I know Dacian Mythology is not as popular as other more mainstream mythologies of the ancient era, and I’m aware it’s unlikely to appear in the game, but even so it may be a good source of inspiration for moders and in the slim chance that it appears in the game all the great.
Really, I think it’s underrated, because Dacian mythology was a world unto itself.
I. Introduction - Immortality and Theocracy.
What makes the Dacians special is that they had this religion where they genuinely believed they are immortal, that when they died their soul simply changes location and that they actually fought Tranjan’s Rome from the game.
While this is similar to Christianity, which may explain their easy convertion to Chiristianity, they believed that with great certainity leading them to be feared warriors, because they were not afraid of death, to understand their dregree of certainity in immortality look at this Trajan quote:
“We have conquered even these Dacians, the most warlike of all people that have ever existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zamolxis who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change their location, and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey.” - Emperor Trajan
“The Dacians are the most law-abiding and the bravest of the Thracians. They believe they are immortal, forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being” - Herodotus
“Out of all the peoples, they are the wisest” - Homer, about the Dacians.
The Dacians or Getae were a subgroup of the Thracians, in the same way that French and Italians are today, related, but not the same people. In the Ancient Greek writings they were known as Geta or plural Getae, while in the Roman doccuments they were known as Dacus or plural Daci but also Getae on sevaral occasions. Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms, or used with some confusion by the Greeks. Latin poets often used the name Getae. Vergil called them Getae four times, and Daci once, Lucian Getae three times and Daci twice, Horace named them Getae twice and Daci five times, while Juvenal one time Getae and two times Daci.
The Dacians used to live in multiple tribes but would unite whenever outsiders threatened them or a leader strong enough to earn the respect of all of them would rise. Although there are mentions of Dacian tribes up to the 7th century BC, it was only in 168 BC that King Rubobostes managed to unite most Dacian tribes under one single rule. King Rubobostes’ successor, King Olores, successfully opposed a Celtic invasion in Transylvania, due to an initial failure, King Oroles punished his soldiers into sleeping at their wives’ feet and do the household chores. Subsequently, the now “highly motivated” Dacian army defeated the Celts and King Oroles lifted all sanctions.
Due to their religion, the priests of Dacia had an uncommon political influence, they were often able to make or break the authority of a ruler. In a way the Kingdom of Dacia was more of a theocracy than a kingdom. The Dacian religion was polytheistic and believed in immorality, in fact, the Dacians had a faith in their gods and belief in immorality on the border of fanaticism, and sometimes crossing the border.
After Sarmisegtuza was conquered, Decebalus tried to run so that he will form a ressistance elsewhere, but the Roman cavalry caught him and he killed himself to avoid being captured by the Romans. This may sound shocking to us today, but considering the Dacian’s fanatical belief that the soul is immortal and when they die they don’t cease to exist but simply change location, it was the normal thing to do for Decebalus, going to Zamolxis and avoiding being captured by the Romans. It was no hard choice at all.
The Dacians had good relationships with the Greeks, except for a few cases where they want at war, and often traded with them. They were also one of the few nations called barbarians by the Romans to use siege weapons.
II. The Pantheon - Zamolxis and the Other Less Important Gods.
The Dacian Pantheon was the following:
- Zamolxis - God of life and death, supreme deity.
- Gebeleizis - God of the dark sky, thunder, lightning and rain.
- Bendis - Goddess of feminity, nature, the moon, forests, charms and love.
- Derzelas - God of health, abundance, underworld and human spirit’s vitality.
- Sabazios - God of the sun, light, the horseman and sky-father god.
- Dionysus - God of wine, the grape harvest, wine, fertility and theatre. (shared with the Greeks)
- Kotys - The mother-goddess, fertility, motherhood, maternity.
- Pleistoros - God of war, blood, anger, wrath.
When there was a thunderstrom, the Dacians believed that their gods are fighting the gods of the enemy, and thus shoot arrows in the sky to help their gods win the fight. They believed, according to Zamolxis’ teachings, that the soul is immortal and they cannot really die, when they are killed, the soul simply changes location. The people on the brink of death were said to be able to speak with Zamolxis directly.
Because of this, the Dacians were renowned in Greece for their fighting power, who believed that their god of war, Ares, was born in Dacia. The Dacians were ferocious opponents in death as they had no fear of death since they didn’t view it as the end of their existance but merely a step.
Originally, the Dacians were polytheistic with Gebeleizis as the chief god, but gradually they shifted towards Zamolxis and a more monotheistic religion, by 100 AD when they fought with Rome the Dacian religion was already monotheistic religion with Zamolxis as the only god. It did not happen due to a radical event, but simply the other gods lost importance.
Dacian priests are found under three names: kapnobatai, polistai and ktistai.
The term kapnobatai means “those who walk through the clouds” . This name corresponds to the fact that the ascetic priests lived on the high peaks always covered by clouds and fog.
Polistai translates as “founders of cities” which might mean that this priestly cast could be a teacher. In favor of this hypothesis also comes the fact that the tribe from which Jesus was the “teacher”, the Essenes were compared to the Dacian polishers.
Ktistaii, the “founders of the nation” , could be a priestess priest who practices medicine. It is also known the existence of a priestess caste which was preached with the small courage and actively participated in the battles, Vezina being a famous example of the priest present on the battlefield.
The name of Zamolxis comes from the dacian word for “earth” which is zamol.
III. The Werewolf - Protector of the Dacians.
The oldest mentioning of the werewolf comes from 6th century BC and has its origins on the actual territory of Transylvania, according to the ancient historian Herodotus, all of this happening centuries before any other European references in regard with this subject.
The Legend of the Great White Wolf states that in lost times, a high priest of Zamolxis was roaming through Dacia’s forests in order to help the needy. Zalmoxis realizing the potential of his servant, called him into the mountains to be close to him. Far beyond human territory, the beasts of Dacia considered him their leader, wolves appreciating him the most. After some time Zalmoxis summoned him and asked him to serve in another way, and with his approval, the deity transformed him into a large and mighty White Wolf, the most respected and feared beast from all of Dacia. His purpose was to gather all the wolves from the forests and protect Dacia when needed. Whenever the Dacians were in danger, the wolves came to their aid when they heard the howl of the Great White Wolf.
The incorrect international adaptation of the werewolf concept, due to the lack of information and folklore research, reinvented him as a negative character, although according to the Dacian mythology this creature has a divine role of man’s protector.
The Dacians used to call themselves “daoi”, a word inherited from the ancient Phrygian language, daos, meaning wolf, as they had a strong connection to these animals. Their battle flag called Draco was formed out of a wolf’s head with its mouth wide open alongside the body of a dragon, symbolizing the spirit of this vivid animal guardian.
Thus, the basic legend of the Great White Wolf has its origins in the Dacians’ respect for the wolf and from this picture the werewolf idea came to life. However, its purpose was a noble one, as the werewolf was protecting the Dacian people in times of war.
IV. The Vampire - Spirits of the Unworthy.
The vampire, a malefic supernatural character which feeds on human blood, initially appeared in the ancient Sumerian, Assyrian and Jewish mythologies as a nocturnal demonic creature, feeding on children’s blood.
The Indo-European populations generated in the Eurasian region, in the vicinity of the Sumerian, Assyrian and Jewish people. The Indo-Europeans spawned among others the Romans, Greeks and Dacians, took the vampire concept and spread it throughout Europe.
The Dacians’ myths adapted these creatures’ themes, in their conception the vampires are spirits of the deceased not worthy of entering the realm of Zamolxis.
V. Kogaionon, the Mythical Mountain.
The mountain in which Zamolxis was the seat of the Dacian high priest. Graved by the Greeks, the mountain was not identified. The assumptions have brought to light famous mountain peaks such as Gugu, Ceahlaul, Gradistii Hill, Man, each with pros and cons. Certain semantic similarities in some Greek sources impose the first hypothesis, the meaning of the name imposes on man, and also the Sphinx in the seeming to have a special significance.
Strabon writes about Zamolxis’ retreat cave: “So this mountain was recognized as sacred and so called the Getae; his name, Kogaionon, was the same as the evil flowing along.” This quote presents an interesting hypothesis: the more important name of the river, after which the mountain was called, so the mountain is near a bad river. It is also known that the Dacians built a large dwelling in the cave for Zamolxis, thus the ruins of this dwelling must be found in the cave. The authors point out that the Dacians named their priests “traveling through the clouds” which suggests a very high peak for the location of this mountain.
VI. Flaxmen - Anti-Armor Infantry.
The Falx Infantry was the most distinctive feature of the Dacian Warriors. It’s a sword that is curved only at the end, allowing it to pierce armor more effectively. Historically the Flax was so effective at piercing Roman helmets that Trajan ordered a new Roman helmet design just for this war, and the new design still didn’t do anything to combat the flax.
VII. History Summarized.
In 82 BC King Burebista united again the Dacians into a single kingdom. King Burebista is known for expanding Dacia’s territory into Bohemia at the expense of the Celts in modern-day Czech Republic, overwhelming the Greek cities on the north Black Sea coast, destroying all vineyards to make his Soldiers more disciplined and for coming into conflict with the Roman Empire. The Dacia of King Burebista stretched from the Black Sea to the Danube in the west and from the Balkan Mountains to Bohemia.
During the Roman civil war, King Burebista allied with Pompey Magnus against the victorious Julius Caesar, who planned a campaign against Dacia. This war never came to pass as both King Burebista and Julius Caesar were assassinated in year 44 BC. After King Burebista’s death, the kingdom was divided into four then five smaller kingdoms ruled by the religious elite and the Dacian activity was reduced into a defensive state. Despite this division, the related tribes of Dacia fought together whenever they were threatened by a foreign attack.
Dacia would once again become a threat to the Roman Empire when King Decebauls would reunite most Dacian tribes in 87 AD. During the reign of Roman Emperor Domician, Dacia successfully invaded the province of Moesia in modern-day Bulgaria. The Roman Empire pushed back the Dacians over the Danube, only to suffer a disastrous defeat while pursuing them and agreed to a humiliating treaty where the Roman Empire would have to pay tribute to Dacia, 8 million sesterce every year. The Dacia of King Decebauls stretched from the Black Sea to the Tisza river and from the Danube in the south to the Wooded Carpathians in modern-day Ukraine.
After two decades of respite, the Roman Empire under Emperor Tranjan would wage two wars against Dacia, in 101-102 AD and 105-106 AD. During these wars, the Dacians often used shock troops armed with two-handed swords called Falx that were so effective at piercing Roman helmets that they were modified with a pair of crossbars over the dome of the helmet to mitigate the damage from this weapon. However, the full might of the Roman Empire combined with a competent emperor was too much.
The capital of Dacia, Sarmizegetusa, located in modern Transylvania was destroyed by the Roman Empire, but its name was added to that of the new city, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, built by Emperor Trajan to serve as the capital of the Roman province of Dacia. King Decebalus took his own life while being pursued rather than being captured and paraded through the streets of Rome.
Tens of thousands of Dacians were enslaved or recruited as auxiliaries and taken into other parts of the Empire, most notably the Hadrian’s Wall in modern England, while the new Roman Dacia was heavily colonized especially with Roman military veterans as has been done with Spain generations ago. Although the Dacian heartland has been taken, there were free Dacians on the outskirts of the province that raided and attempted to retake Dacia for decades. The constant threat made this vulnerable province the focus of intense Latinization.
The Dacian heartland of Transylvania and Oltenia was conquered in 106 AD, the Dacian capitol Sarmisegetusa was now Roman territory. But not all of Dacia was conquered, in present-day east Romania and Moldova, the Free Dacians kept harassing the Roman Empire so much that Trajan’s sucessor, Emperor Hadrian, consider leaving Dacia and going back over the Danube. The most feared free Dacians tribes were the Carpi and Costroboci. The Carpi were one of the most renowned Free Dacians, their authority was recognized by other tribes which allowed them to form organized attacks against the Roman Empire.
For decades the Free Dacians kept fighting the Roman Empire. In 172 AD, Cornelius Clemens called various tribes in Roman Dacia to defend the territory against the Free Dacians. At the same time, he paid the Costroboci to attack German tribes, playing the barbarians against each other to keep them away from Rome. The Costroboci defeated the German tribes and at that point Cornelius Clemens promised them even greater rewards if they are to become allies. In the face of Roman coin, the Costroboci gave up the old grudge and became part of the Roman Empire. The Carpi on the other hand, kept fighting the Roman Empire until the Huns invaded and wretched them. In 361, a part of the weakened Capri tribe was moved south of Danube while the rest were culturally assimilated.
In 305, after becoming Emperor, Emperor Galerius affirmed his Dacian identity and exhibited anti-Roman attitude by treating the Roman citizens with ruthless cruelty, like the conquerors treated the conquered, all in the name of the same treatment that the victorious Trajan had applied to the conquered Dacians, forefathers of Galerius, two centuries before, even proposing that the empire should be called, not the Roman, but the Dacian Empire, much to the horror of the patricians and senators. This didn’t happen and he died in 311 due to a mortal disease, possibly a form of cancer or gangrene.
VIII. Pictures and Videos
Dacian Houses Outside: https://i0.wp.com/www.identitatea.ro/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/case-dacice.jpg?resize=448%2C384
Dacian Houses Inside: https://24pharte.ro/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/daco-geti.jpg
Dacian Flag, the Draco: https://vox.publika.md/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Lupul-dacicjpg.png
Dacian Soldiers: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/30/93/81/3093819dcd409cd3c4efabdedb1e630e.jpg
Dacian Soldiers on Trajan’s Column: https://adevarul.ro/assets/adevarul.ro/MRImage/2015/03/26/55144a67448e03c0fdf04164/646x404.jpg
