Dacians – Armory
The military strength of the Dacians, well known and feared by their neighbors, was a result of their mentality and education, as well as the weapons and tactics that they used.
One of the main advantages of the Dacians was given by the extensive use of the bow, especially as the main weapon of the cavalry. The bow was a worshipped instrument in the Dacian culture, more than a weapon. On one side, they used it as a weapon, for hunting and in manly contests, but it also played an important role in several rituals. The supreme god Gebeleizis is often represented as an archer, and in some moments in their history the Dacians have used arrow heads as money. Basing a large part of the troops on archery allowed the Dacians to destroy an important part of the enemy force before it reached them in close combat, and the light cavalry equipped with bows was able to deal large amounts of damage to the enemy infantry, while being very hard to stop. As a matter of fact, the military history regards the bow and cavalry combination as one of the most efficient and mobile weapons, until the invention of heavy armor.
For melee combat, the Dacians used a one-handed sword, called the Sica. The blade of this sword was about 25 inches long and was sharp on only one side. It became narrower towards the end: the back was straight, and so was the edge near the hilt, until a point where only the cutting side started to describe a curve, so that the tip of the blade was a sharp point. The guard was fairly big, in order to offer good protection for the hand and was often ornated with sacred symbols.
Some of the dacian fighters used another kind of sword, which resembled the celtic model. This sword was sharp on both sides and it had a triangular blade. The celtic sword also inspired the Gladius, the famous sword that the roman soldiers used.
The Dacians wore light armor for defense, made of tanned leather and in some cases covered with metal scales. This kind of armor offered maximum mobility, which was necessary especially for the archers. Those who chose to fight with a one-hand sword also used a medium sized round or oval shield. Very few fighters – usually the nobles - wore metal breast plates. The Dacians also wore metal helmets, with defenses for the face, but with a short back side, in order to allow free movement. Some of the helmets were ornated, as the swords, with ritual symbols or with a special sign: a pair of eyes on the forehead.
The Dacian flag was a wolf head with a tail made of metal scales, and it was called a Drakon. The Drakon was built so that when the wind passed through it, it would make a sound that resembled a wolf’s cry, which lead to the association of the Dacians with the image of this animal.
Dacians – Civilization
Dacia, the cradle of the tracian civilization, spread from the Dinaric Alps and the Italic Peninsula in the West, to the mountains of continental Greece in the South. At the center of this territory there stood the Carpathian mountains, which served as natural fortifications to the Dacians, and divided their people in several tribes. The waters that spring from these mountains segmented their land, and those that make up its borders (the Danube, Tisa and Nistru rivers) helped creating bonds with the mediteranean and aegean peoples, and lead to continual mutual influences between the Dacians and the southern peoples, thoughout their history.
The Dacians are the descendants of the first humans to inhabit these lands; they didn’t appear inside this territory as a result of a migration, instead they were born and their culture evolved here. The age of the dacian civilization is proven by a long series of archaeological discoveries, of which the most recent are also the most spectacular. The oldest bronze furnaces in Europe have been discovered in today’s Romania, and their age is over 8000 years. The bronze objects found together with these furnaces show good skill from their makers, which suggests that the civilization that produced them had some time to develop this skill, and thus it is much older than the objects.
Other “firsts” were discovered in Romania, once the territory of the ancient Dacians: the oldest house built above the ground, as well as the first writing in the world. In 1961, the archaeologists have unburied a few clay tablets near Tartaria, in Transylvania. These tablets contain abstract drawings – i.e. not representation of images from the nature – which have been interpreted as a written message. Having been dated to around 4800 – 4500 BC, these tablets are about 2000 years older than the sumerian writings, which have long been considered the oldest writings in the world. Neither the Tartaria tablets, nor the sumerian symbols have been deciphered, but they are considered “writing” by the same principle of abstraction.
The spiritual and scientific preocupations of this ancient culture can be seen in the calendars they left us, which are made up by structures simmilar to those found in the Britannic peninsula. The most well known calendar of this kind is that in the Sarmizegetusa city (the capital of the Dacian kingdom), where researchers have uncovered a solar sanctuary with a complex structure, apparently used for measuring time and keeping track of astronomical phenomena.
The main occupations of the Dacians were pottery, metal crafting, sheep tending and apiculture. The ancient Greeks – which called them hiperboreans – wrote that the Dacians ate mostly honey, milk and derrivatives and that they lived in perfect harmony with the nature. Their society was divided in three classes: the priests, called kapnobatai before Zalmoxe and ktistai after; the nobles, called tarabostes; and the common folk, called pileati or comati. The identifying mark of the nobles was a specific fur hat they wore, while common people didn’t cover their heads. The romanian word “coama”, which means “mane”, comes from these “comati”, because they wore long hair and beard.
The military history of the Dacians contains numerous events. At the peak of their power – the rule of king Burebista, first century BC – the borders of Dacia extended in the West until they reached the territory of today’s Switzerland. They became a threat for the Roman Empire, such that a roman emperor, Domitianus, even payed tribute to them in exchange for peace. The famous Caesar planned an attack against the Dacians, but a series of factors stopped him: on one side, the campaigns that the Empire was already fighting didn’t allow him to raise enough troops; on the other hand, the Dacians carried out frequent short and powerful attacks at the Empire’s borders, which created the impression that they had a large military force, able to travel fast. More than one century had to pass until emperor Trajan continued Caesar’s intentions, and decided to crush the Dacians by setting off the full force of the roman war machine against them. The first war between the Dacians and the Romans led by Trajan was fought between 101 and 102 AD, and ended in truce. The Dacians sustained heavy losses in this war and the terms of the armistice forced them to even reduce their military power. Compared to them, the Romans had huge resources and were able to regroup relatively fast, so that a second campaign begun in the spring of 105. The second war ended in 106 with the defeat of the Dacians and the conquest of their capital city, Sarmizegetusa. The southern part of Dacia was declared a roman province and was given the name “Dacia Felix”, which means “Wealthy Dacia” (not “Happy Dacia”, an alternative translation, erroneous in this context). To celebrate this victory, Trajan held the biggest celebration in the history of the Roman Empire, which lasted no less than 123 days. The emperor was so proud of this victory that he ordered bread and money to be given to all roman citizens, and he suspended taxes for his people for a whole year; this says a lot about the importance of the Dacians, at least in the eyes of the Romans. Trajan’s Column, the famous monument in Rome, dedicates a large area to the illustration of the war against the Dacians. The Romans maintained an occupation force in Dacia Felix until 275 AD, when a series of external factors forced emperor Aurelian to recall it.
Dacians 2
The dacian witch doctors were renowned in the ancient world for their skill. They said that, in order to cure the body, one has to cure the soul first, and they applied this principle in their remedies. As the fortresses and settlements of the dacians were located in the mountains (to protect them against attacks), these people were used to harsh winters and the wilderness. This way of life lead to them having a close relationship with the nature, but not the kind that the Celts had. The life of the Dacians was dominated by weather, long journeys through the wilderness and the lonelyness of the unforgiving mountains. This is why the magic of the Dacians is based on the fellowship with everything that is alive, on the control of the primary elements of nature. The dacian wizards will bring rain or snow, will walk on smoke or clouds and will be able to defend themselves against the wild beasts. The relation between the wizard and the elements that he controls is that of a brotherhood, stability and respect. The dacian wizard isn’t tolerated by the wolf from fear, nor simpaty, but rather because the nature accepts him as part of the power that holds the world together, and it won’t touch this balance.
Dacians
The father of history, Herodot, mentions the Dacians in his works as “the bravest and fairest of all the Thracians“. He also says that “the Thracian people is the most numerous one in the world; the Thracians have several names, according to their specific regions, but their habits are more or less the same”. At the peak of their power, the Thracians controlled over half the Europe and some territories in the Middle East. In some writings, the Dacians are also referred to as the Getae.
The territory of Dacia, the Getae’s country, was roughly that of today’s Romania, Hungary and parts of Bulgary and Ukraine. During the reign of king Burebista (1st century BC), the western border advanced to the Constanta lake, situated in today’s Switzerland.
The Dacians were a warrior people, and their polytheist religion saw death as a liberation. Their belief in the supreme god Gebeleizis made them fearless on the battlefield, and this virtue was passed on even after the old religion was replaced by the cult of Zalmoxe. As with other hiperboreean peoples, true life only began after death, where they would meet with their god. The Dacians cheered at the funerals, but cried when a child was born, weeping for the life he was going to have. This education and their beliefs meant that the Dacians were not afraid of death, and thus they were fearsome warriors in the eyes of any ancient civilization.
