A plea to the Dacian-fans

[Akrotatos]

Ok, in numerous threads that somehow brought Burebista or Decebalus in the discussion some members posted walls of text the size of Everest which I tend to scroll down (together with the vast majority I imagine)

However now I need your expertise. I would like info on the Dacian major cities, army and if possible how the terrain affected their way of life AND their conquest by the Romans
Thanks in advance, I am counting on your entusiasm

[bushbush]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/member.php?u=35026

residential expert on dacia.

[Romano-Dacis]

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/member.php?u=35026

residential expert on dacia.

You flatter me too much.
Akrotatos, I will present my response via PM soon. You may also wish to try the user Dromikaites. Frostwulf is also good, though, I'm not sure how good he is with general knowledge stuff.

[Akrotatos]

I will send him a pm then...thnx bushbush

[Habelo]

Why cant you just post the questions/answer in this thread, so we all can learn?

[bushbush]

Why cant you just post the questions/answer in this thread, so we all can learn?

u see, generally Romano charges a fee for dacia knowledge, but through my referal, he is giving it free this time to one person...u know, so you better suck up to me first

[Akrotatos]

u see, generally Romano charges a fee for dacia knowledge, but through my referal, he is giving it free this time to one person...u know, so you better suck up to me first

[Akrotatos]

bamp

[Carpathian Wolf]

bamp

Well their armies were composed of a very wide mixture of influences. Like the Romans they tended to adopt the advancements of other civilizations they encountered and then improved on the idea such as the Celts ans Scythians. The terrain in the south is very flat. The area of "wallachia." But it was heavily covered in forests and swamps. The eastern moldova section is also flat until you reach further north in the Bukovina area. Transilvania of course is mostly mountain and forest. The terrain acted as a natural defense against attackers be it the Romans or the later migratory people such as slavs, pechengs, magyars, mongols etc. They were master masons but it seemed most of the lower class people made their homes out of wood or at least enough wood that they could light the house on fire and retreat into the wild if need be. The Romans often encountered the tactic (as seen on Trajan's column) of villagers lighting their own homes on fire in a scortched earth tactic. The mountains provided gold, silver, and iron ore and they also used terracing for farming. They were also known for wine making (a bit too much as Burebista had to cut the grape vines so that his nobles would stop getting drunk) as well as bee keeping.

An ok website on the subject:

http://www.geocities.com/cogaionon/

How's that for now?

[bushbush]

@romano, could u share your answer with everyone? I respect everyone's answer so far but I am not sure a geocity website (see above) written by a "software developer (according to the website)" counts as a serious source.

[Frostwulf]

Frostwulf is also good, though, I'm not sure how good he is with general knowledge stuff.

Not even close to your knowledge, my knowledge is almost strictly military. From the limited knowledge I have there are some very interesting aspects of the terrain, dress, buildings(mainly fortresses for me). I think you should send him that fortress article you posted, very cool.

[Romano-Dacis]

@romano, could u share your answer with everyone? I respect everyone's answer so far but I am not sure a geocity website (see above) written by a "software developer (according to the website)" counts as a serious source.

Sorry about the late response. I've been very busy last weekend. Anyway, here's what I've got for you:
The best site on all things Dacian is http://www.gk.ro/sarmizegetusa/.
They have an English Section which covers a lot of different topics. A little bit of caution needs to be used with any site dedicated to the study of barbarians, as it can get a little romantic. Still, this site is relatively-free of Dacomania, as it has been coined.

Now some specific articles:
Dacian architecture is a subject that has had its own study done. Here's an interesting article to read on fortresses:
www.geo.auth.gr/ege2004/articles/AR1_109.pdf

So now onto some general history of the Dacians. My suggestion is to just read the first chapter of Vlad Georgescu's The Romanians: A History (free link). That should give you some basic buzz-words which you can then insert into Google Scholar.

For the Roman conquest by Trajan and also some more general information, see Trajan Optimus Princeps by Julian Bennett. You can get it for free off scribd.com (questionable legality) through the link here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14456904/Trajan-Optimus-Princeps-Bennett

The Dacian Threat by Michael Schmitz is also good, but I can't find a free version of it anywhere. If you do, please tell me.
(Google Books Link)

Here is an article for Dacian military gear found at a Dacian fortress. It is another free scribd download. At the end you will find some nice images.

This is also an article on archaeological discoveries in Dacian settlements. Nice images at the end.

This is a good article on the discoveries at the tombs of Dacian warriors. Comes with nice images as well.

There are unfortunately very few complete syntheses on Dacians in English, and even so in Romanian. As you can imagine, only a fraction of these would even be online. I get most of my information from complete works on Romania's history by the Romanian Academy (like Istoria Românilor, Vol. I to IX, published in 2003). There was another four-volume work by the People's Academy of Romania in the 1960's called "Istoria României" which I also use. If you have any specific questions you can feel free to contact me.