DA'CIA, the land of the Daci or Getm. Its geographical limits were very indefinite until its conquest by the Romans. After that period, it comprised the various coun tries now known as eastern Hungary, Transylvania, Bukowina, Moldavia west of the Pruth, Wallachia. and the Banat of Temesviir. The Getm came originally from Thrace, and were divided into various tribes. Their course northward can only be imperfectly traced, but we know that, shortly before the time of Alexander the great (335 n.c.), they had migrated across the Danube. It is not known when or for what reason the Getm changed their name to Dad'. They seem to have been the most valiant of the Thracian barbarians. Curio, the first Roman general who ever penetrated as far n. as the Danube, did not venture to assail them. Julius Caesar, however, is said to have intended their subjugation. In 10 B.C., Augustus sent an army up the valley of the Maros. From this time, there was almost continual fighting between the Romans and the Dad, on the whole, to the advantage of the latter, who actually compelled their civilized enemies, in the reign of Domitian. to pay tribute. In 101 A.D., the emperor
Trajan crossed the Theiss, and marched into Transylvania, where he fought a great battle near Thorda. The peasant calls the battle-field to the present day Prat de Trojan (Pratem Trajani, field of Trajan). The Dad, who were commanded by their famous chief Decebalus, were defeated. A second expedition of the emperor's (104 A.D.) resulted in the destruction of their capital, the death of Decebalus, and the loss of their freedom. Roman colonists were sent into the country, a bridge was built over the Danube—the ruins of which are still extant—and three great roads were con structed. In 270-75 A.D., the Romans abandoned the country to the Goths, and the colonists were transferred to Mcesia. After a series of vicissitudes, D. fell into the pos session of the Magyars in the 9th century.