Editing History of Romania (section)

=== Roman Dacia (106–275 AD) ===
{{Main|Roman Dacia}}
[[File:Roman province of Dacia (106 - 271 AD).svg|right|thumb|[[Roman Dacia]], between 106 and 271&nbsp;AD]]

Roman Dacia, also known as Dacia Felix, was organized as an [[imperial province]]. It is estimated that the population of Roman Dacia ranging from 650,000 to 1,200,000. The area was the focus of a massive Roman colonization. New mines were opened and ore extraction intensified, while agriculture, stock breeding, and commerce flourished. 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 [[Castra|military camps]]. Eight of these held the highest rank of ''[[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]]''. [[Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa]] was the financial, religious, and legislative center and where the [[Procurator (Roman fiscal)|imperial ''procurator'']] (finance officer) had his seat, while [[Alba Iulia|Apulum]] was Roman Dacia's military center. The region was soon settled by the retired veterans who had served in the Dacian Wars, principally the [[Legio V Macedonica|Fifth (''Macedonia'')]], [[Legio XI Claudia|Ninth (''Claudia'')]], and [[Legio XIV Gemina|Fourteenth (''Gemina'')]] legions.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=92}}

While it is certain that colonists in large numbers were imported from all over the empire to settle in Roman Dacia,{{sfn|Ellis|1998|pp=220–237}} this appears to be true for the newly created Roman towns only. The lack of epigraphic evidence for native Dacian names in the towns suggests an urban–rural split between Roman multi-ethnic urban centers and the native Dacian rural population.{{sfn|Ellis|1998|pp=220–237}} On at least two occasions the Dacians rebelled against Roman authority: first in 117 AD, which caused the return of Trajan from the east,{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=22}} and in 158 AD when they were put down by [[Marcus Statius Priscus]].{{sfn|Parker|1958|pp=12–19}}

Some scholars have used the lack of ''[[Peregrinus (Roman)#Local authorities|civitates peregrinae]]'' in Roman Dacia, where indigenous peoples were organized into native townships, as evidence for the Roman depopulation of Dacia.{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=110}} Prior to its incorporation into the empire, Dacia was a kingdom ruled by one king, and did not possess a regional tribal structure that could easily be turned into the Roman ''civitas'' system as used successfully in other provinces of the empire.{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=227}}

[[File:Roman Gothic Walls Romania Plain.svg|right|thumb|[[Roman walls]] in Dacia]]
As per usual Roman practice, Dacian males were recruited into auxiliary units{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2003|p=76}} and dispatched across the empire.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=102}} The ''Vexillation Dacorum Parthica'' accompanied the emperor Septimius Severus during his [[Parthia]]n expedition,{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=109}} while the ''cohort I Ulpia Dacorum'' was posted to [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]].{{sfn|Găzdac|2010|p=59}} Others included the ''II Aurelia Dacorum'' in [[Pannonia Superior]], the ''cohort I Aelia Dacorum'' in Roman Britain, and the ''II Augusta Dacorum milliaria'' in Moesia Inferior.{{sfn|Găzdac|2010|p=59}} There are a number of preserved relics originating from ''cohort I Aelia Dacorum'', with one inscription describing the ''[[sica]]'', a distinctive Dacian weapon.{{sfn|Vékony|2000|p=108}} Numerous [[Roman military diploma]]s issued for Dacian soldiers discovered after 1990 indicate that veterans preferred to return to their place of origin;{{sfn|Dana|Matei-Popescu|2009|pp=234–235}} per usual Roman practice, these veterans were given Roman citizenship upon their discharge.{{sfn|Erdkamp|2010|p=442}}

In an attempt to fill the cities, cultivate the fields, and mine the ore, a large-scale attempt at colonization took place with colonists coming in "from all over the Roman world".{{sfn|Pop|1999|p=23}} The colonists were a heterogeneous mix:{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=6}} of the some 3,000 names preserved in inscriptions found by the 1990s, 74% (c. 2,200) were Latin, 14% (c. 420) were Greek, 4% (c. 120) were [[Illyrian languages|Illyrian]], 2.3% (c. 70) were [[Celtic languages|Celtic]], 2% (c. 60) were [[Thracian language|Thraco-Dacian]], and another 2% (c. 60) were [[Semitic languages|Semites]] from Syria.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=106}} Regardless of their place of origin, the settlers and colonists were a physical manifestation of Roman civilization and imperial culture, bringing with them the most effective Romanizing mechanism: the use of [[Latin]] as the new ''[[lingua franca]]''.{{sfn|Georgescu|1991|p=6}}

The first settlement at Sarmizegetusa was made up of Roman citizens who had retired from their legions.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=103}} Based upon the location of names scattered throughout the province, it has been argued that a large percentage of colonists originated from Noricum and western Pannonia.{{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=104}} Specialist miners (the [[List of ancient tribes in Illyria#Pirustae|Pirusti tribesmen]]){{sfn|Köpeczi|1994|p=79}} were brought in from Dalmatia.{{sfn|MacKendrick|2000|p=206}}

[[File:Rome-JA1.jpg|thumb|Tarabostes on the [[Arch of Constantine]]]]
Although the Romans conquered and destroyed the ancient Kingdom of Dacia, much of the land remained outside of Roman Imperial authority. The conquest changed the balance of power in the region and was the catalyst for a renewed alliance of Germanic and Celtic tribes and kingdoms against the Roman Empire. However, the material advantages of the Roman Imperial system was attractive to the surviving aristocracy. Afterwards, many of the Dacians became Romanized (see also [[Origin of Romanians]]). In AD 183, war broke out in Dacia: few details are available, but it appears two future contenders for the throne of emperor [[Commodus]], [[Clodius Albinus]] and [[Pescennius Niger]], both distinguished themselves in the campaign.

According to [[Lactantius]],<ref>"Of the Manner in which the persecutors died" by [[Lactantius]] (early Christian author AD 240–320)</ref> the Roman emperor [[Decius]] (AD 249–251) had to restore Roman Dacia from the [[Carpo-Dacians]] of [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] "having undertaken an expedition against the Carpi, who had then possessed themselves of Dacia and Moesia".

Even so, the Germanic and Celtic kingdoms, particularly the [[Gothic tribes]], slowly moved toward the Dacian borders, and within a generation were making assaults on the province. Ultimately, the [[Goths]] succeeded in dislodging the Romans and restoring the "independence" of Dacia following Emperor [[Aurelian]]'s withdrawal, in 275. At the boundaries of [[Roman Dacia]], [[Carpi (people)|Carpi]] ([[Free Dacians]]) were still strong enough to sustain five battles in eight years against the Romans from AD 301–308. Roman Dacia was left in AD 275 by the Romans, to the Carpi again, and not to the Goths. There were still Dacians in AD 336, against whom [[Constantine the Great]] fought.

The province was abandoned by Roman troops, and, according to the ''Breviarium historiae Romanae'' by [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]], Roman citizens "from the towns and lands of Dacia" were resettled to the interior of Moesia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm|title=Eutropius, Abridgment of Roman History (Historiae Romanae Breviarium)|last=EUTROPIUS|website=www.ccel.org|access-date=2008-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220200338/http://www.ccel.org/p/pearse/morefathers/eutropius_breviarium_2_text.htm|archive-date=2009-02-20|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under [[Diocletian]], c. AD 296, in order to defend the Roman border, fortifications were erected by the Romans on both banks of the [[Danube]].{{sfn|Odahl|2003}}