Editing Dacians (section)

==Material culture==
{{See also|Thracology|Dacology|Romanian archaeology}}
{{Category see also|Dacian archaeology|Museums of Dacia|Dacian art}}
According to Romanian nationalist archaeology, the cradle of the Dacian culture is considered to be north of the Danube towards the Carpathian mountains, in the historical Romanian province of [[Muntenia]]. It is identified as an evolution of the [[Iron Age]] [[Basarabi culture]]. Such narrative believe that the earlier Iron Age Basarabi evidence in the northern lower Danube area connects to the iron-using Ferigile-Birsesti group. This is an archaeological manifestation of the historical Getae who, along with the Agathyrsae, are one of a number of tribal formations recorded by Herodotus.{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.48–4.49}}{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=86 }} In archaeology, "free Dacians" are attested by the [[Puchov culture]] (in which there are Celtic elements) and [[Lipiţa culture]] to the east of the Carpathians.{{sfn| Millar |1981|p=279}} The Lipiţa culture has a Dacian/North Thracian origin.{{sfn | Shchukin|Kazanski|Sharov | 2006 | p=20 }}{{sfn | Kostrzewski | 1949 | p=230 }} This North Thracian population was dominated by strong Celtic influences, or had simply absorbed Celtic ethnic components.{{sfn |Jażdżewski | 1948 | p=76}} Lipiţa culture has been linked to the Dacian tribe of [[Costoboci]].{{sfn | Shchukin | 1989 | p=306 }}{{sfn | Parvan | Florescu | 1982 | p=547 }}
These standpoints are highly problematic, as there is no linear continuity between aforementioned cultures. in reality, the creation of the Dacian ethnos was foreshadowed by migratory movements from the lower Danube region following the collapse of the Celtic cultural circle c. 300 BC (The grave with a helmet from Ciumeşti – 50 years from its discovery. Comments on the greaves. 2. The Padea-Panagjurski kolonii group in Transylvania. Old and new discoveries)

Specific Dacian material culture includes: wheel-turned pottery that is generally plain but with distinctive elite wares, massive silver dress [[Fibula (brooch)|fibulae]], precious metal plate, ashlar masonry, fortifications, upland sanctuaries with horseshoe-shaped precincts, and decorated clay heart altars at settlement sites. Among many discovered artifacts, the [[Dacian bracelets]] stand out, depicting their cultural and aesthetic sense.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | pp=214–215 }} There are difficulties correlating funerary monuments chronologically with Dacian settlements; a small number of burials are known, along with cremation pits, and isolated rich burials as at Cugir.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | pp=214–215 }} Dacian burial ritual continued under Roman occupation and into the post-Roman period.{{sfn | Ellis | 1998| p=233}}

===Language===
{{Main|Dacian language}}
{{See also|Davae|Thracian language|Languages of the Roman Empire}}
The Dacians are generally considered to have been Thracian speakers, representing a cultural continuity from earlier Iron Age communities.{{sfn|Peregrine|Ember|2001|p=215}} Some historians and linguists consider Dacian language to be a dialect of or the same language as [[Thracian language|Thracian]].{{sfn|Oltean|2007|p=45}}{{sfn|Tomaschek|1883|p=401}} The vocalism and consonantism differentiate the Dacian and Thracian languages.{{sfn|Pârvan|1926|p=648}} Others consider that Dacian and [[Illyrian language|Illyrian]] form regional varieties (dialects) of a common language. (Thracians inhabited modern southern Bulgaria and northern Greece. Illyrians lived in modern Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.)

The ancient languages of these people became extinct, and their cultural influence highly reduced, after the repeated invasions of the Balkans by Celts, [[Huns]], Goths, and Sarmatians, accompanied by persistent [[hellenization]], romanisation and later [[slavicisation]]. Therefore, in the study of the toponomy of Dacia, one must take account of the fact that some place-names were taken by the Slavs from as yet unromanised Dacians.{{sfn|Pares|Seton-Watso|Williams|Brooke Jopson |1939|p=149}} A number of Dacian words are preserved in ancient sources, amounting to about 1150 anthroponyms and 900 toponyms, and in Discorides some of the rich plant lore of the Dacians is preserved along with the names of 42 medicinal plants.{{sfn|Nandris|1976|p=730|ps=: Strabo and [[Trogus Pompeius]] "Daci quoque suboles Getarum sunt"}}

===Symbols===
The Dacians knew about writing.{{sfn| Turnock |1988|p=42 }}{{sfn| Cunliffe |1994|p=193 }}{{sfn | Millar | 1981 | p=275}} Permanent contacts with the Graeco-Roman world had brought the use of the Greek and later the Latin alphabet.{{sfn | Applebaum | 1976 | p=94 }} It is also certainly not the case that writing with Greek and Latin letters and knowledge of Greek and Latin were known in all the settlements scattered throughout Dacia, but there is no doubt about the existence of such knowledge in some circles of Dacian society.{{sfn | Glodariu | 1976 | p=101 }} However, the most revealing discoveries concerning the use of the writing by the Dacians occurred in the citadels on the Sebes mountains.{{sfn | Applebaum | 1976 | p=94}} Some groups of letters from stone blocks at Sarmisegetuza might express personal names; these cannot now be read because the wall is ruined, and because it is impossible to restore the original order of the blocks in the wall.{{sfn | Applebaum | 1976 | p=95}}

===Religion===

[[File:Zalmoxis Aleksandrovo.jpg|thumb|Detail of the main fresco of the [[Aleksandrovo kurgan]]. The figure is identified with [[Zalmoxis]].<ref name="wagner">{{Cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Hans |date=5 August 2004 |title=Die Thraker |url=http://www.eurasischesmagazin.de/artikel/Thrakien-und-die-Thraker-alles-was-man-wissen-muss/20040805 |journal=Eurasisches Magazin |language=de |access-date=19 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="dimitrov">{{Cite web |last=Dimitrov |first=Kalin |date=12 September 2008 |title=Thracian tomb of Aleksandrovo |url=http://chain.eu/?m3=16347 |access-date=19 January 2020 |website=Chain}}</ref>]]

Dacian religion was considered by the classic sources as a key source of authority, suggesting to some that Dacia was a predominantly theocratic state led by priest-kings. However, the layout of the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa indicates the possibility of co-rulership, with a separate high king and high priest.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }} Ancient sources recorded the names of several Dacian high priests (Deceneus, Comosicus and Vezina) and various orders of priests: "god-worshipers", "smoke-walkers" and "founders".{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }} Both Hellenistic and Oriental influences are discernible in the religious background, alongside [[chthonic]] and solar motifs.{{sfn | Taylor | 2001 | p=215 }}

According to Herodotus' account of the story of [[Zalmoxis]] or Zamolxis,{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}} the Getae (speaking the same language as the Dacians and the Thracians, according to [[Strabo]]) believed in the immortality of the [[soul]], and regarded death as merely a change of country. Their chief priest held a prominent position as the representative of the supreme deity, Zalmoxis, who is called also Gebeleizis by some among them.{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}}<ref>Histories by Herodotus Book 4 translated by G. Rawlinson</ref> Strabo wrote about the high priest of King Burebista [[Deceneus]]: "a man who not only had wandered through [[Egypt]], but also had thoroughly learned certain prognostics through which he would pretend to tell the divine will; and within a short time he was set up as god (as I said when relating the story of Zamolxis)."{{sfn|Strabo|20 AD|loc=VII 3,11}}

[[File:Relief Bendis BM 2155.jpg|thumb|left|Votive stele representing Bendis wearing a Dacian cap ([[British Museum]])]]

The Goth [[Jordanes]] in his ''[[Getica]]'' (''[[The origin and deeds of the Goths]]''), also gives an account of Deceneus the highest priest, and considered Dacians a nation related to the Goths. Besides Zalmoxis, the Dacians believed in other deities, such as Gebeleizis, the god of storm and lightning,  possibly related to the Thracian god [[Zibelthiurdos]].{{sfn|Tomaschek|1893}} He was represented as a handsome man, sometimes with a beard. Later Gebeleizis was equated with Zalmoxis as the same god. According to Herodotus, Gebeleizis (*Zebeleizis/Gebeleizis who is only mentioned by Herodotus) is just another name of Zalmoxis.{{sfn|Glodariu|Pop|Nagler|2005|p=120}}{{sfn|Herodotus|440 BC|loc=4.93–4.97}}{{sfn|Tomaschek|1883|p=410}}{{sfn|Paliga|2006|p=335}}

Another important deity was [[Bendis]], goddess of the moon and the hunt.<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Thrakios/Bendis.html BENDIS : Thracian goddess of the moon & hunting ; mythology ; pictures<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
By a decree of the [[Dodona|oracle of Dodona]], which required the Athenians to grant land for a shrine or temple, her cult was introduced into [[Attica, Greece|Attica]] by immigrant Thracian residents,{{efn|1=Extensive discussion of whether the date is 429 or 413 BC was reviewed and newly analyzed in Christopher Planeaux, "The Date of Bendis' Entry into Attica" ''The Classical Journal'' '''96'''.2 (December 2000:165–192). Planeaux offers a reconstruction of the inscription mentioning the first introduction, p}} and, though Thracian and Athenian processions remained separate, both cult and festival became so popular that in Plato's time (c. 429–13 BC) its festivities were naturalised as an official ceremony of the Athenian city-state, called the '''Bendideia'''.{{efn|1=Fifth-century fragmentary inscriptions that record formal descrees regarding formal aspects of the Bendis cult, are reproduced in Planeaux 2000:170f}}

Known Dacian theonyms include ''Zalmoxis'', ''Gebeleïzis'' and ''[[Derzelas|Darzalas]]''.<ref>Hdt. 4.94,Their belief in their immortality is as follows: they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebeleïzis, as some of them call him.</ref>{{efn|1=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898),(Zalmoxis) or Zamolxis (Zamolxis). Said to have been so called from the bear's skin (zalmos) in which he was clothed as soon as he was born. He was, according to the story current among the Greeks on the Hellespont, a Getan, who had been a slave to Pythagoras in Samos, but was manumitted, and acquired not only great wealth, but large stores of knowledge from Pythagoras, and from the Egyptians, whom he visited in the course of his travels. He returned among the Getae, introducing the civilization and the religious ideas which he had gained, especially regarding the immortality of the soul. Herodotus, however, suspects that he was an indigenous Getan divinity (Herod.iv. 95)}} Gebeleizis is probably cognate to the Thracian god Zibelthiurdos (also ''Zbelsurdos'', ''Zibelthurdos''), wielder of lightning and thunderbolts. '''Derzelas''' (also ''Darzalas'') was a chthonic god of health and human vitality. The pagan religion survived longer in Dacia than in other parts of the empire; Christianity made little headway until the fifth century.{{sfn | Southern | 2001 | p=325 }}

===Pottery===
[[File:Poiana vase.jpg|left|thumb|Fragment of a vase collected by [[Mihail Dimitriu]] at the site of [[Poiana, Galaţi]] ([[Piroboridava]]), [[Romania]] illustrating the use of Greek and Latin letters by a Dacian potter (source: [[Dacia (journal)|Dacia journal]], 1933)]]

Fragments of pottery with different "inscriptions" with Latin and Greek letters incised before and after firing have been discovered in the settlement at Ocnita – Valcea.{{sfn | Glodariu | 1976 | p=128 }} An inscription carries the word Basileus (Βασιλεύς in Greek, meaning "king") and seems to have been written before the vessel was hardened by fire.{{sfn | MacKenzie| 1986 | p=67}} Other inscriptions contain the name of the king, believed to be Thiemarcus,{{sfn | MacKenzie| 1986 | p=67}} and Latin groups of letters (BVR, REB).{{sfn | MacKenzie| 1986 | p=26 }} BVR indicates the name of the tribe or union of tribes, the Buridavensi Dacians who lived at Buridava and who were mentioned by Ptolemy in the second century AD under the name of Buridavensioi.{{sfn | MacKenzie| 1986 | p=66 }}

===Clothing and science===
The typical dress of Dacians, both men and women, can be seen on [[Trajan's column]].{{sfn | Bury | Cook |Adcock|Percival Charlesworth| 1954 |p=543 }}

[[Dio Chrysostom]] described the Dacians as [[natural philosophers]].{{sfn | Sidebottom | 2007 |p=5}}
[[File:Dacian women.JPG|thumb|upright|A 19th century depiction of Dacian women]]