Getae

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The Getae (Γέται, singular Γέτης; Getae) was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in the Muntenian plain (today's southern Romania), and especially near modern Dobruja. This was in the hinterland of Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast, bringing the Getae into contact with the ancient Greeks from an early date.

Contents

[edit] Early history

Eastern Europe in 200 BC, showing the Getae tribes north of the Danube river.
Eastern Europe in 200 BC, showing the Getae tribes north of the Danube river.

From the 7th century BC onwards the Getae came into economic and cultural contact with the Greeks, who were establishing colonies on the western side of Pontus Euxinus, nowadays the Black Sea. The Getae are mentioned for the first time together in Herodotus (4.93-97) in his narrative of the Scythian campaign of Darius I in 513 BC. According to Herodotus, the Getae differed from other Thracian tribes in their religion, centered around the god (daimon) Zamolxis whom some of the Getae called Gebeleizis.

During the period that the Odrysian kingdom flourished between the 5th century BC and the 3rd century BC, the Getae were mostly under Odrysian rule, serving them militarily, especially as cavalry, for which they were famous. After the disintegration of the Odrysian kingdom, smaller Getic principalities began to consolidate themselves.

Before setting out on his Persian expedition, Alexander the Great defeated the Getae and razed one of their settlements[1]. In 313, the Getae formed an alliance with Callatis, Odessos, and other western Pontic Greek colonies against Lysimachus, who held a fortress at Tirizis (modern Kaliakra) [2].

The Getae flourished especially in the first half of the third century BC. By about 200 BC, the authority of the Getic prince Zalmodegicus stretched as far as Histria (Sinoe), as a contemporary inscription shows. [1] Other strong princes included Zoltes and Rhemaxos (about 180 BC). Several Getic rulers minted their own coins. The ancient authors Strabo (16.2.38-39) and Cassius Dio (68.9) say that Getae practiced ruler cult, and this is confirmed by archaeological remains.

In 72/1 BC, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus became the first Roman commander to march against the Getae. This was done to strike at the western Pontic allies of Mithridates VI, but he had limited success. A decade later, a coalition of Scythians, Getae, Bastarnae and Greek colonists defeated C. Antonius Hybrida at Histria (Sinoe) (Liv. per. 103; Cass. Dio 38.10.1-3). This victory over the Romans allowed Byrebista to dominate the region for a short period (60-50 BC).

Augustus aimed at subjugating the entire Balkan peninsula, and used an incursion of the Bastarnae across the Danube as a pretext to devastate the Getae and Thracians. He put Marcus Licinius Crassus in charge of the plan. In 29 BC, Crassus defeated the Bastarnae with the help of the Getic prince Rholes (Cass. Dio 52.24.7, 26.1). Crassus promised him help for his support against the Getic ruler Dapyx (Cass. Dio 51.26). After Crassus had reached as far the Danube delta, Rholes was appointed king and returned to Rome. In 16 BC, the Sarmatae invaded the Getic territory and were driven back by Roman troops (Cass. Dio 54.20.1-3). The Getae were placed under the control of the Roman vassal king in Thrace, Rhoemetalces I. In AD 12 and 15 these garrisons were fortified with Roman troops. In AD 45 the province of Moesia was founded.

[edit] Getae and Dacians

There is dispute among scholars whether the Getae were Dacians or had some other relationship with them.

Several sources from the Antiquity claim the ethnic or linguistic identity of the two people. In his Geographia, Strabo wrote about the two tribes speaking the same language[3]. Justin considers the Dacians are the successors of the Getae.[2]. In his Roman history, Cassius Dio shows the Dacians to live on both sides of the Lower Danube, the ones south of the river (today's northern Bulgaria), in Moesia, and are called Moesians, while the ones north of the river are called Dacians. He argues that the Dacians are "either Getae or Thracians of Dacian race" (51.22)[4] but also stresses the fact that he calls the Dacians with the name used "by the natives themselves and also by the Romans" and that he is "not ignorant that some Greek writers refer to them as Getae, whether that is the right form or not" (67.6)[5].

In accordance with these testimonies some Romanian and Bulgarian scholars[3] developed hypotheses and theories arguing for common cultural, ethnical or linguistical features in the space north of Haemus mountains where both the populations of Dacians and of Getae were located. The linguist Ivan Duridanov identified a "Dacian linguistic area" [4] in Dacia, Scythia Minor, Lower Moesia and Upper Moesia. The archaeologist Mircea Babeş speaks of a "veritable ethno-cultural unity" between the Getae and the Dacians while the historian and archaeologist Alexandru Vulpe finds a remarkable uniformity of the Geto-Dacian culture.[5] There were also studies on Strabo's reliability and sources.[6]

Some of these interpretation have echoed in other historiographies.[7]

The Romanian historian of ideas and historiographer Lucian Boia states: "At a certain point, the phrase Geto-Dacian was coined in the Romanian historiography to suggest a unity of Getae and Dacians" [8]. Lucian Boia takes a skeptical position and argues the ancient writers distinguished among the two people, treating them as two distinct groups of the Thracian ethnos.[8][9] Boia contends that it would be naive to assume Strabo knew the Thracian dialects so well,[8] alleging that Strabo had "no competence in the field of Thracian dialects".[9] He also stresses that some Romanian authors cited Strabo indiscriminately.[9]

His position was supported by other scholars. The historian and archaeologist G. A. Niculescu also criticized the Romanian historiography and the archaeological interpretation, particularly on the "Geto-Dacian" culture. [10]

[edit] Culture

The Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari
The Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari

According to Herodotus (4.93), the Getae were "the noblest as well as the most just of all the Thracian tribes." When the Persians, led by Darius the Great, campaigned against the Scythians, the Thracian tribes in the Balkans surrendered to Darius on his way to Scythia, and only the Getae offered resistance (Herod. 4.93).

One episode from the history of the Getae is attested by several ancient writers (Strabo[6], Pausanias[7], Diodorus Siculus). When Lysimachus tried to subdue the Getae he was defeated by them. The Getae king, Dromichaetes, took him prisoner but he treated him well and convinced Lysimachus there is more to gain as an ally than as an enemy of the Getae and released him. According to Diodorus, Dromichaetes entertained Lysimachus at his palace at Helis, where food was served on gold and silver plates. The discovery of the celebrated tomb at Sveshtari (1982) suggests that Helis was located perhaps in its vicinity[11], where remains of a large antique city are found along with dozens of other Thracian mound tombs.

The Getae's two principal[citation needed] gods were Zalmoxis and Gebeleixis.

"This same people, when it lightens and thunders, aim their arrows at the sky, uttering threats against the god; and they do not believe that there is any god but their own." - Herodotus, 4.94.

Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia mentions[8] a tribe called the Tyragetae, apparently a Daco-Thracian tribe[citation needed] who dwelt by the river Tyras (the Dniester). Their tribal name appears to be a combination of Tyras and Getae.

The Roman poet Ovid, during his long exile, is asserted to have written poetry (now lost) in the Getic language.

[edit] Legacy

At the close of the fourth century AD, Claudian, court poet to the emperor Honorius and the patrician Stilicho, habitually uses the ethnonym Getae to refer poetically[citation needed] to the Visigoths.

During 5th and 6th centuries several writers (Marcellinus Comes, Orosius, John Lydus, Isidore of Seville, Procopius of Caesarea) used the same ethnonym Getae to name populations invading the Eastern Roman Empire (Goths, Gepids, Kutrigurs, Slavs). For instance, in the third book of the History of the Wars Procopius details: "There were many Gothic nations in earlier times, just as also at the present, but the greatest and most important of all are the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Gepaedes. In ancient times, however, they were named Sauromatae and Melanchlaeni; and there were some too who called these nations Getic."[9]

The Getae were also assumed to be the ancestors of the Goths by Jordanes in his Getica written at the middle of the 6th century. Jordanes assumed the earlier testimony of Orosius.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum 18.288
  2. ^ Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus: "Daci quoque suboles Getarum sunt" (The Dacians as well are a scion of the Getae)
  3. ^ Giurescu, Constantin C. (1973). Formarea poporului român (in Romanian), p.23. : "They (Dacians and Getae) are two names for the same people [...] divided in a large number of tribes". See also the hypothesis of a Daco-Moesian language / dialectal area supported by linguists like Vladimir Georgiev, Ivan Duridanov and Sorin Olteanu.
  4. ^ Duridanov, Ivan. The Thracian, Dacian and Paeonian languages. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  5. ^ (2001) in Petrescu-Dîmboviţa, Mircea; Vulpe, Alexandru (eds): Istoria Românilor, vol. I (in Romanian).  It should be noted Al. Vulpe speaks of Geto-Dacians as a conventional and instrumental concept for the Thracian tribes inhabiting this space, but not meaning an "absolute ethnic, linguistic or historical unity".
  6. ^ Janakieva, Svetlana (2002). "La notion de ΟΜΟΓΛΩΤΤΟΙ chez Strabon et la situation ethno-linguistique sur les territoires thraces" (in French). Études Balkaniques (4): 75-79.  The author concludes Strabo's claim sums an experience following of many centuries of neighbourhood and cultural interferences between the Greeks and the Thracian tribes
  7. ^ (1982) The Cambridge Ancient History vol. 3, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press.  In chapter "20c Linguistic problems of the Balkan area", at page 838, Ronald Arthur Crossland argues "it may be the distinction made by Greeks and Romans between the Getae and Daci, for example, reflected the importance of different sections of a linguistically homogenous people at different times". He furthermore recalls Strabo's testimony and Georgiev's hypothesis for a 'Thraco-Dacian' language.
  8. ^ a b c Boia, Lucian (2004). Romania: Borderland of Europe. Reaktion Books, p.43. ISBN 1-86189-103-2. 
  9. ^ a b c Boia, Lucian (2001). History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness. Central European University Press, p.14. ISBN 9639116971. 
  10. ^ Niculescu, Gheorghe Alexandru (2004-2005). "Archaeology, Nationalism and "The History of the Romanians" (2001)". Dacia - Revue d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienne (48-49): 99-124.  He dedicates a large part of his assessment to the archaeology of "Geto-Dacians" and he concludes that with few exceptions "the archaeological interpretations [...] are following G. Kossinna’s concepts of culture, archaeology and ethnicity".
  11. ^ Delev, P. (2000). "Lysimachus, the Getae, and Archaeology (2000)". The Classical Quarterly, New Series (Vol. 50, No. 2): 384-401. 
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