DECEBALUS (74)

King of the Dacians, a people who lived in the territory known presently as Romania.

He was an outstanding leader who unified the various Dacian tribes into one nation and led them in wars against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan.

By the time Decebalus came to power in 85, the Dacian Empire had disintegrated. He immediately organized an army and attacked the Roman province of Moesia (modern Bulgaria and eastern Yogoslavia), killing its governor.

In 86 or 87 Decebalus annihilated a Roman army under Cornelius Fuscus but he was severely defeated by Tettius Julianus at Tapae (near the Iron Gate in modern Romania) in 88.

Fortunately for Decebalus the German tribes in the West chose this moment to revolt against Rome. The new danger caused Domitian to come to terms quickly with Decebalus (89) and to provide the Dacians with a subsidy and loan of engineers in exchange for recognition of Roman overlordship.

The decade of peace that followed gave the King an opportunity to consolidate his power. Then in 101 Trajan, who considered Decebalus a threat to security of Rome´s southern Danube provinces, personally led an invasion of Dacia (First Dacian War). The capital of Sarmizegethusa (in modern Romania) was captured and Decebalus was forced in 102 to accept Roman occupation garrisons. In 105 Decebalus defeated the occupation forces and invaded Moesia (second Dacian War). But after Trajan seized Sarmizegethusa a second time (106), the defeated king committed suicide an in 107 Dacia became a Roman province.