DACIA, daishi-e. The land of the Daci or Getle. Its geographical limits were very indefi nite until its conquest by the Romans. After that period it comprised modern Transylvania, with adjacent parts of Hungary, Rumania. and Bukowina. The Get:e came originally' from Thrace, and were divided into various tribes. Their course northward can only be imper fectly traced, but we know that shortly be fore the time of Alexander the Great (n.e. 335) they had migrated across the Danube. It is not known when or for what reason the Cetu changed their name to Daci. They seem to have been the most valiant of the Thracian barbarians. Curio, the first Roman general who ever penetrated as far north as the Danube, did not venture to assail them. Julius Gesar,however, is said to have contemplated their subjugation. In D.C. 10 Augustus sent an army up the valley of the Maros. From this time there was almost continual fighting between the Romans and the Daci, on the whole to the advantage of the lat ter. who actually compelled their civilized ene
mies, in the reign of Domitian, to pay tribute. In A.D. 101 the Emperor Trajan crossed the Theiss, and marched into Transylvania, where he fought a great battle near Torda. The 'Wallach peasant calls the battlefield, to the present day. Prat de Trajan (Prat um Traiani, Field of Trajan). The Dad, who were com manded by their famous chief Decebalus, were defeated. A second expedition of the Emperor resulted in the destruction of their capital, the death of Decebalus, and the loss of their freedom (A.n. 106). 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 constructed. The chief towns were Apulum and Sarmizegetusa. In A.D. 270-75 the Romans abandoned the coun try to the Goths, and the colonists were trans ferred to 11liesia.