| Second Dacian War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Dacian Wars | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Roman Empire Iazyges |  Dacia Roxolani | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Trajan | Decebalus | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| between 150,000 and 175,000 [1] | 200,000 [1] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Heavy | ||||||||
Trajan's Second Dacian War was fought between 105 and 106 because the Dacian king, Decebalus, had broken his peace terms with the Roman Emperor Trajan from the Trajan's First Dacian War.
Following his subjugation, Decebalus complied with Rome for a time, but was soon inciting revolt among tribes against them.
Before the start of the 2nd war, Trajan had built his great bridge over the Danube to move his legions faster into Dacia.
Roman plans for the war led to a well-planned counter-attack led by Decebalus and numerous Roman fortified positions in Wallachia were occupied or besieged by the Dacians, as were those along the Danube. After several failed attempts, Decebalus managed to get the governor of the newly occupied territories (Gnaeus Pompeius Longinus, [5] one of the top Roman commanders in 104 [6] ) to meet him, promising that he would do whatever demanded. [7] However, when Longinus arrived the Dacian king had him arrested and interrogated about Trajan's plans; when Longinus refused to answer, Decebalus had him imprisoned. The king then offered Trajan to trade Longinus for the territory Trajan had conquered and the money Decebalus had spent on the war. An ambiguous answer was returned, so as not to cause Decebalus to believe that Trajan regarded Longinus as either of great importance or of slight importance so as to prevent his being killed or being returned on excessive terms. [8] Meanwhile Longinus committed suicide to deny any advantage to the Dacian king.
The work of reconquest led Trajan to spend the entire summer of 105 there and prevented him from starting a new invasion campaign in Dacian territory before the following year. The events in this period are shown on Trajan's Column:
Trajan summoned leaders of the "friends and allies of the Roman people" (the Quadi, Marcomanni, some tribes of the Daco-Getae and perhaps the Iazyges themselves) to his headquarters on the Danube (probably in Drobeta) in order to obtain military aid and strategic support before starting the last campaign, thus making sure of their loyalty). Several Roman legions crossed Trajan's Bridge into Dacia and gradually Trajan's army began to push northward.
At the beginning of the summer of 106 Trajan attacked the Dacian capital on two fronts with the participation of the legions II Adiutrix and IV Flavia Felix and a detachment (vexillatio) from Legio VI Ferrata [10] (perhaps from the " Iron Gates" pass and from the Red Tower pass) but the Dacians repelled the first attack that left the Romans with numerous dead and wounded. The major siege at the Battle of Sarmisegetusa must have been long and fraught with many setbacks and delays, involving skirmishes in rocky terrain after the Dacians made sallies from their walls, and using siege machines and offensive siegeworks. The Romans destroyed the water pipes to the Dacian capital.
In the end Sarmisegetusa Regia capitulated towards the end of the summer of that year and the Dacians set fire to their own buildings and Dacian leaders committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner. [11] Finally, one after the other, all the fortified fortresses in the Orăștie area fell: from Popești to Cetățeni, Piatra Neamț, Pecica, Piatra Craivii, Căpâlna, Costești, Bănița, Bălănești up to Tilișca. [12]
Nevertheless, the war went on with more sieges of Dacian forts and Dacian attacks on Roman camps until the last battle with Dacians took place at Porolissum.
Decebalus sought refuge in the north, in the Carpathian mountains an almost inaccessible region, but a Roman column pursued him along the valley of the Marisus river. The Dacian leaders of the north, although aware of their imminent end, joined the king in a desperate attempt to reverse the fortunes of the war, even achieving some success. Decebalus was reached by an auxiliary unit of the Roman army in Ranistrorum (today's Piatra Craivii, north of the later veteran colony of Apulum (castra)) and before being captured by Tiberius Claudius Maximus, committed suicide [13] with many of the leaders of his retinue. The head of the Dacian king was brought to Trajan [14] For a few months the Roman army was still engaged in repressive actions but it was a matter of quelling small local riots. The coinage of that year celebrated Dacia capta (occupied). [15]
Due to the treason of a confidant (Bicilis) of the Dacian King, the Romans found Decebalus's treasure in the River Sargesia, a fortune estimated at 165,500 kg of gold and 331,000 kg of silver. [16]
The Tropaeum Traiani (Trajan's Trophy) was built in 109 AD near the modern Adamclisi, Romania to commemorate Trajan's victory in 106, including the victory at the Battle of Adamclisi nearby in 102. [17] It was part of a monumental complex comprising the trophy monument, the tumulus grave behind it and the commemorative altar, raised in 102 AD for soldiers fallen in the battles of this region.
In 113, Trajan built Trajan's Column near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate his victory.
The Dacian kingdom ceased to exist, but a large part remained outside of Roman Imperial authority along the plain of Tisza, lower Marisus and Crisul. The heart of the old kingdom was transformed into the new Roman province of Dacia [18] with its capital in the newly founded city of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa . Much of the Wallachian plain in Muntenia and Moldavia with the new forts for auxiliary units such as at Piroboridava were attributed to the province of Moesia Inferior. [19] [20]
Additionally, 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, within the annexed territory and surrounds, the material advantages of being part of the Roman Imperial system wasn't lost on the majority of the surviving Dacian aristocracy. Thus began the process by which most modern Romanian historians and linguists believe that many of the Dacians subsequently became romanized (see also Origin of Romanians).
Trajan was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier-emperor who led the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent by the time of his death. He was given the title of optimus by the Roman Senate.
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 present-day Romania, as well as parts of Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. Moesian Province was first administered by governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballia'. It included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Albania, northern parts of North Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobruja and small parts of Southern Ukraine.
Sarmizegetusa Regia was the capital and the most important military, religious and political centre of the Dacians before the wars with the Roman Empire. Built on top of a 1200 m high mountain, the fortress, consisting of six citadels, was the core of a strategic and defensive system in the Orăștie Mountains.
Decebalus, sometimes referred to as Diurpaneus, was the last Dacian king. He is famous for fighting three wars, with varying success, against the Roman Empire under two emperors. After raiding south across the Danube, he defeated a Roman invasion in the reign of Domitian, securing a period of independence during which Decebalus consolidated his rule.
Legio II Traiana, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army raised by emperor Trajan, along with XXX Ulpia Victrix, for the campaigns in Dacia. Records of the II Traiana Fortis have been recovered from Egypt dating to the middle of the 5th century. The legion's emblem was the demi-god Hercules.
The falx was a weapon with a curved blade that was sharp on the inside edge used by the Thracians and Dacians. The name was later applied to a siege hook used by the Romans.
The Tropaeum Traiani or Trajan's Trophy lies 1.4 km northeast of the Roman city of Civitas Tropaensium. It was built in AD 109 in then Moesia Inferior, to commemorate Roman Emperor Trajan's victory over the Dacians in 106, including the victory at the Battle of Adamclisi nearby in 102.
Trajan's Dacian Wars were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian province of Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Empire.
A manica or cheires by the Greeks was a type of iron or bronze arm guard, with curved and overlapping metal segments or plates, fastened to leather straps, worn by Roman gladiators called crupellarii, and later optionally by soldiers.
The Third Battle of Tapae (101) was the decisive battle of the first of Trajan's Dacian Wars, in which the Roman Emperor defeated the Dacian King Decebalus's army. Other setbacks in the campaign delayed its completion until 102. The battle is most likely the battle-scene depicted on Plate 22 of Trajan's column.
Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between the Roman Empire and the Dacian Kingdom, which had invaded the province of Moesia. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, in the years 86–88 AD.
The Battle of Adamclisi was a major clash during the Dacian Wars, fought in the winter of 101 to 102 between the Roman Empire and the Dacians near Adamclisi, in modern Romania.
Trajan's First Dacian War took place from 101 to 102.
Gnaeus Pompeius Longinus was a Roman senator and general. He was the 5th legate of Judaea from 85 to 89 and held the suffect consulship in the nundinium of September–October 90 as the colleague of Lucius Albius Pullaienus Pollio. He was deceived into a trap by Decebalus during Trajan's Second Dacian War, and rather than provide an advantage to the Dacian king, killed himself.
Civitas Tropaensium was a Roman city situated in the Roman province of Moesia near modern Adamclisi in Constanța County, Romania.
The Battle of Sarmizegetusa was a siege of Sarmizegetusa, the capital of Dacia, fought in Trajan's Second Dacian War in 106 between the army of the Roman Emperor Trajan, and the Dacians led by King Decebalus.
Roman Dacia was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat. During Roman rule, it was organized as an imperial province on the borders of the empire. It is estimated that the population of Roman Dacia ranged from 650,000 to 1,200,000. It was conquered by Trajan (98–117) after two campaigns that devastated the Dacian Kingdom of Decebalus. However, the Romans did not occupy its entirety; Crișana, Maramureș, and most of Moldavia remained under the Free Dacians.
This section of the timeline of Romanian history concerns events from Late Neolithic until Late Antiquity, which took place in or are directly related with the territory of modern Romania.
The history of Dacia comprises the events surrounding the historical region roughly corresponding to the present territory of Romania and Moldova and inhabited by the Getae and Dacian peoples, with its capital Sarmizegetusa Regia.
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