Editing Dacia (section)

=== Late Roman Age (''c.''&nbsp;270&ndash;''c.''&nbsp;700)===

==== Constantinian reconquest ====
[[File:Dacia 337 AD.png|thumb|Gothic, Sarmatian and Dacian conquests of [[Constantine the Great]]]]
In 328 the emperor [[Constantine the Great]] inaugurated the [[Constantine's Bridge (Danube)]] at Sucidava, (today Corabia in Romania){{sfn|Madgearu|2008|pp=64–126}} in hopes of reconquering [[Roman Dacia|Dacia]], a province that had been abandoned under Aurelian. In the late winter of 332, Constantine campaigned with the [[Sarmatian]]s against the [[Goths]]. The weather and lack of food cost the Goths dearly: reportedly, nearly one hundred thousand died before they submitted to Rome. In celebration of this victory Constantine took the title ''Gothicus Maximus'' and claimed the subjugated territory as the new province of Gothia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Heather |first1=Peter |title=The Goths |date=1996 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |pages=62, 63 }}</ref> In 334, after Sarmatian commoners had overthrown their leaders, Constantine led a campaign against the tribe. He won a victory in the war and extended his control over the region, as remains of camps and fortifications in the region indicate.<ref>Barnes, Timothy D. (1981). ''Constantine and Eusebius''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-16531-1}}. p. 250.</ref> Constantine resettled some Sarmatian exiles as farmers in Illyrian and Roman districts, and conscripted the rest into the army. The new frontier in Dacia was along the [[Brazda lui Novac]] line supported by [[Castra of Hinova]], [[Rusidava]] and [[Castra of Pietroasele]].{{sfn|Madgearu|2008|pp=64–126}} The [[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]] passed to the north of [[Castra of Tirighina-Bărboși]] and ended at [[Sasyk Lagoon]] near the [[Dniester|Dniester River]].<ref>Costin Croitoru, (Romanian) Sudul Moldovei în cadrul sistemului defensiv roman. Contribuții la cunoașterea valurilor de pământ. Acta terrae septencastrensis, Editura Economica, Sibiu, 2002, {{ISSN|1583-1817}}, p. 111.</ref> Constantine took the title ''Dacicus maximus'' in 336.<ref>Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. New York: [[Routledge]], 2004. Hardcover {{ISBN|0-415-17485-6}} Paperback {{ISBN|0-415-38655-1}}, p. 261.</ref> 

Before 300, the Romans erected small forts at [[Dierna (castra)|Dierna]] and in other places on the northern bank of the Danube in modern-day Banat.{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=185}}{{sfn|Curta|2005|p=178}} In their wider region, Roman coins from the period{{mdash}}mostly of bronze{{mdash}}have been found.{{sfn|Ellis|1998|pp=231-232}} The Huns destroyed Drobeta and Sucidava in the 440s, but the forts were restored under Emperor [[Justinian I]] (527&ndash;565).{{sfn|MacKendrick|1975|pp=165-166, 222}} [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern Roman]] coins from the first half of the 6th&nbsp;century suggest a significant military presence in [[Oltenia]]{{mdash}}a region also characterized by the predominance of pottery with shapes of Roman tradition.{{sfn|Teodor|2005|pp=216, 223-224}}

==== Scythia Minor ====

[[File:Scythia Minor map.jpg|190px|thumb|right|alt=Map of Scythia Minor|[[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]]: a [[List of Late Roman provinces|Late Roman province]] formed through the division of the former province of [[Lower Moesia]] around 293]]

The territory between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea (today [[Dobrogea]] in Romania) remained a fully integrated part of the Roman Empire, even after the abandonment of Trajan's Dacia.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|pp=110-111}} It was transformed into a separate province under the name of [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]]{{sfn|MacKendrick|1975|pp=55-56, 221}} around 293.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|pp=17-18}} 

The existence of Christian communities in Scythia Minor became evident under Emperor [[Diocletian]] (284&ndash;305).{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=115}} He and [[Tetrarchs|his co-emperors]] ordered the persecution of Christians throughout the empire, causing the death of many between 303 and 313.{{sfn|Opreanu|2005|p=115}}{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=33}} Under Emperor [[Constantine the Great]] (306&ndash;337), a [[Constantine's Bridge (Danube)|bridge across the Danube]] was constructed at [[Sucidava]], a new fort ([[Constantiana Daphne]]) was built, and ancient roads were repaired in [[Oltenia]].{{sfn|MacKendrick|1975|pp=165, 221}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=61}} The Lower Danube again became the empire's northern boundary in 369 at the latest, when Emperor [[Valens]] met [[Athanaric]]{{mdash}}the head of the Goths{{mdash}}in a boat in the middle of the river because the latter had taken an oath "never to set foot on Roman soil".{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=72, 75}}<ref>''Ammianus Marcellinus: The Later Roman Empire'' (27.5.), p. 337.</ref>

Although [[Eastern Roman emperors]] made annual payments to the neighboring peoples in an attempt to keep the peace in the Balkans, the Avars regularly invaded Scythia Minor from the 580s.{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=54-55, 64-65}} The Romans abandoned Sucidava in 596 or 597,{{sfn|MacKendrick|1975|p=166, 222}} but [[Constanța|Tomis]], which was the last town in Scythia Minor to resist the invaders, only fell in 704.{{sfn|MacKendrick|1975|pp=178, 222}}

====North of the ''limes'' (c.&nbsp;270 – c.&nbsp;330) ====
[[Transylvania]] and northern Banat, which belonged to Dacia before Trajan conquest, had no direct contact with the Roman Empire from the 270s.{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=181}} There is no evidence that they were invaded in the following decades.{{sfn|Haynes|Hanson|2004|p=24}} Towns, including [[Apulum (castra)|Apulum]] and [[Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa]], and the surrounding areas{{sfn|Haynes|Hanson|2004|p=24}} continued to be inhabited but the urban areas diminished.{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=183}} The existence of local Christian communities can be assumed in [[Porolissum]], [[Potaissa]] and other settlements.{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|pp=186-187}} On the other hand, evidence{{spaced ndash}}mainly pottery with "[[Chi (letter)|Chi]]-[[rho]]" ''(Χ-Ρ)''  signs and other Christian symbols{{spaced ndash}}is "shadowy and poorly understood", according to archaeologists Haynes and Hanson.{{sfn|Haynes|Hanson|2004|pp=22-24}}

Urns found in late 3rd-century cemeteries at [[Bezid]], [[Mediaş]], and in other Transylvanian settlements had clear analogies in sites east of the Carpathians, suggesting that the [[Carpians]] were the first new arrivals in the former province from the neighboring regions.{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=185}}{{sfn|Bóna|1994|p=65}} Other Carpian groups, pressured by the Goths, also departed from their homeland and sought refuge in the Roman Empire around 300.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=56-57}} Nevertheless, "[[Carpo-Dacians]]" were listed among the peoples "mixed with the Huns"<ref>{{Citation|last = Zosimus|title = The History |year = 2002 |url = http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zosimus04_book4.htm | access-date = 18 July 2012}}</ref> as late as 379.{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=166, 660}}{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=30}} The [[Sarmatians]] of the Banat{{sfn|Bărbulescu|2005|p=185}} were allies of the empire, demonstrated by a Roman invasion in 332 against the Goths, their enemies.{{sfn|Heather|2010|p=168}}{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=61}} Sarmatians were admitted into the empire in 379, but other Sarmatian groups remained in the Tisa plains up until the 460s.{{sfn|Heather|2006|p=330}}{{sfn|Heather|2010|p=151}}