THIRD MILLENNIUM LIBRARY
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THIRD MILLENNIUM LIBRARY |
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HISTORY OF ROME-THE IMPERIAL PEACE CHAPTER II
VII. THE DACIAN CIVILIZATION
About
the time when Trogus announces the “incrementa Dacorum per Burobusten regem”,
we see Dacian civilization beginning to bear an individual stamp of its own.
Before this period the Dacians and Getae constituted merely a province of the
Thracian, Scythian and Celtic cultures which were colored to a greater or less
extent from their contact with the supreme achievements of Greek civilization.
Scythian
influence in this region has been generally underestimated, although
(especially since the researches of Minns and Rostovtzeff) the fundamental
modification which it caused even in the Greek coastal cities has been clearly
demonstrated. On the Thracians it is also very marked, especially among the
more northerly tribes. Thus Bulgaria is rich in finds of Scythian art-products,
and the crossing of Thracian and Scythian stock through intermarriage is well attested.
In Homer the Thracian allies of the Trojans still fight with war chariots,
whereas Thucydides knows them as mounted archers of the Scythian type, just
like the Getae. The long Thracian cavalry cape is also borrowed from the
Scythians, as are several of their customs, notably to induce perspiration and
complete unconsciousness resembling sleep by means of the fumes from grains of
hemp thrown on heated flat stones. Among the Getae and Dacians, who were much
more open to this influence, its effects were still more profound. This has
been demonstrated by linguistic evidence: even the name of the Getae is the
abbreviated form of a Scythian title, which appears to have originally
designated an upper class among the Scythians. The name Danus, applied to the
central and upper Danube, is Scythian, and so is even the name of the chief
Getic deity Zalmoxis. The explanations given by Porphyry of this word's
original meaning are by no means unconvincing. He translates it “bearskin” and “strange
man”, and the two interpretations are complementary. The first takes us back to
the cult of the bearskin prevalent among the North-Asiatic hunting peoples, and
the second is a typical secret name for the bear among the same races. The cult
of the bearskin belongs to a very primitive cultural stratum among the nomads:
the sacred trio of bearskins apparently corresponds to a triple social division
of the people, just as in the next stage of development the two animal
ancestors correspond to a double social division. The Scythians still preserved
a threefold tribal organization when they reached the Black Sea region, and
the Agathyrsi comprised one of the three units. The threefold structure has
also a matriarchal aspect with the goddess of the hearth Tahiti, who organizes
the life of the community, at its centre; the worship of Hestia of the Getae
may correspond to this. The bear-father in heaven, on the lofty mountain peak,
the withdrawal of Zalmoxis to the (world-) cave, and the predominant part
played by the belief in immortality may all belong to this order of ideas. The
Scythians also introduced the knowledge of iron weapons among the Dacians, but
the marked Iranian influence is not attributable to the Scythians alone. The
Iazyges and the Roxolani were the Getans' instructors in the use of the phalanx
of heavy-armed cavalry, and were in general a contributory factor in prolonging
Iranian influence down to Imperial times. Hence the Thracian horseman divinity retained
his original character, and the dragon remained the national banner of the
Dacian troops.
Greek
influence on the northern Thracians was naturally more indirect and far more
superficial, though there was a strong demand for the excellent Greek
manufactures which were bartered in exchange for raw materials and slaves.
There was a considerable market for the products of Greek industry among the
Getae—and also to the north of the Danube, where Istros and the neighboring
cities controlled the supply, but in the mountainous regions of Dacia the
imports were slight indeed. The great bronze hydria from Bene is evidence that
even in the sixth century such splendid manufactures could penetrate as far as
Slovakia, just as, conversely, scanty reports concerning the inhabitants of
Transylvania reached the Greeks at this early stage. But in the classical
period this exchange of commodities was very small. A few of the fibulae found
at Marosvasarhely and elsewhere may date back to this era, but the flow of
trade did not really quicken until there came a moderate development in the
Hellenistic age. Greek palmettes on Dacian spiral silver armlets, copies of
Megarian tankards from the Wittenberg near Segesvar, and especially the
circulation of Greek coins, attest this tendency. In the third and second
centuries Dacians accustomed themselves to a monetary system, and used the
silver coinage of Philip II and especially the gold of his son and of
Lysimachus. Numerous tetradrachms from the first Macedonian administrative
region and from Thasos also penetrated into the land. The vast number of
drachmas from Apollonia and Dyrrachium, however, herald the approach of a time
when Dacia will be a Roman sphere of influence, since these cities were used by
Rome as military and trading centres. Yet coins from the Black Sea coastal
cities are also found.
It
was much easier for the Thracians to assimilate the La Tene culture with which
they were brought into immediate proximity through the Celtic conquests.
Whereas in earlier times this culture in Transylvania as elsewhere shows a
striking uniformity, from the second century BC it develops in its own way into
a special Dacian branch, which affords a parallel to the tendency towards
unification in the political sphere, since the civilization of Moldavia and
Wallachia, as of Transylvania, is uniform in character. On the ornaments,
mostly of silver, and the other typical articles, special Dacian
characteristics emerge; while the Macedonian and Thasian tetradrachms are
replaced by primitive imitations minted locally. A very impressive monument to
this Dacian culture, and at the same time characteristic of its strange
aristocratic flavor, is to be found in its fortresses. Few of these have as yet been examined, but
their number and the skill with which they have been constructed are striking
in themselves. The walls are unusual: the outer and inner faces are built of
squared blocks of hewn limestone held together by wooden ties, while the centre
is packed with rubble and earth; in Gradiste it is reported that the blocks of
stone bear Greek letters. These walls were built to a certain height only, a
superstructure of sun-baked brick being added. The laborious leveling of
platforms among the rocks, the transport of the heavy building materials into
the mountain ranges, the construction of huge circular edifices—whether they
were of practical utility (perhaps as granaries) or served a religious purpose
is not yet determined—these, and many other achievements increase our respect
for the builders of these strongholds. Great treasures of gold coins which came
to light in these fastnesses reflect their owners' wealth.
The
prestige of the kings was upheld by the great authority of the high priest,
whose position doubtless resulted from a partition of the functions originally
discharged by the priest-king. The leading aristocrats were called pilleati, the free warriors capillati (a title reminiscent of the
Ostrogothic capillati): the sculpture
of the Trajanic age has preserved typical portraits of both classes, which
reveal the masculine arrogance of their character. In time of peace the Dacians
practised cattle-breeding, fend agriculture where there were plains to make it
possible. In time of war they fought as infantry, and were feared for their
scythe-like falces, whereas among the
Getae cavalry predominated; both peoples were famed for archery.
At
the same period at which friction with Rome began, in other words after the
occupation of Macedonia, the cultural influence of Rome also became more
strongly felt. Roman imports on the sites of Dacian settlements (such as Campanian
bronze ware from the first century of our era), and also a list of Dacian
botanical names originally written in Latin are evidence of this. And, in
particular, the lively circulation of Roman denarii from the second century BC onwards, and the local copying of these issues, show
that the Dacians could adopt the superior Roman culture. The enemies which Rome
had to face after the thorough-going extermination of the Dacians were far more
dangerous because they were wholly unfamiliar with Roman civilization.
THE
PARTHIAN DYNASTY IN THE TIME OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
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