Trajan's Dacian Wars
Trajan's two Dacian campaigns (101-102 CE and 105-106 CE) conquered the kingdom of Decebalus, a powerful state north of the Danube that had humiliated Roman arms under Domitian. The campaigns were among the largest Roman military operations since Augustus, involving perhaps one hundred twenty-five thousand troops and requiring the construction of a permanent bridge over the Danube. Trajan's Column in Rome, still standing, depicts the campaigns in 155 sequential scenes and is one of the most detailed surviving records of Roman warfare. The conquest added the province of Dacia (roughly modern Romania), rich in gold and silver mines that funded Trajan's extensive building program in Rome, including the Forum of Trajan. Decebalus committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner. The Dacian wars marked the high-water mark of Roman territorial expansion; no later emperor permanently added significant territory to the empire.
- Category: Military
