{"id":716,"date":"2007-05-14T03:01:53","date_gmt":"2007-05-14T07:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=716"},"modified":"2018-08-18T00:20:45","modified_gmt":"2018-08-18T04:20:45","slug":"monday-may-14-2007-dacians-romans-and-dictators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=716","title":{"rendered":"Monday, May 14, 2007 \u2014 Dacians, Romans and Dictators"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"07-05-14<\/a><\/p>\n

After the detailed tour of Sarmizege\u00adtusa, Dr. Con\u00adstan\u00adtin offered to give a lift to Isaac and myself to Deva. He said that there was a fine 13th cen\u00adtu\u00adry citadel, which we would prob\u00ada\u00adbly like to see, and that we could eas\u00adi\u00adly get a train from there to Bra\u015fov, our next des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion. He had grown up in the region, in fact had been a shep\u00adherd him\u00adself, part of the dis\u00adtinc\u00adtive sub\u00adcul\u00adture of \u201cmoun\u00adtain men\u201c of Hune\u00addoara, He had an inti\u00admate knowl\u00adedge of the area\u2019s his\u00adto\u00adry, geol\u00ado\u00adgy, agri\u00adcul\u00adture, and society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-14<\/a>Part of his work, at Sarmizege\u00adtusa, was undo\u00ading the dam\u00adage done by Com\u00admu\u00adnist \u201csci\u00aden\u00adtists\u201d. They had imposed some sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly worth\u00adless \u201crecon\u00adstruc\u00adtions\u201d on the site, all aimed at advanc\u00ading the dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u2019s ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal aims, and in doing so had done much dam\u00adage to the integri\u00adty of the site. To give you an idea of the atmos\u00adphere at the time, the dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u2019s wife, Ele\u00adna Ceau\u015fes\u00adcu, a bare\u00adly lit\u00ader\u00adate woman, was declared to be \u201cthe world\u2019s great\u00adest sci\u00aden\u00adtist\u201d, and all pub\u00adlished sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic papers had to appear under her name. Ceau\u015fes\u00adcu had planned to vis\u00adit the site of Sarmizege\u00adtusa, but he found the jour\u00adney up the dif\u00adfi\u00adcult moun\u00adtain road too tir\u00ading, and turned back. Dr. Con\u00adstan\u00adtin explained that this prob\u00ada\u00adbly saved the site from some spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly destruc\u00adtive fate, since, if the site had been acces\u00adsi\u00adble to the Super-Fuhrer, it would have been trans\u00adformed into some grotesque Dis\u00adney\u00adland of fake arche\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy. Ceau\u015fes\u00adcu had fixed on the Dacians as the pure ances\u00adtors of the Roman\u00adian peo\u00adple, in the usu\u00adal mix\u00adture of racism, pseu\u00addo-his\u00adto\u00adry and mys\u00adti\u00adcism char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtic of the Fascist\/Communist mentality.<\/span><\/p>\n

So\"07-05-14<\/a> the ques\u00adtion remains, who were the Dacians? The Dacians were a peo\u00adple who occu\u00adpied a large por\u00adtion of the Balka\u00adns in ear\u00adly his\u00adtoric times. It is point\u00adless to talk about who they are the \u201cances\u00adtors\u201d of, because of the sim\u00adple facts of biol\u00ado\u00adgy: every\u00adone in Europe two thou\u00adsand years ago is equal\u00adly the ances\u00adtor of every\u00adbody. Two thou\u00adsand years is about one hun\u00addred gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions. If you go back just a frac\u00adtion of that time, you have bil\u00adlions of direct ances\u00adtors. Unless there is absolute sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion of the gene pool (and just one sin\u00adgle mat\u00ading merges two gene pools), past a cer\u00adtain, and fair\u00adly recent point, you are equal\u00adly the descen\u00addant of every\u00adbody. And the Balka\u00adns is hard\u00adly what you would call genet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly iso\u00adlat\u00aded. It is a genet\u00adic free\u00adway on which every\u00adone from every\u00adwhere has rolled through. This ele\u00admen\u00adtary fact of biol\u00ado\u00adgy is why all notions of \u201crace\u201d and \u201cnation\u201d as bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcl enti\u00adties are noth\u00ading but super\u00adsti\u00adtious rub\u00adbish. It is absolute\u00adly mean\u00ading\u00adless to talk about some tribe or lin\u00adguis\u00adtic group thou\u00adsands of years ago as being the \u201ctrue ances\u00adtors\u201d of some\u00adbody today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Enigmatic<\/a>

Enig\u00admat\u00adic Dacian pil\u00adlars, taller than Tall Isaac.<\/p><\/div>\n

What may sur\u00advive after all that time is some cus\u00adtom or cul\u00adtur\u00adal tra\u00addi\u00adtion. For exam\u00adple, I eat ice cream because the cus\u00adtom was passed down to me from ancient Rome, which bor\u00adrowed it from the Etr\u00aduscans, who per\u00adhaps invent\u00aded it. This inher\u00adit\u00aded cus\u00adtom does not make me a \u201cdescen\u00addant of the Etr\u00aduscans\u201d. It just makes me fat. Lan\u00adguages are a form of cus\u00adtom, though one which inter\u00adacts close\u00adly with the deep\u00adest ele\u00adments of our psy\u00adche. We feel lan\u00adguage to be inte\u00adgral to our con\u00adscious\u00adness, yet at the same time, it is obvi\u00adous\u00adly learned, not inher\u00adit\u00aded bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly. Lan\u00adguages can be traced back thou\u00adsands of years, through con\u00adstant muta\u00adtions and sub\u00addi\u00advi\u00adsions, but their speak\u00aders may have been of many dif\u00adfer\u00adent bio\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal ori\u00adgins. I speak Eng\u00adlish, but it\u2019s unlike\u00adly that many of my ances\u00adtors came from England.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-14<\/a>The Dacians appear to have spo\u00adken a lan\u00adguage in the Thra\u00adco-Illyr\u00adi\u00adan sub-fam\u00adi\u00adly of the Indo-Euro\u00adpean fam\u00adi\u00adly. Most lan\u00adguages in Europe are in the Indo-Euro\u00adpean fam\u00adi\u00adly. This is a large clus\u00adter of relat\u00aded lan\u00adguages that, four thou\u00adsand years ago, were con\u00adfined to an area around present-day Belarus. Over time, ver\u00adsions of this lan\u00adguages spread in every direc\u00adtion, split\u00adting into new lan\u00adguages which were spo\u00adken as far west as Ire\u00adland and as far east as the bor\u00adder of Bur\u00adma. In so doing, it broke into a num\u00adber of sub-fam\u00adi\u00adlies, such as the Celtic sub\u00adfam\u00adi\u00adly, the Indic sub\u00adfam\u00adi\u00adly, the Slav\u00adic sub\u00adfam\u00adi\u00adly, etc. The Thra\u00adco-Illyr\u00adi\u00adan sub\u00adfam\u00adi\u00adly once cov\u00adered most of the Balka\u00adns and parts of Cen\u00adtral Europe, but today it is rep\u00adre\u00adsent\u00aded by only one sur\u00adviv\u00ading lan\u00adguage, Alban\u00adian. We sus\u00adpect that the Dacians spoke a lan\u00adguage in this sub\u00adfam\u00adi\u00adly, because ancient Greek sources state that the Dacians, Getae and Thra\u00adcians spoke lan\u00adguages that were very sim\u00adi\u00adlar to each oth\u00ader. The few names and words that we have in Dacian show some sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty to Thra\u00adcian. So we guess that the Dacians spoke a lan\u00adguage that vague\u00adly resem\u00adbled mod\u00adern Alban\u00adian (just as Latin and mod\u00adern French vague\u00adly resem\u00adble each oth\u00ader). How\u00adev\u00ader, this is mere\u00adly the most like\u00adly, not the con\u00adclu\u00adsive, inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion of the evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-14<\/a>What\u2019s impor\u00adtant to me about the Dacians is that they built a num\u00adber of towns, fortress\u00ades, aque\u00adducts and tem\u00adples that were on the same tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal lev\u00adel as you would find in most parts of the ancient Greek and Roman world. They engaged in wide\u00adspread trade, as tes\u00adti\u00adfied by the huge num\u00adber of coins from dis\u00adtant lands found at their sites. Roy\u00adal and aris\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic pow\u00ader was based on their con\u00adtrol of impor\u00adtant gold and sil\u00adver mines in Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia. The Dacian King\u00addom was cen\u00adtered on their cap\u00adi\u00adtal at Sarmizege\u00adtusa, which was in turn sur\u00adround\u00aded by many forts and urban set\u00adtle\u00adments. This focal point was in the south\u00adwest\u00adern cor\u00adner of Tran\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia, but at their height, the Dacian kings ruled over an area that would include all of today\u2019s Roma\u00adnia and Moldo\u00adva, and parts of Bul\u00adgar\u00adia, Ser\u00adbia, Hun\u00adgary, Ukraine, and even a lit\u00adtle bit of Poland. Urban life and indus\u00adtry, espe\u00adcial\u00adly met\u00adal-work, was well estab\u00adlished long before the Roman emper\u00ador Tra\u00adjan con\u00adquered a small part of the King\u00addom and incor\u00adpo\u00adrat\u00aded it into the Empire as the Province of Dacia. I have noth\u00ading but admi\u00adra\u00adtion for Tra\u00adjan\u2019s mil\u00adi\u00adtary dar\u00ading: his legions would have had to crawl up that nar\u00adrow, wind\u00ading val\u00adley, which I found so exhaust\u00ading, fight\u00ading their way past half a dozen large fortress\u00ades. It was only by destroy\u00ading the city\u2019s aque\u00adducts that they were able to force a surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"07-05-14<\/a>Dacian soci\u00adety was based on exten\u00adsive and high\u00adly orga\u00adnized seden\u00adtary agri\u00adcul\u00adture, with spe\u00adcial\u00adties in mak\u00ading wine and hon\u00adey, live\u00adstock breed\u00ading, and com\u00admer\u00adcial indus\u00adtries in ceram\u00adics and met\u00adal-ware. The Dacian heart\u00adland would have been no less civ\u00adi\u00adlized than any com\u00adpa\u00adra\u00adble part of Italy or Greece. A king\u00addom of Dacia was in exis\u00adtence at least as ear\u00adly as the first half of the 2nd cen\u00adtu\u00adry BC<\/span>, under king Oroles. Under Bure\u00adbista, a con\u00adtem\u00adpo\u00adrary of Julius Cae\u00adsar, the king\u00addom reached its max\u00adi\u00admum extent and mil\u00adi\u00adtary pow\u00ader. Cae\u00adsar con\u00adtem\u00adplat\u00aded invad\u00ading the king\u00addom, but wise\u00adly did not attempt it. For the next cen\u00adtu\u00adry and a half, the Dacian king\u00addom proved to be a thorn in the Romans\u2019 flesh, defeat\u00ading them in sev\u00ader\u00adal small wars, and occa\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly raid\u00ading into the Empire. King Dece\u00adbalus par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly humil\u00adi\u00adat\u00aded the Romans, and his sta\u00adtus as \u201cking client to Rome\u201d masked a polit\u00adi\u00adcal real\u00adi\u00adty where the Romans were in effec\u00adtive submission.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was because of this embar\u00adrass\u00ading sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion that Tra\u00adjan was deter\u00admined to con\u00adquer Dacia. It was also crit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly impor\u00adtant to restore the Empire\u2019s sag\u00adging finances by cap\u00adtur\u00ading the famous Trea\u00adsure of Dece\u00adbalus and gain\u00ading con\u00adtrol of the Dacian gold mines. In two cam\u00adpaigns, the first in 101\u20132 AD<\/span>, and the sec\u00adond in 105\u20136 AD<\/span>, Tra\u00adjan took the key Dacian fortress\u00ades, and the cap\u00adi\u00adtal. Dece\u00adbalus com\u00admit\u00adted sui\u00adcide. This is recount\u00aded by the Roman his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Dio Cas\u00adsius, but it is also illus\u00adtrat\u00aded in detail on Tra\u00adjan\u2019s Col\u00adumn, in Rome. On the col\u00adumn, one can even see the dif\u00adfer\u00adence in cos\u00adtume between the Dacian nobles (tara\u00adbostes<\/em>) and the com\u00admon peo\u00adple (comati<\/em>). Dr. Con\u00adstan\u00adtin showed me where the Roman sol\u00addiers had smashed the mas\u00adsive \u201csun-wheel\u201c, hop\u00ading to unearth trea\u00adsure. The tem\u00adple struc\u00adtures also show signs of being demol\u00adished by the Romans. He point\u00aded to pil\u00adlars that had clear\u00adly been bro\u00adken into frag\u00adments by chis\u00adels, rather than mere\u00adly fallen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Dacian \u201csun wheel\u201d dam\u00adaged by the Romans look\u00ading for treasure.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Romans brought only a small frac\u00adtion of the Dacian King\u00addom into the Empire, turn\u00ading into a Province. The elite of the king\u00addom seem to have rapid\u00adly Roman\u00adized. Mod\u00adern Roman\u00adian nation\u00adal\u00adists like to think that these Roman\u00adized Dacians were the ori\u00adgins of the mod\u00adern Roman\u00adian speech and pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, which is quite pos\u00adsi\u00adble, but by no means prov\u00adable. They would, at any rate, been a very small pro\u00adpor\u00adtion of the total pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion of the region, and the Latin-derived speech of mod\u00adern Roma\u00adnia could have entered the region in many oth\u00ader dif\u00adfer\u00adent ways, all equal\u00adly hypo\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal. There is no clear evi\u00addence of Roman\u00adian speech in the toponyms of the imme\u00addi\u00adate area until the 13th Century.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Romans prof\u00adit\u00aded imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly from the Dacian trea\u00adsure, the pro\u00adduc\u00adtive mines, and the cap\u00adture indus\u00adtries, but the con\u00adquest changed the bal\u00adance of pow\u00ader in the region. With\u00adout the strong Dacian state to act as a buffer, the Celtic and Ger\u00adman\u00adic tribes were set in tur\u00admoil, and began the waves of migra\u00adtions that were ulti\u00admate\u00adly to bring the Roman Empire to its end. Gold, rather than oil, was the strate\u00adgic sub\u00adstance, but the exam\u00adple might still prove a prof\u00aditable cau\u00adtion for inva\u00adsions mount\u00aded in our day.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the detailed tour of Sarmizege\u00adtusa, Dr. Con\u00adstan\u00adtin offered to give a lift to Isaac and myself to Deva. He said that there was a fine 13th cen\u00adtu\u00adry citadel, which we would prob\u00ada\u00adbly like to see, and that we could \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9142,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions\/9142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}