The Antiquity in Romania spans the period between the foundation of Greek colonies in present-day Dobruja and the withdrawal of the Romans from "Dacia Trajana" province. The earliest records of the history of the regions which now form Romania were made after the establishment of three Greek townsHistria, Tomis, and Callatison the Black Sea coast in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. They developed into important centers of commerce and had a close relationship with the natives. The latter were first described by Herodotus, who made mention of the Getae of the Lower Danube region, the Agathyrsi of Transylvania and the Sygannae of Crişana.
Archaeological research prove that Celts dominated Transylvania between the middle of the 5th century and the end of the 3rd century BC. The Bastarnaea warlike Germanic tribesettled in the regions to the east of the Carpathian Mountains around 200 BC. Confrontations between the natives and the Roman Empire began in the late 1st century BC. Among the former, the Dacianswho were closely connected to the Getaerose to eminence under King Burebista ( 80–44 BC). He unified the tribes dwelling between the Middle Danube, the Northern Carpathians, the Dniester and the Balkan Mountains into a powerful, but ephemeral empire. It disintegrated into at least four parts after his death. Large territories to the north of the Lower Danubethe lands between the Tisa, the Northern Carpathians, the Dniester and the Lower Danubewere again unified for less than two decades by King Decebalus of the Dacians (87–106 AD).
Modern Dobrujathe territory between the Lower Danube and the Black Seawas the first historical region of Romania to have been incorporated in the Roman Empire. The region was attached to the Roman province of Moesia between 46 and 79 AD. The Romans also occupied Banat, Oltenia and Transylvania after the fall of Decebalus and the disintegration of his kingdom in 106. The three regions together formed the new province of Dacia. The new province was surrounded by "barbarian" tribes, including the Costoboci, the Iazyges and the Roxolani. New Germanic tribesthe Buri and the Vandalsarrived and settled in the vicinity of Dacia province in the course of the Marcomannic Wars in the second half of the 2nd century.
Background
Hoes, coulters and other tools made of antler were unearthed at nine "Schela Cladovei" settlements along the Lower Danube, suggesting that cultivation of plants began in the lands now forming Romania between around 9500 and 7500 BC. Animal husbandry appeared 1500 or 2000 years later with the arrival of a new populationthe bearers of the "Gura Baciului-Cârcea/Precriş culture"from the southern parts of the Balkan Peninsula. They lived in pit-houses and used chiseled stone tools. They decorated their fine pottery with geographical figures and produced clay figurines.
The antrophomorphic figurines of the "Hamangia culture", which flourished in the region between the Lower Danube and the Black Sea until around 4000 BC, are outstanding representatives of Neolithic art. In addition to figurines, colored pottery featured the "Cucuteni-Trypillian culture" of Muntenia, northeastern Moldavia and southern Transylvania. "Cucuteni-Trypillian" settlements, which often covered an area reaching , flourished until around 2000 BC. Production of copper tools and artifactspins, hooks, and pendantsand the use of gold can also be demonstrated from the last centuries of the Stone Age.
Practically nothing is known of the languages spoken by the locals in this period. Historiansfor instance, Vlad Georgescu and Mihai Roteasay that the spread of Indo-European languages began in the period between 2500 and 2000 BC. Fortified settlements and the great number of weaponsarrowheads, spears and knife bladesunearthed in them show that the stability featuring the Stone Age cultures of "Old Europe" came to an end in the same period.
Coexistence of a great number of transitory cultures, including the "Coțofeni" and "Glina cultures" characterized the first centuries of the Bronze Age. Metallurgy developed in the following period; deposits containing thousands of bronze tools, weapons and jewels from between around 2000 and 1500 BC were unearthed at many places, including Uioara de Sus and Șpălnaca in Transylvania. Finds of amber delivered from the coast of the Baltic Sea and weapons produced in Mycenaean Greece show the importance of trading with these distant regions of Europe. From around 1100 BC, a homogenization of pottery decorations and the development of new archaeological cultures can be detected. These new cultures spread over large territories; for instance, the "Basarabi culture" flourished in the wider region of the Lower Danube. The sporadic use of iron also began around 1100 BC, but it only became widespread about 350 years later.
Before the Romans Greek colonies Ionian colonists from Miletus founded Histria, the first Greek town on the Black Sea coast of present-day Romania. According to Eusebius of Caesarea's Chronicle, this happened in 657 BC. Archaeological findsmainly potterysuggest that the first Greek colonists settled in Histria between the 650s and 620s BC. The second colony, Tomis was also founded by settlers from Miletus who arrived in the 7th or 6th century BC. However, the sparseness of archaeological evidence from the first centuries of the history of Tomis implies that it was initially administered from Histria. The third Greek town, Callatis was founded by Dorian colonists from Heraclea Pontica in the second half of the 6th century BC.
Inscriptions from Histria and Callatis prove that the townsfolk preserved their ancestral traditions for more than half a millennium. They maintained the ancient denominations for their tribes, magistrates, and public bodies, and remained faithful to cults taken from the motherland. The three colonies developed into important centers of trade in olive oil, wine, fine pottery and jewelry. A level of houses and temples destroyed proves that an unidentified enemyaccording to the scholar Paul MacKendrick, Scythianstook and sacked Histria in the late 6th century BC.
Initially, the constitution of Histria was an oligarchy, but, as Aristotle recorded, "it ended in the rule of the populace".Aristotle: The Politics (1305.a.37), p. 219. MacKendrick writes that this change from the rule of aristocratic families to democracy occurred around 450 BC. Thereafter an assembly and council administered Histria; their members were elected by the free male citizens of the town. Callatis also became a democracy in the second half of the 5th century BC. According to MacKendrick, the fragment "KA…" in an inscription listing the Greek towns paying tribute to Athens refers to Callatis, proving that the town became a member of the Delian League.
For defensive purposes, both Histria and Callatis were surrounded by walls: the former in the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, the latter in the 4th century BC. King Lysimachus of Thrace forced Histria to accept his suzerainty in the 310s BC, and Celts sacked the town in 279 BC. Histria and Callatis attempted to take the port of Tomis, but they were defeated around 262 BC.
Getae
The natives of the Lower Danube region came to the attention of classical authors after the establishment of Greek colonies along the Black Sea shore. In the early 5th century BC, Hecataeus of Miletus's Europe referred to two local tribes, the Crobydae and the Trixae. Sophocles wrote of a local ruler named Charnabon in his Triptolemos. Herodotus was the first writer who thoroughly described the tribes dwelling to the north of the Lower Danube. He wrote of the Getae in connection with King Darius I of Persia's campaign against the Scythians in about 513 BC. According to Herodotus, the Getae, "the most courageous and upright Thracian tribe, offered stiff resistance",Herodotus: The Histories (4.93), p. 266. but the Persians defeated and enslaved them. He also described the Getae's belief in the immortality of the soul and their practice of human sacrifices in order to send messages to their principal god, Zalmoxis.
The "Ferigile-Bârseşti" group of cremation tumuli appeared in the foothills of the Southern Carpathians in this period. These graves yielded artifactspottery, weapons and jewelrywhich reveals the influence of Scythian, Illyrian and Thracian art on the locals. Greek amphorae found in the native settlements unearthed at Zimnicea and other places prove that the locals were involved in the trading of wine between the Greek colonies and the regions over the Carpathian Mountains. For instance, the natives at Priscu Crăşani used amphorae produced in the Aegean islands of Thasos, Rhodes and Cos. They lived in wattle-and-daub huts. Silver artifacts (including a helmet and a cup) from the princely tomb unearthed at Agighiol, and the gold helmet found at Coțofănești evidence the wealth accumulated by native chieftains through their connections with the Greek colonies in the 4th century BC.
The "Getae beyond Haemus" who "border on the Scythians"The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (2.8), p. 100. paid tribute to the neighboring Odrysian kings in the 5th century BC, according to Thucydides. He adds that the Getae, who were mounted archers, supported King Sitalkes of the Odyssians against Athens in 429 BC. In 335 BC, according to Arrian, Alexander the Great launched a one-day raid across the Lower Danube against the Getae who could not prevent him from crossing the river. In connection with the raid, Arrian refers to "a deep cornfield" of the Getae and makes mention of their "poorly fortified" The Anabasis by Arrian (1.4), p. 7. city.
After Alexander the Great's death, Lysimachus of Thrace ruled the northern regions of the Balkan Peninsula. He waged wars against King Dromichaetes of the Getae, but could not defeat him. The latter even captured Lysimachus and forced him to withdraw his troops from the lands between the Lower Danube and the Haemus in 292 BC. The subsequent history of Dromichaetes and his realm are unknown. According to the historian Vlad Georgescu, Dromichaetes's kingdom disintegrated into smaller polities. Inscriptions from Histria prove that in the 3rd century BC the Greeks paid tribute to local chieftains, including the Getic Zalmodegicus and Rhemaxos, in exchange for their protection against raids by other neighboring "barbarians".
Syginnae The Syginnae, who had "small, short-faced, long-haired horses",Herodotus: The Histories (5.9), p. 306. according to Herodotus, were the bearers of the "Szentes-Vekerzug culture". This archaeological culture, which is featured by bridles and bits made of iron, flourished in the plains along the river Tisa from around 600 to the second half of the 4th century BC. The Syginnae's ethnic affiliation remained uncertain, but they were neither Thracians nor Scythians, according to the historian Timothy Taylor. Their territory was surrounded by rural settlements, including the villages of the "Sanislău-Nir culture" in Crişana, which suggests that the Syginnae were immigrants who forced the local population to accept their rule.
Agathyrsi
Herodotus writes that the Mureș River "rises in Agathyrsian territory",Herodotus: The Histories (4.48), p. 251. proving that this tribe of warriors dominated large territories in Transylvania in the late 5th century BC. Inhumation graves unearthed at Aiud, Blaj, Ciumbrud, and other sites along the rivers Mureș and Târnava yielded artifacts, both metal work and pottery, with analogies in sites attributed to the Scythians in the Pontic steppes. However, the identification of the Agathyrsi as a Scythian tribe is controversial, because the making of their artifacts, especially their swords, found in Transylvania differs from the technique applied in the Pontic steppes. The Agathyrsi's "way of life" was actually "similar to that of the Thracians",Herodotus: The Histories (4.104), p. 270. as it was emphasized by Herodotus himself.