AN ANCIENT REGION IN THE BALKANS: DACIA

Abstract

In ancient times, many civilisations and cultures were observed in different geographical areas of the world. One of these geographies is the Balkan or Eastern Europe. Dacia is an important center in this region. The region, which is generally called Dacia in Roman sources and Getae in Greek sources, is predominantly located in today's Romania and partly in Hungary, Serbia, Moldova, Ukraine and Bulgaria. The people living in the region were also called Dacians. The Danube was of vital importance for Dacia and the Dacians. The Dacia Region, which has been the scene of settlement since the first millennium BC and hosted the tribes called the first Dacians, showed an uninterrupted cultural and political continuity until the Roman period. Dacia, a very important region due to its underground resources and location, took its place in Rome’s traditional policy of expansion. The Roman emperors who conquered this region had the title “Dacicus Maximus”. The indigenous inhabitants of the region, commonly known as the Dacians, were remarkable both for their distinctive social, cultural and military structures prior to Roman influence and for their more cosmopolitan structure after encountering Roman culture. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the historical geography of Dacia and the socio-cultural and socio-political structures of the Dacians in the light of ancient and modern sources.

Keywords

• Dacia
• Getae
• Danube River
• Transilvania
• Carpathian Mountains

BALKANLAR’DA BİR ANTİK ÇAĞ BÖLGESİ: DACİA

Abstract

Eskiçağ’da dünyanın farklı coğrafyalarında pek çok medeniyet ve kültür görülmüştür. Bu coğrafyalardan biri de Balkan ya da Doğu Avrupa coğrafyasıdır. Dacia, bu bölgede var olan önemli bir merkezdir. Roma kaynaklarında genel olarak Dacia, Yunan Kaynaklarında ise Getae olarak adlandırılan bölge ağırlıklı olarak günümüzdeki Romanya ve kısmen Macaristan, Sırbistan, Moldova, Ukrayna ve Bulgaristan topraklarında yer alan bir bölgedir. Bölgede yaşayan halk da Dacialılar olarak adlandırılmıştır. Tuna nehri, Dacia ve Dacialılar için hayati önem arz etmiştir. MÖ I. binyıldan itibaren yerleşime sahne olan ve ilk Dacialılar olarak isimlendirilen kabilelere ev sahipliği yapan Dacia bölgesi, Roma dönemine kadar kesintisiz bir kültürel ve siyasal devamlılık göstermiştir. Sahip olduğu yer altı kaynakları ve konumu nedeniyle oldukça önemli bir bölge olan Dacia, Roma’nın geleneksel yayılım politikası içerisinde yerini almıştır. Bu bölgeyi ele geçiren Roma imparatorları “Dacicus Maximus” unvanına sahip olmuşlardır. Bölgenin yerli halkı olan ve yaygın tabirle Dacialılar olarak adlandırılan insanlar hem Roma tesirinden önceki kendine özgü sosyal, kültürel ve askeri yapıları hem de Roma kültürü ile tanıştıktan sonraki daha kozmopolit yapıları ile dikkat çekici bir yapı ortaya koymuşlardır. Bu çalışmadaki temel amaç; Dacia bölgesinin tarihî coğrafyası ile bölgenin sakinleri olan Dacialıların sosyo-kültürel ve sosyo-politik yapılarını antik ve modern kaynakların ışığında değerlendirmektir.

Keywords

• Dacia
• Getae
• Tuna Nehri
• Transilvania
• Karpat Dağları

References

1. BĂRBULESCU, Michaeli, “Dacia Felix”, Istoria României, Bucureşti 1998, ss. 50–91.
2. BERCİU, Dumitru, Ancient Peoples and Places: Romania, New York 1967.
3. BOSWORTH, Albert B., A Historical Commentary on Arrian’s History of Alexander: Commentary on Books I-III, Cilt 1, Oxford 1980.
4. BUNBURY, Edward Herbert, A History of Ancient Geography (Among the Greeks and Romans from the Earliest Ages Till the Fall of the Roman Empire), Cilt 2, London 1879.
5. CAESAR, De bello Gallico, (çev.) W. A. McDevitte ve W. S. Bohn, New York 1869.
6. CASSIUS DIO, Historiae Romanae, (çev.) Earnest Cary, London 1914.
7. CHAPPELL, Stephen, “Auxiliary Regiments and New Cultural Formation in Imperial Dacia, 106–274 c.e.”, The Classical World, Cilt 104, Sayı 1, ss. 89-106.
8. DIMA, Cristian, Transport in Dacia, Commercial routes in the intra-Carpathian space from the middle of the second century BC until the Roman conquest, Cluj 2021.

9. EHRICH, Robert W., Some Indo-European Speaking Groups of the Middle Danube and the Balkans: Their Boundaries as Related to Cultural Geography Through Time, U.S.A., 1970.
10. ELLIS, Linda, “Terra Deserta: Population, Politics, and the Colonization of Dacia”, World Archaeology, Cilt 30, Sayı 2, 1998, ss. 220-237.
11. FOL, Alexander, “Thracians, Celts, Illyrians and Dacians”, History of Hummanity, Cilt 3, 1996, ss. 222-224.
12. GRUMEZA, Ion, Dacia Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Eastern Europe, England 2009.
13. GUDEA, Nicolae, “The Defensive System of Roman Dacia”, Britannia, Cilt 10, 1979, ss. 63-87.
14. ________, “Note de lectură (III)”, Ephemeris Napocensis, Sayı 5, 1995, ss. 87–92.
15. HENDZEL, Jakub, “The reconquest of Dacia by Constantine the Great”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift Bd., Cilt 116, Sayı 1, 2023, ss. 1-52.
16. HERODOTOS, Historiae, (çev.) David Grene, Chicago 1987.
17. HRUSHEVSKY, Mykhailo, History of Ukraine-Rus (From Prehistory to Eleventh Century), Cilt 1, Toronto 1997.
18. IORDANES, De origine actibusque Getarum, (çev.) Charles Christopher Mierow, Cambridge 1915.
19. IORGA, Nicolae, Geschichte des rumänischen Volkes in Rahmen seiner Staatsbildungen, Gotha 1905.
20. LENGYEL, Alfonz ve RADAN, T. George, The Archaeology of Roman Pannonia, Kentucky 1980.
21. MATTERN, Susan P., Rome end the Enemy (Imperial Strategy in the Principate), London 1999.
22. MITCHELL, Stephen ve VAN NUFFELEN Peter, “Introduction: the debate about pagan monotheism”, One God: Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire, (ed.) Stephen Mitchell, Cambridge 2010, ss. 1-15.
23. MOCSY, Andras, Pannonia and Upper Moesia (A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire), New York 2014.
24. MOUNTAİN, Harry, The Celtic Encyclopedia, 1998.
25. MURRAY, Tim, Encyclopedia Of Archaeology: History and Discoveries, Cilt 3, 2001.
26. OLTEAN, Ioana A., Dacia: Landscape, colonisation and romanisation, Canada 2007.
27. OPREANU, Coriolan Horatiu, “Roman Victory Symbolism at Sarmizegetusa Regia”, Columna Traiani-Traianssäule: Siegesmonument und Kriegsbericht in Bildern: Beiträge der Tagung in Wien anlässlich des 1900. Jahrestages der Einweihung, (ed.) Fritz Mitthof ve Günther Schörner, Wien 2017, ss. 369-376.
28. OVIDIUS, Tristia, (çev.) Peter Green, California 2005.
29. PANAITESCU, Eugen, “Numărul geţilor şi al dacilor”, Mélanges in memoriam V. Pârvan, Bucureşti 1934.
30. PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Naturalis Historia, (çev.) John Bostock, London 1855.
31. PLINIUS CAECELIUS SECUNDUS, Epistulae, (çev.) J.B. Firth, London 1900.
32. POP, Ioan Aurel ve BOLOVAN, Ioan, Istoria Transilvaniei, Cluj 2013. PTOLEMAIOS, Geographika, (çev.) J. Lennart Berggren and Alexander Jones, Princeton 1932.
33. ROSTOVTZEFF, Micheal Ivanovitch, Iranian and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford 1922.
34. RÜPKE, Jörg, Pantheon: A New History of Roman Religion, Princeton 2018.
35. STEVES, Rick ve CAMERON, Hewitt, Rick Steves’ Eastern Europe, 2019.
36. STOEV, Kalin, “The Roman Conquest and the Beginning of Roman Rule in the Thracian Lands. II. Livius, Periochae 134-142 and the Campaign of Lentulus against the Dacians”, ORPHEUS Journal of Indo-European and Thracian Studies, Cilt 22, Sofia 2015, ss. 65-72.
37. STRABO, Geographika, (çev.) Hans Claude Hamilton and W. Falconer, London 1903.
38. SUCIU, Titus, “The Economic, Social and Religious Life in Ancient Rome and Dacia”, Revista Economică, Cilt 70, Sayı 3, 2018, ss. 139-156.
39. SZABO, Csaba, Sanctuaries in Roman Dacia: Materiality and Religious Experience, Oxford 2018.
40. ________, “Space Sacralization in Antiquity The Case Study of Roman Dacia”, Transylvanian Review, Cilt 30, Sayı 3, 2021, ss. 100-120.
41. TACITUS, Germania, (çev.) Alfred John Church ve William Jackson Brodribb, New York 1942.
42. TAYLOR, Timothy, “Northeastern European Iron Age”, Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Cilt 4 Europe, New York 2001, ss. 210-221.
43. THUKYDIDES, Bellum Peloponnesiacum, (çev.) Richard Crawley, London 1910. TOYNBEE, Arnold J. ve MYERS, Edward D., Historical Atlas and Gazetter, Cilt 11, London 1959.
44. VARGA, Rada, “Prosopography of The Non‑Elite In Roman Dacia -Historiographic Approach”, Est modvs in rebvs, Essays Presented to Professor Mihai Bărbulescu at his 75th Anniversary, (ed.) Sorin Nemeti, Irina Nemeti Florin, Gheorghe Fodorean ve Sorin Cociș, Cluj 2022, ss. 61-70.
45. WADE, W. Donald, The Roman Auxiliary Units and Camps in Dacia, North Carolina 1969.
46. WANNER, Robert, Forts, fields and towns: Communities in Northwest Transylvania from the first century BC to the fifth century AD, Leicester 2010.
47. WESCH KLEİN, G., “Recruits and Veterans”, A Companion to the Roman Army, Maiden 2007, ss. 462-477.
48. ŻMUDZİŃSKİ, Mateusz, “Some remarks on the depopulation of Dacia during the reign of Trajan and the reliability of written sources”, SCIREA Journal of Sociology, Cilt 5, Sayı 4, 2021, ss. 266-276.