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{{Short description|Romanian History}}{{History of Romania}} The Romanian state was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. During World War I, after declaring its neutrality in 1914, Romania fought together with the Allied Powers from 1916. In the aftermath of the war, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transylvania, and parts of Banat, CriÈ™ana, and MaramureÈ™ became part of the Kingdom of Romania.WEB,europecentenary.eu/romania-during-the-period-of-neutrality/, Romania during the period of neutrality, Stoleru, Ciprian, 13 September 2018, Europe Centenary, en-US, 4 March 2020, In June–August 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In November 1940, Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and, consequently, in June 1941 entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania. Following the war and occupation by the Red Army, Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a market economy.

Prehistory

File:Hamangia Muzeul din Constanta.JPG|thumb|The thinkers of Hamangia, Neolithic Hamangia cultureHamangia cultureRemains of 34,950-year-old modern humans were discovered in present-day Romania when the PeÈ™tera cu Oase (“Cave with Bones“) was uncovered in 2002.{{Citation |title=Early Modern Human Cranial remains from the PeÈ™tera cu Oase|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|volume=45|pages=245–253|year=2003|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2003.08.003|pmid=14580595 |url=http://www.geo.edu.ro/sgr/mod/downloads/PDF/Trinkaus-JHE-2003-45-245.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925185013www.geo.edu.ro/sgr/mod/downloads/PDF/Trinkaus-JHE-2003-45-245.pdf|archive-date=2007-09-25|vauthors=Trinkaus E, Milota S, Rodrigo R, Mircea G, Moldovan O|issue=3}} The Romanian fossils are among the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in Europe.{{Citation |last=Zilhão|first=João|title=Neanderthals and Moderns Mixed and It Matters|journal=Evolutionary Anthropology|volume=15|issue=5|pages=183–195|year=2006|doi=10.1002/evan.20110 |url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/113440973/PDFSTART|access-date=2008-01-10|s2cid=18565967}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the western region of one of the earliest European civilizations, known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01arch.html?pagewanted=all, A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity, John Noble Wilford, The New York Times (30 November 2009), 1 December 2009, The earliest-known salt works is at Poiana Slatinei near the village of Lunca; it was first used in the early Neolithic around 6050 BC by the Starčevo culture and later by the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in the pre-Cucuteni period.WEB, Patrick Gibbs,antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/weller/, Antiquity Vol 79 No 306 December 2005 The earliest salt production in the world: an early Neolithic exploitation in Poiana Slatinei-Lunca, Romania Olivier Weller & Gheorghe Dumitroaia, Antiquity.ac.uk, 2012-10-12, dead,antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/weller/," title="web.archive.org/web/20110430145935antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/weller/,">web.archive.org/web/20110430145935antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/weller/, 30 April 2011,

Dacia

{{Overly detailed|section|date=January 2023}}File:Sarmizegetusa Regia - Sanctuarul mare circular. (Zona sacra).jpg|thumb|The sanctuaries of the ancient Dacian Kingdom capital, Sarmizegetusa RegiaSarmizegetusa RegiaThe Dacians, who are widely accepted to be the same people as the Getae, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia, which corresponds with modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria, south-western Ukraine, Hungary east of the Danube river and West Banat in Serbia.BOOK, Google Translate, 978-963-386-004-5,translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=nl&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=en&sp=nmt4&u=https://books.openedition.org/ceup/935, translate.google.com, 2020-05-25, Boia, Lucian, January 2001, Central European University Press, The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of present-day Romania comes from Herodotus in Book IV of his Histories, written in {{circa}} 440 BC; He writes that the tribal union/confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians.{{Citation|last =Herodotus|author-link =Herodotus|title =The Ancient History of Herodotus |type =Google Books|pages =213–217|publisher = Derby & Jackson|orig-year =440 BCE, translated 1859|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=sfHsgNIZum0C&q=herodotus+dacians+darius&pg=PA215|access-date=2008-01-10|others = William Beloe (translator)|year =1859}}{{Blockquote|The Dacians are the most law-abiding and the bravest of the Thracians. They believe they are immortal, forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being.|Herodotus}}Strabo’s account of the lands inhabited by the Getae: {{blockquote|As for the southern part of Germany beyond the Albis, the portion which is just contiguous to that river is occupied by the Suevi; then immediately adjoining this is the land of the Getae, which, though narrow at first, stretching as it does along the Ister Danube on its southern side and on the opposite side along the mountain-side of the Hercynian Black Forest (for the land of the Getae also embraces a part of the mountains), afterwards broadens out towards the north as far as the Tyragetae; but I cannot tell the precise boundarie{{cn|date=March 2024}} }}(File:Dacian_Tribal_Lands.png|thumb|right|alt=Geto-Dacians Tribes|The comprehensive map detailing the approximate lands inhabited by the Getae according to Strabo’s accounts)The Dacians spoke a dialect of the Thracian language but were influenced culturally by the neighbouring Scythians in the east and by the Celtic invaders of Transylvania in the 4th century.Due to the fluctuating nature of the Dacian states, especially before the time of Burebista and before the 1st century AD, the Dacians would often be split into different kingdoms. Known rulers of the Dacians include Charnabon in the 5th century BC, Cothelas in the 4th century BC,Atlas of Classical History by R. Talbert, 1989, page 63, “Getae under Cothelas” Rex Histrianorum mentioned in 339 BC, Dual in the 3rd century BC, Moskon in the 3rd century BCrevistapontica.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/pontica-3-pag-125-129.pdf Radu OcheÈ™eanu: Monedele basileului Moskon aflate în colecÈ›iile Muzeului de Arheologie ConstanÈ›a Dromichaetes in the 3rd century BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, Index Dromichaetes King of the Getians Zalmodegicus around 200 BC,McGing B.C.: The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of PontusKurt W. Treptow and Ioan Bolovan in “A history of Romania – East European Monographs”, 1996, {{ISBN|9780880333450}}, page 17 ”..Two inscriptions discovered at Histria indicate that Geto-Dacian rulers (Zalmodegikos and later Rhemaxos) continued to exercise control over that city-state around 200 BC ....” Rhemaxos also around 200 BC,The Hellenistic Age from the Battle of Ipsos to the Death of Kleopatra VII by Stanley M. Burstein, 1985, Index Rhemaxos Getic or Scythian rulerKurt W. Treptow and Ioan Bolovan in “A history of Romania – East European Monographs”, 1996, {{ISBN|9780880333450}}, page 17 “Two inscriptions discovered at Histria indicate that Geto-Dacian rulers (Zalmodegikos and later Rhemaxos) continued to exercise control over that city-state around 200 BC ....” Rubobostes before 168 BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, Index Rubobostes Dacian King Zoltes after 168 BC,BOOK, Gagarin, Michael, Theodossiev, Nikola, Thrace, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome,books.google.com/books?id=lNV6-HsUppsC&pg=RA6-PA55, 22 December 2013, 1, 2010, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-517072-6, 55, Oroles in the 2nd century BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 53, “Dacian King Oroles” Dicomes in the 1st century BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 47, “Dicomes of the Getians” Rholes in the 1st century BC,The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus by Cassius Dio, Ian Scott-Kilvert, and John Carter, 1987, page 85: “... Then he completed their destruction with the help of Roles, the king of a tribe of the Getae. When Roles visited Octavian, he was treated as a friend ...” Dapyx in the 1st century BC,Cassius Dio. Roman History, Book LI. “While he was thus engaged, Roles, who had become embroiled with Dapyx, himself also king of a tribe of the Getae, sent for him. Crassus went to his aid, and by hurling the horse of his opponents back upon their infantry he so thoroughly terrified the latter also that what followed was no longer a battle but a great slaughter of fleeing men of both arms. Next he cut off Dapyx, who had taken refuge in a fort, and besieged him. In the course of the siege someone hailed him from the walls in Greek, obtained a conference with him, and arranged to betray the place. The barbarians, thus captured, turned upon one another, and Dapyx was killed along with many others. His brother, however, Crassus took alive, and not only did him no harm but actually released him.” Zyraxes in the 1st century BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 146, “Zyraxes who ruled in Dobruja” Burebista between 82–44 BC,Studies in Ancient Greek and Roman Society by Robin Osborne, 2004, page 128: “... of its citizens, named Akornion, went on an embassy to Burebista, the first and greatest of the kings in Thrace...” Deceneus between 44 BC and around 27 BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, Index (Decaeneus/Dekaineus/Dicineus) Dacian High priest” Thiamarkos between 1st century BC and 1st century AD,{{sfn| Berciu|1981|p=139-140}} Cotiso between c. 40 BC and c.9 BC,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 48, “The Dacian king Cotiso” Comosicus between 9 BC and 30 AD,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 72, “At least two of his successors Comosicus and Scorillo/Corilus/Scoriscus became high priests and eventually Dacian kings” Scorilo between c. 30 AD and 70 AD Coson in the 1st century AD,Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization by Ioana A Oltean, 2007, page 47, “Kings Coson (who minted his own coins) and Duras” Duras between c. 69 AD to 87 AD, and Decebalus between 87 AD to 106 AD.De Imperatoribus Romanis weblink. Retrieved 2007-11-08. “In the year 88, the Romans resumed the offensive. 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 first, 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.” Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire in 106 AD, conquered by Emperor Trajan. However the Free Dacians outside of the Roman Empire remain independent under Pieporus, king of Dacian Costoboci in the 2nd century AD,Wilhelm Tomachek in “Les restes de la langue dace” published in “Le Muséon By Société des lettres et des sciences, Louvain, Belgium, page 407 “Pieporus, prince des daces Costoboces...“Gudmund Schütte in Ptolemy’s maps of northern Europe, H. Hagerup, 1917 page 82 “historical king Pieporus. The same author Schütte in “Our forefathers” published by University Press, 1929 page 74 “The North Dacian tribes of the Koistobokoi and Karpoi unlike the rest of Dacia escaped the Roman conquest of AD 105...” and possibly Tarbus in the 2nd century AD.Wilhelm Tomachek (1883): “Les restes de la langue dace” published in “Le Muséon By Société des lettres et des sciences, Louvain, Belgium, page 409Batty, Roger (2007): Rome and the Nomads: the Pontic-Danubian realm in antiquity, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-814936-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-19-814936-1}}, page 366The Dacia of King Burebista (82–44 BC) stretched from the Black Sea to the source of the river Tisa and from the Balkan Mountains to Bohemia.ENCYCLOPEDIA, History of Romania – Antiquity – The Dacians, Encyclopædia Britannica, 27 May 2023,www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/508461/Romania/214504/History#ref=ref476941, During that period, the Geto-Dacians conquered a wider territory and Dacia extended from the Middle Danube to the Black Sea littoral (between Apollonia and Olbia) and from present-day Slovakia’s mountains to the Balkan mountains.{{sfn|Murray|2001|p=1120}} In 53 BC, Julius Caesar stated that the lands of the Dacians started on the eastern edge of the Hercynian Forest (Black Forest).{{sfn|Mountain|1998|p=59}}Geto-Dacians inhabited both sides of the Tisa river prior to the rise of the Celtic Boii and again after the latter were defeated by the Dacians under the king Burebista.{{sfn|Taylor|2001|p=215}} It seems likely that the Dacian state arose as a tribal confederacy, which was united only by charismatic leadership.{{sfn|Taylor|2001|p=215}} Before 168 BC,Barry Cunliffe (1987)142 under the rule of king Rubobostes in present-day Transylvania, the Dacians’ power in the Carpathian basin increased after they defeated the Celts, who held power in the region since the Celtic invasion of Transylvania in the 4th century BC.(File:Dacian_Empire_Under_Burebista.png|thumb|right|alt=Geto-Dacia under Burebista|The legend map of Dacia at its zenith)A kingdom of Dacia also existed as early as the first half of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles. Conflicts with the Bastarnae and the Romans (112–109 BC, 74 BC), against whom they had assisted the Scordisci and Dardani, greatly weakened the resources of the Dacians. The Roman historian Trogus Pompeius wrote about king Oroles punishing his soldiers into sleeping at their wives’ feet and doing the household chores, because of their initial failure in defeating the invaders. Subsequently, the now “highly motivated” Dacian army defeated the Bastarnae.WEB,www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/english/trans32.html, Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book 32, forumromanum.org, File:Daciamaps.png|left|thumb|Top: territories controlled by the Dacian king, c. 50 BC; bottom: territories controlled by the Dacian king, circa year zeroyear zeroBurebista (Boerebista), a contemporary of Julius Caesar, ruled Geto-Dacian tribes between 82 BC and 44 BC. He reorganised the army and attempted to raise the moral standard and obedience of the people by persuading them to give up wine.Strabo, Geography, VII:3.11 During his reign, the limits of the Dacian Kingdom were extended to their maximum. The Bastarnae and Boii were conquered, and even the Greek towns of Olbia and Apollonia on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) recognized Burebista’s authority. In 53 BC, Caesar stated that the Dacian territory was on the eastern border of the Hercynian Forest.{{sfn|Mountain|1998|p=59}}(File:Burebista’s_campaigns.png|thumb|right|alt=Dacia under Burebista|The legend map showing Burebista’s campaigns)Burebista suppressed the indigenous minting of coinages by four major tribal groups, adopting imported or copied Roman denarii as a monetary standard.{{sfn|Taylor|2001|p=215}} During his reign, Burebista transferred the Geto-Dacian capital from Argedava to Sarmizegetusa Regia.{{sfn|MacKendrick|2000|p=48}}{{sfn|Goodman|Sherwood|2002|p=227}} For at least one and a half centuries, Sarmizegetusa was the Dacians’ capital and reached its peak under King Decebalus. The Dacians appeared so formidable that Caesar contemplated an expedition against them, which his death in 44 BC prevented. In the same year, Burebista was murdered, and the kingdom was divided into four (later five) parts under separate rulers.(File:Pannonian_wars_remake.png|thumb|right|alt=Burebista campaigns against the celts|The map that shows the Dacian invasion of Boii and Taurisci)The Dacians are often mentioned under Augustus, according to whom they were compelled to recognize Roman supremacy. However they were by no means subdued, and in later times to maintain their independence they seized every opportunity to cross the frozen Danube during the winter and ravaging the Roman cities in the province of Moesia.{{Blockquote|Although the Getae and Daci once attained to very great power, so that they actually could send forth an expedition of two hundred thousand men, they now find themselves reduced to as few as forty thousand, and they have come close to the point of yielding obedience to the Romans, though as yet they are not absolutely submissive, because of the hopes which they base on the Germans, who are enemies to the Romans.|Strabo}}(File:Dacian_empire.png|thumb|right|alt=Dacia in 55 BC|One of the greatest existence of Dacia)During the War of Actium, King Cotiso found himself courted by the two Roman antagonists, Octavian and Mark Antony. Cotiso was in a strong position to dictate terms of any alliance. Octavian/Augustus worried about the frontier and possible alliance between Mark Antony and the Dacians, and plotted an expedition against Dacia around 35 BC. Despite several small conflicts, no serious campaigns were mounted. King Cotiso chose to ally himself with Mark Antony. According to Alban Dewes Winspear and Lenore Kramp Geweke he “proposed that the war should be fought in Macedonia rather than Epirus. Had his proposal been accepted, the subjection of Antonius might have been less easily accomplished.“Alban Dewes Winspear, Lenore Kramp Geweke, Augustus and the Reconstruction of Roman Government and Society, University of Wisconsin Press, 1935 p.252.(File:Dacian women.JPG|thumb|right|A 19th century depiction of Dacian women)File:Koson 79000126.jpg|thumb|right|Geto-Dacian Koson, mid 1st century BC]]According to Appian, Mark Antony is responsible for the statement that Augustus sought to secure the goodwill of Cotiso by giving him his daughter, and he himself marrying a daughter of Cotiso.Translations and reprints from the original sources of history, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1898 , University of Pennsylvania. Dept. of History According to Suetonius, Cotiso refused the alliance and joined the party of Mark Antony.Monumentum ancyranum: the deeds of Augustus, Volume 5, Issue 2, Augustus (Emperor of Rome) The Department of History of the University of Pennsylvania, 1898, page 73 Suetonius (LXIII, Life of Augustus) says Mark Antony wrote that Augustus betrothed his daughter Julia to marry Cotiso to create an alliance between the two men. This failed when Cotiso betrayed Augustus. According to Cassius Dio, the story about the proposed marriages is hardly credible and may have been invented by Mark Antony as propaganda to offset his own alliance with Cleopatra.After Augustus’s victory in the civil wars, the Romans punished the Dacian ruler, who was apparently defeated in battle around 25 BC.William Miller, The Balkans: Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro, Putnam, 1972, p.5 In his account of his achievements as emperor, the Res Gestae, Augustus claimed that the Dacians had been subdued. This was not entirely true, because Dacian troops frequently crossed the Danube to ravage parts of Pannonia and Moesia.Matthew Bunson (1995): A dictionary of the Roman Empire, page 124, Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-510233-9}} {{ISBN|978-0195102338}} He may have survived until the campaign of Marcus Vinicius in the Dacian area c.9 BC. Vinicius was the first Roman commander to cross the Danube and invade Dacia itself. Ioana A. Oltean argues that Cotiso probably died at some point during this campaign.Ioana A. Oltean, Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization, Routledge, 7 Aug 2007, p49. According to Jordanes Cotiso was succeeded by Comosicus, about whom nothing is known beyond the name.King Scorilo was Comosicus’ successor and may have been the father of Decebalus. The Roman historian Jordanes lists a series of Dacian kings before Decebalus, placing a ruler called “Coryllus” between Comosicus and the independently attested Duras, who preceded Decebalus as king. Coryllus is supposed to have presided over a long peaceful 40-year rule, however, the name Coryllus is not mentioned by any other historian, and it has been argued that it “is a misspelling of Scorilo, a relatively common Dacian name”.Köpeczi, Béla, History of Transylvania: From the beginnings to 1606, Social Science Monographs, 2001, p.52. On this basis, Coryllus has been equated with the Scorilo named on an ancient Dacian pot bearing the words “Decebalus per Scorilo”. Though far from certain, this has also been translated as “Decebalus son of Scorilo”. If so, this might mean that Decebalus was the son of Scorilo, with Duras possibly being either an older son or a brother of Scorilo.Ion Grumeza, Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe, University Press of America, 2009, p.72. A Dacian king (dux Dacorum) called Scorilo is also mentioned by Frontinus, who says he was in power during a period of turmoil in Rome.Bărbulescu, Mihai, et al, The History of Transylvania: (Until 1541), Romanian Cultural Institute, 2005, pp.87–9. From this evidence and references to Dacian kings elsewhere, it is suggested that Scorilo probably ruled from the 30s or 40s AD through to 69–70.The Dacians regularly raided into Roman territory in Moesia. The emperors Tiberius and Caligula solved this problem by paying protection money to the Dacians in the form of annual subsidies. This policy appears to have coincided with the reign of King Scorilo. Scorilo’s brother was apparently held captive for a period in Rome, but was released in exchange for a promise that the Dacians would not intervene in Rome’s volatile power-politics.Ion Grumeza, Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe, University Press of America, 2009, p.154-5. During the reign of Emperor Nero, troops were withdrawn from the Dacian border. When Nero was overthrown in 69, the empire was plunged into turmoil in the Year of Four Emperors. The Dacians appear to have tried to take advantage of the situation to launch an invasion of Moesia in alliance with the Sarmatian Roxolani. The invasion was ill-timed. Licinius Mucianus, a supporter of Vespasian, was advancing with an army through Moesia towards Rome to overthrow Vitellius. The Dacians unexpectedly encountered his forces and suffered a major defeat. Scorilo appears to have died around this time.Ioana A. Oltean, Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization, Routledge, 7 Aug 2007, p49.File:Sarmisegetusa Regia - ansamblu 1.jpg|thumb|left|The sanctuariessanctuariesKing Duras ruled between the years AD 69 and 87, during the time that Domitian ruled the Roman Empire. He was one of a series of rulers following the Great King Burebista. Duras’ immediate successor was Decebalus. Duras may be identical to the “Diurpaneus” (or “Dorpaneus“) identified in Roman sources as the Dacian leader who, in the winter of 85, ravaged the southern banks of the Danube, which the Romans defended for many years. Many authors refer to him as “Duras-Diurpaneus”.Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haas, Politische Geschichte: (Provinzen und Randvölker: Griechischer Balkanraum; Kleinasien), Walter de Gruyter, 1979, p.167.Constantin Olteanu, The Romanian armed power concept: a historical approach, Military Publishing House, 1982, p.39.Romania: Pages of History, Volume 4, Agerpres Publishing House, 1979, p.75. Other scholars argue that Duras and Diurpaneus are different individuals, or that Diurpaneus is identical to Decebalus.Ioana A. Oltean, Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization, Routledge, 2007, p.49-50.The Roman governor of Moesia, Oppius Sabinus, raised an army and went to war with the Dacians following the Dacian (Getae) raids into Roman territory.Brian W. Jones, The Emperor Domitian, Routledge, London, 1992, p.138 Diurpaneus and his people defeated and decapitated Oppius Sabinus. When news of the defeat reached Rome, the citizens became fearful that the conquering enemy would invade and spread destruction further into the Empire. Because of this fear, Domitian was obliged to move with his entire army into Illyria and Moesia, the latter of which was now split into Upper and Lower regions. He ordered his commander Cornelius Fuscus to cross the Danube. The Dacians were pushed back across the Danube, but Fuscus suffered a crushing defeat when ambushed by “Diurpaneus”. At this point, the probably elderly Duras seems to have peacefully ceded power to Decebalus.King Decebalus ruled the Dacians between AD 87 and 106. The frontiers of Decebal’s Dacia were marked by the Tisa River to the west, by the trans-Carpathians to the north and by the Dniester River to the east.{{sfn|Vico|Pinton|2001|p=325}}File:KonstantinbÃ¥gen detalj 04.jpg|thumb|Two of the eight marble statues of Dacian warriors surmounting the Arch of Constantine in Westropp|2003|p=104}}From AD 85 to 89, the Dacians under Decebalus were engaged in two wars with the Romans. In AD 85, the Dacians had swarmed over the Danube and pillaged Moesia.{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=216}}{{sfn|Luttwak|1976|p=53}} In AD 87, the Roman troops sent by the Emperor Domitian against them under Cornelius Fuscus, were defeated and Cornelius Fuscus was killed by the Dacians by authority of their ruler, Diurpaneus.{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=217}} After this victory, Diurpaneus took the name of Decebalus, but the Romans were victorious in the Battle of Tapae in AD 88 and a truce was drawn up .ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2007-11-08,www.roman-emperors.org/assobd.htm#t-inx, De Imperatoribus Romanis, An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, Assorted Imperial Battle Descriptions

praetorian prefect Cornelius Fuscus>Cornelius led five or six legions across the Danube on a bridge of ships and advanced towards Banat (in Romania). The Romans were surprised by a Dacian attack at Tapae (near the village of BăuÈ›ar, Bucova, in Romania). Legion V Alaude was crushed and Cornelius Fuscus was killed. The victorious general was originally known as Diurpaneus (see Manea, p.109), but after this victory he was called Decebalus (the brave one)., The next year, AD 88, new Roman troops under Tettius Julianus, gained a significant advantage, but were obligated to make a humiliating peace following the defeat of Domitian by the Marcomanni, leaving the Dacians effectively independent. Decebalus was given the status of “king client to Rome”, receiving military instructors, craftsmen and money from Rome.(File:Dacia_under_Decebalus_Remastered.png|thumb|right|alt=Decebalus Dacia|The Dacian kingdom under Decebalus)To increase the glory of his reign, restore the finances of Rome, and end a treaty perceived as humiliating, Trajan resolved on the conquest of Dacia, the capture of the famous Treasure of Decebalus, and control over the Dacian gold mines of Transylvania. The result of his first campaign (101–102) was the siege of the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa and the occupation of part of the country. Emperor Trajan recommenced hostilities against Dacia and, following an uncertain number of battles,{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=219}} and with Trajan’s troops pressing towards the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa, Decebalus once more sought terms.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2004|p=329}}Decebalus rebuilt his power over the following years and attacked Roman garrisons again in AD 105. In response Trajan again marched into Dacia,{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=222}} attacking the Dacian capital in the siege of Sarmizegethusa, and razing it to the ground,{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=223}} the defeated Dacian king Decebalus committed suicide.{{sfn|Luttwak|1976|p=54}} In the following years, a new city was built on the ruins of the Dacian capital named Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. With part of Dacia quelled as the Roman province Dacia Traiana.{{sfn|Stoica|1919|p=52}} Trajan subsequently invaded the Parthian empire to the east. Rome’s borders in the east were governed indirectly in this period, through a system of client states, which led to less direct campaigning than in the west.{{sfn|Luttwak|1976|p=39}}The weapon most associated with the Dacian forces that fought against Trajan’s army during his invasions of Dacia was the falx, a single-edged scythe-like weapon. The falx was able to inflict horrible wounds on opponents, easily disabling or killing the heavily armored Roman legionaries.{{sfn|Schmitz| 2005|p= 30}} Trajan erected the Column of Trajan in Rome to commemorate his victory.Sinnegen & Boak. A History of Rome to A.D. 565, Sixth Ed. MacMillan Publishing Co., New York. ç1977 p.312 Roman Dacia (106–275 AD) File:Roman province of Dacia (106 - 271 AD).svg|right|thumb|Roman DaciaRoman DaciaRoman Dacia, also known as Dacia Felix, was organized as an imperial province. It is estimated that the population of Roman Dacia ranging from 650,000 to 1,200,000. The area was the focus of a massive Roman colonization. New mines were opened and ore extraction intensified, while agriculture, stock breeding, and commerce flourished. Roman Dacia was of great importance to the military stationed throughout the Balkans and became an urban province, with about ten cities known and all of them originating from old military camps. Eight of these held the highest rank of colonia. Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa was the financial, religious, and legislative center and where the imperial procurator (finance officer) had his seat, while Apulum was Roman Dacia’s military center. The region was soon settled by the retired veterans who had served in the Dacian Wars, principally the Fifth (Macedonia), Ninth (Claudia), and Fourteenth (Gemina) legions.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=92}}While it is certain that colonists in large numbers were imported from all over the empire to settle in Roman Dacia,{{sfn|Ellis|1998|pp=220–237}} this appears to be true for the newly created Roman towns only. The lack of epigraphic evidence for native Dacian names in the towns suggests an urban–rural split between Roman multi-ethnic urban centres and the native Dacian rural population.{{sfn|Ellis|1998|pp=220–237}} On at least two occasions the Dacians rebelled against Roman authority: first in 117 AD, which caused the return of Trajan from the east,{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=22}} and in 158 AD when they were put down by Marcus Statius Priscus.{{sfn|Parker|1958|pp=12–19}}Some scholars have used the lack of civitates peregrinae in Roman Dacia, where indigenous peoples were organised into native townships, as evidence for the Roman depopulation of Dacia.{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=110}} Prior to its incorporation into the empire, Dacia was a kingdom ruled by one king, and did not possess a regional tribal structure that could easily be turned into the Roman civitas system as used successfully in other provinces of the empire.{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=227}}File:Roman Gothic Walls Romania Plain.svg|right|thumb|Roman wallsRoman wallsAs per usual Roman practice, Dacian males were recruited into auxiliary units{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2003|p=76}} and dispatched across the empire.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=102}} The Vexillation Dacorum Parthica accompanied the emperor Septimius Severus during his Parthian expedition,{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=109}} while the cohort I Ulpia Dacorum was posted to Cappadocia.{{sfn|Găzdac|2010|p=59}} Others included the II Aurelia Dacorum in Pannonia Superior, the cohort I Aelia Dacorum in Roman Britain, and the II Augusta Dacorum milliaria in Moesia Inferior.{{sfn|Găzdac|2010|p=59}} There are a number of preserved relics originating from cohort I Aelia Dacorum, with one inscription describing the sica, a distinctive Dacian weapon.{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=108}} Numerous Roman military diplomas issued for Dacian soldiers discovered after 1990 indicate that veterans preferred to return to their place of origin;{{sfn|Dana|Matei-Popescu|2009|pp=234–235}} per usual Roman practice, these veterans were given Roman citizenship upon their discharge.{{sfn|Erdkamp|2010|p=442}}In an attempt to fill the cities, cultivate the fields, and mine the ore, a large-scale attempt at colonization took place with colonists coming in “from all over the Roman world”.{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=23}} The colonists were a heterogeneous mix:{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=6}} of the some 3,000 names preserved in inscriptions found by the 1990s, 74% (c. 2,200) were Latin, 14% (c. 420) were Greek, 4% (c. 120) were Illyrian, 2.3% (c. 70) were Celtic, 2% (c. 60) were Thraco-Dacian, and another 2% (c. 60) were Semites from Syria.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=106}} Regardless of their place of origin, the settlers and colonists were a physical manifestation of Roman civilisation and imperial culture, bringing with them the most effective Romanizing mechanism: the use of Latin as the new lingua franca.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=6}}The first settlement at Sarmizegetusa was made up of Roman citizens who had retired from their legions.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=103}} Based upon the location of names scattered throughout the province, it has been argued that a large percentage of colonists originated from Noricum and western Pannonia.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=104}} Specialist miners (the Pirusti tribesmen){{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=79}} were brought in from Dalmatia.{{sfn|MacKendrick|2000|p=206}}File:Rome-JA1.jpg|thumb|left|Tarabostes on the Arch of ConstantineArch of ConstantineAlthough the Romans conquered and destroyed the ancient Kingdom of Dacia, much of the land remained outside of Roman Imperial authority. The conquest changed the balance of power in the region and was the catalyst for a renewed alliance of Germanic and Celtic tribes and kingdoms against the Roman Empire. However, the material advantages of the Roman Imperial system was attractive to the surviving aristocracy. Afterwards, many of the Dacians became Romanised (see also Origin of Romanians). In AD 183, war broke out in Dacia: few details are available, but it appears two future contenders for the throne of emperor Commodus, Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger, both distinguished themselves in the campaign.According to Lactantius,“Of the Manner in which the persecutors died” by Lactantius (early Christian author AD 240–320) the Roman emperor Decius (AD 249–251) had to restore Roman Dacia from the Carpo-Dacians of Zosimus “having undertaken an expedition against the Carpi, who had then possessed themselves of Dacia and Moesia”.Even so, the Germanic and Celtic kingdoms, particularly the Gothic tribes, slowly moved toward the Dacian borders, and within a generation were making assaults on the province. Ultimately, the Goths succeeded in dislodging the Romans and restoring the “independence” of Dacia following Emperor Aurelian’s withdrawal, in 275. At the boundaries of Roman Dacia, Carpi (Free Dacians) were still strong enough to sustain five battles in eight years against the Romans from AD 301–308. Roman Dacia was left in AD 275 by the Romans, to the Carpi again, and not to the Goths. There were still Dacians in AD 336, against whom Constantine the Great fought.The province was abandoned by Roman troops, and, according to the Breviarium historiae Romanae by Eutropius, Roman citizens “from the towns and lands of Dacia” were resettled to the interior of Moesia.WEB,www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm, Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History (Historiae Romanae Breviarium), EUTROPIUS, www.ccel.org, 2008-06-17,www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20090220200338www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20090220200338www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm, 2009-02-20, dead, Under Diocletian, c. AD 296, in order to defend the Roman border, fortifications were erected by the Romans on both banks of the Danube.{{sfn|Odahl|2003}} Constantinian reconquest of Dacia (File:Limes Orientalis 337 AD png.PNG|thumb|Dacia during Constantine the Great)In 328 the emperor Constantine the Great inaugurated the Constantine’s Bridge (Danube) at Sucidava, (today Corabia in Romania)Madgearu, Alexandru (2008). Istoria Militară a Daciei Post Romane 275–376. Cetatea de Scaun. {{ISBN|978-973-8966-70-3}}, p.64 -126 in hopes of reconquering Dacia, a province that had been abandoned under Aurelian. In the late winter of 332, Constantine campaigned with the Sarmatians against the Goths. The weather and lack of food cost the Goths dearly: reportedly, nearly one hundred thousand died before they submitted. In celebration of this victory Constantine took the title Gothicus Maximus and claimed the subjugated territory as the new province of Gothia.BOOK, Heather, Peter, The Goths, 1996, Blackwell Publishers, 62, 63, In 334, after Sarmatian commoners had overthrown their leaders, Constantine led a campaign against the tribe. He won a victory in the war and extended his control over the region, as remains of camps and fortifications in the region indicate.Barnes, Timothy D. (1981). Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-16531-1}}. p 250. Constantine resettled some Sarmatian exiles as farmers in Illyrian and Roman districts, and conscripted the rest into the army. The new frontier in Dacia was along the Brazda lui Novac line supported by Castra of Hinova, Rusidava and Castra of Pietroasele.Madgearu, Alexandru(2008). Istoria Militară a Daciei Post Romane 275–376. Cetatea de Scaun. {{ISBN|978-973-8966-70-3}}, p.64-126 The limes passed to the north of Castra of Tirighina-BărboÈ™i and ended at Sasyk Lagoon near the Dniester River.Costin Croitoru, (Romanian) Sudul Moldovei în cadrul sistemului defensiv roman. ContribuÈ›ii la cunoaÈ™terea valurilor de pământ. Acta terrae septencastrensis, Editura Economica, Sibiu 2002, ISSN 1583-1817, p.111. Constantine took the title Dacicus maximus in 336.Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. New York: Routledge, 2004. Hardcover {{ISBN|0-415-17485-6}} Paperback {{ISBN|0-415-38655-1}}, p.261. Some Roman territories north of the Danube resisted until Justinian.Victohali, Taifals, and Thervingians are tribes mentioned inhabiting Dacia in 350, after the Romans left. Archeological evidence suggests that Gepids were disputing Transylvania with Taifals and Tervingians. Taifals, once independent from Gothia, became federati of the Romans, from whom they obtained the right to settle Oltenia.In 376 the region was conquered by Huns, who kept it until the death of Attila in 453. The Gepid tribe, ruled by Ardaric, used it as their base, until in 566 it was destroyed by Lombards. Lombards abandoned the country and the Avars (second half of the 6th century) dominated the region for 230 years, until their kingdom was destroyed by Charlemagne in 791. At the same time, Slavic people arrived.The Hellenic chronicle could possibly qualify to the first testimony of Romanians in Pannonia and Eastern Europe during the time of Attila,Dvoichenko-Markov, Demetrius. “THE RUSSIAN PRIMARY CHRONICLE AND THE VLACHS OF EASTERN EUROPE”. Byzantion, vol. 49, 1979, pp. 175–187. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44172681. Accessed 3 April 2020.O. V. Tvorogov, Drevne-Russkie Chronography (Ancient Russian Chronographies), Leningrad, 1975, p.138.P. P. Panaitescu, Introducere la Istoria Culturii Romànesti (Introduction to the History of Rumanian Culture), Bucharest, 1969, p. 130 implying that the formation of Proto-Romanian (or Common Romanian) from Vulgar Latin started in the 5th century.{{sfn|Pană Dindelegan|2013|p=2}}{{sfn|Petrucci|1999|p=4}} The words “torna, torna fratre”The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor (258.10–21.), p. 381. (return, return brother) recorded in connection with a Roman campaign across the Balkan Mountains by Theophylact Simocatta and Theophanes the Confessor evidence the development of a Romance language in the late 6th century.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=129}} The words were shouted “in native parlance”The History of Theophylact Simocatta (ii. 15.10.), p. 65. by a local soldier in 587 or 588.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=129}}{{sfn|Vékony|2000|pp=206–207}} The 11th-century Persian writer, Gardizi, wrote about a Christian people “from the Roman Empire” called N.n.d.r, inhabiting the lands along the Danube.{{sfn|Armbruster|1972|p=11}} He describes them as “more numerous than the Hungarians, but weaker”.{{sfn|Armbruster|1972|p=11}} Historian Adolf Armbruster identified this people as the Romanians.{{sfn|Armbruster|1972|p=11}} Hungarian historiography identifies this people as the Bulgarians.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p=63}} Name The Dacians were known as Geta (plural Getae) in Ancient Greek writings, and as Dacus (plural Daci) or Getae in Roman documents,{{sfn|Appian|165 AD|loc=Praef. 4/14-15|ps=, quoted in {{sfn|Millar|2004|p=189|ps=: “the Getae over the Danube, whom they call Dacians“}}}} but also as Dagae and Gaete as depicted on the late Roman map Tabula Peutingeriana. It was Herodotus who first used the ethnonym Getae in his Histories.{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}} In Greek and Latin, in the writings of Julius Caesar, Strabo, and Pliny the Elder, the people became known as ‘the Dacians’.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}} Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms, or used with some confusion by the Greeks.{{sfn|Nandris|1976|p=730|ps=: Strabo and Trogus Pompeius “Daci quoque suboles Getarum sunt“}}{{sfn|Crossland|Boardman|1982|p=837}} Latin poets often used the name Getae.{{sfn|Roesler|1864|p=89}} Modern historians prefer to use the name Geto-Dacians.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}} Strabo describes the Getae and Dacians as distinct but cognate tribes. This distinction refers to the regions they occupied.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=150}} Strabo and Pliny the Elder also state that Getae and Dacians spoke the same language.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=150}}{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=44}}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 first became known to the Romans.{{sfn|Bunbury|1979|p=151}} According to Strabo’s Geographica, the original name of the Dacians was ”Daoi”.{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,12}} The name Daoi (one of the ancient Geto-Dacian tribes) was certainly adopted by foreign observers to designate all the inhabitants of the countries north of Danube that had not yet been conquered by Greece or Rome.{{sfn|Fol|1996|p=223}}The ethnographic name Daci is found under various forms within ancient sources. Greeks used the forms ”Dakoi” (Strabo, Dio Cassius, and Dioscorides) and “Daoi” (singular Daos).GaraÅ¡anin, Benac (1973) 243{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,12}}{{sfn|Parvan|Vulpe|Vulpe|2002|p=158}}{{efn|1=Dioscorides’s 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 προποδιλα Latin Daci (wikt:propodila|propodila) “Dacians propodila“}}{{sfn|Tomaschek|1883|p=397}} The form “Daoi” was frequently used according to Stephan of Byzantium.{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}} Latins used the forms Davus, Dacus, and a derived form Dacisci (Vopiscus and inscriptions).{{sfn|Mulvin| 2002|p=59|ps=: “…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…“}}{{sfn|Petolescu|2000|p=163|ps=: “…patri incom[pa-] rabili, decep [to] a Daciscis in bel- loproclio …“}}{{sfn|Dobiáš|1964|p=43| ps=: “...CIL V 3372 inscription at Verona Papirio Marcellino, decepto a Daciscis in bello proelio..“}}{{sfn|Gibbon| 2008|p= 313|ps=: “…Aurelian calls these soldiers Hiberi, Riparienses, Castriani, and Dacisci ” conform to “Vopiscus in Historia Augusta XXVI 38“}}{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}}There are similarities between the ethnonyms of the Dacians and those of Dahae (Greek Dáoi, Dáai, Dai, Dasai; Latin Dahae, Daci), an Indo-European people located east of the Caspian Sea, until the 1st millennium BC. Scholars have suggested that there were links between the two peoples since ancient times.{{sfn| Kephart|1949|loc=p. 28: The Persians knew that the Dahae and the other Massagetae were kin of the inhabitants of Scythia west of the Caspian Sea}}{{sfn| Chakraberty|1948 |p=34 |ps=: “Dasas or Dasyu of the RigVeda are the Dahae of Avesta, Daci of the Romans, Dakaoi (Hindi Dakku) of the Greeks“}}{{sfn|Pliny (the Elder)| Rackham|1971|p=375}}{{sfn|Van Den Gheyn|1886|p=170}} The historian David Gordon White has, moreover, stated that the “Dacians ... appear to be related to the Dahae”.{{sfn|White|1991|p=239}}By the end of the first 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 and Germanic tribes who infiltrated from the west, and Sarmatian and related people from the east.{{sfn|Crossland|Boardman|1982|p=837}} Carpi and Costoboci The Carpi were a sizeable group of tribes, who lived beyond the north-eastern boundary of Roman Dacia. The majority view among modern scholars is that the Carpi were a North Thracian tribe and a subgroup of the Dacians.* {{harvnb|Goffart|2006| p=205}} {{harvnb|Bunson |1995| p=74}} {{harvnb|MacKendrick| 2000| p=117}} {{harvnb|Parvan| Florescu| 1982| p=136}} {{harvnb|Burns |1991| pp=26 and 27}} {{harvnb|Odahl|2003|p=19}} {{harvnb|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=19}} {{harvnb|Millar| 1970}} However, some historians classify them as Slavs.{{sfn | Waldman | Mason| 2006 | p=129}} According to Heather, 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 Trajan’s 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.{{sfn | Heather | 2010 | p=114}}File:Captive dacian pushkin.JPG|thumb|Dacian cast in Pushkin Museum, after original in Lateran MuseumLateran MuseumThe 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.{{sfn|Pârvan|1926|p=239}} The name of the tribe is homonymous with the Carpathian mountains.{{sfn|Schütte|1917|p=100}} Carpi and Carpathian are Dacian words derived from the root (s)ker- “cut” cf. Albanian karp “stone” and Sanskrit kar- “cut”.{{sfn | Russu | 1969 | pp=114–115}}{{sfn | Tomaschek | 1883 |p=403}}A quote from the 6th-century Byzantine chronicler Zosimus referring to the Carpo-Dacians (Greek: Καρποδάκαι, Latin: Carpo-Dacae), 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.{{sfn | Goffart | 2006 |p=205}} However, that the Carpi were Dacians is shown not so much by the form Καρποδάκαι in Zosimus as by their characteristic place-names in –dava, given by Ptolemy in their country.{{sfn | Minns | 2011 | p=124}} The origin and ethnic affiliations 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.{{sfn| Nixon| Saylor Rodgers|1995|p=116}}The main view is that the Costoboci were ethnically Dacian.* {{harvnb|Heather|2010| p=131}} {{harvnb|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=184}} {{harvnb|Poghirc|1989| p= 302}} {{harvnb|Pârvan |1928| pp= 184 and 188}} {{harvnb|Nandris|1976|p=729}} {{harvnb|Oledzki|2000| p= 525}} {{harvnb|Astarita|1983| p= 62}} Others considered them a Slavic or Sarmatian tribe.{{sfn | Hrushevskyi | 1997 | p=100}}{{sfn|Waldman|Mason|2006|p=184}} There was also a Celtic influence, so that some consider them a mixed Celtic and Thracian group that appear, after Trajan’s conquest, as a Dacian group within the Celtic superstratum.{{sfn|Nandris|1976|p=729}} The Costoboci inhabited the southern slopes of the Carpathians.{{sfn | Hrushevskyi | 1997 | p=98}} Ptolemy named the Coestoboci (Costoboci in Roman sources) twice, showing them divided by the Dniester and the Peucinian (Carpathian) Mountains. This suggests that they lived on both sides of the Carpathians, but it is also possible that two accounts about the same people were combined.{{sfn | Hrushevskyi | 1997 | p=98}} There was also a group, the Transmontani, that some modern scholars identify as Dacian Transmontani Costoboci of the extreme north.{{sfn|Schütte|1917|p=100}}{{sfn|Parvan |Florescu |1982|p=135}} The name Transmontani was from the Dacians’ Latin,{{CN|date=June 2023}} literally “people over the mountains”. Mullenhoff identified these with the Transiugitani, another Dacian tribe north of the Carpathian mountains.{{sfn|Schütte|1917|p=18}} Based on the account of Dio Cassius, Heather (2010) considers that Hasding Vandals, around 171 AD, attempted to take control of lands which previously belonged to the free Dacian group called the Costoboci.{{sfn | Heather | 2010 | p=131}} Hrushevskyi mentions that the earlier widespread view that these Carpathian tribes were Slavic has no basis. This would be contradicted by the Coestobocan names themselves that are known from the inscriptions, written by a Coestobocan and therefore presumably accurately. These names sound quite unlike anything Slavic.{{sfn | Hrushevskyi | 1997 | p=100}} Scholars such as Tomaschek, Schütte and Russu consider these Costobocian names to be Thraco-Dacian.{{sfn | Tomaschek | 1883 | p=407}}{{sfn|Schütte|1917|p=143}}{{sfn | Russu | 1969 | pp= 99,116 }} Culture Body-painting was customary among the Dacians.{{specify|date = October 2013}} It is probable that the tattooing originally had a religious significance.{{sfn | Bury | Cook |Adcock|Percival Charlesworth| 1954 |p=543 }} They practiced symbolic-ritual tattooing or body painting for both men and women, with hereditary symbols transmitted up to the fourth generation.{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=114}}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 priest-kings. However, the layout of the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa indicates the possibility of co-rulership, with a separate high king and high priest.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }} 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”.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }} Both Hellenistic and Oriental influences are discernible in the religious background, alongside chthonic and solar motifs.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }}According to Herodotus’ account of the story of Zalmoxis or Zamolxis,{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}} 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.{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}}Histories by Herodotus Book 4 translated by G. Rawlinson 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)”.{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,11}}File:Relief Bendis BM 2155.jpg|thumb|left|Votive stele representing Bendis wearing a Dacian cap (British MuseumBritish MuseumThe 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.{{sfn|Tomaschek|1893}} Another important deity was Bendis, goddess of the moon and the hunt.WEB,www.theoi.com/Thrakios/Bendis.html, BENDIS - Thracian Goddess of the Moon & Hunting, www.theoi.com, 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,{{efn|1=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 offers a reconstruction of the inscription mentioning the first introduction, p}} and, though Thracian and Athenian processions remained separate, both cult and festival became so popular that in Plato’s time (c. 429–13 BC) its festivities were naturalised as an official ceremony of the Athenian city-state, called the Bendideia.{{efn|1=Fifth-century fragmentary inscriptions that record formal descrees regarding formal aspects of the Bendis cult, are reproduced in Planeaux 2000:170f}} Early Middle Ages {{See also|Migration Period}}(File:Balkans about 680 A.D., foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire.png|right|thumb|The foundation of the First Bulgarian Empire)(File:Balkans850.png|right|thumb|First Bulgarian Empire)Between 271 and 275, the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded later by the Goths.{{Citation |last= Jordanes |author-link= Jordanes |title= Getica, sive, De Origine Actibusque Gothorum |year=551 |location= Constantinople |url=www.harbornet.com/folks/theedrich/Goths/Goths1.htm }} The Goths mixed with the local people until the 4th century, when the Huns, a nomadic people, arrived.{{Citation |last1=Iliescu |first1=Vl.|last2=Paschale|first2=Chronicon|title= Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae |volume=II|pages=363, 587|place= BucureÈ™ti |year=1970}} The Gepids,{{Citation |first=Istvan |last=Bóna |editor-last=Köpeczi|editor-first = Béla|title=History of Transylvania: II.3 |quote= Several migrating peoples lived alongside the local populations, such as the Gothic Empire (Oium) (from 271 until 378), the Hunnish Empire (until 435), the Avar Empire and the Slavs (during the 6th century) |chapter=The Kingdom of the Gepids|volume=1|publisher=Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences|place=New York |year=2001 |chapter-url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/33.html }} the Avars, the Bulgars and their Slavic subjects{{Citation| first=István | last=Bóna| editor-last = Köpeczi| editor-first = Béla | title = History of Transylvania: II.4 |chapter=The Period of the Avar Rule| volume = 1| publisher = Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences| place = New York| year = 2001| chapter-url =mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/41.html }} ruled Transylvania until the 8th century. The territories of Wallachia and Moldavia were under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681 until around the time of the Hungarian conquest of Transylvania at the end of the 10th century.{{Citation|last=Teodor|first=Dan Gh.|title= Istoria României de la începuturi până în secolul al VIII-lea |year =1995 |location= BucureÈ™ti |pages=294–325 |volume=2}}After the disintegration of Great Bulgaria following Khan Kubrat’s death in 665, a large group of Bulgars followed Asparukh, the third son of the great Khan, who headed westwards. In the 670’s they settled in the area known as the Ongal to the north of the Danube delta.BOOK, Fine, John V. A.,books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C, The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, Fine, John Van Antwerp, 1991, University of Michigan Press, 978-0-472-08149-3, 44, en, Second, another son, Isperikh (or Asparukh) moved into what is now Bessarabia, and then in the 670s crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. He conquered the Slavic tribes there and eventually established a Bulgarian state., JOURNAL, Fiedler, Uwe, 2008-01-01, Bulgars In The Lower Danube Region. A Survey Of The Archaeological Evidence And Of The State Of Current Research,brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789047423560/Bej.9789004163898.i-492_006.xml, The Other Europe in the Middle Ages, en, 152, 9789047423560, The Bulgars following Kubrat’s third son, Asparukh, migrated to the west, across the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. They settled in an area close to the Danube Delta named Onglos., BOOK, Curta, Florin,books.google.com/books?id=QOpoAAAAMAAJ, The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans, Kovalev, Roman, 2008, Brill, 978-90-04-16389-8, 104, en, ...date kuvrat’s death between 650 and 665..., From there, Asparukh’s cavalry in alliance with local Slavs annually attacked the Byzantine territories in the south. In 680, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine IV led a large army to fight the Bulgars but was defeated in the battle of Ongal and the Byzantines were forced to acknowledge the formation of a new country, the First Bulgarian Empire. The northern border of the country followed the southern slopes of the Carpathian mountains from the Iron Gates and reached the Dneper river or possibly just the Dniester river to the east.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}The Bulgarians’ main rivals in the area were the Avars to the west and the Khazars to the east. The Khazars were a serious threat; they marched westwards after they crushed the resistance of Kubrat’s eldest son Bayan and waged a war against Asparukh, who was killed, although not necessarily by a Khazar. To protect their northern borders, the Bulgarians built several enormous ditches that ran the whole length of the border from the Timok river to the Black Sea.BOOK, Stepanov, Tsvetelin,books.google.com/books?id=Jh24DwAAQBAJ&dq=Khazars+Asparukh&pg=PA216, Waiting for the End of the World: European Dimensions, 950–1200, October 21, 2019, Brill Publishers, 978-90-04-40993-4, 216, In 803, Krum of Bulgaria became Khan. The new, energetic ruler focused on the north-west where Bulgaria’s old enemies the Avars experienced difficulties and setbacks against the Franks under Charlemagne.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} Between 804 and 806, the Bulgarian armies annihilated the Avars and destroyed their state. Krum took the eastern parts of the former Avar Khaganate and took over rule of the local Slavic tribes. Bulgaria’s territory extended twice from the middle Danube to the north of present-day Budapest to the Dnester, though its possession of Transylvania is debatable.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} In 813 Khan Krum seized Odrin and plundered the whole of Eastern Thrace. He took 50,000 captives who were settled in Bulgaria across the Danube.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} High Middle Ages {{See also|Moldavia in the Middle Ages|Transylvania in the Middle Ages|Wallachia in the Middle Ages|Founding of Wallachia}}File:Castelul Bran2.jpg|thumb|Bran Castle (, ) built in 1212, is commonly known as Dracula’s Castle and is situated in the centre of present-day Romania. In addition to its unique architecture, the castle is famous because of persistent myths that it was once the home of Vlad III DraculaVlad III Dracula(File:Europe_mediterranean_1190_cropped.jpg|alt=Kingdom of Hungary, King Béla III of Hungary, 1190, Europe, map|thumb|Europe in 1190)During the Middle Ages the Bulgarian Empire controlled vast areas to the north of the river Danube (with interruptions) from its establishment in 681 to its fragmentation in 1371–1422. These lands were called by contemporary Byzantine historians Bulgaria across the Danube, or Transdanubian Bulgaria.WEB, T. Balkanski – Transilvanskite bylgari – Predgovor,macedonia.kroraina.com/tb2/tb_predg.htm, macedonia.kroraina.com, Original information for the centuries-old Bulgarian rule there is scarce as the archives of the Bulgarian rulers were destroyed and little is mentioned for this area in Byzantine or Hungarian manuscripts. During the First Bulgarian Empire, the Dridu culture developed in the beginning of the 8th century and flourished until the 11th century.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=127}}{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=87}} It represents an early medieval archaeological culture which emerged in the region of the Lower Danube. {{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=127}}{{sfn|Spinei|2009|p=87}} In Bulgaria it is usually referred to as Pliska-Preslav culture.Плиска-Преслав: Прабългарската култура, Том 2, Българска академия на науките Археологически институт и музей, 1981.The Pechenegs,{{Citation |last=Constantine VII |first=Porphyrogenitus |title=Constantine Porphyrogenitus De Administrando Imperio |date=950 |url=http://faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/rus/texts/constp.html |location=Constantinople |author-link=Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus}} the Cumans{{Citation |last=Xenopol |first=Alexandru D. |title=Histoire des Roumains |volume=i |pages=168 |year=1896 |place=Paris}} and Uzes are also mentioned by historic chronicles on the territory of Romania until the founding of the Romanian principalities of Wallachia in the south by Basarab I around 1310 in the High Middle Ages,{{Citation |last=Ștefănescu |first=Ștefan |title=Istoria medie a României |volume=I |pages=114 |year=1991 |location=Bucharest}} and Moldavia in the east, by DragoÈ™ around 1352.{{Citation |last=Predescu |first=Lucian |title=Enciclopedia Cugetarea |year=1940}}The Pechenegs, a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the Central Asian steppes, occupied the steppes north of the Black Sea from the 8th to the 11th centuries, and by the 10th century they were in control of all of the territory between the Don and the lower Danube rivers.WEB,www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/448299/Pechenegs, Pechenegs | people | Britannica.com, britannica.com, 2015-08-25, During the 11th and 12th centuries, the nomadic confederacy of the Cumans and Eastern Kipchaks dominated the territories between present-day Kazakhstan, southern Russia, Ukraine, southern Moldavia and western Wallachia.WEB,www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780511110153&ss=fro, Cumans and Tatars – Cambridge University Press, cambridge.org, 2015-08-25, WEB,www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/wallachia-history.htm, Romania’s ethnographic regions – Wallachia (Èšara Românească), eliznik, eliznik.org.uk, 2015-08-25,www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/wallachia-history.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20150923235632www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/wallachia-history.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20150923235632www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaHistory/wallachia-history.htm, 2015-09-23, dead, WEB,www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977384642,www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977384642," title="archive.today/20130426051709www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977384642,">archive.today/20130426051709www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977384642, dead, 2013-04-26, Gather.com – Join The Conversation : Gather.com, gather.com, 2015-08-25, It is debated whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population survived in Transylvania through the Dark Ages to become the ancestors of modern Romanians or whether the first Vlachs and Romanians appeared in the area in the 13th century after a northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula.István Lázár: Transylvania, a Short History, Simon Publications, Safety Harbor, Florida, 1996weblink{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}Martyn C. Rady: Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary, Antony Grove Ltd, Great Britain, 2000weblink There is also debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania’s population before the Hungarian conquest.JOURNAL, VÁLI, FERENC A., 1966, Transylvania and the Hungarian Minority,www.jstor.org/stable/24363369, Journal of International Affairs, 20, 1, 32–44, 24363369, 0022-197X, Several Kings of Hungary invited settlers from Central and Western Europe, such as the Saxons, to occupy Transylvania. The Székelys were brought to southeastern Transylvania as border guards. Romanians are mentioned by the Hungarian documents of a township called Olahteluk in 1283 in Bihar County.György Fejér, Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus ac civilis, Volume 7, typis typogr. Regiae Vniversitatis Vngaricae, 1831 weblink The “land of Romanians” (Terram Blacorum)Dennis P. Hupchick, Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 1995 p. 58 weblinkIstván Vásáry, Cumans and Tatars: Oriental military in the pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 28 weblink{{Dead link|date=May 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}Heinz Stoob, Die Mittelalterliche Städtebildung im südöstlichen Europa, Böhlau, 1977, p. 204 weblinkTamás Kis, Magyar nyelvjárások, Volumes 18–21, Nyelvtudományi Intézet, Kossuth Lajos Tudományegyetem (University of Kossuth Lajos). Magyar Nyelvtudományi Tanszék, 1972, p. 83 Magyar nyelvjárások