Roman Dacia

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 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.
After its integration into the empire, Roman Dacia saw frequent administrative reorganization. In 119 under Hadrian, it was divided into two departments: Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior. Between 124 and around 158, Dacia Superior was divided into two provinces, Dacia Apulensis and Dacia Porolissensis. The three provinces would later be unified in 166 and be known as Tres Daciae due to the ongoing Marcomannic Wars. New mines were opened and ore extraction intensified, while agriculture, stock breeding, and commerce flourished in the province. 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 had his seat, while Apulum was Roman Dacia's military center.
From its creation, Roman Dacia suffered great political and military threats. The Free Dacians, allied with the Sarmatians, made constant raids in the province. These were followed by the Carpi and the newly arrived Germanic tribes allied with them. All this made the province difficult for the Roman emperors to maintain, already being virtually lost during the reign of Gallienus. Aurelian formally relinquished Roman Dacia in 271 or 275 AD. He evacuated his troops and civilian administration from Dacia, and founded Dacia Aureliana with its capital at Serdica in Lower Moesia. The Romanized population still left was abandoned, and its fate after the Roman withdrawal is controversial. According to one theory, the Latin spoken in Dacia, mostly in modern Romania, became the Romanian language, making the Romanians descendants of the Daco-Romans. The opposing theory states that the origin of the Romanians actually lies on the Balkan Peninsula.

Background

The Dacians and the Getae frequently interacted with the Romans before Dacia's incorporation into the Roman Empire. However, Roman attention on the area around the lower Danube was sharpened when Burebista unified the native tribes and began an aggressive campaign of expansion. His kingdom extended to Pannonia in the west and reached the Black Sea to the east, while to the south his authority extended into the Balkans.
By 74 BC, the Roman legions under Gaius Scribonius Curio reached the lower Danube and proceeded to come into contact with the Dacians. Roman concern over the rising power and influence of Burebista was amplified when he began to play an active part in Roman politics. His last minute decision just before the Battle of Pharsalus to participate in the Roman Republic's civil war by supporting Pompey meant that once the Pompeians were dealt with, Julius Caesar would turn his eye towards Dacia. As part of Caesar's planned Parthian campaign of 44 BC, he prepared to cross into Dacia and eliminate Burebista, thereby hopefully causing the breakup of his kingdom. Although this expedition into Dacia did not happen due to Caesar's assassination, Burebista failed to bring about any true unification of the tribes he ruled. Following a plot which saw him assassinated, his kingdom fractured into four distinct political entities, later becoming five, each ruled by minor kings.
From the death of Burebista to the rise of Decebalus, Roman forces continued to clash against the Dacians and the Getae. Constant raiding by the tribes into the adjacent provinces of Moesia and Pannonia caused the local governors and the emperors to undertake a number of punitive actions against the Dacians. All of this kept the Roman Empire and the Dacians in constant social, diplomatic, and political interaction during much of the late pre-Roman period. This saw the occasional granting of favoured status to the Dacians in the manner of being identified as amicii et socii – "friends and allies" – of Rome, although by the time of Octavianus this was tied up with the personal patronage of important Roman individuals. An example of this was seen in Octavianus' actions during his conflict with Marcus Antonius. Seeking to obtain an ally who could threaten Antonius' European provinces, in 35 BC Octavianus offered an alliance with the Dacians, whereby he would marry the daughter of the Dacian King, Cotiso, and in exchange Cotiso would wed Octavianus' daughter, Julia.
Although it is believed that the custom of providing royal hostages to the Romans may have commenced sometime during the first half of the 1st century BC, it was certainly occurring by Octavianus' reign and it continued to be practised during the late pre-Roman period. On the flip side, ancient sources have attested to the presence of Roman merchants and artisans in Dacia, while the region also served as a haven for runaway Roman slaves. This cultural and mercantile exchange saw the gradual spread of Roman influence throughout the region, most clearly seen in the area around the Orăștie Mountains.
File:Traj col homage 3.jpg|thumb|200px|Trajan receives homage from a Dacian chieftain who betrayed Decebalus
The arrival of the Flavian dynasty, in particular the accession of the emperor Domitian, saw an escalation in the level of conflict along the lower and middle Danube. In approximately 84 or 85 AD the Dacians, led by King Decebalus, crossed the Danube into Moesia, wreaking havoc and killing the Moesian governor Gaius Oppius Sabinus. Domitian responded by reorganising Moesia into Moesia Inferior and Moesia Superior and launching a war against Decebalus. Unable to finish the war due to troubles on the German frontier, Domitian concluded a treaty with the Dacians that was heavily criticized at the time. This would serve as a precedent to the emperor Trajan's wars of conquest in Dacia. At this time Domitian moved Legio IV Flavia Felix from Burnum to its base at Singidunum in Moesia Superior.
Trajan led the Roman legions across the Danube, penetrating Dacia and focusing on the important area around the Orăștie Mountains. In 102, after a series of engagements, negotiations led to a peace settlement where Decebalus agreed to demolish his forts while allowing the presence of a Roman garrison at Sarmizegetusa Regia to ensure Dacian compliance with the treaty. Trajan also ordered his engineer, Apollodorus of Damascus, to design and build a bridge across the Danube at Drobeta.
Trajan's second Dacian campaign in 105–106 was very specific in its aim of expansion and conquest. The offensive targeted Sarmizegetusa Regia. The Romans besieged Decebalus' capital, which surrendered and was destroyed. The Dacian king and a handful of his followers withdrew into the mountains, but their resistance was short-lived and Decebalus committed suicide. Other Dacian nobles, however, were either captured or chose to surrender. One of those who surrendered revealed the location of the Dacian royal treasury, which was of enormous value: of gold and of silver.

Dacia under the Antonine and Severan emperors (106–235)

Establishment (106–117)

With the annexation of Decebalus' kingdom, Dacia was turned into Rome's newest province, only the second such acquisition since the death of Augustus nearly a century before. Decebalus' Sarmatian allies to the north were still present in the area, requiring a number of campaigns that did not cease until 107 at the earliest; however, by the end of 106, the legions began erecting new castra along the frontiers. Trajan returned to Rome in the middle of June 107.
Roman sources list Dacia as an imperial province on 11 August 106. It was governed by an imperial legate of consular standing, supported by two legati legionis who were in charge of each of the two legions stationed in Dacia. The procurator Augusti was responsible for managing the taxation of the province and expenditure by the military.
File:REmpire Dacia.svg|thumb|250px|The provinces of the Roman Empire in 117, with Dacia highlighted
Transforming Dacia into a province was a very resource-intensive process. Traditional Roman methods were employed, including the creation of urban infrastructure such as Roman baths, forums and temples, the establishment of Roman roads, and the creation of colonies composed of retired soldiers. However, excluding Trajan's attempts to encourage colonists to move into the new province, the imperial government did hardly anything to promote resettlement from existing provinces into Dacia.
An immediate effect of the wars leading to the Roman conquest was a decrease in the population in the province. Crito wrote that approximately 500,000 Dacians were enslaved and deported, a portion of which were transported to Rome to participate in the gladiatorial games as part of the celebrations to mark the emperor's triumph. To compensate for the depletion of the population, the Romans carried out a program of official colonisation, establishing urban centres made up of both Roman citizens and non-citizens from across the empire. Nevertheless, native Dacians remained at the periphery of the province and in rural settings, while local power elites were encouraged to support the provincial administration, a usual Roman colonial practice.
Trajan established the Dacian capital, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, some west of the ruined Sarmizegetusa Regia. Initially serving as a base for the Legio IV Flavia Felix, it soon was settled by the retired veterans who had served in the Dacian Wars, principally the Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth legions.
It is generally assumed that Trajan's reign saw the creation of the Roman road network within imperial Dacia, with any pre-existing natural communication lines quickly converted into paved Roman roads which were soon extended into a more extensive road network. However, only two roads have been attested to have been created at Trajan's explicit command: one was an arterial road that linked the military camps at Napoca and Potaissa. Epigraphic evidence on the milliarium of Aiton indicates that this stretch of road was finished sometime during 109–110 AD. The second road was a major arterial road that passed through Apulum, and stretched from the Black Sea in the east all the way to Pannonia Inferior in the west and presumably beyond. Nevertheless, the arterial roads and other presumably unstable regions were controlled by a vast new network of forts for cohorts and auxiliary units, initially built in turf and wood and many of them later rebuilt in stone. Their garrisons were drawn from many parts of the empire.

Name	From	To
Julius Sabinus	105	107/109
Decimus Terentius Scaurianus	109	110/111
Gaius Avidius Nigrinus	112	113
Quintus Baebius Macer	114	114
Gaius Julius Quadratus Bassus	?	117