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rvmaximus

Dacians Vs Celts Vs Germanics Vs 'scythians'

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What amazes me of the Dacians is that they held on to their terratory between the Celts/Germanic/Scythians( or whatever you call them) besides the Romans! This seems like an amazing task to me. I read about their battles against some of these groups but much is sketchy so you have to just use reasonable analysis. Their land was fairly prized..do not think it was nearly as cold as Germania or Baltics and was in the Greek sphere of influence( riches), so many tried but many failed including the Romans many times.

Romans feared their weaponry as we know(falx,etc.) but I cannot believe what the Romans write about their enemies(they put them all on a pedestal) but I have to imagine the Romans coveted this land too. So maybe their stories were not so far off.

Anyone know much about their battles aginst the other groups,we all know about the Roman battles. Just seems to me the Dacians had the misfortune to be located where they were.

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Anyone know much about their battles aginst the other groups,we all know about the Roman battles. Just seems to me the Dacians had the misfortune to be located where they were.

 

As with most of the ancient source material in the ancient world... it comes from either a Greek or Roman perspective. Even the details regarding Trajan's campaigns in Dacia are largely lost as Cassius Dio's account is fragmentary. Unfortunately, unlike Tacitus' surviving account of other northern tribes in 'Germania', there is no such account of the Dacians. Although 'Germania' hardly provides the sort of insight you'd be looking for anyway.

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Anyone know much about their battles aginst the other groups,we all know about the Roman battles. Just seems to me the Dacians had the misfortune to be located where they were.

 

As with most of the ancient source material in the ancient world... it comes from either a Greek or Roman perspective. Even the details regarding Trajan's campaigns in Dacia are largely lost as Cassius Dio's account is fragmentary. Unfortunately, unlike Tacitus' surviving account of other northern tribes in 'Germania', there is no such account of the Dacians. Although 'Germania' hardly provides the sort of insight you'd be looking for anyway.

 

There is another source that you can *almost* read: /Trajan's Column/. I found the following

 

Frank Lepper, Sheppard Frere, \Trajan's Column\. Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1988.

 

a very interesting (though very long) study, with a full reproduction of the Column. But for all I know the Column may be available in full somewhere on the Web?

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There is another source that you can *almost* read: /Trajan's Column/. I found the following

 

Frank Lepper, Sheppard Frere, \Trajan's Column\. Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1988.

 

a very interesting (though very long) study, with a full reproduction of the Column. But for all I know the Column may be available in full somewhere on the Web?

 

I know Bill Thayer put together a nice photo journal of it on his site at Lacus Curtius

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