Imperial Dacia

Ancient Dacia was vital to imperial Roman interests. A thorn in the side of the Roman Empire until Trajan defeated the Dacian king Decebalus at the Second Battle of Tapae in 101 AD, and then razed his capital Sarmizegetusa in 105, Dacia later became indispensable to the Empire. In this first concerted treatment of Roman Romania, Kai Brodersen expertly traces Dacia’s transition from hated enemy and rival to essential breadbasket of the imperium. Not only was the region a major producer of grain, especially wheat; but it also contributed to Rome vital quantities of salt, iron, silver and copper. Furthermore, Trajan used Dacia as a platform to launch his fierce assault upon the competing Parthian Empire and thereby extend Rome to its furthest landward boundaries. A rural society thus became increasingly urbanised and Roman. Brodersen shows that the present-day Romania (whose language has a strong Latin character) still bears the imprint of historical and cultural Romanisation, eighteen centuries after the dismantling of Dacia by the Emperor Aurelian following incursions by the Carpi, Goths and Heruli.