The Dacians prosper and develop a vibrant civilization centred around their capital of Sarmizegetusa.

Transcript

 Hello and welcome to A history of Romania.

Season 1, Episode 5: The people of the mountains

The previous episode left the Dacian people divided. Burebista had forged the most formidable kingdom in Europe outside of the Roman empire, but his centralization of power led his nobles to assassinate him in 44 BCE. In this episode, we’ll look at what happened in the region over the next 130 years.

As Dacian control collapsed south of the Danube, the Getic tribes that had once been under Burebista’s control regained their independence. Local chiefs tried to expand their own influence as best they could, and a sure way of gaining an advantage over their rivals was to collaborate with the Romans.

Like the Dacians, the Romans had experienced their own crucial event in 44 BCE when Caesar was assassinated. His heir, Octavian, allied with his closest subordinate, Mark Antony, to avenge his death. After killing Caesar’s assassins, the two men divided the Roman world between themselves, but neither was happy to share power, and civil war soon erupted again. Each sought to gain as many supporters as possible, and both saw potential allies in the Dacian confederacies north of the Danube.

Mark Antony made a pact with one of the minor Dacian confederacies, which pledged to send him troops. For his part, Octavian negotiated with the most powerful Dacian confederacy – the one in which Burebista had been born. But neither of the Dacian groups would play a part in this grand conflict, since Octavian defeated Mark Antony before they could intervene.

The power struggle between the two men had lasted nearly fifteen years, but by 30 BCE, Octavian was the undisputed ruler of the Roman world. He now styled himself Augustus, meaning “venerable,” and worked to transform the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. One of his main preoccupations was defense; he wanted to set the borders of his empire along natural frontiers that would be easier to defend. In the Balkans, this meant extending Roman rule from Macedonia to the Danube, and Augustus gave this mission to a general named Marcus Licinius Crassus.

In 29 BCE, the general advanced in Dobrogea, which is the region between the Danube and the Black Sea. This territory was inhabited by several peoples, including the Getae, Odrysians, and Bastarnae, the last of which were particularly feared for their military might. Crassus engaged the Bastarnae in battle, killed their king in single combat, and drove them across the river. The next year, he shifted his focus to the Getae.

Among the independent Getic chiefs of Dobrogea, one was in possession of captured Roman legionary standards. As you may recall, Rome had first advanced along the Black Sea coast 33 years before, but its troops had been defeated by a coalition of Greeks, Getae, and Scythians, and the Getae had taken the standards of the vanquished legionaries. Now, in 28 BCE, Crassus attacked the Getic tribe which held them, defeated it, retook the standards, and so washed away the humiliation of their loss.

In his campaigns, the Roman general was helped by a local Getic ruler named Rholes. It may seem bizarre to us that one Getic tribe worked against another, but we must remember that at this point, there was no sense of Getic ethnic unity; each tribe did what it could to better its own situation and standing. For Rholes, that meant not opposing the seemingly unstoppable Roman army, and instead allying himself with the empire. For his help, Rholes was given the title of “ally and friend of the Roman people,” which meant that he retained authority over his tribe and gained Rome’s protection, but had to pay tribute and obey the Romans.

The Odrysians living in Dobrogea, which were united under a single king, made a similar pact with the empire: in exchange for internal autonomy, they were to pay tribute and defend the frontier on behalf of their overlords.

While they were dealing with the Bastarnae, Odrysians, and Getae in the interior of Dobrogea, the Romans also engaged with the Greek cities on the coast.

The Greeks still hadn’t recovered from the destruction wrought by Buresbista nearly three decades ago. They had no forces capable of resisting Rome, so they chose to collaborate instead. After negotiations, the cities were granted the status of foedus, which allowed them to continue governing themselves, but committed them to help Rome in times of war.

Though Crassus had been successful in defeating and subduing the tribes in the interior of Dobrogea, Rome didn’t fully control the region by any means. The peoples beyond the Danube continued to raid southwards in the decades that followed, which prompted Rome to gradually send more troops to the area. As its military might in Dobrogea increased, so did its influence – especially over the Greek cities which now depended entirely on Roman troops for their protection.

By 3 BCE, the Romans were able to negotiate the integration of these cities into the empire. Each Greek city gained the status of civitas libera, or free city, which meant that they continued to administer themselves, but had to do so under the supervision of a Roman overseer appointed by the emperor.

Stability and prosperity soon returned to these Greek cities as attacks ceased and they established trade with the wider Roman world. The authorities felt the need to show their gratitude to their new rulers after a long period of uncertainty; they erected monuments dedicated to Augustus and the imperial family, and held public celebrations in their honour. The moment these cities passed under Roman domination was sometimes seen as a second founding; this wasn’t a literal reconstruction, but a spiritual refounding signifying a new, prosperous future. From now on, the Greek cities along the Black Sea coast would be an integral part of the empire.

It’s on this coast in the Greek city of Tomis that one of Rome’s greatest poets, Ovid, was exiled by Augustus for reasons that are still unclear. Ovid arrived in Tomis in 8 CE and lived there until his death. In letters sent to the capital, he complains at being at the edge of the civilized world surrounded by barbarians, and though he does at times exaggerate, his letters give us invaluable information about life in the city. He states that Getae lived alongside Greeks in Tomis, and owned as many houses as them. He further says that the Greeks spoke with a crude accent compared to what he was accustomed to, which shows the development of a local dialect influenced by the Getae. In fact, Getic was also spoken on the streets of Tomis; Ovid learned the language and wrote a work in Getic, but that piece is now unfortunately lost.

And so, Roman influence grew continuously in the region from the arrival of Crassus in Dobrogea in 29 BCE to the integration of the Greek cities into the empire in 3 BCE. Fifteen years later, Rome created the province of Moesia south of the Danube, with its territory extending from where the river meets the Carpathian Mountains in the west, to where it flows into the Black Sea in the east. The autonomous Getic and Odrysian tribes that had made treaties with the empire had their authority revoked, and their people were henceforth directly subjected to imperial rule.

The new province of Moesia was in a precarious position. Raids from north of the Danube continued, with a Getic foray in 12 CE and another in 15 CE, when they temporarily conquered a legionary camp in northern Dobrogea. The Dacians, too, periodically crossed the river when it was frozen and raided Roman territory for decades to come.

But these attacks never threatened Roman control of the region; the Romans repulsed Getic and Dacian raids and, during the first century, set up permanent garrisons along the river, some of which would slowly evolve into settlements with civilian populations.

To further staunch the raids, successive Roman commanders forcibly displaced thousands of people from beyond the Danube into Moesia. Our sources tell us that in 4 CE, 50,000 people were relocated from north of the river to the south, and in 62 CE, another operation moved 100,000 people. These numbers are certainly exaggerated, but they reflect the fact that entire communities living north of the Danube – mainly Getic ones – were disarmed and forcibly taken from their homes to be settled in Moesia. The goal was to weaken the Getae by depriving them of warriors and resources while simultaneously strengthening Roman holdings by having more people pay tribute. Over the course of generations, these communities would adapt to Roman administration and come to adopt Roman laws, culture, and even the Latin language.

Now that we’ve dealt with the periphery of the Dacian world, let’s turn to the heart of it in the Carpathian Mountains.

Our historical sources about the Dacians are scarce for the next 130 years following Buresbista’s death. Greek and Roman writers had been interested in the Dacians because of Burebista and his interference in the Roman world; but when his kingdom disintegrated and the Dacians stopped being a major threat, these writers turned to other affairs.

The information that we do have about this period are the names of a few rulers of the confederacies that re-emerged after Burebista’s death. By the 60s CE, our sources mention that a single king ruled Dacia, which is what the Romans called the realm of the Dacians. We don’t know if a single kingdom emerged through conquest or collaboration. What we do know is that, a hundred years after Burebista’s death, the Dacians were once again united.

Beyond that, we thankfully have enough archeological evidence to understand what Dacian society looked like during this period.

The Dacian kingdom that emerged in the 60s CE was smaller than Burebista’s old realm; it was centred in the Carpathian Mountains and controlled the plateau inside the arc of the mountains as well as the plains that extended down to the Danube. However, it had no access to the Black Sea.

Most Dacians lived in villages near waterways. For their dwellings, they dug a rectangular plot in the ground, then built walls of interwoven sticks covered with clay. The floor was left as packed earth, and, overhead, a wooden frame supported a roof of straw, reeds, and rushes. These households consisted of a single room with a hearth either in the middle or opposite the entrance. Next to their dwellings, the Dacians dug small pits where they would store food in ceramic vases.

Wealthier Dacians lived in more complex households built entirely above-ground and consisting of two rooms; one used for cooking and sleeping, the other for storage. A few, rare examples had a foundation made of stone with a veranda and a second floor.

The Dacians didn’t work plots directly next to their households; land cultivated by villages lay outside of the settlement. It’s here that the vast majority of the population worked on farming and raising livestock to grow the food they needed to survive.

When it came time to celebrate an occasion or hold a market, the community would meet in an open space in the middle of the village. In the centre, there were also workshops where artisans made the items their community used every day.

When people died, the Dacians incinerated them and buried their remains outside the settlement. The ashes of most people were placed directly in small pits and covered with earth, while the ashes of wealthier individuals were first put into ceramic urns before being buried.

These village communities were under the protection and authority of the davae. As you may recall, these were in essence towns, and we know of the existence of about 40 of them. People from surrounding villages would come to trade goods at davae markets, and to worship in their sanctuaries during important festivals.

Each dava was led by a chief who was part of the nobility. He had a garrison of warriors that defended the dava and its dependent villages, and that helped him collect and protect taxes that came in the form of grains and animal products.

The occupations found in davae included those practiced in villages, like farmers, shepherds, leatherworkers, potters, and blacksmiths; but besides these, there were also more specialized craftspeople, like silver and goldsmiths, jewellers, and minters.

Metallurgy was a well-developed craft among the Dacians, since the Carpathian Mountains were rich in minerals. The Dacians extracted iron by surface mining or following veins, then reduced the ore on-site to make iron bars. These were then transported to blacksmiths further away and sometimes even used as a means of exchange.

The Dacians also extracted vast amounts of silver and gold from the mountains. Silver was used to make brooches, belts, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and vessels – items that could only really be afforded by the nobility.

Conversely, we find almost no gold jewelry, not because Dacia had no gold deposits, but because the Dacian kings had a monopoly on gold extraction and processing. In fact, there was so much gold in the Carpathian Mountains that the Dacians didn’t even have to mine it; they used sieves to filter the sediment from rivers and extract gold pebbles. This gold was then melted and made into bars or jewelry for the Dacian royal household.

The Dacians also didn’t use gold coins; instead, they used silver ones that were copies of the Roman denarius. We’ve already seen that, during the 3^rd century BCE, the Getae and Dacians minted replicas of Macedonian coins. However, as Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean, its money became the accepted standard; by Burebista’s time, the Getae and Dacians switched from minting old Macedonian coins to minting Roman denarii using their own silver.

These coins were crucial to the economy, since Dacia had rich commercial relations with the Roman empire. The Dacians sold cereals, animal products, honey, wax, and salt, and in turn bought manufactured goods like vases, jewelry, oil, wine, ointments, and perfumes.

The most numerous Roman imports were the ceramic amphora vases that held oil and wine. The Dacians also imported a substantial number of bronze containers and lamps from Italy, and, starting in the 1^st century, we find more silver jewelry in davae that was originally made in Roman workshops.

When imports couldn’t meet local demand, the Dacians produced imitations. For instance, they made local copies of amphora vases, and their own ceramics also came to be influenced by Hellenic and Roman designs.

These examples of imitation and reproduction are part of a larger trend of increased economic and cultural exchange between the Dacians and the Romans. After Marcus Licinius Crassus brought the empire up to the Danube, the next century saw a continual increase in commercial relations which were facilitated by the use of the denarius on both sides. Roman merchants would travel north of the river into davae, while Dacian traders would head south to the Greek cities on the Black Sea coast and to the Roman settlements and military camps along the Danube. The Romans would receive raw materials to fuel their economic prosperity, while the Dacians grew accustomed to Roman goods. Their worlds became gradually more intertwined as these peoples became more familiar with each other and built lasting ties that benefited them both.

All these goods and people gravitated towards the biggest settlement in Dacia: the capital of Sarmizegetusa. Located in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains, Sarmizegetusa had been Burebista’s centre of power, and it had maintained its preeminent position even after the king’s death. By the 1^st century, it had become the economic, commercial, political, and religious centre of the entirety of Dacia.

Sarmizegetusa was surrounded by a complex of fortifications begun by Burebista and augmented by subsequent rulers; these fortifications were meant to protect the capital from internal revolt as well as from external threats, like the Romans.

It’s important to note that the Dacians didn’t have standing armies like the Romans, and while they knew how to besiege cities, their military tactics favoured quick and ferocious attacks. As such, Dacian fortifications weren’t designed to withstand prolonged sieges, but to blunt attacks. By the 80s CE, the various entry-points into the Carpathian Mountains were defended by around 90 citadels, forming a unique defensive system in Europe outside of the Roman empire.

These Dacian fortifications had distinct Hellenic influences. We’ve seen how Burebista captured experienced Greek builders from the coastal cities and put them to work on his construction projects, and it’s from these Greek origins that we get the famous murus Dacicus, or Dacian wall. This type of fortification was built by stacking large, rectangular stone blocks atop each other without mortar to form two parallel walls. These would then be linked by sturdy wooden crossbeams, and the empty space between them filled with gravel and rocks that were then compacted. The result was a wall around 4 metres thick and 10 metres high, which was often also topped with wooden ramparts. This layered design of stone-gravel-stone effectively dispersed the energy of incoming projectiles, which made the murus Dacicus better at absorbing shocks compared to a simple stone wall.

After travelling through mountain passes under the gaze of sentinels stationed in citadels, you would finally arrive at the capital of Sarmizegetusa, which is the only Dacian settlement that could be considered a city.

The capital was located on a mountain over a kilometer in altitude, and was built on several artificial terraces with walls erected against the mountainside to prevent landslides. At its centre, the city had a fortress constructed using the murus Dacicus technique, and it is here that the king would reside. Its wall varied between 5 to 15 metres in height and encircled a compound that also contained the city’s sacred ward.

Inside this ward were six sanctuaries, the biggest of which is a circle nearly 30 metres in diameter that acted as a calendar. The Dacian year had 360 days divided into 12 months, each with 5 weeks of 6 days. The outer layer of the calendar is made up of 180 thin stone columns representing the days in half the year, and 30 thick columns representing the days in a month. This stone ring contains a smaller circle made of wood pillars, which itself contains a wooden horseshoe formation – both of which probably acted as corrections for the Dacian calendar year.

The sacred area also had a number of rectangular sanctuaries built using columns. It’s probable that their lower stone sections, which are still visible today, supported higher wooden sections. Though we lack unequivocal evidence, these sanctuaries might have had roofs consisting of a timber framework topped with tiles. This hypothesis comes from the fact that Greek master builders captured by Buresbista helped build the city’s fortifications and erect these sanctuaries, whose layout is reminiscent of Greek temples, and so may have resembled their design.

The Dacians shared the same religion as the Getae, whose beliefs we explored in episode one: The first steps. They had a central god, Zalmoxis, who they believed could grant them eternal life after death. They also had other divinities, including one for war and one for the hearth; each sanctuary in the sacred ward of Sarmizegetusa could’ve been used to worship a different god.

The sacred compound was attended by the Dacian high priest and his caste of clerics called “those who walk through smoke,” perhaps referring to prophecies made using vapors, like the Greek oracles who breathed in fumes from crevices in the ground. Besides their spiritual duties, the clerics probably also served as judges in Dacian society, with the high priest being the final authority.

You might’ve noticed that as we’re discussing Dacian religion and sanctuaries, there are a lot of “maybes” and “could haves”. The reason for this uncertainty and speculation is that we have few sources that talk about their religion; and we have to augment what scarce historical knowledge we have with archeological finds. This results in theories that could be true but that we have no way of proving undeniably. What I’ve just related are the best guesses that scholars have come up with.

On either side of Sarmizegetusa’s sacred quarter were two civilian neighbourhoods with architecture similar to that found in davae. The difference is that these districts were linked with paved roads and drainage canals, and had granaries where cereals were stored in large clay pots.

In these neighbourhoods, we find bricks, roofing tiles, and clay pipes of Greek design, which show how Hellenic techniques influenced Dacian construction beyond walls and sanctuaries. The clay pipes varied in length from a few dozen metres to two kilometres, and transported water from natural sources to a cistern outside the city walls, as well as to dwellings, workshops, sanctuaries, and military towers inside the fortifications. As the 1^st century advances, we also see Roman buildings techniques appear, such as the use of mortar.

Workshops were placed near the centre of the city. These hosted the usual type of artisans found in davae, but Sarmizegetusa also had the only glass workshops in Dacia, in which artisans made windows as well as glass jewelry and vases.

As most of Dacia’s nobles and wealthy individuals lived in Sarmizegetusa, we find rarer imports in the capital than we do in the davae. For instance, a medical kit was discovered in a brassbound wooden box. It contained a scalpel, tweezers, powders, and miniature pots for medicines. The kit probably came from Italy, and speaks to Dacian doctors who were receptive to knowledge and techniques from the Roman world.

The Dacians didn’t develop their own system of writing. Sometimes, they used Greek letters on tools and vases to designate their use, dimensions, or owner; and as we’ve previously seen, they also used Greek letters on stone blocks to know where to place them on construction sites. It’s also possible that the Dacian clergy used the Greek alphabet for their calendar and astronomical calculations. As for Latin, some of the nobility must’ve been able to speak and write it, since the Dacians sent delegates with letters to the Romans on multiple occasions, as we will soon see.

But that is where we will leave the Dacians for the moment, with a complex and vibrant society on the eve of the year 85 CE. Next time, we’ll get to the story I promised you last episode, as amicable relations between Rome and Dacia falter, and caravans of traders are replaced by columns of soldiers.