GETO-DACIAN RELIGION

The main religion of the Geto-Dacians was the cult of Zalmoxis. It was characterized by a
belief in the immortality of the soul and strong ties to the state structure. In his
description of our ancestors, Herodotus tells us “they believe that they do not die, but that
he who perishes goes to the god Zalmoxis “ and that they believe ”in no other god but
their own”. At the time of Herodotus the Getae communicated with their god by means of
a ritual sacrifice, but by the time of Plato, a class of priests had developed to serve as
intermediaries between god and man. An important aspect of this religion was the
rejection of the carnal world for the spiritual realm. The idea of rejecting the desires of
the body was carried even further when Decaeneus, the high priest of the Geto-Dacian
King Burebista, ordered that the vines throughout the land be destroyed, as wine had a
corrupting influence on society. To attain communion with Zalmoxis, and ultimately
immortality, the desires of the body had to be shunned. Meditation was a common
method for achieving this communion.
Geto –Dacians Political Life
The political life of the Geto-Dacians changed during the second and first centuries B.C.
with the gradual disappearance of some political formations, located between the Haemus
Mountains, the Danube, and the Black Sea, which were conquered by the Romans, and
the strengthening of Geto-Dacian state formations north of the Danube, initially outside
of the Carpathian arc (during the first century B.C.), and, later, in the area of the Sebes
Mountains in Transylvania (during the first century A.D.).
It was possible against the backdrop of political and territorial changes in the region
owing to Roman Republic: the elimination of Macedonian kingdom(168 B.C.) and its
transformation into a Roman province (148 B.C.); the establishment of Roman
domination over the Greek city-states along the Black Sea coast (72-71 B.C.); the defeat
of the Thracian peoples in the northern Balkans ; the organization of Roman expeditions
north of the Danube and the Black Sea.
During the first century B.C. King Burebista (circa 82-44 B.C.) succeeded in bringing
about, for the first time, the political unity of the Geto-Dacian tribes and also imposed his
rule over the Celts, and possibly the Bastarns. As his power increased, he opposed Roman
suprem-acy north of the Balkans. An ancient inscription from Dionysopolis refers to
Burebista as "the first and most powerful among all the kings who ever reigned in Thrace,
master of the entire region this side of the great river." His kingdom, the center of which
was probably located in northeastern Muntenia and southwestern Moldavia, used
diplomatic and military means to annex a vast territory stretching from the Haemus
Mountains to the northern Carpathians and from the Pannonian Plain to the Black Sea.
This also gave him control over the Greek cities along the coast. This Geto-Dacian state
became an important political factor in the region. Burebista interfered in the Roman civil
wars by supporting Pompey in his struggle against Julius Caesar; thus, on the eve of his
assassination on the Ides of March in 44 B.C., Caesar was planning an expedition against
Burebista. But the death of the Geto-Dacian king shortly thereafter, himself the victim of
a conspiracy, led to the dissolution of his kingdom, reducing the threat to Rome and
allowing it to more easily assert its influence over the various Geto-Dacian political
formations.
After this, the Geto-Dacian rulers in Transylvania gained political supremacy and suc-
ceeded, over time, in creating a powerful state under King Decebal (A.D. 87-106). He
central-ized the political and administrative system in his state, creating one of the most
well-organized and administrated “barbarian” states of the first century A.D. This posed a
new threat to Rome which extended its rule to the Danube and the Black Sea after the
creation of the province of Moesia in A.D. 46.

A capable politician, diplomat, and military strategist, Decebal mobilized neighboring

tribes against Rome upon coming to the throne in A.D. 87. He crossed the Danube and
raided Moesia, defeating a Roman army commanded by the governor of the province,
Oppius Sabinus, who was also killed in the fighting. His success continued as he repelled
a Roman attack on Dacia led by Cornelius Fuscus. Following this victory, he launched
another offensive south of the Danube, plundering Moesia until a Roman army led by
Tettius Iulianus, an experienced military commander, repelled the invaders and followed
them back across the Danube. After a Roman victory at Tapae, in the Banat, which,
however, they were unable to follow up, a peace treaty was concluded in A.D. 89
between the Dacian kingdom and the Roman Emperor Domitian (A.D.81-96), that
recognized Dacia as a client kingdom. . In addition, it provided the Dacians with Roman
engineers, war machines, and even financial assistance to improve their defensive
capacities.
This situation changed after Marcus Ulpius Traianus, the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98-
117), came to the throne. The new emperor decided to take the offensive against the
Dacian kingdom and to eliminate it as a threat to the Danubian borders of the empire.
Apart from his desire to avenge the humiliating defeat of Roman forces at the hands of
Decebal during the reign of Domitian, Trajan had other motives for launching a campaign
against Dacia: he needed to secure his flank along the Danube River in preparation for a
campaign against the Parthian kingdom; he also hoped to gain pos-session of the vast
gold resources of the Dacian kingdom; in addition, the possibilities for colonization also
attracted the emperor’s attention.
The Roman conquest of Dacia occurred over the course of two long wars (A.D. 101-102,
105-106). Before setting out on his first campaign against the Dacians in A.D. 101, the
emperor made careful preparations, recruiting soldiers familiar with Dacian military
tactics from Moesia and Illyria. His 150,000 man army crossed the Danube, using a
bridge of boats, at Bersobis (Berzovia) in the Banat. The cam-paign was characterized by
difficult fighting as the Dacians withdrew to their mountain fortresses. The Romans won
an important victory at Tapae and, as winter set in, their advance came to a halt in the
vicinity of the Dacian capital of Sarmizegetusa.
In the spring of A.D. 102, the Dacians went on the offensive, attacking Roman positions
in Dobrodgea and along the Danube in an effort to relieve their threatened capital. The
Dacian counteroffensive failed as Roman troops stationed in Moesia Inferior repelled the
Dacians in battles at Tropaeum Traiani (Adamclisi) and Nicopolis ad Istrum. This made it
possible for Trajan to continue his advance on Sarmizegetusa. With the Roman army
before the walls of his capital, Decebal sued for peace.
The Dacians were forced to give up the advantages they had gained in the treaty of A.D.
89, and to surrender their war machines and Roman prisoners. Trajan also obtained the
right to station Roman garrisons in Dacian fortresses along the left bank of the Danube.
According to Cassius Dio, the Romans also stationed a garrison in the Dacian capital.
Upon his withdrawal from Dacia, Trajan ordered the Greek architect Apollodor of
Damascus to build a bridge across the Danube that would link Dacia with the empire. The
bridge, a remarkable feat of Roman engineering, was constructed at Drobeta (Drobeta-
Turnu Severin) where Trajan had stationed a garrison.
A new conflict between the Romans and the Dacians broke out three years later as
Decebal failed to comply with the terms of the peace treaty, refusing to disarm. This led
Trajan to under-take a new expedition against the Dacians in A.D. 105. On this occasion
his troops crossed the bridge that had been built by Apolodor at Drobeta and took a new
route, marching across the Oltenian Plain to the Olt River and then proceeding northward
along the river valley, crossing the Carpathians at the Turnu Rosu pass. By the spring of
106 the emperor had reached the walls of Sarmizegetusa for the second time. This time
the Romans conquered the capital, forcing Decebal and the remainder of his army to
retreat to the north. After several skirmishes, the Dacian king chose to commit suicide
rather than fall captive to the Romans. The story of both these campaigns is told in the
basreliefs that adorn Trajan's Column in Rome. After the complete destruction of the
Dacian kingdom, Emperor Trajan transformed the largest part of the Dacia into a
province of the Roman Empire. It would be the last province added to the empire.

The Roman conquest of the territory north of the Danube inhabited by Geto-Dacian tribes
caused fundamental changes in the political situation in the region as any “barbarian”
political formation capable of opposing the empire disappeared; the Roman Empire
became the sole authority in the Carpathian-Danubian area; the free political development
of the Geto-Dacians was stopped.
After the conquest the Roman authorities had the interest to assimilate the ethnic and
cultural groups within its borders. Thus they promoted unity between non-Latin peoples
to participate in the civic life of the empire so that the Romanization of the native Geto-
Dacian population took place at a quick pace leading to the formation of Daco-Romans.
Therefore, after 106 AD the Dacia kingdom disappeared from the political map of the
ancient world, although the last political formation of the Geto-Dacian people had
vanished, many free tribes continued to live out-side the province, on the present
territories of Crisana, Maramures, Moldavia and Muntenia.
The new Roman province became the furthermost outpost of the Roman Empire in the
barbarian world, located beyond its natural borders. The efficient organizational and
administrative strategies of the authorities, and the well-organized defensive system, all
helped ease the feelings of insecurity that had characterized the region and Dacia became
fully integrated into the empire. Trajan, after conquering Dacia, brought here, from all
over the Roman Empire, great numbers of people to plow the land and to inhabit the
towns." An analysis of inscriptions shows that over 80% of the colonists that settled in
the province of Dacia came from highly Romanized areas of the empire, helping to
transform this territory into a cradle of Latinity.
The establishment of Roman rule in the territory north of the Danube also brought
changes to the economic life of the area: the construction of an extensive network of
stone roads, the intensification of production, the introduction of new techniques, and the
diversification of the range of products. A new age of economic prosperity came to the
Geto-Dacian territories. The mining of minerals, especially gold, was the most important
economic activity in Dacia. From the beginning, the gold mines were designated as
imperial property, under a special administra-tion, governed by a procurator aurariarum,
having his residence in Ampelum (Zlatna), not far from the most important mining center
in the Apuseni Mountains, Alburnus Maior (Roșia Montană). Copper, silver, building
stone, iron, and salt were also mined. The exploitation of these resources was made easier
by the road system, the monetary circuit, and the presence in Dacia of merchants from
throughout the empire. Unlike Moesia Inferior, the economic orientation of Dacia was
toward the western part of the continent; as a result, the Carpathian province was
included in customs zone of Illyria (portorium publicum Illyrici).
The language spoken in Dacia was a dialect of Latin, conventionally called Danubian
Latin, that gave birth to modern Romanian. It was a vulgar Latin, spoken by common
people, as can be inferred from the thousand of inscriptions discovered in the Carpathian
province. The natives continued to speak their own language for a time, but, as Roman
institutions developed and the impact of Romanization grew, people began using many
Latin words until a linguistic unity was ultimately established between the Roman
colonists and the native Geto-Dacians.
By the beginning of the fourth century, when the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great
declared it an official religion of the empire, Christianity had become an important
religion in this area, even though most of it was no longer under Roman rule. This is
evidenced by the establishment of a bishopric in Tomis (Constanta) on the Black Sea
coast. The early spread of Christianity in this region, which coincided with the formation
of the Romanian people, is further demonstrated by the fact that the core religious
vocabulary in Romanian is of Latin origin: church = biseric\ (Lat. basilica), cross = cruce
(Lat. crux, -cis), priest = preot (Lat. presbit-erum), God = Dumnezeu (Lat. dom(i)ne
deus), Easter = Pa[ti (Lat. pascha, -ae), Christmas = Cr\ciun (Lat. creatio, -onis), angel =
înger (Lat. angelus), etc.
The Romanians differ from other peoples of Eastern Europe in a number of ways. First of
all, the Geto-Dacian ethnic basis of the Romanian people makes them one of the oldest
inhabitants of Southeastern Europe, together with the the Hungarians) arrived in this
region later, in particular circumstances, and at clearly identifiable moments in history.
The name of the Romanians (român, rumân, r\m\n, r\m\r, armân) represents another
aspect of their individuality. It is for sure derived from the name Romans.
Greeks and the Albanians. All the other surrounding peoples (the Ukrainians, the
Bulgarians, the Serbians, and