Dacia

Dacia, the land of the ancient Daci or Getæ, including the country between the Danube, the Theiss, the Carpathians, and the Pruth. The Dacians were the most valiant of all the tribes of Thracian origin (see THRACE). In the reign of Augustus they began to molest the Roman allies, and indeed from this time there was almost continual fighting between the Romans and the Daci, who actually, under their brave king, Decebalus, compelled their civilised enemies, in the reign of Domitian, to purchase peace by paying tribute. In 101 the Emperor Trajan crossed the Danube, and after five years' desperate fighting, conquered the whole country, and formed it into a Roman province. Roman colonists were sent into the country, great roads were opened up, and a bridge was built over the Danube—the ruins of which are still extant. Under Aurelian the Danube was made the boundary of the empire, and Dacia was resigned to the barbarians, its Roman colonies being transplanted to Mœsia.