Teurisci was a Dacian tribe at the time of Ptolemy (140 AD). [1] [2] They were originally considered a branch of the Celtic Taurisci (Noricum), who moved to Upper Tisza. However, the archaeology shows that Celts have been absorbed by Dacians, at some point [3] creating a Celto-Dacian cultural horizon in the upper Tisza. [4] [ better source needed ]
The name Teurisci is considered a variant of Taurisci or Tauristae. [5]
The Celtic Taurisci were settled in the south-eastern Alps and were known from the name of Mount Taurus. Due to iron mining, their centers (i.e. Noreia - now Newmarkt and Virunum now Magdalensburg) enjoyed great success in trade and commerce with the Balkans. The lowland Taurisci gradually grew in power and became largely separate from their mountain relatives. Therefore, the inhabitants of this eastern area became known collectively – from the place name Noreia – as Norici and the territory under their control as Noricum. [6]
Teurisci, attested by Ptolemy in Dacia, were originally a group of the Celtic Taurisci from the Austrian Alps established in North-Western Dacia at the end of Iron Age. [7]
In 60 BC, when the king of the Dacians Burebista succeeded in uniting his own people with their kindred Getae and Burs into one kingdom he began to put pressure on the Celtic tribes of the Danubian Basin. He advanced against the Taurisci and Boii, gaining his most notable success near to the river Tisza [8] After defeating the Taurisci (Cotini) and Boii, the Dacian King Burebista forced some of them to leave southwestern Slovakia. A Celto-Dacian cultural horizon was created in the conquered territory, Dacian settlement here continued into the second decade of the new era. [9]
Posidonius record that, at his time, Celtic (Boii, Scordisci, and Taurisci) were intermingling with Thracians on both sides of the Danube. Later, Strabo (about 20 AD), repeat this piece of information, yet he uses the variant Ligyrisci instead of the Posidinius's variant Teurisci. [10]
According to Ptolemy (140 AD), Teurisci of Dacia bordered Anarti of Dacia on the east. Further east of them were the Dacian Costoboci. [11]
About 150 BC, Celtic La Tène material disappears from Dacia. This coincides with the ancient writings which mentioned the rise of the Dacian authority. It ended the Celtic domination and it is possible Celts were thrust 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 [12] The Celtic groups which spread as far as Transylvania had been assimilated by the Dacians, [3]
Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus roughly corresponds to the present-day countries of Romania, as well as parts of Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
Built in murus dacicus style, the six Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains, in Romania, were created in the 1st centuries BC and AD as protection against Roman conquest, and played an important role during the Roman-Dacian wars.
The Dacians were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often considered a subgroup of the Thracians. This area includes mainly the present-day countries of Romania and Moldova, as well as parts of Ukraine, Eastern Serbia, Northern Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and Southern Poland. The Dacians and the related Getae spoke the Dacian language, which has a debated relationship with the neighbouring Thracian language and may be a subgroup of it. Dacians were somewhat culturally influenced by the neighbouring Scythians and by the Celtic invaders of the 4th century BC.
Burebista was the king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61 BC to 45/44 BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian kingdom, which comprised the area located between the Danube, Tisza, and Dniester rivers, and modern day Romania and Moldova. In the 7th and 6th centuries BC it became home to the Thracian peoples, including the Getae and the Dacians. From the 4th century to the middle of the 2nd century BC the Dacian peoples were influenced by La Tène Celts who brought new technologies with them into Dacia. Sometime in the 2nd century BC the Dacians expelled the Celts from their lands. Dacians often warred with neighbouring tribes, but the relative isolation of the Dacian peoples in the Carpathian Mountains allowed them to survive and even to thrive. By the 1st century BC the Dacians had become the dominant power.
Dacian is an extinct language, generally believed to be a member of the Indo-European family, that was spoken in the Carpathian region in antiquity. In the 1st century, it was probably the predominant language of the ancient regions of Dacia and Moesia and possibly of some surrounding regions. The language was extinct by the 4th century AD.
Argedava was an important Dacian town mentioned in the Decree of Dionysopolis (48 BC), and potentially located at Popești, a district in the town of Mihăilești, Giurgiu County, Muntenia, Romania.
The Burs were a Dacian tribe living in Dacia in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., with their capital city at Buridava.
The Anartes were Celtic tribes, or, in the case of those sub-groups of Anartes which penetrated the ancient region of Dacia, Celts culturally assimilated by the Dacians.
The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's Carinthia and northern Slovenia (Carniola) before the coming of the Romans. According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same as the people known as the Norici.
The history of Dacian warfare spans from c. 10th century BC up to the 2nd century AD in the region defined by Ancient Greek and Latin historians as Dacia, populated by a collection of Thracian, Ionian, and Dorian tribes. It concerns the armed conflicts of the Dacian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans. Apart from conflicts between Dacians and neighboring nations and tribes, numerous wars were recorded among Dacians too.
Critasiros was a king of the Celtic tribes of the Boii and Taurisci. In 59 BC The Boii and Taurisci were defeated under the leadership of Critosiros by the Dacians in today's Hungary. Burebista, the ruler of the Dacians, then demanded tribute from them. The Boii decided to move west through Noricum to settle with the Helvetii tribe in modern-day Switzerland. On the way they besieged Noreia, the capital of Noricum, but were repulsed by the Noricans. Voccio, the ruler of Noricum, then allied himself with the politically rising Roman proconsul Julius Caesar, who in turn intended to subdue all of Gaul, and defeated the Helvetii and their allies in 58 BC in the battle of Bibracte.
Krobyzoi is a Thracian, Getic or Dacian tribe.
Ciaginsi was a Dacian tribe.
Argidava was a Dacian fortress town close to the Danube, inhabited and governed by the Albocense. Located in today's Vărădia, Caraș-Severin County, Romania.
The Decree of Dionysopolis was written around 48 BC by the citizens of Dionysopolis to Akornion, who traveled far away in a diplomatic mission to meet somebody's farther in Argedauon. The decree, a fragmentary marble inscription, is located in the National Historical Museum in Sofia.
Akornion was an important citizen of the Ionian Greek colony of Dionysopolis.
The appearance of Celts in Transylvania can be traced to the later La Tène period . Excavation of the great La Tène necropolis at Apahida, Cluj County, by S. Kovacs at the turn of the 20th century revealed the first evidence of Celtic culture in Romania. The 3rd–2nd century BC site is remarkable for its cremation burials and chiefly wheel-made funeral vessels.
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