Daces

Daces and Thraces

Daces are often confused with the Thraces (and the Goths) in the historical writings. In this ancient part of the world, many people were called Thraces. However, some accounts speak about Thraces and Daces like two different people.

The information sources are very limited, but of the writings of Hérodote affirm: " The nation of Thraces is, after that of the Indians, most important of the world. If they had only one king, and if they could get along between them, they would be invincible and, according to me, much more powerful than very other nation" . Then: " among Thraces, Gètes (Daces) are bravest and more droits" .

Activities

Their main activities are agriculture and the breeding. The horses are especially used as draft animals. Money and gold mines are worked in current the Transylvania. The richnesses of Daces consist of very important cereal and salt, gold reserves.

The foreign trade is important, within sight of the number of foreign currencies found in the country. The trade is carried out especially with Greece, then with the Roman empire.

As of the end of the second century before JC, Daces are not satisfied any more to use the parts coming from the other countries, but start to manufacture gold coins, undoubtedly with the assistance of the Greek colonists. The majority are perfect counterfeits of the Roman parts. Others, on the other hand, are original, and carry inscriptions in Greek alphabet.

Most are famous parts KOSON, thus named by the inscription which they carry, and which one supposes being the name of the chief of Daces in an area, after the assassination of César to Rome and Burebista in Dacie. On part of the parts, one sees a Roman consul considered as the adversary with a " R" and " KOSON" in Greek alphabet. On the reverse, one sees a vulture with the wings opened, a greenhouse on a sceptre and, in the other greenhouse, a crown. 8,41 grams but, 18-21 mm diameter (description of Constantin Preda).

Daces know and use a crowned solar calendar, which is preserved inside the city of Sarmizegetusa. It can be considered among most precise of all antiquity, because the error of this calendar is only of 1:15 min 3 dryness each year (8840 years if one applies corrections every 3 years).

They know many medicinal plants and use medicine Holistique.

Social organization

See also List of the kings Daces .

The social organization of Daces illustrates the " trilogy indo-européenne" defined by Dumézil. Daces are controlled by dynasties of king-priests ( Polistes ) to the head of troops of riders aristocrats ( Tarabostes ) and peasants warlike ( Comates ). Polistes, kinds of druids, progress in connaissaces by the means of successive initiations, close to those of the orphists and the pythagoricians. To mark their membership they cover the head of a white felt bonnet. Tarabostes, owners of forests, rivers, fords and mills, could not work: their destiny is to transmit and exert the art of the war. It is often them which assemble forwardings of plundering towards the people and the close cities. To mark their membership they cover the head of a red felt bonnet (near to the bonnet of Thraces Phrygian to Anatolia, symbol of freedom in France by recall of the Phrygian revolts). Thus tarabostesei = pileati ; they form the class of the riders. Comates ( coma = mane ) fight with foot: soldiers, peasants, craftsmen, they carry the long hair ( capillati ) and remain naked head (later, after the romanisation and christianization, they will adopt a wool hat black). But all are free men.

In the beginning, they live in wood huts gathered in villages surrounded by a palisade, then, at one late time, they build fortresses and conical turns hones (toponyms in… dava of them: Sarcidava, Cumidava, Capidava, Piroboridava, etc).

Lifestyle

Plato (Charmide) written that he learned from Thrace which venerated Zalmoxis, a melody to make a man immortal. One discovered, in an area of Gèto-Daces (in Histria), a musical instrument, dating from IIIe century before JC, formed of three wood flutes. Orphée, one of the largest poets of antiquity, in spite of contradictory legends, seems well to come from a tribe thrace. It is also said that Musaios (friendly of Orphée), Thamiris and even Eumolpe is thraces.

Daces have a military strategy with separate points of defense of the places of life. The construction of the points of defense benefits the maximum of the physicogeographical characteristics of the area. The military structures are the result of the union of the tribes in the event of danger. They can be focused on only one objective, like the construction of a whole of defense. For the first time, one can speak about an army dace towards IVe or IIIe century, under Dromihete, with all the institutions of a State.

Two types of weapons are found: weapons of remote fight and weapons of fight to the body with body. The cavalry has a role of harassing, to try to attract the enemy, to tighten traps to him, and to put it in unfavourable position. Daces do not use massive techniques with rigid and many units.

For the fights with the body with body, Daces prefer to carry a specific weapon, the Sica, decorated crowned symbols. This weapon is then used by part of the gladiators in Rome, called thraces by the Romans.

Language

See Language of Daces.

Indo-European, the speech of Thraces and Daces belongs to the group of languages thraco-illyriens of the Western Iranian languages. There remains badly known, only some supposed words daces (160) find in Rumanian. For the writing, one hardly has but of the Rohonczi Codex and some writings in Greek and Latin (see both in translation at the same time).

Religion

See Religion of Daces.

Daces give itself the name of wolves or those which are similar to the wolves . Thus, Daces have two types of symbols of war: the flag and the dragon with head of wolf and tail of snake, which flies while inflating.

Daces reached an high level of spirituality, when the Romans discover their existence. They believe in two worlds and the immortality of the heart, in the form of a continuation of the " soi" after death in the other world: a world where Zalmoxis awaits them (Zalmoxis being apparently Poliste pythagorician, prophet of the single creator Gabeleisos).

The presence of some other divinities, for the life on ground, testifies to nature radically different from these two worlds. The image opposite is a detail in Aleksandrovo in the south-east of Bulgaria, the character was identified as being Zalmoxis, which of its crowned axe opens the difficult way of Knowledge.

Daces in Rome before Jesus Christ

Daces are in Rome, with other populations of the area known nowadays like the Balkans, like the Illyrien S for example, as of the period between 44 before JC (death of Jules César) and 31 before JC, during the introduction of the principat of Auguste. They have many occupations, whose principal one is the trade of Gladiateur which is appropriate to them well, considering their aptitude for the individual fight. The gladiators involve in small named arenas " ludus". Four denominations of these arenas are known: Dacicus, Gallicus, Magnus, Matutinus. The existence of the Dacicus arena suggests a big number of Daces gladiators. Later, when Dacie becomes Roman province, Daces move more towards the military activities, becoming members of the imperial guard - the Praetorian ones and the horse guard - equities singulares. The inscriptions of the funeral stones of the soldiers belonging to the imperial guard carry without fault and with a certain distinction the place of origin of the deceased ones. For example; natione Tharx - for the Thraces.

An good example is that of Lucius Avilius Dacus, on marble, of the Seventy before JC, two centuries before the conquest of Dacie. Another inscription, discovered Via Flaminia, is dedicated to the memory of the Zia queen, widow of the king of the Costoboces, Dieporus, is established by his/her small children Natoporus and Driglisa. It seems that Via Flaminia prisoners of royal and noble origin were received. The dace presence in Rome, in the imperial guard, is noticed in many marble inscriptions, dedicated to the emperors: are also the names of the soldiers there, with the place of origin: Aurelius Valerius Drubeta, Antonius Bassinass Zermizegetusa, Titus Lempronius Augustus Apulum. On a total of 120 names daces, 15 are originating in Sarmizegetusa. Among those, Claudiano, centurion of the 6th troop. But also Iulius Secondinus, natione Dacus, Praetorian called again with the service, having reached the 85 years age under conditions or at that time one seldom exceeds the 50 years age.

The spirituality of Daces according to Trajan

The Roman Emperor Trajan wrote:

receiving the empire pourrissant and weak in all his directions of this tyranny which had worked it a long time inside and of the many invasions of Gètes of in-outside, I was to have only dared to attack these people of the other with dimensions of the Danube. I conquered even these Gètes, most warlike of the nations which never existed, not only by the body, but also by these maxims of Zalmoxis, which lives with them in such a veneration, it touched them so deeply in their heart. Because not believing that they die, but that they change only their dwelling…

Internal bonds

Dacie
List of the cities daces
List of the tribes daces
Language of Daces
Religion of Daces
List of the kings Daces

Random links: