Roman Dacia (106–271)

After the victory of 106, Trajan turned part of the former kingdom into a Roman province, Dacia, with its capital at Colonia Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, founded in the Hațeg Country. The province comprised Transylvania, the Banat and Oltenia, and later also part of Muntenia, along the Olt limes. Moldavia and most of Wallachia remained outside direct Roman rule. The first governor was Decimus Terentius Scaurianus. To link the province with the rest of the empire, roads, forts and bridges were built, among them the road from Drobeta to Sarmizegetusa.

The administrative organization underwent several changes. Under Hadrian, around 118–124, the province was divided into Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior, and in the time of Marcus Aurelius, around 168, into three: Dacia Apulensis, Dacia Malvensis and Dacia Porolissensis, governed jointly by a governor of consular rank, based at Apulum. The army consisted of legions, above all Legio XIII Gemina at Apulum (Alba Iulia) and Legio V Macedonica at Potaissa (Turda), as well as auxiliary troops stationed in forts such as Porolissum and Sucidava.

The province’s economy flourished. The gold of the Apuseni Mountains, mined at Alburnus Maior (Roșia Montană), brought enormous revenues, while the documents known as wax tablets attest to labour and loan contracts. Salt, iron, marble and the thermal springs of Ad Aquas Herculis (Băile Herculane) and Germisara were also exploited. Towns grew rapidly: Napoca (Cluj), Potaissa, Apulum, Drobeta, Romula, Porolissum. Sarmizegetusa received the rank of colony, and Apulum became one of the largest centres of the province, with two towns of high rank.

The society of Roman Dacia was made up of colonists who came from all corners of the empire, army veterans and Romanized natives. The writer Eutropius states that Trajan brought into Dacia “an immense number of men from all over the Roman world” to populate a land drained by wars. Latin was the language of administration and of the army, and the Roman gods – Jupiter, Mithras, Silvanus, Liber Pater – stood alongside local and Eastern deities. The Edict of Caracalla in 212 granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire.

In the 3rd century, the province was increasingly struck by the attacks of the Carpi, the Goths and other migrating peoples, within an empire gripped by crisis. The Roman army withdrew under the pressure, and the frontiers became insecure. The Roman state suffered military anarchy, inflation and civil wars. In this context, Emperor Aurelian decided, between 271 and 275, to withdraw the army and the administration south of the Danube, into a new province, Dacia Aureliana. The period of direct Roman rule, lasting almost 165 years, nevertheless left a decisive imprint on the local language and civilization.