The population of the Getae and the
\nDacians, in antiquity, had reportedly inhabited the territory between the
\nDanube, the Black Sea, the Carpathian Mountains and the intra-Carpathian basin.
\nEvidence of their material culture has been unearthed in several archaeological
\nsites. The artefacts that have been found so far even date before the time Dacia was conquered by the Romans, but also after that period of time and
\nafter the ensuing merger of the Dacian and the Roman civilizations. The weapons
\nthat have been found among the excavated artefacts hold pride of place with
\nrespect to the most valuable evidence that usually helps archaeologists get
\nthe picture of the Getae and the Dacians’ standards of progress as compared to
\nthose of the Romans. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Romans’ presence in the Lower Danube
\ndates from the first century B.C. Quite a few of the Getae and Dacian tribes
\nhad entered the orbit of the Roman civilization. However, there were tribes
\nthat rejected such a merger of simply refused to be Roman subjects. The most
\nrebellious Dacian king was Decebalus of the late first century AD. His state
\nwas located in the central-south-eastern part of today’s Romania, in the Southern
\nCarpathians’ Sureanu Mountains. In the wake of two wars, 101-102 and 105-106 AD, waged by
\nEmperor Trajan, Decebalus, the Dacian King was overpowered, beheaded, and his
\nkingdom was conquered. Therefore, the Dacian-Roman synthesis emerged, which historians
\ndescribe as the act underlying the formation of the Romanian nation.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Established in 2007, the Terra Dacica Aeterna Association is made of
<\/p>\n We have the Dacian warrior, some sort of heavy infantry chieftain. For the Dacian warrior, the
<\/p>\n In turn, Lucian Vulpe played
<\/p>\n With the
<\/p>\n With their weapons and their
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Roman and Dacian attire and weapons, in Dacia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":131477,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45725,45388,45723,45724,45722,36582],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-170107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-cloak","tag-dacians","tag-falx","tag-helmet","tag-romans","tag-war"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\na group of enthusiasts who stage re-enactment performances and promote the Getae
\nand the Dacian culture. Dacia, the last frontier of the Roman era<\/em> is the
\ntitle of an exhibition and at its opening, Andrei Duduman of the aforementioned
\nAssociation dressed himself in a Dacian’s apparel and presented the Dacians’ weapons,
\nin a bid to provide a clear picture of the weapons Dacians and Romans used when
\nthey fought each other 1900 years ago. Andrei Duduman:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nkey visual item was the shield, whose design is inspired by the models on the
\ncolumn, they can be admired in the lapidarium <\/em>as part of Romania’s Museum of National
\nHistory. The second very important element is the sword, of a Celtic pattern,
\nwhose sheath is decorated with motifs that can be found on the famous Dacian
\nmatrix unearthed in Sarmizegetusa.
\nAnother item, crucial for the protection of the warrior, is the chain mail
\nshirt. In our case, it is a chain mail shirt, a riveted one, perfect for a more
\naffluent warrior, a richer one. The riveting made the shirt more resistant. The
\nchain mail shirt provided protection from strikes, cuts, but les so in the case
\nof stabs. It was especially designed to protect the warrior from cuts. I wear a
\nSpangenhelm-type of helmet, of Sarmatian inspiration. It was made of metal
\nsegments, held together by stripes and rivets. As for the civilian part of my
\napparel, so to speak, I wear some silver jewels, the famous Dacian nails, in
\nour case, there is only three of them. As far as I know, helmets with 5, with 7,
\nwith 9 nails have also been excavated, their number varies according to the resources and means of
\nthose wearing them. I also have several glass beads, and, of course, some
\nrings, also made of silver, they are replicas of original artefacts. A very important
\nitem, an insignium of a Dacian nobleman, was the Sicca, the famous Dacian Sicca,
\na dagger.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nthe part of a Roman legionnaire: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nDacians, the gear was somehow non-standardized, having all sorts of decorations,
\nwithout any gear resembling the others, yet with the Romans, everything was
\nstandardized. The Roman army was a professional army, everybody dressed and
\nfought the same. The standard Roman legionnaire’s only key weapon was the
\ngladius, an Iberian weapon, originating from Spain, which oftentimes was used
\nnot only in duels, but it was effective at thrusting. It was used in thrusting
\nas in battle, many legionnaires had to close ranks and there was not enough room
\nfor them to move. Each legionnaire was protected by a lorica segmentata. It was a flexible, very mobile body armor, made of plate sheet segments, very easy to recondition during a fight. He also had a helmet which
\nprotected him very well from the Dacians’ curved or straight weapons. After the
\nFirst Dacian-Roman War, the Roman helmet was reinforced, two iron bars were added
\nin the middle, to help the legionnaires defend themselves against the Dacian Falx
\n(sword). Completing the gear is the Roman shield, mostly decorated
\nwith wings and on which the name of the legion was inscribed, in our case the 5th
\nMacedonica Legion, stationed in Turda. His footwear was made of caligae, the classic
\nRoman sandals, whose pattern could vary. In the case of a centurion, they were
\nmore abundantly decorated and more performing than those of the ordinary
\nlegionnaires. They also had a tunic and a cloak, known as the Pennula, protecting
\nthe Roman soldiers from the rain or helping them to keep warm.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\napparel, the Dacians and the Romans came back to life at Romania’s National
\nMuseum of History. In today’s world, the aficionados of the distant past have rendered flesh and blood to this long-forgotten world. (EN)<\/p>\n