Trajan's Dacian Wars
Trajan invaded Dacia in 101 and again in 105, and the second war ended a kingdom and filled the Roman treasury. Dacia lay north of the Danube in what is now Romania, and under Decebalus it had become a state rather than a confederation — with hill fortresses of dressed stone in the Orăştie mountains, iron and gold mining, and an army that had beaten two Roman forces under Domitian in the 80s. Domitian had settled by paying an annual subsidy and supplying engineers, which Romans regarded as a disgrace and which Decebalus used to fortify. Trajan's first campaign forced terms in 102: the fortifications demolished, the engineers returned, an alliance imposed. Decebalus rebuilt and attacked Roman allies, and Trajan came back in 105 having first built a bridge across the Danube at the Iron Gates — Apollodorus of Damascus's work, over a kilometre long on twenty stone piers, the longest arch bridge for a thousand years. The second war was a systematic reduction of the fortresses. Sarmizegetusa fell in 106, and Decebalus cut his own throat as Roman cavalry closed on him; the scene is carved on Trajan's Column. The treasure taken is given by one source, quoting Trajan's own doctor, as 165 tonnes of gold and 331 of silver, which is certainly exaggerated and was certainly enormous. Trajan spent it on 123 days of games, a forum, and a distribution to the citizens. Dacia became a province, was heavily colonised, and was abandoned by Aurelian in 271. Romanian is a Romance language because of these two campaigns.
- Category: Military
