Editing Trajan (section)

=== Conquest of Dacia ===

{{Main|Trajan's Dacian Wars}}

[[File:Trajan's Column HD.jpg|thumb|[[Trajan's Column]], Rome]]

The earliest of Trajan's conquests were Rome's two wars against [[Dacia]], an area that had troubled Roman politics for over a decade in regard to the unstable peace negotiated by [[Domitian]]'s ministers with the powerful Dacian king [[Decebalus]].<ref name="Romanis REquote01" /> Dacia would be reduced by Trajan's Rome to a [[satellite state|client kingdom]] in the first war (101{{ndash}}102), followed by a second war that ended in actual incorporation into the Empire of the trans-Danube border group of Dacia.<ref name="Romanis REquote01">{{cite web|access-date= 21 July 2007|url=https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/assobd.htm#t-inx|title= De Imperatoribus Romanis|website= An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors|quote= Battle of Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetuza), A.D. 105. During Trajan's reign one of the most important Roman successes was the victory over the Dacians. The first important confrontation between the Romans and the [[Dacians]] had taken place in the year 87 and was initiated by Domitian. The [[praetorian prefect]] Cornelius Fuscus led five or six legions across the Danube on a bridge of ships and advanced towards [[Banat]] (in Romania). The Romans were surprised by a Dacian attack at Tapae (near the village of [[Bucova]], in Romania). [[Legion V Alaude]] was crushed and Cornelius Fuscus was killed. The victorious [[Dacia]]n general was called [[Decebalus]] (the brave one).}}</ref> According to the provisions of Decebalus's earlier treaty with Rome, made in the time of Domitian, Decebalus was acknowledged as ''rex amicus'', that is, client king; in exchange for accepting client status, he received from Rome both a generous stipend and a steady supply of technical experts.{{sfn|Schmitz|2005|p=9}} The treaty seems to have allowed Roman troops the right of passage through the Dacian kingdom in order to attack the [[Marcomanni]], [[Quadi]] and [[Sarmatians]]. However, senatorial opinion never forgave Domitian for paying what was seen as tribute to a barbarian king.<ref>Marcel Emerit. "Les derniers travaux des historiens roumains sur la Dacie". In: ''Revue des Études Anciennes''. Tome 41, 1939, n°1. pp. 57–64. available at [http://www.persee.fr/doc/rea_0035-2004_1939_num_41_1_3025]. Retrieved 23 February 2016.</ref> Unlike the Germanic tribes, the Dacian kingdom was an organized state capable of developing alliances of its own,{{sfn|Luttwak|1979|p=100}} thus making it a strategic threat and giving Trajan a strong motive to attack it.{{sfn|Schmitz|2005|p=13}}

In May of 101, Trajan launched his first campaign into the Dacian kingdom,<ref name="Romanis REquote05">{{cite web|url=https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/assobd.htm#t-inx|title=De Imperatoribus Romanis|website=An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors|access-date=8 November 2007|quote=Because the Dacians represented an obstacle against Roman expansion in the east, in the year 101 the emperor Trajan decided to begin a new campaign against them. The first war began on 25 March 101 and the Roman troops, consisting of four principal legions (X Gemina, XI Claudia, II Traiana Fortis, and XXX Ulpia Victrix), defeated the Dacians.}}</ref> crossing to the northern bank of the Danube and defeating the [[Dacian warfare|Dacian army]] at [[Tapae]] (see [[Second Battle of Tapae]]), near the [[Iron Gates of Transylvania]]. It was not a decisive victory, however.{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=73}} Trajan's troops took heavy losses in the encounter, and he put off further campaigning for the year in order to regroup and reinforce his army.<ref name="Romanis REquote03">{{cite web|title=Battle of Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetuza), A.D. 105: De Imperatoribus Romanis|url=https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/assobd.htm#t-inx|website=An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors|access-date=8 November 2007|quote=Although the Dacians had been defeated, the emperor postponed the final siege for the conquering of Sarmizegetuza because his armies needed reorganization. Trajan imposed on the Dacians very hard peace conditions: [[Decebalus]] had to renounce claim to part of his kingdom, including the Banat, Tara Hategului, Oltenia, and Muntenia in the area south-west of Transylvania. He had also to surrender all the Roman deserters and all his war machines. At Rome, Trajan was received as a winner and he took the name of Dacicus, a title that appears on his coinage of this period. At the beginning of the year 103 A.D., there were minted coins with the inscription: IMP NERVA TRAIANVS AVG GER DACICVS.}}</ref> Nevertheless, the battle was considered a Roman victory and Trajan strived to ultimately consolidate his position, including other major engagements, as well as the capture of Decebalus' sister as depicted on Trajan's Column.<ref name="ReferenceD">{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Nicholas |chapter=First Dacian War |title=Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror |publisher=GreenHill Books |location=UK |edition=1st |date=2022 |isbn=978-1784387075}}</ref>

The following winter, Decebalus took the initiative by launching a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, supported by Sarmatian cavalry,<ref>José Maria Blázquez, ''Las res gestae de Trajano militar: las guerras dácicas''. ''Aquila Legionis'', 6 (2005) 19.</ref> forcing Trajan to come to the aid of the troops in his rearguard. The Dacians and their allies were repulsed after two battles in Moesia, at [[Nicopolis ad Istrum]] and [[Adamclisi]].<ref>Ioan Glodariu, ''LA ZONE DE SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA ET LES GUERRES DE TRAJAN''. ''Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica'', VII, Iasi, 2000. Available at [http://www.sarmizegetusa.org/doc/Glodariu%20I.%20-%20La%20zone%20de%20Sarmizegetusa%20et%20les%20guerres%20de%20Trajan(Studia%20Antiqua%20et%20Archaeologica, VII, Iasi,2000).pdf]. Retrieved 2 July 2014.</ref> Trajan's army then advanced further into Dacian territory, and, a year later, forced Decebalus to submit. He had to renounce claim to some regions of his kingdom, return runaways from Rome then under his protection (most of them technical experts), and surrender all his war machines.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|pp=94–95}} Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title ''Dacicus''.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|p=96}} The peace of 102 had returned Decebalus to the condition of more or less harmless client king; however, he soon began to rearm, to again harbour Roman runaways, and to pressure his Western neighbours, the [[Iazyges]] Sarmatians, into allying themselves with him. Through his efforts to develop an anti-Roman bloc, Decebalus prevented Trajan from treating Dacia as a protectorate instead of an outright conquest.<ref name="Christol & Nony, 171">Christol & Nony, 171.</ref> In 104, Decebalus devised an attempt on Trajan's life by means of some Roman deserters, a plan that failed. Decebalus also took prisoner Trajan's legate Longinus, who eventually poisoned himself while in custody. Finally, in 105, Decebalus undertook an invasion of Roman-occupied territory north of the Danube.{{sfn|Dando-Collins|2012|p=not numbered}}<ref name="Romanis REquote04">{{cite web|title=Battle of Sarmizegetusa (Sarmizegetuza), A.D. 105: De Imperatoribus Romanis|url=https://roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/assobd.htm#t-inx|website=An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors|access-date=8 November 2007|quote=However, during the years 103–105, Decebalus did not respect the peace conditions imposed by Trajan and the emperor then decided to destroy completely the Dacian kingdom and to conquer Sarmizegetuza.}}</ref>

[[File:Decebal's portrait.png|thumb|200px|left|Portrait of King [[Decebalus]] in the ''Cartea omului matur'' (1919)]]

Prior to the campaign, Trajan had raised two entirely new legions: [[Legio II Traiana Fortis|II Traiana]]{{snds}}which, however, may have been posted in the East, at the Syrian port of [[Laodicea ad Mare|Laodicea]]{{snds}}and [[XXX Ulpia Victrix]], which was posted to [[Brigetio]], in [[Pannonia (Roman province)|Pannonia]].{{sfn|Dando-Collins|2012|p=not numbered}}<ref>In the absence of literary references, however, the positioning of the new legions is conjectural: some scholars think that Legio II Traiana Fortis was originally stationed on the Lower Danube and participated in the Second Dacian War, being only later deployed to the East:cf. Ritterling, E., 1925. RE XII. Col. 1485. Syme, R., 1971. ''Danubian Papers'', Bucharest. p. 106. Strobel, K., 1984. "Untersuchungen zu den Dakerkriegen Trajans. Studien zur Geschichte des mittleren und unteren Donauraumes in der Hohen Kaiserzeit", ''Antiquitas'' I 33. Bonn. p. 98. Strobel, K., 2010. ''Kaiser Traian. Eine Epoche der Weltgeschichte'', Verlag Friedrich Pustet. Regensburg. pp. 254–255, 265, 299, 364. Urloiu, R-L., AGAIN ON LEGIO II TRAIANA FORTIS,. ''History and Civilization''. EUBSR 2013 International Conference, Volume 2.</ref> By 105, the concentration of Roman troops assembled in the middle and lower Danube amounted to fourteen legions (up from nine in 101){{snds}}about half of the entire Roman army.{{sfn|Mattern|1999|p=93}} Even after the Dacian wars, the Danube frontier would permanently replace the Rhine as the main military axis of the Roman Empire.{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=74}} Including [[auxilia]]ries, the number of Roman troops engaged on both campaigns was between 150,000 and 175,000, while Decebalus could dispose of up to 200,000.{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=73}} Other estimates for the Roman forces involved in Trajan's second Dacian War cite around 86,000 for active campaigning with large reserves retained in the proximal provinces, and potentially much lower numbers around 50,000 for Decebalus' depleted forces and absent allies.<ref name="ReferenceE">{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Nicholas |chapter=Second Dacian War |title=Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror |publisher=GreenHill Books |location=UK |edition=1st |date=2022 |isbn=978-1784387075}}</ref>

In a fierce campaign that seems to have consisted mostly of static warfare, the Dacians, devoid of manoeuvring room, kept to their network of fortresses, which the Romans sought systematically to storm{{sfn|Găzdac|2010|p=49}} (see also [[Second Dacian War]]). The Romans gradually tightened their grip around Decebalus' stronghold in [[Sarmizegetusa Regia]],{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=74}} which they finally took and destroyed. A controversial scene on Trajan's column just before the fall of Sarmizegetusa Regia suggests that Decebalus may have offered poison to his remaining men as an alternative option to capture or death while trying to flee the besieged capital with him.<ref name="ReferenceE"/> Decebalus fled but, when later cornered by Roman cavalry, committed suicide. His severed head, brought to Trajan by the cavalryman [[Tiberius Claudius Maximus]],<ref>Anton J. L. van Hooff, ''From Autothanasia to Suicide: Self-killing in Classical Antiquity''. London: Routledge, 2002, {{ISBN|0-415-04055-8}}, p. 277, note 41.</ref> was later exhibited in Rome on the steps leading up to the [[Capitoline Hill|Capitol]] and thrown on the [[Gemonian stairs]].<ref>Harriet I. Flower, ''The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace & Oblivion in Roman Political Culture''. University of North Carolina Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-8078-3063-5}}, p. 253.</ref> The famous Dacian treasures were not found in the captured capital and their whereabouts were only revealed when a Dacian nobleman called Bikilis was captured.  Decebalus’ treasures had been buried under a temporarily diverted river and the captive workers executed to retain the secret.  Staggering amounts of gold and silver were found and packed off to fill Rome's coffers.<ref name="ReferenceE"/>

[[File:UlpiaTraianaSarmizegetusa.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The amphitheater at [[Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa]]]]

Trajan built a new city, [[Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa|Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa]], on another site (north of the hill citadel holding the previous Dacian capital),<ref>Martin Goodman, ''The Roman World 44 BC–AD 180'', 253.</ref> although bearing the same full name, Sarmizegetusa. This capital city was conceived as a purely civilian administrative centre and was provided the usual Romanized administrative apparatus ([[Decurion (administrative)|decurions]], [[aedile]]s, etc.).<ref>Jennifer Trimble, ''Women and Visual Replication in Roman Imperial Art and Culture''. Cambridge U. Press, 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-521-82515-3}}, p. 288.</ref> Urban life in Roman Dacia seems to have been restricted to Roman colonists, mostly military veterans;<ref>Ioana A. Oltean, ''Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization''. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007, {{ISBN|0-203-94583-2}}, p. 222.</ref> there is no extant evidence for the existence in the province of [[Peregrinus (Roman)|peregrine]] cities. Native Dacians continued to live in scattered rural settlements, according to their own ways.{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=268}} In another arrangement with no parallels in any other Roman province, the existing quasi-urban Dacian settlements disappeared after the Roman conquest.<ref>Carbó García, Juan Ramón. " ''Dacia Capta'': particularidades de un proceso de conquista y romanización." ''Habis'', 41, 275–292 (2010).</ref>

A number of unorganized urban settlements ([[vicus|''vici'']]) developed around military encampments in Dacia proper – the most important being [[Alba Iulia|Apulum]] – but were only acknowledged as cities proper well after Trajan's reign.<ref>Meléndez, Javier Bermejo, Santiago Robles Esparcia, and Juan M. Campos Carrasco. "Trajano fundador. El último impulso colonizador del imperio." ''Onoba. Revista de Arqueología y Antigüedad'' 1 (2013).</ref> The main regional effort of urbanization was concentrated by Trajan at the rearguard, in Moesia, where he created the new cities of Nicopolis ad Istrum and [[Marcianopolis]]. A [[vicus]] was also created around the Tropaeum Traianum.{{sfn|Sartre|1994|p=269}} The garrison city of [[Oescus]] received the status of [[Roman colony]] after its [[legionary]] garrison was redeployed.{{sfn|Sartre|1994|p=269}} The fact that these former Danubian outposts had ceased to be frontier bases and were now in the deep rear acted as an inducement to their urbanization and development.{{sfn|Luttwak|1979|pp=101, 104}} Not all of Dacia was permanently occupied. After the post-Trajanic evacuation of lands across the lower Danube,{{sfn|Luttwak|1979|p=101}} land extending from the Danube to the inner arch of the [[Carpathian Mountains]], including [[Transylvania]], the [[Metaliferi Mountains]] and [[Oltenia]] was absorbed into the Roman province, which eventually took the form of an "excrescence" with ill-defined limits, stretching from the Danube northwards to the [[Carpathians]].{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=74}} This may have been intended as a basis for further expansion within Eastern Europe, as the Romans believed the region to be much more geographically "flattened", and thus easier to traverse, than it actually was; they also underestimated the distance from those vaguely defined borders to the ocean.{{sfn|Mattern|1999|p=61}}

[[File:Londinium Roman Wall (39482079765).jpg|thumb|left|Modern [[statue of Trajan]] at [[Tower Hill]], London]]

Defence of the province was entrusted to a single legion, the [[Legio XIII Gemina|XIII Gemina]], stationed at [[Alba Julia|Apulum]], which functioned as an advance guard that could, in case of need, strike either west or east at the Sarmatians living at the borders.{{sfn|Luttwak|1979|pp=101, 104}} Therefore, the indefensible character of the province did not appear to be a problem for Trajan, as the province was conceived more as a sally-base for further attacks.<ref>Frank Vermeulen, Kathy Sas, Wouter Dhaeze, eds. ''Archaeology in Confrontation: Aspects of Roman Military Presence in the Northwest : Studies in Honour of Prof. Em. Hugo Thoen''. Ghent: Academia Press, 2004, {{ISBN|90-382-0578-3}}, p. 218.</ref> Even in the absence of further Roman expansion, the value of the province depended on Roman overall strength: while Rome was strong, the Dacian salient was an instrument of military and diplomatic control over the Danubian lands; when Rome was weak, as during the [[Crisis of the Third Century]], the province became a liability and was eventually abandoned.{{sfn|Luttwak|1979|p=104}} Trajan resettled Dacia with Romans and annexed it as a province of the Roman Empire. Aside from their enormous booty (over half a million slaves, according to [[John Lydus]]),<ref>Moses I. Finley, ed., ''Classical Slavery'', London: Routledge, 2014, {{ISBN|0-7146-3320-8}}, p. 122.</ref> Trajan's Dacian campaigns benefited the Empire's finances through the acquisition of Dacia's gold mines, managed by an imperial [[Procurator (Roman)|procurator]] of [[Equestrian order|equestrian]] rank (''procurator aurariarum'').{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|p=241}} On the other hand, commercial agricultural exploitation on the [[Roman villa|villa]] model, based on the centralized management of a huge landed estate by a single owner (''fundus'') was poorly developed.{{sfn|Le Roux|1998|pp=202, 242}} Therefore, use of slave labor in the province itself seems to have been relatively undeveloped, and epigraphic evidence points to work in the gold mines being conducted by means of labor contracts (''locatio conductio rei'') and seasonal wage-earning.<ref>Steven A. Epstein, ''Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe''. UNC Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8078-1939-5}}, p. 26; Paul du Plessis, ''Studying Roman Law''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, p. 82.</ref> The victory was commemorated by the construction both of the 102 cenotaph generally known as the [[Tropaeum Traiani]] in Moesia, as well of the much later (113) Trajan's Column in Rome, the latter depicting in stone carved bas-reliefs the Dacian Wars' most important moments.{{sfn|Bennett|2001|pp=102, 90}}