Given
the situation in which, military speaking, the free men society of
North-Balkan Thracians had adopted as a "doctrine" the necessity of all men
capable of fighting to be involved in protecting the common land, the army
is identified with- and it shall be an inherited, perpetuated feature and
when necessary, adapted to any given era of the Romanian society- the whole,
armed people.
Still, the writings of Crito , tell us, that
altogether with the clerks responsible for labor organization , there were
those "arranged to take care of the defence works "; there is also
Tacit emphasizing that in the battles of the Romans with the Thracian people
in 26 A. D the
fortresses of the latter were guarded "by numerous guardians, soldiers or
many" the presence of which indicates us that there was a core of
permanent army formed of trained warriors. They would be the army of nobles,
the "tarabostes" and their private guards which, as the unification of the
state came true , formed the king's army. The king's army watched the
fortresses in which there were garrisons under the command of a "prefect",
they looked after the safety of roads, the general peace and order, "the
obedience towards commands"- imposed by Burebista- and finally, they were
bound to interfere when outside attacks would occur. The "soldiers" and the
members of the royal guard were, therefore, professional warriors
specialized in handling different weapons, horsemen and pedestrians
thoroughly trained as their value weighted heavily in the balance of
political and military alliances.
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Dacian comatus- Statue from Constantine's Arch |
Dacian taraboste- statue from Constantine's Arch |
The
riders of the treaty between Burebista and Pompeius are unknown to us, but
what we do know is how, over 120 years before, the Macedonian king Perseus
(179-168 B.C) bought for the final confrontation with the Romans, the Getae
alliance: 1000 golden "stater"s offered to the king- 10 "stater" for each
horseman and 5 for each pedestrian. In the harsh times, when an army was
threatened to be outnumbered or surpassed in battle techniques, the
"soldiers" would be joined in battle, by what will be called after a
millennia "the great army" of the land. This is the army formed by all men
capable of fighting of all communities, appointed by Tacit with a term that,
as prove of continuity in the military native field , will appear with the
same meaning in the official acts or the Romanian medieval chronicles : "the
many". Possessing various and skilled architects, "instructors" that would
take care of the leaders - first chosen, then united on a value criteria
from the "tarabostes"- the "royal" army formed in such cases the core, the
bones on which the entire population of men would fit closely due to the
warrior spirit of the Dacians and the possibilities of this people to
transform any tool (reaps, scythes, axes, pieces of iron taken from the
ploughs, pitchforks etc.) in fierce weapons. The fact that this population
used to ride to the camp place , made the historians think that the
horsemen, as a "weapon" had a special place in the army. Thus, Tucidide and
Ovidius, observing that "riding they came", considered that, due to the fact
that "the Getae used to ride" and they were "neighbors with the
Scythians, have the same costumes and they both are riding archers" .
The bow as a weapon used in long-distance battles was handled with the same
skill by the pedestrians as well as the horsemen, thus, Horatio's statement
that the Getae "are more skilled than anyone in throwing arrows" was
very real. The most numerous force used in the battle, was, for all that,
the pedestrians: a fact proved by the report of 2,5/1 for the Getae
pedestrians that oposed Alexander the Great in 335 B.C. The shock effect in
a Dacian army was the heavy infantry of professional warriors where,
according to Dio Chrysostomos only "those who will prove to be skilled
archers", soldiers with heavy weapons "spear or stone throwers"
could be accepted.
Dacian comatus-Bust
To
this heavy infantry a light one would be added the forces of common
commanders that came riding to the place of gathering and once arrived would
fight as pedestrians in the battle. They formed "the light armed soldiers
and those without shields" who often fought with simple pointed stakes,
bludgeons, huge pitchforks, axes, scythes, knives and other tools they
transformed in weapons. Concerning the existence of a Getae and Dacian
military fleet and commercial sailing ships there are no written proves but
however, the archaeological discoveries and Arrian's statement that, in 335 B.C, on the Danube, the boats were "many, because the inhabitants from
the istrian shores used them to fish in the river or to visit each other"
prove us that the fluvial navigation was not an unknown thing in these
parts. Eventually, after Burebista's state was formed the Getae and Dacian
army used the united fleet of the Greek fortresses along the Western parts
of the Black Sea.
The fact that the "vice-kings" (
Deceneu, Vezina ) were mentioned, that those "instructors" and
commanders of fortresses existed and the military actions that took place on
more than one "front", at great distance, in the wars with the Romans from
101-102 and 105-106 A.D altogether with the great warrior skills that were
attributed to Decebal during the attacks from the winter of 85-86 and to
Vezina during the attack from Tapae in 88, the presence on Traian's Column
of various "tarabostes" leading detachments of Dacian warriors or messengers
sent to Traian are able to prove us that the Northern Thracians had several
military units resembling as organization and materials to the Hellenistic
ones and later, the Roman ones. It is well known that Florus, commenting on
Titus Livius, stated that the Southern Thracians were very much acquainted
not only with the "discipline" and "Roman weapons "
but with "the military flags also".
So, there was an
organization by war units, great units with flags and certain signs
belonging to the permanent army capable of rising, when necessary the light
community army and use it as help under the flag "draco"-symbol of whole
community. Indications regarding numbers of units, the great units and the
community army are given by the description of the conflict between Histria
and the Thracian king Zoltes (around 200 B.C), when, in order to protect the
fortress , the Getae king Rhemaxos sends a detachment formed of 100 horsemen
and then, a support unit counting 500 warriors; the total units used is this
battle by the histrians reached 600.
It is also very likely to have existed, within the unified state, some units
belonging to the provinces with a total number of 40.000 warriors.
These units would form, after Burebista's death the army of state formats
that would remain after the disappearance of the unified state. There were
some very important measures taken by the Dacian king Oroles around 200 B.C
in order to stimulate the warrior spirit of the population and also to
educate it. He had some spectacular results in this area by applying
humiliating punishments to his soldiers after the failure in his campain of
repelling the Bastarnae agression.
 Dacian face |
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The warriors' training, the military discipline were possible only through royal "commands", with the full help of the specialized "instructors" that formed the warrior class, or those "imported" from the Greek and Roman world. These methods were accompanied by the self-imposed perfection as a natural consequence of the religious education and ritual traditions.
Xenophon emphasized the role of dancing in Thracian culture as a way
of initiation and as a war ritual. He testified seeing the Thracians
dance "armed, in sounds of flutes. They made small nimble jumps
using knives at the same time". |
Giving
everyone an example of skill in handling weapons, at a feast which the
Odrisian king attended , "Seuthes himself got up, let out a warrrior cry
and jumped nimbly as if he was keeping from an arrow". The supreme
leaders of the people and of course, of the many as a military force were
named within the reigning family and kept as leaders on military skills
criteria as the military role they would have as leaders was huge.
Concerning this issue we have the registering about the virtues and
diplomatic skills of Dromichaites, those about Burebista's qualities of
great leadership and organizer, Duras' giving up "the Dacian kingship,
because of the belief he is much more worthy of it" ("he" in this case
is Decebal) and of course, the portrait Cassius Dio had made to the last of
the Dacian kings: "Duras, who had the kingship first, oferred it
knowingly to Decebal, the king of Dacians, because he was skilled in ways of
the war and brave; he knew when to attack and when to withdraw in time, he
was an expert in setting traps, courageous in battles and he knew how to use
a victory in order to get out sound from a defeat". It is a portrait of
praise showing the ideal features of the ideal commander and the main
characteristics of the military ways and war-craft in Dacian civilization.
The skills of the commanders, the force and complexity of the military structures, and of course the principle of rising the force of people at war when necessary made the resistance of the Dacians and the Getae successful in front of the most fierce migratory tribes or in front of the armies of great ancient powers, registering them in history as a powerful people which rose against the Romans, humiliated them and made them pay a tribute.
Dr. Mircea Dogaru
Army and society in Romanian area, The political studies, defense and
military history Institute
Translated and adjusted Codruta aka Pădure
Cătălin Borangic
Grupul Sarmizegetusa
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