Decebalus

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Decebalus (ruled 87 – 106) (Decebal in Romanian) was a Dacian king.

After the death of Great King Burebista, Dacia split into four or five small states. The situation continued until Diurpaneus managed to consolidate the core of Dacia around Sarmizegetusa, in today's Hunedoara county. He reorganized the Dacian army and in 85 the Dacians began raiding the heavily fortified Roman province of Moesia, located south of the Danube.

In 87, Domitian decided to send his prefect of the Praetorian Guards, Cornelius Fuscus, to punish and conquer the Dacians with five or four legions. Two Roman legions (among which V Alaudae) were ambushed and defeated at Tapae (near modern Bucova), and Fuscus killed. Diurpaneus changed his name into Decebalus^[1].

In 88, Tettius Iulianus commanded another Roman army in a campaign against the Dacians, who were defeated at the battle of Tapae; revolts of the Germans on the Rhine required the military force of Moesia, and the Romans were forced to pay large sums of money in the form of tribute to the Dacians for maintaining peace in this region. The humiliating situation for the Romans lasted until Trajan acceded as Emperor of the Roman Empire in 98. Immediately he engaged in a series of military campaigns which would expand the Roman Empire to its maximum extent.

Decebalus was defeated by the Romans when they invaded Dacia in 101, again in Tapae, but he was left as a client king under a Roman protectorate. Three years later, Decebalus destroyed the Roman troops in Dacia, and the Romans were forced to send reinforcements.

After a long siege of Sarmizegetusa and a long battle, the Romans conquered Dacia. After his army was defeated, rather than being captured as a prisoner by the Roman soldiers, Decebalus committed suicide by slashing his own throat, as depicted on Trajan's Column (spiral 22, panel b). It is likely, however, that in the process of dying Decebalus was captured by a Roman Cavalry Scout named Tiberius Claudius Maximus, and although he did indeed kill himself, official Roman propaganda claimed that they killed him. His head was henceforth sent to Rome. Tiberius Claudius Maximus' tomb cites two occasions where the legionary was decorated for his part in the Dacian wars, one of which being the acquisition and recovery of Decebalus' head.

[edit] Notes

^ "Decebalus" means "strong as ten (men)" (cf. Sanskrit daśabala); Dece- being derived from Proto-Indo-European *dekm- ('ten') and -balus from PIE *bel-, 'strong'. Cf. Proto-Albanian *dek(a)t-, from PIE *dekm- (Demiraj, 1999).