

Athens

Roman territory
provincial capital
Novae attacked site

man Dacia in AD 250-1, under the Gothic leader Kniva

4.6

Relations with Scythians

See also: Agathyrsi, Scythia Minor, Alans, Roxolani and

Iazyges

4.6.1

Agathyrsi Transylvania

The Scythians arrival in the Carpathian mountains is

dated to 700 BC.[156] The Agathyrsi of Transylvania had
been mentioned by Herodotus (fth century BC),[157]
who regarded them as not a Scythian people, but closely
related to them. In other respects their customs were
close to those of the Thracians.[158] The Agathyrsi were
completely denationalized at the time of Herodotus and
absorbed by the native Thracians.[159][160]
The opinion that the Agathyrsi were almost certainly
Thracians results also from the writings preserved by
Stephen of Byzantium, who explains that the Greeks
called the Trausi the Agathyrsi, and we know that the
Trausi lived in the Rhodope Mountains. Certain details
from their way of life, such as tattooing, also suggest that
the Agathyrsi were Thracians. Their place was later taken
by the Dacians.[161] That the Dacians were of Thracian
stock is not in doubt, and it is safe to assume that this
new name also encompassed the Agathyrsi, and perhaps
other neighboring Thracian people as well, as a result of
some political upheaval.[161]

arrived in the southern Ukraine no later than 230.[162]

During the next decade, a large section of them moved
down the Black Sea coast and occupied much of the territory north of the lower Danube.[162] The Goths advance towards the area north of the Black Sea involved
competing with the indigenous population of Dacianspeaking Carpi, as well as indigenous Iranian-speaking
Sarmatians and Roman garrison forces.[163] The Carpi,
often called Free Dacians, continued to dominate the
anti-Roman coalition made up of themselves, Taifali, Astringi, Vandals, Peucini, and Goths until 248, when the
Goths assumed the hegemony of the loose coalition.[164]
The rst lands taken over by the Thervingi Goths were
in Moldavia, and only during the fourth century did they
move in strength down into the Danubian plain.[165] The
Carpi found themselves squeezed between the advancing
Goths and the Roman province of Dacia.[162] In 275 AD,
Aurelian surrendered the Dacian territory to the Carpi
and the Goths.[166] Over time, Gothic power in the region
grew, at the Carpis expense. The Germanic-speaking
Goths replaced native Dacian-speakers as the dominant
force around the Carpathian mountains.[167] Large numbers of Carpi, but not all of them, were admitted into the
Roman empire in the twenty-ve years or so after 290
AD.[168] Despite this evacuation of the Carpi around 300
AD, considerable groups of the natives (non-Romanized
Dacians, Sarmatians and others) remained in place under
Gothic domination.[169]

In 330 the Gothic Thervingi contemplated moving to the

Middle Danube region, and from 370 relocated with their
4.7 Relations with Germanic tribes
fellow Gothic Greuthungi to new homes in the Roman
Empire.[168] The Ostrogoths were still more isolated, but
See also: Suebi, Bastarnae, Goths, Marcomannic Wars even the Visigoths preferred to live among their own kind.
and Chernyakhov culture
As a result, the Goths settled in pockets. Finally, although
The Goths, a confederation of east German peoples, Roman towns continued on a reduced level, there is no

10

HISTORY

question as to their survival.[165]

able to muster a combined army of 200,000 men during

[176]
In 336 AD, Constantine took the title Dacicus Maximus Strabos era, the time of Roman emperor Augustus.
(The great victory over Dacians), implying at least partial reconquest of Trajan Dacia.[170] In an inscription of 4.8.1 The kingdom of Burebista
337, Constantine was commemorated ocially as Germanicus Maximus, Sarmaticus, Gothicus Maximus, and
The Dacian kingdom reached its maximum extent unDacicus Maximus, meaning he had defeated the Gerder king Burebista (ruled 82 - 44 BC). The capital of
mans, Sarmatians, Goths, and Dacians.[171]
the kingdom was possibly the city of Argedava, also
called Sargedava in some historical writings, situated
close to the river Danube. The kingdom of Burebista
4.8 Dacian kingdoms
extended south of the Danube, in what is today Bulgaria, and the Greeks believed their king was the greatMain article: Dacia
est of all Thracians.[177] During his reign, Burebista
See also: Burebista and Decebalus
transferred the Geto-Dacians capital from Argedava to
Dacian states arose as a tribal confederacy that included
Sarmizegetusa.[178][179] For at least one and a half centuries, Sarmizegethusa was the Dacian capital, reaching
its acme under king Decebalus. Burebista annexed the
Greek cities (55-48 BC).[180] Augustus wanted to avenge
the defeat of Gaius Antonius Hybrida at Histria (Sinoe) 32 years before, and to recover the lost standards.
These were held in a powerful fortress called Genucla
(Isaccea, near modern Tulcea, in the Danube delta region of Romania), controlled by Zyraxes, the local Getan
petty king.[181] The man selected for the task was Marcus
Licinius Crassus, grandson of Crassus the triumvir, and
an experienced general at 33 years of age, who was appointed proconsul of Macedonia in 29 BC.[182]
4.8.2 The kingdom of Decebalus 87 106
Dacian kingdom during the reign of Burebista, 82 BC

the Getae, the Daci, the Buri, and the Carpi (cf. Bichir
1976, Shchukin 1989),[151] united only periodically by
the leadership of Dacian kings such as Burebista and
Decebal. This union was both military-political and
ideological-religious.[151] The following are some of the
attested Dacian kingdoms:
The kingdom of Cothelas, one of the Getae, covered an
area near the Black Sea, between northern Thrace and the
Danube, today Bulgaria, in the 4th century BC.[172] The
kingdom of Rubobostes controlled a region in Transylvania in the 2nd century BC.[173] Gaius Scribonius Curio
(proconsul 75-3 BC) campaigned successfully against the
Dardani and the Moesi, becoming the rst Roman general to reach the river Danube with his army.[174] His successor, Marcus Licinius Lucullus, brother of the famous
Lucius Lucullus, campaigned against the Thracian Bessi
tribe and the Moesi, ravaging the whole of Moesia, the region between the Haemus (Balkan) mountain range and
the Danube. In 72 BC, his troops occupied the Greek
coastal cities of Scythia Minor (the modern Dobruja region in Romania and Bulgaria), which had sided with
Romes Hellenistic arch-enemy, king Mithridates VI of
Pontus, in the Third Mithridatic War.[175] Greek geographer Strabo claimed that the Dacians and Getae had been

By the year AD 100, more than 400,000 square kilometers were dominated by the Dacians, who numbered
two million.[183] Decebalus was the last king of the Dacians, and despite his erce resistance against the Romans, was defeated and committed suicide rather than
being marched through Rome in a triumph as a captured
enemy leader.

4.9 Conict with Rome

Main articles: Domitians Dacian War and Trajans
Dacian Wars
Burebistas Dacian state was powerful enough to threaten
Rome, and Caesar contemplated campaigning against the
Dacians.[184] Despite this, the formidable Dacian power
under Burebista lasted only until his death in 44 BC. The
subsequent division of Dacia continued for about a century until the reign of Scorilo. This was a period of only
occasional attacks on the Roman Empires border, with
some local signicance.[185]
The unifying actions of the last Dacian king Decebalus
(ruled 87106 AD) might have been perceived as dangerous by Rome, despite the fact that the Dacian army
could now gather only some 40,000 soldiers.[185] In the

4.10

Roman rule

11

Romans eyes, the situation at the border with Dacia was cia.
out of control, and Emperor Domitian (ruled 81 to 96
AD) tried desperately to deal with the danger through military action. But the outcome of Romes disastrous campaigns into Dacia in AD 86 and AD 88 pushed Domitian
to settle the situation through diplomacy.[185] Emperor
Trajan (ruled 97117 AD) opted for a dierent approach
and decided to conquer the Dacian kingdom, partly in
order to seize its vast gold mines. The eort required
two major wars (the Dacian Wars), one in 101102 AD
and the other in 105106 AD. Only fragmentary details
survive of the Dacian war: a single sentence of Trajans
own Dacica; little more of the Getica written by his doctor, T. Statilius Crito; nothing whatsoever of the poem
proposed by Caninius Rufus (if it was ever written), Dio The death of Decebalus (Trajans Column, Scene CXLV)
Chrysostoms Getica or Appians Dacica. Nonetheless, a
The Roman people hailed Trajans triumph in Dacia
reasonable account can be pieced together.[186]
with the longest and most expensive celebration in their
history.[187] For his triumph, Trajan gave a 123-day festival (ludi) of celebration, in which approximately 11,000
animals were slaughtered and 11,000 gladiators fought in
combats. This surpassed Emperor Tituss celebration in
AD 70, when a 100-day festival included 3,000 gladiators
and 5,000 to 9,000 wild animals.[188][189]

4.10 Roman rule

Main article: Roman Dacia
See also: Danubian provinces
The Dacian wars depicted on Trajans column

In the rst war, Trajan invaded Dacia by crossing the

river Danube with a boat-bridge and inicted a crushing
defeat on the Dacians at the Second Battle of Tapae in
101 AD. The Dacian king Decebalus was forced to sue
for peace. Trajan and Decebalus then concluded a peace
treaty which was highly favourable to the Romans. The
peace agreement required the Dacians to cede some territory to the Romans and to demolish their fortications.
Decebalus foreign policy was also restricted, as he was
prohibited from entering into alliances with other tribes.
However, both Trajan and Decebalus considered this only
a temporary truce, and readied themselves for renewed
war. Trajan had Greek engineer Apollodorus of Damascus construct a stone bridge over the Danube river, while
Decebalus secretly plotted alliances against the Romans.
In 105, Trajan crossed the Danube river and besieged Decebalus capital, Sarmizegetusa, but the siege failed because of Decebalus allied tribes. However, Trajan was
an optimist. He returned with a newly constituted army
and took Sarmizegetusa by assault. Decebalus ed into
the mountains hoping to assemble a new army, but was
cornered by pursuing Roman cavalry and committed suicide. The Romans took his head and right hand to Trajan,
who had them displayed in the Forums. Trajans Column
in Rome was constructed to celebrate the conquest of Da-

Only about half part of Dacia then became a Roman

province,[190] with a newly built capital at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, 40 km away from the site of Old
Sarmizegetusa, which was razed to the ground. The name
of the Dacians homeland, Dacia, became the name of
a Roman province, and the name Dacians was used to
designate peoples of varying ancestry in the region.[191]
Roman Dacia, also Dacia Traiana or Dacia Felix, was
a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271 or
275 AD.[192][193][193][194] Its territory consisted of eastern
and southeastern Transylvania, and the regions of Banat
and Oltenia (located in modern Romania).[192] Dacia was
organised from the beginning as an imperial province,
and remained so throughout the Roman occupation.[195]
It was one of the empires Latin provinces; ocial
epigraphs attest that the language of administration was
Latin.[196] Historian estimates of the population of Roman Dacia range from 650,000 to 1,200,000.[197]
Dacians that remained outside the Roman Empire after the Dacian wars of AD 101-106 had been named
Dakoi prosoroi (Latin Daci limitanei), neighbouring
Dacians.[20] Modern historians use the generic name
Free Dacians or Independent Dacians.[198][199][200] The
tribes Daci Magni (Great Dacians), Costoboci (generally
considered a Dacian subtribe), and Carpi remained outside the Roman empire, in what the Romans called Dacia
Libera (Free Dacia).[191] By the early third century the

12

5 SOCIETY

Roman Dacia, Moesia Inferior, Moesia Superior and other

Roman provinces

Free Dacians were a signicantly troublesome group,

by now identied as the Carpi.[198] Bichir argues that the
Carpi were the most powerful of the Dacian tribes who
had become the principal enemy of the Romans in the
region.[201] In 214 AD, Caracalla campaigned against the
Free Dacians.[202] There were also campaigns against the
Dacians recorded in 236 AD.[203]
Roman Dacia was evacuated by the Romans under emperor Aurelian (ruled 271-5 AD). Aurelian made this decision on account of barbarian pressures on the Empire
there caused by the Carpi, Visigoths, Sarmatians, and Asding Vandals; the lines of defence needed to be shortened,
and Dacia was deemed not important enough given the
demands on available resources. Roman power in Thracia rested mainly with the legions stationed in Moesia.
The rural nature of Thracias populations, and the distance from Roman authority, encouraged the presence of
local troops to support Moesias legions. Over the next
few centuries, the province was periodically and increasingly attacked by migrating Germanic tribes. The reign
of Justinian saw the construction of over 100 legionary
fortresses to supplement the defense. Thracians in Moesia and Dacia were Romanized, while those within the
Byzantine empire were their Hellenized descendants that
had mingled with the Greeks.

4.11 After the Aurelian Retreat

See also: Free Dacians, Carpi (people), Costoboci and
Origin of the Romanians
Dacia was never a uniformly Romanised area. PostAurelianic Dacia fell into three divisions: the area along
the river, usually under some type of Roman administration even if in a highly barbarized form; the zone beyond this area, from which Roman military personnel had
withdrawn, leaving a sizable population behind that was
heavily Romanised; and nally what is now the northern
parts of Moldavia, Crisana, and Maramures. This nal

Dacian on the Constantine Arch

area was always peripheral to the Roman province, not

militarily occupied but nonetheless controlled by Rome
and part of the Roman economic sphere. Here lived the
Carpi, often called Free Dacians.[165]
The Aurelian retreat was a purely military decision to
withdraw the Roman troops to defend the Danube. The
inhabitants of the old province of Dacia displayed no
awareness of impeding disaster. There were no sudden
ights or destruction of property.[166] It is not possible to
discern how many civilians followed the army out of Dacia; it is clear that there was no mass emigration, since
there is evidence of continuity of settlement in Dacian
villages and farms; the evacuation may not at rst have
been intended to be a permanent measure.[166] The Romans left the province, but they didnt consider that they
lost it.[166] Dobrogea was not abandoned at all, but continued as part of the Roman Empire for over 350 years.[204]
As late as AD 300, the tetrarchic emperors had resettled
tens of thousands of Dacian Carpi inside the empire, dispersing them in communities the length of the Danube,
from Hungary to the Black Sea.[205]

5.1

Occupations

13

Dacian tarabostes (nobleman) - (Hermitage Museum)

Society

Dacians were divided into two classes: the aristocracy

(tarabostes) and the common people (comati). Only the
aristocracy had the right to cover their heads, and wore
a felt hat. The common people, who comprised the rank
and le of the army, the peasants and artisans, might have
been called capillati in Latin. Their appearance and clothing can be seen on Trajans Column.

5.1

Occupations

Comati on Trajans Column, Rome

The chief occupations of the Dacians were agriculture,

apiculture, viticulture, livestock, ceramics and
metalworking. They also worked the gold and silver
mines of Transylvania. At Pecica, Arad a Dacian workshop was discovered, along with equipment for minting
coins and evidence of bronze, silver, and iron-working
that suggests a broad spectrum of smithing.[206] Evidence
for the mass production of iron is found on many Dacian
sites, indicating guild-like specialization.[206] Dacian
ceramic manufacturing traditions continue from the
pre-Roman to the Roman period, both in provincial and
unoccupied Dacia, and well into the fourth and even early
fth centuries.[207] They engaged in considerable external
trade, as is shown by the number of foreign coins found
in the country (see also Decebalus Treasure). On the Dacian tools: compasses, chisels, knives, etc.
northernmost frontier of free Dacia, coin circulation
steadily grew in the rst and second centuries, with a
decline in the third and a rise again in the fourth century;
the same pattern as observed for the Banat region to the in coin circulation even after Roman withdrawal from
southwest. What is remarkable is the extent and increase Dacia, and as far north as Transcarpathia.[208]

14

5.2

6 MATERIAL CULTURE

Currency

wards the Carpathian mountains, in the historical Romanian province of Muntenia. It is identied as an evolution
of the Iron Age Basarabi culture. The earlier Iron Age
Basarabi evidence in the northern lower Danube area connects to the iron-using Ferigile-Birsesti group. This is an
archaeological manifestation of the historical Getae who,
along with the Agathyrsae, are one of a number of tribal
formations recorded by Herodotus.[157][210] In archaeology, free Dacians are attested by the Puchov culture (in
which there are Celtic elements) and Lipia culture to the
east of the Carpathians.[211] The Lipia culture has a Dacian/North Thracian origin.[212] [213] This North Thracian
Geto-Dacian Koson. Mid 1st century BC
population was dominated by strong Celtic inuences,
or had simply absorbed Celtic ethnic components.[214]
The rst coins produced by the Geto-Dacians were imLipia culture has been linked to the Dacian tribe of
itations of silver coins of the Macedonian kings Philip
Costoboci.[215][216]
II and Alexander III (the Great). Early in the 1st century BC, the Dacians replaced these with silver denarii Specic Dacian material culture includes: wheel-turned
of the Roman Republic, both ocial coins of Rome ex- pottery that is generally plain but with distinctive elite
ported to Dacia, as well as locally made imitations of wares, massive silver dress bulae, precious metal plate,
them. The Roman province Dacia is represented on the ashlar masonry, fortications, upland sanctuaries with
Roman sestertius coin as a woman seated on a rock, hold- horseshoe-shaped precincts, and decorated clay heart aling an aquila, a small child on her knee. The aquila holds tars at settlement sites. Among many discovered artifacts,
ears of grain, and another small child is seated before her the Dacian bracelets stand out, depicting their cultural
and aesthetic sense.[206] There are diculties correlating
holding grapes.
funerary monuments chronologically with Dacian settlements; a small number of burials are known, along with
5.3 Construction
cremation pits, and isolated rich burials as at Cugir.[206]
Dacian burial ritual continued under Roman occupation
See also: Dacian Fortresses of the Ortie Mountains and into the post-Roman period.[217]
and Murus dacicus
Dacians had developed the murus dacicus (doubleskinned ashlar-masonry with rubble ll and tie beams)
characteristic to their complexes of fortied cities, like
their capital Sarmizegetusa in what is today Hunedoara
County, Romania.[206] This type of wall has been discovered not only in the Dacian citadel of the Orastie mountains, but also in those at Covasna, Breaza near Fgra,
Tilica near Sibiu, Cplna in the Sebe valley, Bnia not
far from Petroani, and Piatra Craivii to the north of Alba
Iulia.[209] The degree of their urban development was displayed on Trajans Column and in the account of how
Sarmizegetusa was defeated by the Romans. The Romans identied and destroyed the aqueducts and pipelines
of the Dacian capital, only thus being able to end the long
siege of Sarmizegetusa.

Material culture

See also: Thracology, Dacology and Romanian archaeology

See also the categories Dacian archaeology, Museums of
Dacia, and Dacian art.
According to archaeological ndings, the cradle of the
Dacian culture is considered to be north of the Danube to-

6.1 Language
Main article: Dacian language
See also: Davae, Thracian language and Languages of
the Roman Empire
The Dacians are generally considered to have been Thracian speakers, representing a cultural continuity from earlier Iron Age communities.[79] Some historians and linguists consider Dacian language to be a dialect of or
the same language as Thracian.[139][218] The vocalism
and consonantism dierentiate the Dacian and Thracian
languages.[219] Others consider that Dacian and Illyrian
form regional varieties (dialects) of a common language. (Thracians inhabited modern southern Bulgaria
and northern Greece. Illyrians lived in modern Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia.)
The ancient languages of these people became extinct,
and their cultural inuence highly reduced, after the repeated invasions of the Balkans by Celts, Huns, Goths,
and Sarmatians, accompanied by persistent hellenization,
romanisation and later slavicisation. Therefore, in the
study of the toponomy of Dacia, one must take account
of the fact that some place-names were taken by the Slavs
from as yet unromanised Dacians.[220] A number of Dacian words are preserved in ancient sources, amounting to

6.3

Religion

15

about 1150 anthroponyms and 900 toponyms, and in Discorides some of the rich plant lore of the Dacians is preserved along with the names of 42 medicinal plants.[10]

6.2

Symbols

The Dacians knew about writing.[221][222][223] Permanent

contacts with the Graeco-Roman world had brought the
use of the Greek and later the Latin alphabet.[224] It is
also certainly not the case that writing with Greek and
Latin letters and knowledge of Greek and Latin were
known in all the settlements scattered throughout Dacia,
but there is no doubt about the existence of such knowledge in some circles of Dacian society.[225] However, the
most revealing discoveries concerning the use of the writing by the Dacians occurred in the citadels on the Sebes
mountains.[224] Some groups of letters from stone blocks
at Sarmisegetuza might express personal names; these
can not now be read because the wall is ruined, and because it is impossible to restore the original order of the
blocks in the wall.[226]

6.3

Religion

Main article: Dacian mythology

Dacian religion was considered by the classic sources as
a key source of authority, suggesting to some that Dacia was a predominantly theocratic state led by priestkings. However, the layout of the Dacian capital
Sarmizegethusa indicates the possibility of co-rulership,
with a separate high king and high priest.[151] Ancient
sources recorded the names of several Dacian high
priests (Deceneus, Comosicus and Vezina) and various
orders of priests: god-worshipers, smoke-walkers
and founders.[151] Both Hellenistic and Oriental inuences are discernible in the religious background, alongside chthonic and solar motifs.[151]
According to Herodotus account of the story of Zalmoxis
or Zamolxis,[8] the Getae (speaking the same language as
the Dacians and the Thracians, according to Strabo) believed in the immortality of the soul, and regarded death
as merely a change of country. Their chief priest held a
prominent position as the representative of the supreme
deity, Zalmoxis, who is called also Gebeleizis by some
among them.[8][227] Strabo wrote about the high priest of
King Burebista Deceneus: a man who not only had wandered through Egypt, but also had thoroughly learned certain prognostics through which he would pretend to tell
the divine will; and within a short time he was set up as
god (as I said when relating the story of Zamolxis).[228]
The Goth Jordanes in his Getica (The origin and deeds of
the Goths), also gives an account of Deceneus the highest priest, and considered Dacians a nation related to the
Goths. Besides Zalmoxis, the Dacians believed in other
deities, such as Gebeleizis, the god of storm and lightning,
possibly related to the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos.[229]

Detail of the main fresco of the Aleksandrovo kurgan. The gure

is identied with Zalmoxis.

He was represented as a handsome man, sometimes with

a beard. Later Gebeleizis was equated with Zalmoxis as
the same god. According to Herodotus, Gebeleizis (*Zebeleizis/Gebeleizis who is only mentioned by Herodotus)
is just another name of Zalmoxis.[230][8][231][232]
Another important deity was Bendis, goddess of the
moon and the hunt.[233] By a decree of the oracle of
Dodona, which required the Athenians to grant land for
a shrine or temple, her cult was introduced into Attica
by immigrant Thracian residents,[234] and, though Thracian and Athenian processions remained separate, both

16

7 WARFARE
tury AD under the name of Buridavensioi.[241]

6.5 Clothing and science

The typical dress of Dacians, both men and women, can
be seen on Trajans column.[143] Dio Chrysostom described the Dacians as natural philosophers.[242]

Votive stele representing Bendis wearing a Dacian cap (British

Museum)

cult and festival became so popular that in Platos time

(c. 429-13 BC) its festivities were naturalised as an ocial ceremony of the Athenian city-state, called the Bendideia.[235]
Known Dacian theonyms include Zalmoxis, Gebelezis
and Darzalas.[236][237] Gebeleizis is probably cognate
to the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos (also Zbelsurdos,
Zibelthurdos), wielder of lightning and thunderbolts.
Derzelas (also Darzalas) was a chthonic god of health
and human vitality. The pagan religion survived longer
in Dacia than in other parts of the empire; Christianity
made little headway until the fth century.[166]

6.4

Pottery
Dacian women

7 Warfare
Main article: Dacian warfare
The history of Dacian warfare spans from c. 10th century BC up to the 2nd century AD in the region typically
referred to by Ancient Greek and Latin historians as Dacia. It concerns the armed conicts of the Dacian tribes
A fragment of a vase collected by Mihail Dimitriu at the site of
Poiana, Galai (Piroboridava), Romania illustrating the use of and their kingdoms in the Balkans. Apart from conicts
Greek and Latin letters by a Dacian potter (source: Dacia jour- between Dacians and neighboring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Dacian tribes as well.
nal, 1933)
Fragments of pottery with dierent inscriptions with
Latin and Greek letters incised before and after ring have been discovered in the settlement at Ocnita
Valcea.[238] An inscription carries the word Basileus
( in Greek, meaning king) and seems to have
been written before the vessel was hardened by re.[239]
Other inscriptions contain the name of the king, believed
to be Thiemarcus,[239] and Latin groups of letters (BVR,
REB).[240] BVR indicates the name of the tribe or union
of tribes, the Buridavensi Dacians who lived at Buridava
and who were mentioned by Ptolemy in the second cen-

7.1 Weapons
See also: Falx and Sica
The weapon most associated with the Dacian forces that
fought against Trajans army during his invasions of Dacia
was the falx, a single-edged scythe-like weapon. The falx
was able to inict horrible wounds on opponents, easily
disabling or killing the heavily armored Roman legionaries that they faced. This weapon, more so than any other

17
single factor, forced the Roman army to adopt previously
unused or modied equipment to suit the conditions on
the Dacian battleeld.[243]

Notable individuals

Thracian mythology
Thraco-Dacian
Thraco-Cimmerian
Thraco-Illyrian
Thraex

See also: List of Dacian kings, Burebista and Decebalus

10 Notes
This is a list of several important Dacian individuals or
those of partly Dacian origin.
Zalmoxis, a semi-legendary social and religious reformer, eventually deied by the Getae and Dacians
and regarded as the only true god.

[1] Strabo 20 AD, VII 3,12.

[2] Dionysius Periegetes, Graece et Latine, Volume 1, Libraria Weidannia, 1828, p. 145.
[3] Nandris 1976, p. 731.

Zoltes

[4] Husovsk 1998, p. 187.

Burebista was a king of Dacia, 7044 BC, who

united under his rule Thracians in a large territory, from todays Moravia in the West, to the
Southern Bug river (Ukraine) in the East, and from
the Northern Carpathian Mountains to Southern
Dionysopolis. The Greeks considered him the rst
and greatest king of Thrace.[177]

[5] Encyclopdia Britannica - Dacia.

Decebalus, a king of Dacia who was ultimately defeated by the forces of Trajan.

[9] Fol 1996, p. 223.

[6] Appian 165 AD, Praef. 4/14-15, quoted in [7]

[7] Millar 2004, p. 189: the Getae over the Danube, whom
they call Dacians
[8] Herodotus 440 BC, 4.93-4.97.

[10] Nandris 1976, p. 730: Strabo and Trogus Pompeius Daci

quoque suboles Getarum sunt

Diegis was a Dacian chief, general and brother of

Decebalus, and his representative at the peace ne- [11] Crossland & Boardman 1982, p. 837.
gotiations held with Domitian (89 CE)
[12] Roesler 1864, p. 89.

See also

[13] Zumpt & Zumpt 1852, pp. 140 & 175.

[14] Van Den Gheyn 1886, p. 170.

Moesi

[15] Everitt 2010, p. 151.

Thracians

[16] Bunbury 1979, p. 150.

Illyrians

[17] Oltean 2007, p. 44.

Scythians

[18] Bunbury 1979, p. 151.

Sarmatians

[19] Riley 2007, p. 107.

Cimmerians

[20] Garaanin, Benac (1973) 243

Dacia

[21] Parvan, Vulpe & Vulpe 2002, p. 158.

List of rulers of Thrace and Dacia

List of cities in Thrace and Dacia
Dacian language
List of Dacian names
Thrace
Thracology
Odrysian kingdom
Thracian language

[22] Dioscoridess book (known in English by its Latin title De

Materia Medica Regarding Medical Materials) has all the
Dacian names of the plants preceded by Dakoi i.e.
Dakoi Latin Daci propodila Dacians
propodila
[23] Tomaschek (1883) 397
[24] Mulvin (2002)59 "...A tombstone inscription from Aquincum reads M. Secundi Genalis domo Cl. Agrip /pina/ negotiat. Dacisco. This is of a second century date and suggests the presence of some Dacian traders in Pannonia...

18

[25] Petolescu 2000, p. 163: "...patri incom[pa-] rabili, decep

[to] a Daciscis in bel- loproclio ....
[26] Groh 2000, p. 43: "...CIL V 3372 inscription at Verona
Papirio Marcellino, decepto a Daciscis in bello proelio...
[27] Gibbon (2008) 313 "...Aurelian calls these soldiers Hiberi, Riparienses, Castriani, and Dacisci " conform to
Vopiscus in Historia Augusta XXVI 38
[28] Kephart 1949, p. 28: The Persians knew that the Dahae
and the other Massagetae were kin of the inhabitants of
Scythia west of the Caspian Sea.

10 NOTES

[55] Zambotti 1954, p. 184, g. 13-14, 16.

[56] Eliade 1995, p. 23.
[57] Eliade 1995, p. 27.
[58] Eliade 1986.
[59] Hoddinott, p. 27.
[60] Casson, p. 3.
[61] Mountain 1998, p. 58.
[62] Dumitrescu et al. 1982, p. 53.

[29] Chakraberty 1948, p. 34 Dasas or Dasyu of the RigVeda

are the Dahae of Avesta, Daci of the Romans, Dakaoi
(Hindi Dakku) of the Greeks.

[63] Mountain 1998, p. 59.

[30] Pliny (the Elder) & Rackham 1971, p. 375.

[65] Strabo, Jones & Sterrett 1967, p. 28.

[31] Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient

Eastern Europe.

[66] Abramea 1994, p. 17.

[64] Prvan 1926, p. 279.

[67] Dio 2008, Volume 3.

[32] Sidebottom 2007, p. 6.
[68] Papazoglu 1978, p. 67.
[33] Florov 2001, p. 66.
[34] Papazoglu 1978, p. 434.
[35] Barbulescu & Nagler 2005, p. 68.
[36] Vraciu 1980, p. 45.
[37] Lemny & Iorga 1984, p. 210.
[38] Toynbee 1961, p. 435.

[69] Prvan 1926, p. 221Agrippa comments Dacia, Getico

niuntur ab oriente desertis Sarmatiae, ab occidente umine Vistula, a septentrione Oceano, a meridie umine Histro. Quae patent in longitudine milia passuum
CCLXXX, in latitudine qua cogitum est milia passuum
CCCLXXXVI
[70] Schtte 1917, p. 109.
[71] Schtte 1917, pp. 101 and 109.

[39] Crossland & Boardman 1982, p. 8375.

[72] Treptow 1996, p. 10.

[40] Tomaschek (1883) 404

[73] Ellis 1861, p. 70.

[41] Russu 1967, p. 133.

[74] Brixhe 2008, p. 72.

[42] Paliga 1999, p. 77.

[75] Fisher 2003, p. 570.

[43] Eisler 1951, p. 136.

[76] Rosetti 1982, p. 5.

[44] Parvan, Vulpe & Vulpe 2002, p. 149.

[77] Duridanov 1985, p. 130.

[45] Eisler 1951, p. 33.

[78] Polom 1982, p. 876.

[46] Eliade 1995, p. 12.

[79] Peregrine & Ember 2001, p. 215.

[47] Alecu-Clui 1992, p. 19.

[80] Price 2000, p. 120.

[48] Vulpe, Alexandru (2001). Dacia nainte de romani. In

Romanian Academy. Istoria Romnilor (in Romanian) 1.
Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic. pp. 420421. ISBN
973-45-0381-2.

[81] Renfrew 1990, p. 71.

[49] Eliade 1995, p. 11.

[84] Georgiev (1960) 39-58

[50] Eisler 1951, p. 137.

[85] Crossland & Boardman 1982, p. 838.

[51] Eliade 1995, p. 13.

[86] Oltean 2007, p. 46.

[52] Jeanmaire 1975, p. 540.

[87] Koch J. & Koch J.T. 2007, p. 1471.

[53] Eisler 1951, p. 144.

[88] Schtte 1917, p. 88.

[54] Eliade 1995, p. 15.

[89] Schtte 1917, p. 89.

[82] Hainsworth 1982, p. 848.

[83] Polom (1983) 540

19

[90] Bennett 1997, p. 47.

[123] VI, 1 801=ILS 854

[91] Prvan 1926, p. 250.

[124] VI, 16, 903

[92] Wilcox (2000)18

[125] Russu 1967, p. 161.

[93] Wilcox (2000)24

[126] Shutte 1917, p. 101.

[94] Prvan 1926, pp. 222-223.

[127] Parvan & Florescu 1982, pp. 142 and 152.

[95] Ptolemy III.5 and 8

[128]

[96] Barrington Plate 22

[97] Ruscu 2004, p. 78.
[98] Wilcox (2000)27
[99] MacKenzie 1986, p. 51.
[100] MacKendrick 1975, p. 90.
[101] Millar (1970)
[102] Bunson 2002, p. 167.
[103] Pop 2000, p. 22.
[104] Denne Parker 1958, pp. 12 and 19.
[105] Wilkes 2005, p. 224.
[106] Ptolemy III.8
[107] Tacitus G.43
[108] Oltean 2007, p. 47.
[109] Prvan 1926, pp. 461-462.
[110]

(a) ^ Heather (2010 p.131)

Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 184

Poghirc (1989 p. 302)
Prvan (1928) p. 184 and 188
Oledzki (2000) p. 525
Astarita (1983) p. 62

(a) ^ Goart (2006) p.205

Bunson (1995) p.74

MacKendrick (2000) p.117
Parvan and Florescu (1982) p.136
Burns (1991) p.26 and p.27
Odahl (2004) p.19
Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 19
Millar (1970)

[129] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 129.

[130] Heather 2010, p. 114.
[131] Prvan 1926, p. 239.
[132] Russu 1969, pp. 114-115.
[133] Tomaschek 1883, p. 403.
[134] Goart 2006, p. 205.
[135] Minns 2011, p. 124.
[136] Nixon & Saylor Rodgers 1995, p. 116.
[137] Westropp 2003, p. 104.
[138] Clarke 2003, p. 37.
[139] Oltean 2007, p. 45.
[140] Aristotle (2001). Hair (V.3.)". De Generatione Animalium (Translated by Arthur Platt). Electronic Text Center,
University of Virginia Library. Retrieved 2014-01-11.

[111] Hrushevskyi 1997, p. 100.

[141] Clement of Alexandria. The heathens made gods like

themselves, whence springs all superstition (VII.4.)". The
Stromata, or Miscellanies. Early Christian Writings. Retrieved 2014-01-11.

[112] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 184.

[142] Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 208.

[113] Nandris 1976, p. 729.

[143] Bury et al. 1954, p. 543.

[114] Hrushevskyi 1997, p. 98.

[144] Oltean 2007, p. 114.

[115] Shutte 1917, p. 100.

[145] Dumitrescu et al. 1982, p. 166.

[116] Parvan & Florescu 1982, p. 135.

[146] Parvan 1928, p. 35.

[117] Sir Smith 1856, p. 961.

[147] Parvan, Vulpe & Vulpe 2002, p. 49.

[118] Shutte 1917, p. 18.

[148] Koch 2005, p. 549.

[119] Heather 2010, p. 131.

[149] Prvan 1926, p. 661.

[120] Tomaschek 1883, p. 407.

[150] Tomaschek 1883, pp. 400-401.

[121] Shutte 1917, p. 143.

[151] Taylor 2001, p. 215.

[122] Russu 1969, pp. 99,116.

[152] MacKendrick 2000, p. 50.

20

10 NOTES

[153] Koch 2005, p. 550.

[184] Taylor 1994, p. 404.

[154] Skvarna, Cicaj & Letz 2000, p. 14.

[185] Oltean 2007, pp. 53-54.

[155] Taylor 1987, p. 130.

[186] Bennett 1997, p. 97.

[156] Prvan 1928, p. 48.

[187] Hooper 2002, p. 434.

[157] Herodotus 440 BC, 4.48-4.49.

[188] Snooks 1997, p. 154.

[158] Herodotus, Rawlinson G, Rawlinson H, Gardner (1859) [189]

93
[190]
[159] Thomson 1948, p. 399.
[191]
[160] Parvan 1928, p. 48.
[192]
[161] Hrushevsky, Poppe & Skorupsky 1997, p. 97.
[193]
[162] Watson 2004, p. 8.
[194]
[163] Heather 2006, p. 85.
[164] Burns 1991, pp. 26-27.
[165] Burns 1991, pp. 110-111.
[166] Southern 2001, p. 325.
[167] Heather 2010, p. 128.
[168] Heather 2010, p. 116.

Campbell 2002, p. 144.

Boia 2001, p. 47.
Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 205.
Klepper, Nicolae. Romania: An Illustrated History.
MacKendrick, Paul. The Dacian Stones Speak.
Pop, Ioan Aurel. Romanians and Romania: A Brief History.

[195] Oltean 2007.

[196] Kpeczi, Bla; Makkai, Lszl; Mcsy, Andrs; Szsz,
Zoltn; Barta, Gbor. History of Transylvania - From the
Beginnings to 1606.
[197] Georgescu, Vlad. The Romanians - A History.
[198] Bowman, Cameron & Garnsey 2005, p. 224.

[169] Heather 2010, p. 165.

[199] Schtte 1917, p. 143.
[170] Barnes 1984, p. 250.
[171] Elton & Lenski 2005, p. 338.

[200] Tomaschek (1883) 407

[172] Lewis et al. 2008, p. 773

[201] Siani-Davies P., Siani-Davies M. & Deletant 2006, p.

205.

[173] Berresford Ellis 1996, p. 61.

[202] Cowan 2003, p. 5.

[174] Smiths Dictionary: Curio

[203] Hazel 2002, p. 360.

[175] Smiths Dictionary: Lucullus

[204] MacKendrick 2000, p. 161.

[176] Strabo 20 AD, VII 3,13.

[205] Heather 2006, p. 159.

[177] Grumeza 2009, p. 54.

[178] MacKendrick 1975, p. 48.
[179] Goodman & Sherwood 2002, p. 227.
[180] Crian (1978) 118
[181] Dio LI.26.5
[182] Dio LI.23.2
[183] De Imperatoribus Romanis.
http://www.
roman-emperors.org/assobd.htm#t-inx.
Retrieved
2007-11-08. In the year 88, the Romans resumed
the oensive. The Roman troops were now led by the
general Tettius Iulianus. The battle took place again at
Tapae but this time the Romans defeated the Dacians.
For fear of falling into a trap, Iulianus abandoned his
plans of conquering Sarmizegetuza and, at the same
time, Decebalus asked for peace. At rst, Domitian
refused this request, but after he was defeated in a war
in Pannonia against the Marcomanni (a Germanic tribe),
the emperor was obliged to accept the peace.

[206] Taylor 2001, pp. 214-215.

[207] Ellis 1998, p. 229.
[208] Ellis 1998, p. 232.
[209] Applebaum 1976, p. 91.
[210] Taylor 2001, p. 86.
[211] Millar 1981, p. 279.
[212] Shchukin, Kazanski & Sharov 2006, p. 20.
[213] Kostrzewski 1949, p. 230.
[214] Jadewski 1948, p. 76.
[215] Shchukin 1989, p. 306.
[216] Parvan & Florescu 1982, p. 547.
[217] Ellis 1998, p. 233.
[218] Tomaschek 1883, p. 401.

21

[219] Prvan 1926, p. 648.

11 References

[220] Pares et al. 1939, p. 149.

[221] Turnock 1988, p. 42.
[222] Cunlie 1994, p. 193.
[223] Millar 1981, p. 275.
[224] Applebaum 1976, p. 94.
[225] Glodariu 1976, p. 101.
[226] Applebaum 1976, p. 95.
[227] Histories by Herodotus Book 4 translated by G. Rawlinson
[228] Strabo 20 AD, VII 3,11.
[229] Tomashek,Die Alten Thrakern, II, page 62
[230] Glodariu, Pop & Nagler 2005, p. 120.

11.1 Ancient
Appian (c. 165 AD). Historia Romana [Roman History] (in Ancient Greek). Check date values in:
|date= (help)
Dio, Cassius (2008). Rome. Volume 3 (of 6). Echo
Library. ISBN 978-1-4068-2644-9.
Cassius, Dio Cocceianus; Cary, Earnest; Foster,
Herbert Baldwin (1968). Dios Roman history, volume 8. W. Heinemann.
Herodotus (c. 440 BC). Histories (in Ancient
Greek). Check date values in: |date= (help)

[232] Paliga 1994, p. 440.

Pliny (the Elder); Rackham, Harris (1971). Pliny

Natural History, Volume 2. Harvard University
Press.

[233] BENDIS : Thracian goddess of the moon & hunting ;

mythology ; pictures

Strabo (c. 20 AD). Geographica [Geography] (in

Ancient Greek). Check date values in: |date= (help)

[231] Tomaschek 1883, p. 410.

[234] Extensive discussion of whether the date is 429 or

413 BC was reviewed and newly analyzed in Christopher Planeaux, The Date of Bendis Entry into Attica
The Classical Journal 96.2 (December 2000:165-192).
Planeaux oers a reconstruction of the inscription mentioninmg the rst introduction, p
[235] Fifth-century fragmentary inscriptions that record formal
descrees regarding formal aspects of the Bendis cult, are
reproduced in Planeaux 2000:170f
[236] Hdt. 4.94,Their belief in their immortality is as follows:
they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes
goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebelezis, as some of them
call him.
[237] Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical
Antiquities (1898),(Zalmoxis) or Zamolxis (Zamolxis).
Said to have been so called from the bears skin (zalmos)
in which he was clothed as soon as he was born. He was,
according to the story current among the Greeks on the
Hellespont, a Getan, who had been a slave to Pythagoras in Samos, but was manumitted, and acquired not only
great wealth, but large stores of knowledge from Pythagoras, and from the Egyptians, whom he visited in the course
of his travels. He returned among the Getae, introducing the civilization and the religious ideas which he had
gained, especially regarding the immortality of the soul.
Herodotus, however, suspects that he was an indigenous
Getan divinity (Herod.iv. 95)
[238] Glodariu 1976, p. 128.
[239] MacKenzie 1986, p. 67.
[240] MacKenzie 1986, p. 26.
[241] MacKenzie 1986, p. 66.
[242] Sidebottom 2007, p. 5.
[243] Schmitz (2005) 30

Strabo; Jones, Horace Leonard; Sterrett, John

Robert (1967). The geography of Strabo. Harvard
University Press.

11.2 Modern
Abramea, Anna P (1994).
Thrace.
Idea
Advertising-Marketing. ISBN 978-960-85609-1-8.
Alecu-Clui, Mioara (April 1992). Steagul
geto-dacilor [The Geto-Dacians Flag]. Noi Tracii
(in Romanian) (Rome: Centro Europeo di Studii
Traci) (210).
Applebaum, Shimon (1976). Prolegomena to the
study of the second Jewish revolt (A.D. 132-135).
British Archaeological Reports.
Astarita, Maria Laura (1983). Avidio Cassio. Ed. di
Storia e Letteratura. OCLC 461867183.
Barnes, Timothy D. (1984). Constantine and Eusebius. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-67416531-1.
Barbulescu, Mihai; Nagler, Thomas (2005). The
History of Transylvania: Until 1541 Coordinator
Pop, Ioan Aurel. Romanian Cultural Institute, ClujNapoca. ISBN 978-973-7784-00-1.
Berresford Ellis, Peter (1996). Celt and Greek: Celts
in the Hellenic World. Constable & Robinson. ISBN
978-0-09-475580-2.
Bennett, Julian (1997). Trajan: Optimus Princeps.
Routledge;. ISBN 978-0-415-16524-2.

22

11

REFERENCES

Boila, Lucian (2001). Romania: Borderland of Europe. Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781861891037.

Cunlie, Barry W. (1994). Rome and Her Empire.

Constable. ISBN 978-0-09-473500-2.

Bowman, Alan; Cameron, Averil; Garnsey, Peter

(2005). The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12,
The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337. Cambridge University Press; 2 edition. ISBN 978-0-521-30199-2.

Denne Parker, Henry Michael (1958). A history of

the Roman world from A.D. 138 to 337. Methuen.

Brixhe, Claude (2008). Phrygian in The Ancient

Languages of Asia Minor. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68496-5.
Bunbury, Edward Herbert (1979). A history of
ancient geography among the Greeks and Romans:
from the earliest ages till the fall of the Roman empire. London: Humanities Press International, Incorporated. ISBN 978-90-70265-11-3.
Bunson, Matthew (1995). A Dictionary of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780-19-510233-8.
Bunson, Matthew (2002). Roman Empire, Encyclopedia of The, Revised Edition. Fitzhenry & Whiteside; 2nd Revised edition. ISBN 978-0-8160-45624.
Burns, Thomas S. (1991). A History of the Ostrogoths. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-25320600-8.
Chakraberty, Chandra (1948). The prehistory of India: tribal migrations. Vijayakrishna Bros.
Bury, John Bagnell; Cook, Stanley Arthur; Adcock,
Frank E.; Percival Charlesworth, Martin (1954).
The Cambridge Ancient History: Rome and the
Mediterranean, 218-133 B. C. Macmillan.
Cardos, G; Stoian, V; Miritoiu, N; Comsa, A; Kroll,
A; Voss, S; Rodewald, A (2004). Paleo-mtDNA
analysis and population genetic aspects of old Thracian populations from South-East of Romania. Romanian Society of legal medicine.
Clarke, John R. (2003). Art in the Lives of Ordinary
Romans: Visual Representation and Non-Elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 315. University of California Press; 1 edition. ISBN 978-0-520-21976-2.
Conti, Stefano; Scardigli, Barbara; Torchio, Maria
Cristina (2007). Geograa e viaggi nell'antichit.
Ancona :. ISBN 978-88-7326-090-5.
Cowan, Ross (2003). Imperial Roman Legionary
AD 161-284. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-184176-601-0.
Crossland, R.A.; Boardman, John (1982). Linguistic problems of the Balkan area in the late prehistoric
and early Classical period in The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 3, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.

Dumitrescu, Vlad; Boardman, John; Hammond, N.

G. L; Sollberger, E (1982). The prehistory of Romania from the earliest times to 1000 BC in The
Cambridge Ancient History: The Prehistory of the
Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World,
Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC. Cambridge University
Press; 2 edition. ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.
Duridanov, Ivan (1985). Die Sprache der Thraker
[The Language of the Thracians]. Bulgarische
Sammlung (in German). Neuried: Hieronymus
Verlag. ISBN 978-3888930317.
Eisler, Robert (1951). Man into wolf: an anthropological interpretation of sadism, masochism, and lycanthropy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.
ASIN B0000CI25D.
Eliade, Mircea (1986). Zalmoxis, the vanishing
God: comparative studies in the religions and folklore
of Dacia and Eastern Europe. University of Chicago
Press. ISBN 978-0-226-20385-0.
Eliade, Mircea (1995). Ivnescu, Maria; Ivnescu,
Cezar, eds. De la Zalmoxis la Genghis-Han: studii
comparative despre religiile i folclorul Daciei i Europei Orientale [From Zalmoxis to Genghis Khan:
comparative studies in the religions and folklore of
Dacia and Eastern Europe] (in Romanian) (Based
on the translation from French of De Zalmoxis
Gengis-Khan, Payot, Paris, 1970 ed.). Bucureti,
Romania: Humanitas. ISBN 978-973-28-0554-1.
Elton, Hugh; Lenski, Noel Emmanuel (2005).
Warfare and the Military in The Cambridge
Companion to the Age of Constantine . Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81838-4.
Ellis, L. (1998). Terra deserta: population, politics,
and the [de]colonization of Dacia. World archaeology. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-19809-7.
Ellis, Robert (1861). The Armenian origin of the
Etruscans. Parker, Son and Bourn, West Strand
London.
Encyclopdia Britannica. Dacia. Encyclopdia
Britannica.
Everitt, Anthony (2010). Hadrian and the Triumph
of Rome. Random House Trade. ISBN 978-08129-7814-8.
Fisher, Iancu (2003). Les substrats et leur inuence sur les langues romanes: la Romania du
Sud-Est / Substrate und ihre Wirkung auf die romanischen Sprachen: Sudostromania in Romanische

11.2

Modern
Sprachgeschichte. Mouton De Gruyter. ISBN 9783-11-014694-3.

Florov, Irina (2001). The 3000-year-old hat: New

connections with Old Europe : the Thraco-Phrygian
world. Golden Vine Publishers. ISBN 978-09688487-0-8.
Fol, Alexander (1996). Thracians, Celts, Illyrians
and Dacians. In de Laet, Sigfried J. History of Humanity. History of Humanity. Volume 3: From the
seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.
UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-102812-0.
Glodariu, Ioan (1976). Dacian trade with the Hellenistic and Roman world. British Archaeological
Reports. ISBN 978-0-904531-40-4.
Glodariu, Ioan; Pop, Ioan Aurel; Nagler, Thomas
(2005). The history and civilization of the Dacians
in The history of Transylvania Until 1541. Romanian Cultural Institute, Cluj Napoca. ISBN 978973-7784-00-1.
Goart, Walter A. (2006). Barbarian Tides: The
Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-81223939-3.
Grumeza, Ion (2009). Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe.
Hamilton Books. ISBN 978-0-7618-4465-5.
Gibbon, Edward (2008). The History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. I. Cosimo Classics. ISBN 978-1-60520-120-7.
Garaanin, Milutin V.; Benac, Alojz (1973). Actes
du VIIIe congrs international des sciences prhistoriques (in French). International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences.
Goodman, Martin; Sherwood, Jane (2002). The Roman World 44 BCAD 180. Routledge. ISBN 9780-203-40861-2.
Hazel, John (2002). Whos Who in the Roman
World. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-42599-2.
Husovsk, Ludmil (1998). Slovakia: walking
through centuries of cities and towns. Prroda. ISBN
978-8007010413.
Jadewski, Konrad (1948). Atlas to the prehistory
of the Slavs. Lodzkie Tow Naukowe, Poland.
Hainsworth, J.B. (1982). The relationships of the
ancient languages of the Balkan in The Cambridge
Ancient History, By John Boardman, 2nd Edition,
Volume 3, Part 1. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.

23
Jeanmaire, Henri (1975). Couroi et courtes (in
French). New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-40507001-3.
Heather, Peter (2006). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-5159547.
Heather, Peter (2010). Empires and Barbarians:
Migration, Development, and the Birth of Europe.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-9735600.
Kephart, Calvin (1949). Sanskrit: its origin, composition, and diusion. Shenandoah Pub. House.
Koch, John T (2005). Dacians and Celts in Celtic
culture: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1,. ABCCLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0.
Kostrzewski, Jzef (1949). Les origines de la civilisation polonaise. Press University of France.
Lemny, Stefan; Iorga, Nicolae (1984). Vasile Prvan. Editura Eminescu.
MacKenzie, Andrew (1986). Archaeology in Romania: the mystery of the Roman occupation. Robert
Hale Ltd,. ISBN 978-0-7090-2724-9.
MacKendrick, Paul Lachlan (1975). The Dacian
Stones Speak. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 6061. ISBN
978-0-8078-1226-6.
MacKendrick, Paul Lachlan (2000). The Dacian
Stones Speak. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-80784939-2.
Millar, Fergus (2004). Cotton, Hannah M.; Rogers,
Guy M., eds. Rome, the Greek World, and the East.
Volume 2: Government, Society, and Culture in the
Roman Empire. University of North Carolina Press.
ISBN 978-0-8078-5520-1.
Millar, Fergus (1981). Roman Empire and Its Neighbours. Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd; 2nd illustrated
edition. ISBN 978-0-7156-1452-5.
Minns, Ellis Hovell (2011) [1913]. Scythians and
Greeks: a survey of ancient history and archaeology
on the north coast of the Euxine from the Danube to
the Caucasus. Cambridge University press. ISBN
978-1-108-02487-7.
Mountain, Harry (1998). The Celtic Encyclopedia.
Universal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58112-890-1.
Mulvin, Lynda (2002). Late Roman Villas in the
Danube-Balkan Region. British Archaeological Reports. ISBN 978-1-84171-444-8.

24
Nandris, John (1976). Friesinger, Herwig; Kerchler, Helga; Pittioni, Richard; Mitscha-Mrheim,
Herbert, eds. The Dacian Iron Age - A Comment in a European Context. Archaeologia Austriaca (Festschrift fr Richard Pittioni zum siebzigsten Geburtstag ed.) (Vienna: Deuticke) 13 (13-14).
ISBN 978-3-7005-4420-3. ISSN 0003-8008.
Niessen, James P. (2004). Eastern Europe: An Introduction to the People, Lands, and Culture. ABCCLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6.
Nixon, C. E. V.; Saylor Rodgers, Barbara (1995).
In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyric
Latini. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520-08326-4.
Oltean, Ioana Adina (2007). Dacia: landscape,
colonisation and romanisation. Routledge. ISBN
978-0-415-41252-0.
Otto, Karl-Heinz (2000).
Ethnographischarchologische Zeitschrift, Volume 41, HumboldtUniversitt zu Berlin.
Deutscher Verlag der
Wissenschaften.
Paliga, Sorin (1999). Thracian and pre-Thracian
studies: linguistic papers published between 1986 and
1996. Sorin Paliga.
Paliga, Sorin (2006). Etymological Lexicon of the
Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian. Fundatia Evenimentul. ISBN 978-973-87920-0-5.
Papazoglu, Fanula (1978). The Central Balkan
Tribes in Pre-Roman Times:Triballi, Autariatae,
Dardanians, Scordisci, & Moesians, translated by
Mary Stanseld-Popovic. John Benjamins North
America, Incorporated. ISBN 978-90-256-0793-7.
Prvan, Vasile (1926). Getica (in Romanian, French
(summary)). Bucureti, Romania: Cvltvra Naional.
Parvan, Vasile (1928). Dacia. The Cambridge University Press.
Parvan, Vasile; Vulpe, Alexandru; Vulpe, Radu
(2002). Dacia. Editura 100+1 Gramar. ISBN 978973-591-361-8.
Parvan, Vasile; Florescu, Radu (1982). Getica. Editura Meridiane.
Petolescu, Constantin C (2000). Inscriptions de
la Dacie romaine : inscriptions externes concernant
l'histoire de la Dacie (Ier-IIIe sicles). Enciclopedica.
ISBN 978-973-45-0182-3.
Peregrine, Peter N.; Ember, Melvin (2001). Encyclopedia of Prehistory. 4 : Europe. Springer. ISBN
978-0-306-46258-0.

11

REFERENCES

Pittioni, Richard; Kerchler, Helga; Friesinger, Herwig; Mitscha-Mrheim, Herbert (1976). Festschrift
fr Richard Pittioni zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, Archaeologia Austriaca : Beiheft. Wien, Deuticke,
Horn, Berger,. ISBN 978-3-7005-4420-3.
Poghirc, Cicerone (1989). Thracians and Mycenaeans: Proceedings of the Fourth International
Congress of Thracology Rotterdam 1984. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN 978-90-04-08864-1.
Price, Glanville (2000). Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0631-22039-8.
Pares, Bernard Sir; Seton-Watso, Robert William;
Williams, Harold; Brooke Jopson, Norman (1939).
The Slavonic and East European review: a survey
of the peoples of eastern Europe, their history, economics, philology and literature, Volumes 18-19.
W.S. Manely & Son Ltd.,.
Polome, Edgar C. (1983).
Linguistic situation
in the western provinces in Sprache Und Literatur (Sprachen Und Schriften). Walter de Gruyter.
ISBN 978-3-11-009525-8.
Polom, Edgar Charles (1982). 20e. In Boardman, John. Balkan Languages (Illyrian, Thracian
and Daco-Moesian). The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans;
and the Middle East and the Aegean world, tenth
to eighth centuries B.C. (2nd ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22496-3.
Pop, Ioan Aurel (2000). Romanians and Romania: A Brief History. East European Monographs.
ISBN 978-0-88033-440-2.
Renfrew, Colin (1990). Archaeology and Language,
The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38675-3.
Roesler, Robert E. (1864). Das vorromische Dacien.
Academy, Wien, XLV.
Rosetti, A. (1982). La linguistique Balkanique in Revue roumaine de linguistique, volume 27. Editions de
lAcademie de la RSR.
Ruscu, D. (2004). The supposed extermination of the
Dacians: the literary tradition in Roman Dacia: The
Making Of A Provincial Society edited by William
S. Hanson and I. P. Haynes. Journal of Roman Archaeology. ISBN 978-1-887829-56-4.
Russu, I. Iosif (1969). Die Sprache der ThrakoDaker ('Thraco-Dacian language') (in German).
Editura Stiintica.
Russu, I. Iosif (1967). Limba Traco-Dacilor
('Thraco-Dacian language') (in Romanian). Editura
Stiintica.

25
Schtte, Gudmund (1917). Ptolemys maps of northern Europe: a reconstruction of the prototypes. H.
Hagerup.
Shchukin, Mark (1989). Rome and the barbarians
in central and eastern Europe: 1st century B.C.1st
century A.D.. British Archaeological Reports.
Shchukin, Mark; Kazanski, Michel; Sharov, Oleg
(2006). Des les goths aux huns: le nord de la mer
Noire au Bas-Empire et a l'poque des grandes migrations. British Archaeological Reports. ISBN
978-1-84171-756-2.

Groh, Vladimir (1964). Mnema. Univerzita J.E.

Purkyn v Brn. Filozock fakulta.
Vraciu, Ariton (1980). Limba daco-geilor. Ed. Facla.
Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples, 2-Volume Set. Facts on
File. ISBN 978-0-8160-4964-6.
Watson, Alaric (2004). Aurelian and the Third
Century. Routledge; 1 edition. ISBN 978-0-41530187-9.

Schmitz, Michael (2005). The Dacian threat, 101106 AD. Armidale, N.S.W. : Caeros Publishing.
ISBN 978-0-9758445-0-2.

Westropp, Hodder M. (2003).

Handbook of
Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Archeology.
Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7661-7733-8.

Sidebottom, Harry (2007). International Relations. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman
Warfare: Volume 2, Rome from the Late Republic to
the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
978-0-521-78274-6.

Wilcox, Peter and Embleton, Gerry (1982) Romes

Enemies: Germanics and Dacians (Men at Arms Series, 129)

Skvarna, Dusan; Cicaj, Viliam; Letz, Robert

(2000). Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon.
Bolchazy-Carducci. ISBN 978-0-86516-444-4.
Solta, Georg Renatus (1980). Bercksichtigung
des Substrats und des Balkanlateinischen. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Southern, Pat (2001). The Roman Empire from
Severus to Constantin. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-20345159-5.
Taylor, Timothy (2001). Northeastern European
Iron Age pages 210-221 and East Central European
Iron Age pages 79-90'. Springer Published in conjunction with the Human Relations Area Files. ISBN
978-0-306-46258-0.
Tomaschek, Wilhelm (1883). Les Restes de la
langue dace (in French). Belgium: Le Museon.
Thomson, James Oliver (1948). History of Ancient
Geography. Biblo-Moser. ISBN 978-0-8196-01438.
Toynbee, Arnold Joseph (1961). A study of history:
Volume 2. Oxford University Press,.
Treptow, Kurt W (1996). A History of Romania.
Polygon. ISBN 978-0-88033-345-0.
Turnock, David (1988). The Making of Eastern Europe: From the Earliest Times to 1815. Routledge.
ISBN 978-0-415-01267-6.
Van Den Gheyn, Joseph (1886). Les populations danubiennes: tudes d'ethnographie compare [The Danubian populations: comparative
ethnographic studies]. Revue des questions scientiques (in French) (Bruxelles: Socit scientique
de Bruxelles). 17-18. ISSN 0035-2160.

Wilkes, John (2005). Provinces and Frontiers in

The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The
Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337 edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, Peter Garnsey, second edition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521-30199-2.
Zambotti, Pia Laviosa (1954). I Balcani e l'Italia
nella Preistoria (in Italian). Como.
Zumpt, Karl Gottlob; Zumpt, August Wilhelm
(1852). Eclogae ex Q. Horatii Flacci poematibus
page 140 and page 175 by Horace. Philadelphia:
Blanchard and Lea.
Chronicle of the Roman Emperors by Chris Scarre,
1995
The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire by Edward N. Luttwak, 1976
A History of Rome to A.D. 565 by Boak & Sinnigen, 1965

12 External links
Dacian reenactor with falx
Dacian Enciclopedia

26

13

13
13.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Dacians Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacians?oldid=655896455 Contributors: Scipius, Chuq, Paul Barlow, Tgeorgescu, Ahoerstemeier, 5ko, Glenn, Joy, Criztu, AnonMoos, Robbot, Jmabel, Auric, Alan Liefting, ClockworkLunch, Mschlindwein, Discospinster,
Rich Farmbrough, Eric Shalov, Ivan Bajlo, PWilkinson, Jeltz, Ronline, Alex '05, Woohookitty, Sburke, BD2412, Kbdank71, Pasug, Dpv,
Dimitrii, , CristianChirita, NatusRoma, Ground Zero, Valentinian, Bgwhite, TodorBozhinov, RussBot, Pigman, Gaius
Cornelius, Megistias, Grafen, Aldux, Daizus, Gadget850, Igorversteeg, Codrinb, Psu256, Thnidu, Ajdebre, Anonimu, SmackBot, Zserghei,
Alex earlier account, Hmains, Chris the speller, Dahn, Sadads, William Allen Simpson, Khoikhoi, Kaszkawal, SashatoBot, Khazar, John,
Peterlewis, SMasters, Orasis, A. Parrot, Hu12, Greier, CmdrObot, Jokes Free4Me, ShelfSkewed, Future Perfect at Sunrise, Jalen, Calvero
JP, Biruitorul, Icegabe, Escarbot, Ingolfson, JAnDbot, Txomin, Cynwolfe, Tgpedersen, JaGa, Philg88, JdeJ, Gun Powder Ma, R'n'B,
CommonsDelinker, BillWSmithJr, IleanaCosanziana, Idioma-bot, TXiKiBoT, Mapto, Kenshin, O crandell, Buburuza, Ceranthor, SieBot,
Mycomp, Jingiby, Lilikanici, OKBot, Slovenski Volk, Dipa1965, Nergaal, JL-Bot, Mr. Granger, Bob1960evens, John.D.Ward, AlexanderXVI, Cuciulan, Niceguyedc, RafaAzevedo, Auntof6, Saturnian, Rezistenta, EraNavigator, SchreiberBike, Catalographer, Gik, Borsoka, Heironymous Rowe, XLinkBot, Bilsonius, Dthomsen8, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Colibri37, GSMR, OlEnglish, Ben Ben, Legobot,
Drpickem, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Ajh1492, Againme, AnomieBOT, Alex contributing, Dwayne, Ruby2010, ArthurBot, LilHelpa, TBI74,
Freeway12, J04n, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Vantine84, Mjasfca, FrescoBot, SISPCM, Rgvis, Redrose64, Phlyaristis, DrilBot, Tomcat7, Dinamik-bot, Gulbenk, Innotata, RjwilmsiBot, CalicoCatLover, John of Reading, LBartok, Dominus Vobisdu, Dewritech, GoingBatty, Fakirbakir, Mattdannald, Jack-ONeill55, HammerFilmFan, Demiurge1000, Boldwin, Teleutomyrmex, ClueBot NG, Macarenses,
Markan80, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Marcocapelle, Cormag100, BattyBot, StarryGrandma, ChrisGualtieri, Khazar2, Mogism, Krakkos,
ILISANU, Royroydeb, Octavianrepede, Mariusmarshall, Adalbertjohan, Itc editor2, Prepelinjo, Afro-Eurasian, Oisin77, Monkbot, Getique
D'acia, Aly hall and Anonymous: 79

13.2

Images

File:106_Conrad_Cichorius,_Die_Reliefs_der_Traianssule,_Tafel_CVI.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/f/fd/106_Conrad_Cichorius%2C_Die_Reliefs_der_Traianss%C3%A4ule%2C_Tafel_CVI.jpg License:
Public domain
Contributors: Conrad Cichorius: Die Reliefs der Traianssule, Zweiter Tafelband: Die Reliefs des Zweiten Dakischen Krieges, Tafeln
58-113, Verlag von Georg Reimer, Berlin 1900 Original artist: Attributed to Apollodorus of Damascus
File:2007_Dacian_Engineering_Tools.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/2007_Dacian_Engineering_
Tools.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist: CristianChirita
File:AdamclisiMetope34.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/AdamclisiMetope34.jpg License: CC-BYSA-3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: CristianChirita
File:Captive_dacian_pushkin.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Captive_dacian_pushkin.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: shakko
File:Celtic_Helmet_from_Satu_Mare,_Romania.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Celtic_Helmet_
from_Satu_Mare%2C_Romania.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: Flickr: Celtic Helmet [Detail], photographed by Cristian Peter
Marinescu-Ivan on 12 August 2010, 17:20 Original artist: Unknown
File:Celts_in_Europe.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Celts_in_Europe.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: Atlas of the Celtic World, by John Haywood; London Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2001, pp.30-37 and other sources (see talkpage
for details). Original artist: QuartierLatin1968,The Ogre,Dbachmann
File:Comati_dacians_romanian_goverment_picture.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Comati_
dacians_romanian_government_picture.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Romanian Academy Library Original artist: Pietro Santi
Bartoli
File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
File:Costantino_Dacia.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Costantino_Dacia.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: self-made/alternative version of the original Original artist: Zanner
File:Dacia_82_BC.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Dacia_82_BC.png License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Dacian_Constantin_Arch_IMG_6559.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Dacian_Constantin_
Arch_IMG_6559.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: CristianChirita
File:Dacian_Draco_on_Trajan{}s_Column_2.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Dacian_Draco_on_
Trajan%27s_Column_2.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Photographed by Radu Oltean on 2 November 2008, 19:28:41. Original
artist: Possibly Apollodorus of Damascus
File:Dacian_symbols.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Dacian_symbols.png License: Public domain
Contributors: ROUMANIA PAST AND PRESENT, by James Samuelson (1882) digitalized by Univ. of Washington Original artist: James
Samuelson
File:Dacian_women.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Dacian_women.JPG License: Public domain
Contributors: Tableau historique des costumes, des moeurs et des usages des principaux peoples de lAntiquite et du Moyen Age, Volume
2, Metz, Collignon Original artist: Robert de Spallart (19th century)
File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-bysa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:GothicInvasions250-251-en.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/GothicInvasions250-251-en.svg
License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Dipa1965

13.3

Content license

27

File:Herodotus_world_map-en.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Herodotus_world_map-en.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work (based on the GIF by Marco Prins and Jona Lendering from www.livius.org, see
http://www.livius.org/a/1/maps/herodotus_map.gif, with xes from http://www.mediterranees.net/geographie/herodote/cartes.html, http:
//www.meer.org/herodotus-world-map-1a.jpg and http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ancientimages/109A.GIF). Compare this map
from The Challenger Reports, 1895. Original artist: User:Bibi Saint-Pol
File:Icon_External_Link.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Icon_External_Link.svg License: GPL
Contributors: File:Icon External Link.png Original artist: File:Icon External Link.png: anonymous at MediaWiki (or someone else, whose
work MediaWiki used) uploaded to Commons by Metalhead64
File:Koson_79000126.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Koson_79000126.jpg License: CC-BY-SA3.0 Contributors: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=126637 Original artist: CNG
File:People_icon.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: OpenClipart Original artist: OpenClipart
File:Poiana_vase.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Poiana_vase.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Dacia Journal, vol 3-4, 1933, p.342, g. 123 Original artist: Unknown
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Relief_Bendis_BM_2155.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Relief_Bendis_BM_2155.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Marie-Lan Nguyen (User:Jastrow), 2007 Original artist: Unknown
File:Roman_Empire_Map_AlexanderFindlay1849.png Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Roman_
Empire_Map_AlexanderFindlay1849.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Roman provincial borders are added according to map from Droysens Historical Atlas, 1886 Original artist: User:Megistias
File:Roman_bust_of_a_Dacian_tarabostes,_Hermitage,_St_Petersburg,_Russia_-_20070614.jpg
Source:
http://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Roman_bust_of_a_Dacian_tarabostes%2C_Hermitage%2C_St_Petersburg%2C_Russia_-_
20070614.jpg License: GFDL Contributors: Own work, photographed by George Shuklin on 14 June 2007, 16:30. Original artist:
Unknown
File:Roman_provinces_of_Illyricum,_Macedonia,_Dacia,_Moesia,_Pannonia_and_Thracia.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Roman_provinces_of_Illyricum%2C_Macedonia%2C_Dacia%2C_Moesia%2C_Pannonia_and_Thracia.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas in 96 Karten mit erluterndem Text Bielefeld, Velhagen &
Klasing 1886, S. 16. Original artist: Gustav Droysen (1838 1908)
File:RomansoldiersvsDacianwarriors.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/
RomansoldiersvsDacianwarriors.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Original uploaded on en.wikipedia Original artist: Original uploaded by Greier (Transfered by terraorin)
File:Unbalanced_scales.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Unbalanced_scales.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
File:Zalmoxis_Aleksandrovo.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Zalmoxis_Aleksandrovo.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

13.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0