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Sabeen Ali of AngelHack's Quest to Impact The WorldSabeen Ali has spoken at TEDx conferences on both sides of the world. Today she is the CEO of AngelHack, a global community of 50,000 programmers who do events within 52 major cities around the world.But how did she get to where she is today?Thanks to two of her phenomenal employees, Matt Wright and Kelsey Ruiz, I had the time to chat with Sabeen for an hour to gather all the insights of what it took for her to get where she is today. Most of what had molded her into the trailblazer she is today started with her childhood.Childhood:Sabeen is the youngest of three children in her family. When she was four years old, her father passed away. He was a doctor. Sabeen’s mother had never worked a day in her life and barely spoke a word of English. Unsure of what to do and heartbroken from such a traumatic tragedy, her mother decided to leave her home in Chicago, packed up her bags, then flew back to Pakistan.While she was in Pakistan, Sabeen’s mother knew that she needed to figure out something better for her kids, so she took her family and flew out to California, where her former husband’s family was.As a child, Sabeen went from daycare to daycare while her mother tried to learn english by absorbing her surroundings while working two jobs to support the family. Her mother’s first job was as an electronic assembler in an assembly line, a job where much english wasn’t required. Then, she worked at Fry’s electronics, which is like a more niche type of Best Buy. Eventually, she put herself through beauty school, started working at Supercuts with all sorts of odd jobs in between.In the late 80’s, she was able to open up her own hair salon. Looking back, Sabeen recently found out that her mother was able to earn a profit from the sale of the business. After that, her mother focused her efforts in the loan mortgage industry. Once that happened, her family was able to finally afford to buy a house and car. This was when Sabeen was entering high school.Up until this point, being a single mother of four, Sabeen’s mother had to hack life to get ahead. She did everything from taking her family out to Denny’s on a birthday so they could get free meals. Her children had to share rooms and sleep on the floor.Her mom reminds me quite a bit about my mother, who is also a single mother. She would hack life by asking for free food at a Brazilian BBQ place and getting it, or sneaking into the back entrance of a movie theater to watch three movies for free. I tried it out a few times as well back when I was 21. I went to the Pacific Theaters at the Grove with my best friend. She was all dressed up and I was wearing a Versace suit. We told the cashier we were too poor to watch a movie, then proceeded to ask for free tickets. To our surprise, He gave them to us. My ex didn’t want to do it, but another time when we were at the theater, I told her to ask for free snacks at the concession stand. We got them. As embarrassing as it may sound, I may have also done this a few times when I was broke by asking my girl friends to ask guys for free drinks at bars, then having them bring them to me.Being cheap or hacking life?You decide.Sabeen had an underlying passion for basketball her entire life. As a child, she practiced relentlessly, as she wanted to join the basketball team; however she was told that she was too short to be a guard and too tall to be a point guard. This was one of the few moments in Sabeen’s life that left her burned a little.One day, Sabeen’s mother had brought home a used basketball backboard and hoop that was given to her from a client who was moving away. Thinking of how awesome the hoop was, Sabeen knew that she had to put this up on the garage at their home. So the three happy children galloped around the neighborhood, then knocked at their neighbor’s door. They asked for tools to help set up their new center of entertainment.While asking for the tools, the neighbors asked, “Don’t you have any adults in your life?”The three children responded, “No, we don’t.”It wasn’t until recently when Sabeen reflected upon that moment that she understood exactly what her neighbors meant with that question. That it is normal for other children to have their parents do things for them. But this was Sabeen, the youngest of three children who lived with a single mother. They had no one to rely on because their mother was busy working all the time to provide for the family. So they were just going to run around and get things done.Being able to see what hardships her mother had to go through to raise three children on her own while providing them with a world of opportunity, Sabeen came to recognize her mother as her hero. Her mother was the first entrepreneur she had ever seen. Her mother may have been the key determining factor who helped mold her into the successful entrepreneur she is today.Education and Work:Sabeen came from very humble beginnings, similar to my my own. We both hacked our way into the tech industry. Sabeen’s first job was at Safeway bagging groceries. My first job was working at Knott’s Berry Farm picking up trash and cleaning out toilets.Eventually, Sabeen started working at Kaiser Permanente. She did employee relations and negotiating between Kaiser employees and the Labor Union. That involved a lot of facilitating and risk mitigation. Then, all of a sudden, she had a change of heart. She saw Michael Moore’s documentary that came out about healthcare in America and she realized that she couldn’t work in that industry anymore.Sabeen said, “Ugh, I can’t do it. I can’t be part of this commercialized health care system.”So she left.Then she attended the University of San Francisco, where she studied for a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development with an emphasis on change management. At the same time, she got an amazing job in Mergers and Acquisitions at Yahoo.This was back around the time when the whole economy was falling apart. Back in 2008, when the real estate and stock markets crashed and the whole world was in panic.At that time Microsoft was bidding to buy Yahoo. It was all over the news. Everyone at Yahoo was bracing themselves to be bought. It was quite a bizarre time and Sabeen was right in the middle of it, working in M&A.Eventually, Sabeen left to finish up her Master’s degree and have her first child.Entrepreneurship:Prior to founding AngelHack, Sabeen started her first business called Team Building ROI.Team Building ROI would partner up with high-tech corporations in the Bay area, such as Google, Samsung, Cisco, Apple and the rest. They would work with specific departments or teams and run experiential team building activities. Sabeen would design these activities based upon what their needs assessments were revealing.Some companies would call Sabeen and say, “Hey, we have this huge project we are about to roll out. Our team needs to let off some steam and there are like 5 more people joining our team of 8. We need to work together and get through it.”Sabeen would run activities and debrief them. These would range from a scavenger hunt to a 50 foot high rope course.Other companies would say, “Hey, we’re having some problems. We’re having communication issues, and this and this person are not getting along on the team.”Sabeen would put together activities to face those problems and facilitate them.Team Building ROI did quite well, but Sabeen graduated from the business one day when she met her next company's co-founder. At the time, this guy was networking like crazy. Sabeen heard that someone wanted to do team building with developers. That was how they ended up meeting for coffee.Sabeen started the conversation, saying “I think you had an idea for a dating app or something.”He responded, “I just want to meet developers and I’m in Florida. They’re so hard to come by here.”The lightbulbs went off in Sabeen’s head. She thought of how easy it would be to build events like this with her background in team building and event planning.Sabeen told him, “Let’s organize an event. I can do all the team building and do the logistics of the event. All you have to do is get people to pay for it.”Sabeen put together the logistics, while he went out to get sponsorships for the event. One by one, the sponsors trickled in.Success:This led to the inception of AngelHack. In October 2011, the planning phases began. Two months later, the first AngelHack Hackathon went live. AngelHack did team building activities between business oriented people and developers. By the end of the experience, everyone was teamed up and working on apps.Now, AngelHack focuses it’s work in three key areas:Competitions: Connecting business people with programmers.Education: Programs to help people code and learn communication skills.Change Management: White labeling Hackathons for companies throughout the world.Connecting:In the beginning of AngelHack, there were only a few Hackathons. On a Sunday, AngelHack would invite a seed investor to come out to take part in the event. They would then fund the team of their choice. It was the only event that anyone could go to where you could form your business and get funded within 48 hours.Now, Sabeen holds Hackathons in 52 cities around the world. AngelHack was able to build a network this big by delivering results and keeping their word. But nowadays, their philosophy is a little bit different. They do 50 events all over the world and pick one winning team from each event. Then they incubate the winning team and fly them to the Silicon Valley for AngelHack’s Annual Global Demo Day where they each compete for seed investments.Education:When I first met with Matt Wright of AngelHack at the Starbucks off of Wilshire and Santa Monica in Beverly Hills, he touched base on a new platform that is just being released. Sabeen dug into more details about this in our phone conversation.What the platform is is a hybrid, 10-week front-end coding course. This program teaches people how to not just prepare their coding skills, but at the same time help them with their interview skills. This program is called The Whole Developer. Since we have so many developers in our community, we wanted to start educating them and teaching them top skills, which include:Communication skillsProblem solvingNegotiatingTeam buildingand many more.AngelHack will start their efforts with The Whole Developer out in May, then move out to Boston and Los Angeles.White Labeling:Hackathons are becoming a household name and every single company has been coming out of the woodworks wanting to do Hackathons; however, before this year, Hackathons didn’t even have mainstream interest.This caused us to start white labeling our events for other companies. These companies include but are not limited to, Hearst Corporation, Conde Nast, Hasbro, HP, Cisco, etc. AngelHack is currently working with doing an additional 10 Hackathons with RBC, the largest bank in Canada and planning another 12 Hackathons with MasterCard.There are a lot of similarities between the change management philosophies and what is done with corporations and Hackathons. A lot of these old corporations, someone within the organization decides they want to do a Hackathon. Then some C-Level executive has to agree to the idea. Then the whole organization need to hop on board.One great example of this is with Hasbro. Hasbro’s headquarters are in Pawtucket. They have never opened their doors to the public. Through the whole process, Sabeen’s team had to practice change management to get them to change policies, mindsets and communicate what was happening, because Hasbro wanted to change their motto. Since then, Hasbro has been doing regular Hackathons where they are able to do R&D from outside their organization. They use their Hackathons to funnel ideas. Surprisingly, they bought 8 ideas from the AngelHack Hackathons, something that has never been done before.Most of the old school companies, their technologies are way behind and are covered with red tape. Cisco is a networking company. They’ve been trying to pivot to become a software company. AngelHack does a Hackathon for them with an emphasis to integrate their hardware with their software; however if you don’t manage that initiative as a change initiative, companies like this won’t survive.Sure, Hackathons are fun, people play and there is a lot of event planning. But at the same time, it is a change and people have to embrace it. Companies like Cisco have to learn that if they want to survive, they have to learn how to embrace software as well as hardware.I personally have worked in the automotive industry for close to a decade. I see so many problems with software every day. The system that a major Japanese brand uses to track where each car goes is still built on MSDOS. Every single employee who tracks where vehicles are shipped are using a black box to track inventory that is worth tens of thousands of dollars.Sabeen has worked with other major automotive brands and understands just how far behind the automotive companies are. She recently went to buy a car and just saw how much paperwork was being wasted to all the flaws in the system. She states “It’s definitely a broken system that needs to be changed.”Sabeen states that in order to change something though, you have to do four things.Show people that a change needs to be made.Get someone to have your back and support change.Get everyone else to get behind it.Do what needs to get done.Trials and tribulations:With Hackathons, people take a ton of pressure, then a lot more pressure is added to people as you take them to perform under pressure. Because of this type of environment, people come up with all sorts of workarounds and tricks. That is what hacking truly is. Growing up in this type of environment where her family had to go out to make things work, Sabeen became quite familiar with this. So when Sabeen first saw the Hackathon culture, she knew that she was all about this.Today, AngelHack has developed an extremely solid presence in the tech community, even though it is led by a female minority with a team of mostly women. All the odds were against Sabeen and her team, yet they have created a dent in a male dominated industry. In fact, 80% of the programmers within the AngelHack communities are men.Building a company as big as AngelHack, there were many ups and downs. In the process of building up AngelHack, Sabeen has always felt like she was building the company with one hand tied behind her back. That was due to the indifferences she had with her cofounder. They had a pretty big falling out with each other to the point of lawsuits and he left with a lot of money. It was a pretty adverse situation for the company to be in, but now, the company is back in place and there is nothing holding them back. Now, AngelHack is experiencing tremendous growth.Competition:Sabeen has been traveling the world to meet with her Ambassadors in each of her respective cities. Each time she enters a new tech ecosystem, it’s like entering a whole new world. But it’s quite hilarious, that every single ecosystem she enters, no matter where it is… Whether it be Mexico, Singapore, or even Buenos Aires, they all say, “Next to Silicon Valley, it’s us.” Sabeen has heard this in every single city she has gone in and everyone believes they are the next big tech ecosystem in the world.But then again, there is always quiet before the storm.Because of the huge demand of the Hackathons that Sabeen has put on, competition has arisen from all sorts of places. For the last 6 months, a new competitor was coming out of the woodworks every other week. The people who started these companies went to an AngelHack Hackathon, thought “oh this is easy”, so they went off and tried to do their own thing.Now AngelHack is doing what they have to in order to keep up with the demand. AngelHack is growing at such a rapid pace, they are currently looking for strategic partners to help them grow because of the amount of interest they are getting every day is just outgrowing them. AngelHack is doing everything in their power to keep up and scale properly.But in the interim in between, Sabeen was uneasy of what was going on. She emailed her advisor, Mark Cuban and said, “Dude, we have competition. New companies are popping up every 2 weeks. How do we handle this? Should we go confront these people? What should we do?”Mark Cuban responded with advice that resonated with her and said, “Competition is good. It keeps you on your edge. The thing you have to do is to ensure that your relationships with your clients are solid. Not only does competition keep you on your edge, but it shows that there is proof of concept for your product.”The minute Sabeen saw Mark’s email, she emailed him back and said that she needed this pressure if she is going to keep going. Mark agreed and said that he is the same way. Since then, the vision of Sabeen’s dream with AngelHack has been crystal clear. Everyone wants to jump at the first opportunity they have, so if they see her being weak or lazy, or even if she fails, they will jump in to take the market.Now, six months later, more than half of these competitors are non-existent. I recently spoke at Cal Poly Pomona’s HackPoly event back in February as the keynote speaker. After I spoke, teams gathered together to work on their projects, but the wifi continually went out on the college campus. I saw first hand how difficult and messy it was to put on a Hackathon, especially since there are so many technical boundaries that challenge the infrastructure of the system.Sabeen feels that it was as if there was a sense of naïveté, where these founders thought that all they had to do was order some pizza and Red Bull and let people program overnight and charge people for it. People spends their weekends doing an overnighter working on projects, then on Monday, they had to be back at work again. If sponsors had put in money to support events like this, they would be very unhappy. Now, these competitors are starting to learn just how difficult putting on a Hackathon truly is.Daily life:Sabeen spends most of her time raising her two children and traveling the world for AngelHack. With what rare free time she has, she spends it gardening with her kids. Sabeen just came back from Iran and Dubai recently, then she will be on her way to Barcelona then Tel Aviv.Work life balance:In order to create a work life balance, Sabeen never leaves home for more than 2 weeks at a time. Otherwise, her husband and kids will just go crazy. Then she will spend 3 weeks at home. When at home, Sabeen is mom. The work side of her brain shuts off completely. When out in the field, all she thinks about is work and the family side of her brain shuts off.One of the best things in Sabeen’s life is her husband. He really supports anything she wants to do and takes charge in raising the family. She trusts him so much that when she is away, she doesn’t even have to worry about her children.Having a team that is dispersed throughout the world makes it simple to handle the everyday business tasks. AngelHack has team members in Singapore, the Philippines, Europe, Dubai, many in India, then on both coasts here in the United States. No matter where Sabeen is working, she is always connected to somebody who is working. Plus, after doing this for 3 and a half years, she has just learned to manage it.Sabeen has thought about having a third child, but has read many articles lately that state 3 is the worst number of children to have. I mentioned that things can get pretty bad when they outnumber you. Sabeen says that it changes the whole course of life, from what car you have to who sits with mom and dad when there are only four chairs. Plus, if they were ever to ride a roller coaster and there is a third person, there is always going to be that one child that is left out and sits alone.She just hasn’t been able to break that barrier yet and doesn’t want to do it until she can find an exit with AngelHack. Then she will have as many kids as she wants, but for now, AngelHack is her baby.Tips to success:Many of us, especially women feel a sense of “Self Oppression.” It’s not a real word, but a word made up by Sabeen. Self oppression is when you make up reasons to hold yourself back from what you want to do.Recently, Sabeen was asked to speak at a TEDx Talk in Iran. Two weeks after being invited to speak, she went back to the organizer and canceled her acceptance. There was no good reason for it, but she was just nervous and tired, as many of us are with the major decisions of life. We have families and additional priorities other than work that take up our days.She made up a lame excuse of how she had prior commitments and couldn’t make it. But inside her heart, something wasn’t sitting right with her. She couldn’t understand why she passed up such an amazing opportunity and knew she was going to regret it. She went to get feedback from a friend who said, “You’re crazy for backing out of that. You have something to say, you just need to go out there and do it. Toughen up, because in a few years, you’re not going to get these same kinds of opportunities when you’re reenergized.”Sabeen knew he was right, so she contacted the organizer and told him that she would participate. The organizer stated it was okay and people do these things all the time.Sabeen feels that women in particular, they hold themselves back quite a bit. Especially with the Middle Eastern culture. It is so much easier to say that it isn’t okay or my family won’t allow me to do it, or I’d rather just be a stay at home mom, even when there is an underlying desire to go out there and do more. But what holds these people back is fear.The best advice Sabeen has for all of us is to not let fear hold us back. Everybody has it. She told me that when I started writing, I knew everyone fails, everyone is scared and unsure of themselves. But we first need to start talking about it, then we need to figure out small ways to overcome it.Regardless of who we are or where we are from, it is good for the entire family structure to support our wives, our sisters and our daughters to go out there and make a little more out of ourselves. If nothing else, it provides extra income for the family. At the end of the day, having someone who is fulfilled is an overall better situation for the entire family structure, so go out there and go for it.There are millions of women around the world experiencing the exact same thing. Sabeen always coaches her team and tells them that the only way they’re going to move up in the corporate ladder is to bring up somebody underneath them.Sabeen puts her priority and responsibility in bringing up other women underneath her and advises the women she works with to do the same. She handpicks women to train and puts all her effort into them. At times, she even jokes with her team and says that she is always in the elevator back down and that they are doing great, but it is their responsibility to send that elevator back down to another female who may be a little unsure of herself, that may need encouragement or to be filled with positive encouragement.Personally, I have this underlying sense of fear the day before I speak or go on a vacation or do anything major.I asked Sabeen how to overcome this.She says to take things one day at a time. If taking things one day at a time is too much, take things one hour at a time. You’re never going to have enough time. You’re never going to have the perfect day, You’re never going to have the perfect opportunity. You have to make your own perfect opportunities.It’s like a basketball game. Sabeen follows the Warriors. They have small players. When another team comes in and puts up big players, you know you can’t just clear out your bench or take out your star player. Instead, you surround your star player with bigger players. You can’t yell at him for not being big. Instead, you have to try to surround him with people that will extenuate his skills to box out other big players, so he can do his own thing.If you have things going on, you need to look around and see who’s willing to support and help you out. When the time is right, you repay them back and you create that relationship where others will have your back. That’s the kind of structure Sabeen has with not only her family, but her team as well. You have to give to them, build their trust, and in turn, then you need it, they will be there to help you out.How you can get involved:AngelHack is currently looking for programmers who want to improve their skill set to join their courses. They are also looking strategic partnerships to help handle the growth of the company. Feel free to contact them here to see how you can get involved.For more on Sabeen Ali, Founder and CEO of AngelHack, follow her on Twitter and Facebook or connect with her on LinkedIn.For more on AngelHack follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or visit: AngelHack.Read more at my blog: Sabeen Ali of AngelHack's Quest to Impact The World

I’m listing down 35 top startup ideas for Indian market. 1) Grocery Delivery App 1) Grocery Delivery App Grocery delivery apps witnessed phenomenal growth in their clientele. In most parts of the country, with lockdowns placed, shopping for groceries online was a safe option. Supreme quality groceries, hassle-free app usage, prompt delivery, and competitive rates have led to people increasingly preferring grocery apps over running errands. Within a few clicks, you get access to a range of groceries on an online grocery app. As we gear up for the post-pandemic world, the demand for online grocery apps will increase. Owing to the safety and comfort they offer, these apps are the go-to apps for working professionals, homemakers, and people living in nuclear families. According to a study done by(more)

Roman conquest of the Balkans and Asia Minor (229 BC – 106 AD)There were about 200 Thracian tribes. A new hypothesis say that Vulgar Latin derived from old Thracian. If that is true, the Romanization of the Balkans is an easy process to understand. Dialects (they are fully recognized language but dialect is used in a sense they evolved from a mother language) became Romanized. Three main dialects (in a sense they evolved from a mother language), with their subgrups, Thracian, Illyrian and Dacian were Romanized by the Vulgar Latin.Dedicated to my Brothers the HungariansI love History, especially when old "cultures" come from the Balkans. The Vlach (Armini) Empire with one language. Being at a cross-roads between East European steppes (Ukraine), Pontic area (Turkey and Balkans) , Baltics (Poland, Lithuania) and West Europe (Germany, Austria), current Romanian territory of today was a migration hub and melting pot moving back and forth for around 3000 years (between 4000 BC and 1000 BC). East Europeans have more R1a, Romanians have similar proportion (15–20%) of R1a genes as other Balkan, German and Scandinavian people.Whilst each area of Europe has only one, or two, main genetic groups, Romania and surrounding countries have around 15–20% of each of the five main branches, in a fairly balanced proportion. Similar genetic proportions exist in the neighbouring countries, such as: Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovakia and part of Ukraine.On the mother side though, things are even more clear, as women traveled/migrated less in the past; J, U5, HV0, V and K markers (MtDNA) are dominant among Europeans and, again, Romanians have the average percentages of all. Interesting is the 39.2–37.2% for H, 10.1–10.5% for J and 7.4–7.2% for U5, 6.9–7.9% for K markers that account for around 65% of European MtDNA genome, Hungarians and Romanians seem to be the closest.Thrace had a heritage which matched that of its south-westerly neighbours, the Mycenaeans - Thracians were apparently allied to Troy during the Trojan War in the twelfth century BC, although Homeric Thrace was only vaguely defined and may only have just been starting to form. Climate-induced drought in the preceding century seems to have been the main cause for the Thracians and their neighbours to force their way south-eastwards through the Balkans from the Danubian home that had been forged by their South-West Indo-European ancestors, over a thousand years before. The Phrygians may have pioneered this particular route, as they seem to have begun entering Anatolia up to two hundred years before the main migrations.Strabo, one of the first ancient sources to mention Getae and Dacians, stated in his Geographica (c. 7 BC – 20 AD) that the Dacians lived in the western parts of Dacia, "towards Germania and the sources of the Danube", while the Getae lived in the eastern parts, towards the Black Sea, both south and north of the Danube. The ancient geographer also wrote that the Dacians and Getae spoke the same language, after stating the same about Getae and Thracians. The Getae (/ˈdʒiːtiː, ˈɡiːtiː/ JEE-tee, GHEE-tee) or Gets (/dʒɛts, ɡɛts/ JETS, GHETS; Ancient Greek: Γέται, singular Γέτης) were several Thracian tribes that once inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube, in what is today Northern Bulgaria and Southern Romania.The first historical record of the Thracians is found in the Iliad, where they are described as allies of the Trojans in the Trojan War against the Ancient Greeks. The ethnonym Thracian comes from Ancient Greek Θρᾷξ (plural Θρᾷκες; Thrāix, Thrāikes) or Θρᾴκιος (Thrāikios; Ionic: Θρηίκιος, Thrēikios), and the toponym Thrace comes from Θρᾴκη (Thrāikē; Ionic: Θρῄκη, Thrēikē). These forms are all exonyms as applied by the Greeks. In Greek mythology, Thrax (by his name simply the quintessential Thracian) was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the god Ares. In the Alcestis, Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was "Thrax" since he was regarded as the patron of Thrace (his golden or gilded shield was kept in his temple at Bistonia in Thrace).The origins of the Thracians remain obscure, in the absence of written historical records. Evidence of proto-Thracians in the prehistoric period depends on artifacts of material culture. Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with the multi-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancing timber grave culture or Srubnaya. It is generally proposed that a proto-Thracian people developed from a mixture of indigenous peoples and Indo-Europeans from the time of Proto-Indo-European expansion in the Early Bronze Age when the latter, around 1500 BC, mixed with indigenous peoples. During the Iron Age (about 1000 BC) Dacians and Thracians began developing from proto-Thracians.Ancient Greek and Roman historians agreed that the ancient Thracians, who were of Indo-European stock and language, were superior fighters; only their constant political fragmentation prevented them from overrunning the lands around the northeastern Mediterranean. Although these historians characterized the Thracians as primitive partly because they lived in simple, open villages, the Thracians in fact had a fairly advanced culture that was especially noted for its poetry and music. Their soldiers were valued as mercenaries, particularly by the Macedonians and Romans.Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not manage to form a lasting political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the fifth century BC. A strong Dacian state appeared in the first century BC, during the reign of King Burebista. The mountainous regions were home to various peoples, including the Illyrians, regarded as warlike and ferocious Thracian tribes, while the plains peoples were apparently regarded as more peaceable.Thracians inhabited parts of the ancient provinces of Thrace, Moesia, Macedonia, Dacia, Scythia Minor, Sarmatia, Bithynia, Mysia, Pannonia, and other regions of the Balkans and Anatolia. This area extended over most of the Balkans region, and the Getae north of the Danube as far as beyond the Bug and including Pannonia in the west.Thraco-Illyrian is a hypothesis that the Thraco-Dacian and Illyrian languages comprise a distinct branch of Indo-European. Thraco-Illyrian is also used as a term merely implying a Thracian-Illyrian interference, mixture or sprachbund, or as a shorthand way of saying that it is not determined whether a subject is to be considered as pertaining to Thracian or Illyrian. Downgraded to a geo-linguistic concept, these languages are referred to as Paleo-Balkan. Recent linguists like Sorin Paliga have argued that based on the available data, Illyrian and Thracian were mutually intelligible or at very least formed a dialect continuum in a way comparable to Czech-Slovak and Spanish-Portuguese or Continental Scandinavian languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish). The Vardar, South Morava and Great Morava rivers are generally considered to approximate the border between the Illyrian and Thracian spheres, in the west and east respectively. However, Thracian and Illyrian did not have a clear-cut frontier. There was also, clearly, significant interaction between the Illyrian and Thracian spheres, with some Thracian groups occupying the Illyrian sphere and vice versa; the identity of some groups as Illyrian or Thracian has also remained unclear, or, in some instances, a Thraco-Illyrian mix. Such factors reinforce the impression that many similarities between the Illyrian and Thracian lexes resulted from language contact.Other scholars, such as Romanian linguist and historian Ion Russu, argue that there were major similarities between Illyrian and Thracian and so a shared, ancestral linguistic branch is probable, rather than them forming a sprachbund. Among the Thraco-Illyrian correspondences noted by I. I. Russu are the following:IllyrianDaco-ThracianRemarksAbroiAbre-Abre- is an element taken from certain Thracian anthroponymsAploi, Aplus, ApuliaApuli, Appulus, ApulumBilia, BiliosBilaDardi, DardaniDardanos, Darda-paraSaprinusSapri-saraSepariSapaioiSitaSita, SeitaTribuliumTriballi, TribantaZoradaZar-, Zur-Not many Thraco-Illyrian correspondences are definite, and a number may be incorrect, even from the list above. Sorin Paliga (2002) however states: "According to the available data, we may surmise that Thracian and Illyrian were mutually understandable, e.g. like Czech and Slovak, in one extreme, or like Spanish and Portuguese, at the other."Other linguists however argue that Illyrian and Thracian were different Indo-European branches which later converged through contact. It is also of significance that Illyrian languages still have not been classified whether they were centum or satem language, while it is undisputed that Thracian was a satem language by the Classical Period (the satem nature of proto-Thracian is disputed, Olteanu 2002).Due to the fragmentary attestation of both Illyrian and Thraco-Dacian, the existence of a Thraco-Illyrian branch remains controversial. Evidence of a Thraco-Illyrian branch has also been sought in the Albanian language, which might have developed from either a Thraco-Dacian or Illyrian language, or possibly even a Thraco-Illyrian creole, a view generally propounded by Albanian linguists.A lot of scientists, linguists, archaeologists, historians etc. are considering that 8,500 years ago, Romania was the heart of the old European civilization. The new archaeological discoveries from Tartaria, (Romania), showed up written plates older than the Sumerian ones. More and more researches and studies converged to the conclusion that the Europeans are originated in a single place, the lower Danube basin. Down there, at Schela and Cladova in Romania have been discovered proves of the first European agricultural activities which appear to be even older than 10,000 years.Out of 60 scientifically works which are covering this domain, 30 of them localize the primitive origins of the man-kind in Europe, where 24 of them are localizing this origin in the actual Romania, (Carpathian- Danubian area); 10 are indicating western Siberia, 5 Jutland and/or actual Germany room, 4 for Russia, 4 for some Asian territories, 1 for actual France area and all these recognisied despite against the huge pride of those nations.Jean Carpantier, Guido Manselli, Marco Merlini, Gordon Childe, Marija Gimbutas, Yannick Rialland, M. Riehmschneider, Louis de la Valle Poussin, Olaf Hoekman, John Mandis, William Schiller, Raymond Dart, Lucian Cuesdean, Sbierea, A. Deac, George Denis, Mattie M.E., N. Densuseanu, B.P. Hajdeu, P Bosch, W. Kocka, Vladimir Gheorghiev, H. Henchen, B.V. Gornung, V Melinger, E. Michelet, A. Mozinski, W. Porzig, A. Sahmanov, Hugo Schmidt, W. Tomaschek, F.N. Tretiacov are among the huge number of specialists which consider Romania the place of otehr Europeans origines and Romanian the oldest language in Europe, older even than Sanskrit.According to the researchers and scientists, the Latin comes from the old Romanian (or Thracian) and not vice versa. The so called "slave" words are in fact pure Romanian words. The so called vulgar Latin is in fact old Romanian, or Thracian language, according to the same sources...The arguments sustaining the theories from above are very numerous and I don't want to go into them so deeply as long as the forum is and has to remain one languages dedicated, to.In the limits of the language, please allow me to present a list of just a few (out of thousands of words), which are very similar/ even identical in Romanian and Sanskrit:Romaniannumerals : unu, doi, trei, patru, cinci, sase, sapte...100=sutaSanskritnumerals: unu, dvi, tri, ciatru, penci, sas, saptan...100 = satanthen Romanian Sanskritacasa acasha (at home)acu acu (now)lup lup ( wolf)a iubi (considered slave) iub (love)frate vrate (brother)camera camera (room)limba lamba (tongue)nepot napat (neffew)mandru mandra (proud)lupta lupta (fight)pandur pandur (infanterist)nevasta navasti (wife)prieten prietema (friend)pranz prans (lunch time)Ruman Ramana (Romanian)saptamana saptnahan (week)struguri strughuri (grapes)vale vale (valley)vadana vadana (widow)a zambi dzambaiami (to smile)umbra dumbra (shadow)om om (man-kind)dusman dusman (enemy)a invata invati (to study)a crapa crapaiami (to break something)naiba naiba (evil)apa apa (water) and not AQUA like in Latin. It looks like aqua came from apa and not the other way around...and so on for more than thousand situations...According to M. Gimbutas, the confusion Roman (Romanian as in original language) = Roman (ancient Rom citizen), is generated by the fact that Romans and Romanians have been the same nation, the same people. The Dacians/Thracians and Romans have been twins. The illiterate peasants called Romanians, Ruman and not Roman. Why do they call so? Because RU-MANI, RA-MANI, RO-MANI, API, APULI, DACI and MAN-DA , VAL-AH are all synonyms expressing the person from the river banc or from the river valley. APII could be found under the form of mez-APPI in the ancient Italy, under he same name as the APPULI Dacians. APU-GLIA, (or Glia Romanilor in Romanian - Romanian land) can be found with this meaning only in Romanian (Glia= land)In the Southern side of Italian "booth" exists the first neolitical site of Italy and it is called MOL-feta. The name itself has Romanian names, according to Guido A. Manselli: MOL-tzam (popular Thank you), MUL-tumire (satisfaction), na-MOL (mud); MOL-dova (province and river in Romania, Za-MOL-xis, Dacian divinity. Manselli said that this archaeological sit is 7,000 years old and has a balcanic feature.I came up with this topic just to hear decent opinions and not banalities like those of a few days ago when while surfing for a language forum, I read all kind of suburban interventions. This topic is for people whith brain only.As a German myself, I was pure and simple stunned by the childish commentaries regarding German Language given by some individuals, yesterday. I hope, I won't generate anything like that today...if that will happen, I sugest to the moderators to delete it.What do you think, are you ready to take the challenge and carry on a nice discussion on this topic or I have to look for another place for it?What do you say about these new (for me - although the theory appears to be known for long time - it has been said that Vatican preserves some secrets about the origins of us all - information obtained in the moment of St Sofia church devastation, in Constantinople, when the churches separation took place).From third century BC until 6th century AD, the Balkans were fully Romanized and Latin-speaking. All migratory invading tribes, together with the Greeks, called the Roman Citizens Romanized and Latin-speaking, from the Atlantic (Wales and Walloon), in Gothic, (as Walhs) Proto Germany (Walhaz), Germany (Welsch, Wallach), then Polish (Włochy) Slavic Vlah, Hungarian (Oláh and Olasz) to Egean Sea (into Greek Vláchoi /Vláhi).That term it started to be used before The Middle Ages which it began in the 6th century AD.Vlachs (English: /ˈvlɑːk/ or /ˈvlæk/, or rarely /ˈvlɑːx/), also Wallachians (and many other variants), is a historical term from the Middle Ages that designates an exonym, mostly for the Romanians who lived north and south of the Danube.The word Vlach/Wallachian (and other variants such as Vlah, Valah, Valach, Voloh, Blac, oláh, Vlas, Ilac, Ulah, etc.) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a Celtic tribe, adopted into Proto-Germanic *Walhaz, which meant "stranger", from *Wolkā- (Caesar's Latin: Volcae, Strabo and Ptolemy's Greek: Ouolkai). Via Latin, in Gothic, as *walhs, the ethnonym took on the meaning "foreigner" or "Romance-speaker", and was adopted into Greek Vláhi (Βλάχοι), Slavic Vlah, Hungarian oláh and olasz, etc. The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for Wales and Walloon, and in Switzerland for Romansh-speakers (German: Welsch), and in Poland Włochy or in Hungary olasz became an exonym for Italians. The Slovenian term Lahi has also been used to designate Italians.Historically, the term was used primarily for the Romanians. Testimonies from the 13th to 14th centuries show that, although in the European (and even extra-European) space they were called Vlachs or Wallachians (oláh in Hungarian, Vláchoi (βλάχοι) in Greek, Volóxi (воло́хи) in Russian, Walachen in German, Valacchi in Italian, Valaques in French, Valacos in Spanish), the Romanians used for themselves the endonym "Rumân/Român", from the Latin "Romanus" (in memory of Rome). Vlachs are referred in late Byzantine documents as Bulgaro-Albano-Vlachs ("Bulgaralbanitoblahos"), or Serbo-Albano-Bulgaro-Vlachs.Via both Germanic and Latin, the term started to signify "stranger, foreigner" also in the Balkans, where it in its early form was used for Romance-speakers, but the term eventually took on the meaning of "shepherd, nomad". The Romance-speaking communities themselves however used the endonym (they called themselves) "Romans". Term Vlach can denote various ethnic elements: "Slovak, Hungarian, Balkan, Transylvanian, Romanian, or even Albanian".DalmatiaRoman conquest of the Balkans started in the Republican time with the coastal area of Dalmatia. The region which ran along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and extended inland on the Dinaric Alps was called Illyria by the Greeks. Originally the Romans also called it Illyria. Later they called it Illyricum. The Romans fought three Illyrian Wars (229 BC, 219/8 BC and 168 BC) mainly against the kingdom of the Ardiaei in the south of the region. In 168 BC they abolished this kingdom, divided it into three republics. The area became a Roman protectorate. The central and northern area of the region engaged in piracy and raided north-eastern Italy. In response to this, Octavian (who later became the emperor Augustus) conducted a series of campaigns in Illyricum (35-33 BC). The area became the Roman senatorial province of Illyricum probably in 27 BC. Due to troubles in the northern part of the region in 16-10 BC, it became an imperial province. The administrative organisation of Illyricum was carried out late in the reign of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) and early in the reign of Tiberius (14- 37 AD).Dalmatia was a Roman province. Its name is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It encompassed the northern part of present-day Albania, much of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia, thus covering an area significantly larger than the current Croatian region of Dalmatia. Originally this region was called Illyria (in Greek) or Illyricum (in Latin).The province of Illyricum was dissolved and replaced by two separate provinces: Dalmatia and Pannonia. German historian Theodore Mommsen wrote (in his The Provinces of the Roman Empire) that coastal Dalmatia and its islands were fully Romanized and Latin-speaking by the 4th century.The Croatian historian Aleksandar Stipčević writes that analysis of archaeological material from that period has shown that the process of romanization was rather selective. While urban centers, both coastal and inland, were almost completely romanized, the situation in the countryside was completely different. Despite the Illyrians being subject to a strong process of acculturation, they continued to speak their native language, worship their own gods and traditions, and follow their own social-political tribal organization which was adapted to Roman administration and political structure only in some necessities.The Illyrian Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom.In the First Illyrian War, which lasted from 229 BC to 228 BC, Rome's concern was that the trade across the Adriatic Sea increased after the First Punic War at a time when Ardiaei power increased under queen Teuta. Attacks on trading vessels of Rome's Italic allies by Illyrian pirates and the death of a Roman envoy named Coruncanius on Teuta's orders, prompted the Roman senate to dispatch a Roman army under the command of the consuls Lucius Postumius Albinus and Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus. Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons from a number of Greek cities including Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra, Pharos and established a protectorate over these Greek towns. The Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos as a power in Illyria to counterbalance the power of Teuta.The Parthini were among the South-Illyrian tribes that took their names from the first generation of the descendants of Illyrius, the eponymous ancestor of all the Illyrian peoples.The Second Illyrian War lasted from 220 BC to 219 BC. In 219 BC, the Roman Republic was at war with the Celts of Cisalpine Gaul, and the Second Punic War with Carthage was beginning. These distractions gave Demetrius the time he needed to build a new Illyrian war fleet. Leading this fleet of 90 ships, Demetrius sailed south of Lissus, violating his earlier treaty and starting the war. Demetrius' fleet first attacked Pylos, where he captured 50 ships after several attempts. From Pylos, the fleet sailed to the Cyclades, quelling any resistance that they found on the way. Demetrius foolishly sent a fleet across the Adriatic, and, with the Illyrian forces divided, the fortified city of Dimale was captured by the Roman fleet under Lucius Aemilius Paulus. From Dimale the navy went towards Pharos. The forces of Rome routed the Illyrians and Demetrius fled to Macedon, where he became a trusted councellor at the court of Philip V of Macedon, and remained there until his death at Messene in 214 BC.In 171 BC, the Illyrian king Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians. But in 169 BC he changed sides and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon. During the Third Illyrian War, in 168 BC, he arrested two Roman legati and destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied to Rome. He was defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under L. Anicius Gallus, and in 167 BC he was brought to Rome as a captive to participate in Gallus' triumph, after which he was interned at Iguvium.Alliance with Dardania and MacedoniaIn 169 BC, Gentius arranged the murder of his brother, Plator, because Plator's plan to marry Etuta, daughter of the Dardanian king, Monunius II of Dardania, would have made him too powerful. Gentius then married Plator's fiancée for himself, securing the alliance of the powerful Dardanian State.Perseus of Macedon, having recaptured several Roman outposts in Roman occupied Illyria, controlled the route leading west to the Ardiaean State. At this point, Perseus sent his first embassy to Gentius, consisting of the Illyrian exile Pleuratus, for his command of the Illyrian language, and the Macedonians Adaeus and Beroea. They found Gentius at Lissus and informed him of Perseus' successes against the Romans and Dardanians and his recent victory against the Penestae. Gentius replied that he lacked not the will to fight the Romans, but only the money. No promises were made on this point either by this embassy or another sent from Stuberra shortly afterwards. Perseus continued his efforts to involve Gentius in the war—preferably, it was said, at no cost to his treasury. The Illyrian exile Pleuratus raised 1,000 infantry and 200 cavalry from the Penestae. The Roman invasion of Macedonia in 168 BC forced the king to promise a subsidy to Gentius, whose ships might be employed to attack the Romans. A sum of 300 talents was mentioned and Perseus sent his companion Pantauchus to make the arrangements. In the city of Meteon, hostages were agreed and Gentius accepted the oath of the king. He sent Olympio with a delegation to Perseus to collect the money, and the treaty was concluded with some ceremony at Dium on the Thermaic Gulf. A formal parade of the Macedonian cavalry was held, which may have impressed the Illyrians; the cavalry may have represented the Macedonians in the ratification of the treaty.The 300 talents were counted out of the royal treasure at Pella and the Illyrians were permitted to mark it with their own stamp. An advance of this money was forwarded to Gentius; and when this was passed over by Pantauchus, the king was urged to commence hostilities against the Romans. When Gentius imprisoned two Roman envoys sent by Appius Claudius at Lychnidus, Perseus recalled the rest of the subsidy in the belief that Gentius was now his ally, come what may.Anti-Roman policyKing Gentius of IllyriaGentius accompanied the new anti-Roman orientation in Illyrian foreign policy with a series of measures to strengthen the Ardiaean State. First, he concentrated the finances by establishing a single tax over all the subjects and by taking royal control of the monetary workshops, or mints, of Lissus and Scodra, the two cities where he resided. At this time, Gentius was issuing bronze coins. In the Selcë hoard, there are two coins of Gentius with Macedonian emblems. The other coins of Gentius have what is probably his head with a cap not unlike the petasos, and a torque around his head, and on the reverse in one case a thunderbolt and in the other a lembus, the typical Illyrian warship. Thus, according to an inventory made by the Romans, the state treasury had 27 pounds of gold, 19 of silver, 120,000 Illyrian drachmas and 13,000 Roman denarii on the eve of the war with Rome.Gentius and Perseus sent a joined embassy to invite Rhodes to join in the war against Rome. Gentius also built up a fleet of 270 lembi, a fact showing that the enemy he was prepared to face would come across the Adriatic. An army of 15,000 men completed the military machine of the Ardiaean State. Gentius was now prepared to go to war with Rome.The Aetolian League (also transliterated as Aitolian League) (Ancient Greek: Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν) was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in central Greece. It was probably established during the early Hellenistic era, in opposition to Macedon and the Achaean League. Two annual meetings were held at Thermika and Panaetolika. The league occupied Delphi from 290 BC and steadily gained territory until, by the end of the 3rd century BC, it controlled the whole of central Greece with the exception of Attica and Boeotia. At its peak, the league's territory included Locris, Malis, Dolopes, parts of Thessaly, Phocis, and Acarnania. In the latter part of its power, certain Greek city-states joined the Aetolian League such as the Arcadian cities of Mantineia, Tegea, Phigalia and Kydonia on Crete.During the classical period the Aetolians were not highly regarded by other Greeks, who considered them to be semi-barbaric and reckless. Their League had a complex political and administrative structure, and their armies were easily a match for the other Greek powers. However, during the Hellenistic period, they emerged as a dominant state in central Greece and expanded by the voluntarily annexation of several Greek city-states to the League. Still, the Aetolian League had to fight against Macedonia and were driven to an alliance with Rome, which resulted in the final conquest of Greece by the Romans.The Ardiaei were an Illyrian people residing on territory of present-day Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina between Adriatic coast on the south, Konjic on the north, along the Neretva river and its right bank on the west, extending to Lake Shkodra to the southeast. From the 3rd century BC to 168 BC the capital cities of the Ardiaean State were Rhizon and Scodra.The Autariatae(alternatively, Autariates, in Ancient Greek: Αὐταριᾶται, Autariatai) were an Illyrian people that lived between the valleys of the Lim and the Tara, beyond the northern Albanian mountains, and the valley of West Morava. Their territory was located inland from the Ardiaei and the Lake Skodra, extending east to the Dardani and north or northeast to the Triballi. Along with the Ardiaei and the Dardani, the Autariatae are mentioned by Strabo in his Geographica as one of the three strongest Illyrian peoples in the pre-Roman Balkans. Following defeat during the Celtic invasions of the Balkans in the 4th century, a part of the Autariatae who remained in Bosnia adopted Celtic culture later in their history. Another part moved southwards and after an agreement with the Kingdom of Macedonia, 20,000 settled in the Parorbelian mountain range, in the borderlands between modern southeastern North Macedonia, northern Greece and southwestern Bulgaria.DardaniaThe Dardani (/ˈdɑːrdənaɪ/; Ancient Greek: Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; Latin: Dardani) were a Paleo-Balkan tribe which lived in a region which was named Dardania after their settlement there. The eastern parts of the region were at the Thraco-Illyrian contact zone. In archaeological research, Illyrian names are predominant in western Dardania (present-day Kosovo), while Thracian names are mostly found in eastern Dardania (present-day south-eastern Serbia). Thracian names are absent in western Dardania; some Illyrian names appear in the eastern parts. Thus, their identification as either an Illyrian or Thracian tribe has been a subject of debate; the ethnolinguistic relationship between the two groups being largely uncertain and debated itself as well. The correspondence of Illyrian names - including those of the ruling elite - in Dardania with those of the southern Illyrians suggests a "thracianization" of parts of Dardania.Strabo in his geographica mentions them as one of the three strongest Illyrian peoples, the other two being the Ardiaei and Autariatae.The Kingdom of Dardania was attested since the 4th century BC in ancient sources reporting the wars the Dardanians waged against Macedon. After the Celtic invasion of the Balkans weakened the state of the Macedonians and Paeonians, the political and military role of the Dardanians began to grow in the region. They expanded their state to the area of Paeonia which definitely disappeared from history, and to some territories of the southern Illyrians. The Dardanians strongly pressured the Macedonians, using every opportunity to attack them. However the Macedonians quickly recovered and consolidated their state, and the Dardanians lost their important political role. The strengthening of the Illyrian (Ardiaean–Labeatan) state on their western borders also contributed to the restriction of Dardanian warlike actions towards their neighbors.The Dardani were the most stable and conservative ethnic element among the peoples of the central Balkans, retaining for several centuries an enduring presence in the region.Philip V of Macedon planned to use the Bastarnae as a base to attack the Romans, but that required the Macedonians to settle in Dardania, along with their families, affecting the Dardanians as a people group. This would destroy long-time enemies of the Macedonian state and secure a path to Rome. Some twenty years before, Philip had lost a war against the Roman Republic, known as the Second Macedonian War. However, war was again threatened.The Dardanians used every opportunity to loot Macedonia, and Philip's army was too weak at the time to attack them.In 179 BC Philip died, just after the Bastarnae left their homeland. When they heard the news about Philip's death, the Bastarnae began moving through the Odrysian Kingdom. The Thracians felt that after the king's death, they were no longer under obligation to help and supply these barbarians. The Bastarnae started looting Odrysia in search for food. The Thracians made up an army, but they were weaker than the Bastarnae. The Bastarnae beat them and made them evacuate to hills and mountains. Thracian soldiers and families moved to Thracia's highest peak, Mt. Musala. The Bastarnae chased them, but when they reached the mountains, a heavy storm hit them and they retreated.Some 30,000 Bastarnae started moving to Dardania, while others returned home. They reached Dardania in autumn of 179 BC.The Bastarnae formed several camps. The Dardanians thought they were going to vanquish the enemy easily, but years passed and attackers were still there. In 176 BC Dardanian king Monunius II sent a delegation to Rome, accusing Macedonian king Perseus of invading the Bastarnae. Perseus wanted good relations with the Roman Republic, so he denied all accusations.The Dardanians waited to attack until the Bastarnae’s allies, the Scordisci and the Thracians, were busy working in the fields. They split into two groups; one to attack the front, and the other attacking from the flank. The first group arrived too early and was defeated. The Bastarnae pushed them and besieged them in their city. The other group of Dardanian soldiers were not aware of this, so they continued moving towards the enemy camp. The Bastarnae left their camp empty. Without their camp, they started retreating. On their way home they crossed the frozen river of the Danube. Ice started cracking and almost all Bastarnae soldiers died. Their leader, Clondicus, survived.The Dardanians won the war, but they were heavily damaged and reduced in power. Dardania continued to exist until Roman conquest in 28 BC.Parallel ethnic names in the Balkans and AnatoliaThese parallels are considered too great to be a mere coincidence. According to a current explanation, the connection is likely related to the large-scale movement of peoples that occurred at the end of the Bronze Age (around 1200 BC), when the attacks of the 'Sea Peoples' afflicted some of the established powers around the eastern Mediterranean. The rulers of some of the great powers of antiquity, such as Epirus, Macedonia and Rome, claimed a Trojan ancestry linking themselves to Dardanus, who according to the tradition was the founder of the Trojan ruling house. But if Dardanus and the tribes over which he ruled were descended from the Balkan people, who were considered "barbarians" by the Romans, it would have been an embarrassment. Thus, by Roman times the connection was explained by a movement that occurred in the opposite direction proposing that Dardanus caused the settling of the Dardani west of the Thracians, accepting the version that the Dardani were a people related to the Trojans, but that they had degenerated to a state of "barbarism" in their new settlement.In Greek mythology, Dardanos (Δάρδανος), one of the sons of Illyrius (the others being Enchelus, Autarieus, Maedus, Taulas, and Perrhaebus) was the eponymous ancestor of the Dardanoi (Δάρδανοι).Destruction of the Ardiaei kingdom (168 BC)Having mustered his force of 15,000 men and his fleet of lembi at Lissus, the southernmost city of the State, Gentius advanced into Roman territory in January/February of 168 BC and laid siege to the Illyrian city of Bassania, a Roman ally that refused to yield, although it was only 5 miles from Lissus. His half-brother Caravantius detached 1,000 infantry and 50 horsemen and attacked the Cavii, failing to capture one of their cities while ravaging the fields of the city of Caravandis. A fleet of eight lembi set off a little later to attack the coastal colonial cities of Epidamnus and Appolonia. Meanwhile, the Romans under Appius Claudius had heard of the alliance that Gentius had made with Perseus of Macedonia and the arrest of the Roman envoys. He therefore moved his army out of their winter quarters at Nymphaeum, added to it troops from Byllis, Epidamnus, and Appolonia, as he marched north, and encamped by the river Genesus. There, he met with the new Roman commander, Lucius Anicius Gallus, a praetor. Anicius had crossed over from Italy to Apollonia with two legions totalling 600 cavalry and 10,400 infantry and of Italian allies, 800 cavalry and 10,000 infantry. His fleet, the size of which is not known, was strengthened by a draft of 5,000 sailors. To this imposing force, he added 200 cavalry and 2,000 infantry of the Parthini, an Illyrian kingdom allied to the Romans. These combined forces outnumbered those of Gentius's by two to one.As a folio of Livy's text is missing, little is known of this campaign. It seems that Anicius's fleets engaged Gentius' lembi and captured a number of them. Next, the Illyrian forces were defeated on land, allowing the Romans to advance to the heart of the state, where they won over the cities by humane and clement methods. Gentius concentrated his forces in his capital Shkodra, a well-fortified city in a strong natural position. When Anicius approached with his army in battle formation, Gentius fled into the city in panic. Gentius asked for, and was given, a three-day truce hoping that Caravantius would come at any moment with a large relieving army, but it did not happen. After his defeat, Gentius sent two prominent tribal leaders, Teuticus and Bellus, as envoys to negotiate with the Roman commander. On the third day of the truce, Gentius surrendered to the Romans, who gave him a dinner with full honours and then put him under arrest. The Illyrians in Shkodra surrendered and the Roman envoys were liberated. The Roman army marched north of Scutari Lake where, at Meteon, they captured Gentius' queen Etuta, his brother Caravantius, his sons Scerdilaides and Pleuratus along with leading Illyrians.The fall of the Ardiaean State is transmitted by Livy in a ceremonial manner of the triumph of Anicius in Rome:In a few days, both on land and sea did he defeat the brave Illyrian tribe, who had relied on their knowledge of their own territory and fortificationsThis part of the campaign had only lasted 30 days. There were certainly further operations in the northern part of the Ardiaean State, for Anicius placed garrisons in some towns, citadels and fortresses. These include the cities of Issa, Rhizon and Olcinium and the tribal states of the Daorsi and the Pirustae. Some came over to Rome on their own accord, while other places, such as Pharos, were reduced by force and their property looted.AftermathRome's triumph included the capture of many royal flags, other booty, the furniture of the king himself and the treasure mentioned above. Millions of sestercii were gained from the sale of the booty, in addition to the gold and silver that went to the state treasury.By decision of the Senate, Gentius and his family were sent to Spoletum, to be kept under observation. The other captives were imprisoned in Rome. But the inhabitants of Spoletum refused to keep the royal family under watch, so they were transferred to Iguvium. The booty seized in Illyria included 220 vessels. By decree of the Senate, C. Cassius Longinus gave these vessels taken from Gentius to the inhabitants of Corcyra, Appolonia and Epidamnus. The year of Gentius' death is not known, but there are ruins of what is perhaps his tomb.The Roman punishment of Illyria spared only those kingdoms that had backed Rome openly in the war. For those who had been enemies, their cities, buildings and public institutions were burned and thoroughly looted. Those spared retained their previous manner of administration, with officials elected every year, and paid Rome only half the taxes that they had previously paid to Gentius. The federation-based kingdoms were dissolved and each unit was recognized as a separate kingdom, enjoying local autonomy and often the right to mint its own coins.While the southern Illyrian lands had been subjected once and for all, the Roman legions continued for about another hundred years with attempts to conquer the northern and eastern territories.The First Macedonian War (214–205 BC) was fought by Rome, allied (after 211 BC) with the Aetolian League and Attalus I of Pergamon, against Philip V of Macedon, contemporaneously with the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) against Carthage. There were no decisive engagements, and the war ended in a stalemate.During the war, Macedon attempted to gain control over parts of Illyria and Greece, but without success. It is commonly thought that these skirmishes in the east prevented Macedon from aiding the Carthaginian general Hannibal in the war with Rome. The Peace of Phoenice (205 BC) formally ended the war.Second Macedonian war (200 to 196 BC)The past century had seen the Greek world dominated by the three primary successor kingdoms of Alexander the Great's empire: Ptolemaic Egypt, Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire. The imperial ambitions of the Seleucids after 230 BC were particularly destabilizing. The Seleucids set out to conquer Egypt, and Egypt responded through a major mobilization campaign. This campaign led to military victory against Seleucid incursions, but in 205 BC when Ptolemy IV was succeeded by the five-year-old Ptolemy V (or rather, by his regents), the newly armed Egyptians turned against each other. The result was a major civil war between north and south. Seeing that all of Egypt could now be conquered easily, the Macedonians and Seleucids forged an alliance to conquer and divide Egypt between themselves.This represented the most significant threat to the century-old political order that had kept the Greek world in relative stability, and in particular represented a major threat to the smaller Greek kingdoms which had remained independent. As Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire were the problem, and Egypt the cause of the problem, the only place to turn was Rome. This represented a major change, as the Greeks had recently shown little more than contempt towards Rome, and Rome little more than apathy towards Greece. Ambassadors from Pergamon and Rhodes brought evidence before the Roman Senate that Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire had signed the non-aggression pact. Although the exact nature of this treaty is unclear, and the exact Roman reason for getting involved despite decades of apathy towards Greece (the relevant passages on this from our primary source, Polybius, have been lost), the Greek delegation was successful. Initially, Rome didn't intend to fight a war against Macedon, but rather to intervene on their behalf diplomatically.Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must cease in his campaigns against Rome's new Greek allies. Doubting Rome's strength (not an unfounded belief given Rome's performance in the First Macedonian War) Philip ignored the request, which surprised the Romans. Believing their honor and reputation on the line, Rome escalated the conflict by sending an army of Romans and Greek allies to force the issue, beginning the Second Macedonian War. Surprisingly (given his recent successes against the Greeks and earlier successes against Rome), Philip's army buckled under the pressure from the Roman-Greek army. Roman troops led by then consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus reached the plain of Thessaly by 198 BC. In 197 BC the Romans decisively defeated Philip at the Battle of Cynoscephalae, and he sued for peace. In the resulting Treaty of Tempea, Philip V was forbidden from interfering with affairs outside his borders, and was required to relinquish his recent Greek conquests. At the Olympiad in 196 BC Rome proclaimed the "Freedom of the Greeks", which constituted Rome's (arguably misguided) new policy towards Greece. This was that Greece was now stable and Rome could completely remove itself from Greek affairs without risking more instability. It seemed that Rome had no further interest in the region, as they withdrew all military forces without even attempting to consolidate any gains, and subsequently returned to their prior apathy even when their Greek allies ignored later Roman requests.Third Macedonian War (172 to 168 BC)Upon Philip's death in Macedon (179 BC), his son, Perseus of Macedon, attempted to restore Macedon's international influence, and moved aggressively against his neighbors. When Perseus was implicated in an assassination plot against an ally of Rome, the Senate declared the third Macedonian War. Initially, Rome did not fare well against the Macedonian forces, but in 168 BC, Roman legions smashed the Macedonian phalanx at the Battle of Pydna. Convinced now that the Greeks (and therefore the rest of the world) would never have peace if Greece was left alone yet again, Rome decided to establish its first permanent foothold in the Greek world. The Kingdom of Macedonia was divided by the Romans into four client republics. Even this proved insufficient to ensure peace, as Macedonian agitation continued.Fourth Macedonian War (150 to 148 BC)The Fourth Macedonian War, fought from 150 BC to 148 BC, was fought against a Macedonian pretender to the throne, named Andriscus, who was again destabilizing Greece by attempting to re-establish the old Kingdom. The Romans swiftly defeated the Macedonians at the Second battle of Pydna. In response, the Achaean League in 146 BC mobilized for a new war against Rome. This is sometimes referred to as the Achaean War, and was noted for its short duration and its timing right after the fall of Macedonia. Until this time, Rome had only campaigned in Greece in order to fight Macedonian forts, allies or clients. Rome's military supremacy was well established, having defeated Macedonia and its vaunted Phalanx already on 3 occasions, and defeating superior numbers against the Seleucids in Asia. The Achaean leaders almost certainly knew that this declaration of war against Rome was hopeless, as Rome had triumphed against far stronger and larger opponents, the Roman legion having proved its supremacy over the Macedonian phalanx. Polybius blames the demagogues of the cities of the league for inspiring the population into a suicidal war. Nationalist stirrings and the idea of triumphing against superior odds motivated the league into this rash decision. The Achaean League was swiftly defeated, and, as an object lesson, Rome utterly destroyed the city of Corinth in 146 BC, the same year that Carthage was destroyed. After nearly a century of constant crisis management in Greece, which always led back to internal instability and war when Rome pulled out, Rome decided to divide Macedonia into two new Roman provinces, Achaea and Epirus.·Daradani and DardanoiThe Dardani in the Balkans were linked by ancient Greek and Roman writers with a people of the same name who lived in northwest Anatolia (i.e. the Dardanoi), from which the name Dardanelles is derived.Other parallel ethnic names in the Balkans and Anatolia, respectively include:·Eneti and Enetoi,The Eneti (Greek: Enetoi/ἐνετοί, Latin: Eneti, Heneti, Enete) was a people that inhabited a region close to Paphlagonia, mentioned by Homer and Strabo.oHomer's (fl. c. 850 BC) Iliad. In Book II, Homer says that the ἐνετοί (Enetoi) inhabited Paphlagonia on the southern coast of the Black Sea in the time of the Trojan War (c. 1200 BC). The Paphlagonians are listed among the allies of the Trojans in the war, where their king Pylaemenes and his son Harpalion perished. At a later period, Paphlagonia passed under the control of the Macedonian kings, and after the death of Alexander the Great, it was assigned, together with Cappadocia and Mysia, to Eumenes. However, it continued to be governed by native princes until it was absorbed by the encroaching power of Pontus. The rulers of that dynasty became masters of the greater part of Paphlagonia as early as the reign of Mithridates Ctistes (302–266 BC), but it was not until 183 BC that Pharnaces reduced the Greek city of Sinope under their control. From that time, the whole province was incorporated into the kingdom of Pontus until the fall of Mithridates (65 BC). Pompey united the coastal districts of Paphlagonia, along with the greater part of Pontus, with the Roman province of Bithynia, but left the interior of the country under the native princes, until the dynasty became extinct and the whole country was incorporated into the Roman Empire. The name was still retained by geographers, though its boundaries are not distinctly defined by the geographer Claudius Ptolemy. Paphlagonia reappeared as a separate province in the 5th century AD (Hierocles, Synecdemus c. 33). In the 7th century it became part of the theme of Opsikion, and later of the Bucellarian Theme, before being split off c. 820 to form a separate province once again.oStrabo mentioned that the inhabitants had disappeared by his time.·Bryges and Phryges,Bryges or Briges (Greek: Βρύγοι or Βρίγες) is the historical name given to a people of the ancient Balkans. They are generally considered to have been related to the Phrygians, who during classical antiquity lived in western Anatolia. Both names, Bryges and Phrygians, are assumed to be variants of the same root. Based on archaeological evidence, some scholars such as Nicholas Hammond and Eugene N. Borza argue that the Bryges/Phrygians were members of the Lusatian culture that migrated into the southern Balkans during the Late Bronze Age.The earliest mentions of the Bryges are contained in the historical writings of Herodotus, who relates them to Phrygians, stating that according to the Macedonians, the Bryges "changed their name" to Phryges after migrating into Anatolia, a movement which is thought to have happened between 1200 BC and 800 BC perhaps due to the Bronze Age collapse, particularly the fall of the Hittite Empire and the power vacuum that was created. In the Balkans, the Bryges occupied central Albania and some parts of northern Epirus, as well as Macedonia, mainly west of the Axios river, but also Mygdonia, which was conquered by the kingdom of Macedon in the early 5th century BC. They seem to have lived peacefully next to the inhabitants of Macedonia. However, Eugammon in his Telegony, drawing upon earlier epic traditions, mentions that Odysseus commanded the Epirotian Thesprotians against the Bryges. Small groups of Bryges, after the migration to Anatolia and the expansion of the kingdom of Macedon, were still left in northern Pelagonia and around Epidamnus.Herodotus also mentions that in 492 BC, some Thracian Brygoi or Brygians (Greek: Βρύγοι Θρήικες) fell upon the Persian camp by night, wounding Mardonius himself, though he went on with the campaign until he subdued them. These Brygoi were later mentioned in Plutarch's Parallel Lives, in the Battle of Philippi, as camp servants of Brutus. However, modern scholars state that a historical link between them and the original Bryges cannot be established.·Moesians and Mysians.A minor episode in the Trojan War cycle in Greek mythology has the Greek fleet land at Mysia, mistaking it for Troy. Achilles wounds their king, Telephus, after he slays a Greek; Telephus later pleads with Achilles to heal the wound. This coastal region ruled by Telephus is alternatively named "Teuthrania" in Greek mythology, as it was previously ruled by King Teuthras. In the Iliad, Homer represents the Mysians as allies of Troy, with the Mysian forces led by Ennomus (a prophet) and Chromius, sons of Arsinous. Homeric Mysia appears to have been much smaller in extent than historical Mysia, and did not extend north to the Hellespont or the Propontis. Homer does not mention any cities or landmarks in Mysia, and it is not clear exactly where Homeric Mysia was situated, although it was probably located somewhere between the Troad (to the northwest of Mysia) and Lydia/Maeonia (to its south).A number of Mysian inscriptions have survived in a dialect of the Phrygian language, written using a variant of the Phrygian alphabet. There are also a small number of references to a Lutescan language indigenous to Mysia in Aeolic Greek sources.Moesia (/ˈmiːʃə, -siə, -ʒə/; Latin: Moesia, Greek: Μοισία, romanized: Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. It included most of the territory of modern-day Central Serbia, Kosovo and the northern parts of the modern North Macedonia (Moesia Superior), Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja and Southern Ukraine (Moesia Inferior).The region was inhabited chiefly by Thracians, Dacians (Thraco-Dacians), Illyrian and Thraco-Illyrian peoples. The name of the region comes from Moesi, Thraco-Dacian peoples who lived there before the Roman conquest.Parts of Moesia belonged to the polity of Burebista, a Getae king who established his rule over a large part of the northern Balkans between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes. After his assassination in an inside plot, the empire was divided into several smaller states.In 75 BC, C. Scribonius Curio, proconsul of Macedonia, took an army as far as the Danube and gained a victory over the inhabitants, who were finally subdued by M. Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir and later also proconsul of Macedonia during the reign of Augustus c. 29 BC. The region, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of Augustus' reign; in 6 AD, mention is made of its governor, Caecina Severus. As a province, Moesia was under an imperial consular legate (who probably also had control of Achaea and Macedonia).In 86 AD the Dacian king Duras ordered his troops to attack Roman Moesia. After this attack, the Roman emperor Domitian personally arrived in Moesia and reorganized it in 87 AD into two provinces, divided by the river Cebrus (Ciabrus): to the west Moesia Superior - Upper Moesia, (meaning up river) and to the east Moesia Inferior - Lower Moesia (also called Ripa Thracia), (from the Danube river's mouth and then upstream). Each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator.The chief towns of Upper Moesia in the Principate were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium; modern Kostolac), Remesiana (Bela Palanka), Bononia (Vidin), Ratiaria (Archar) and Skupi (modern Skopje); of Lower Moesia: Oescus (colonia Ulpia, Gigen), Novae (near Svishtov, the chief seat of Theodoric the Great), Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikup; really near the river Yantra), Marcianopolis (Devnya), Tyras (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), Olvia, Odessus (Varna) and Tomis (Constanţa; to which the poet Ovid was banished). The last two were Greek towns which formed a pentapolis with Istros, Mesembria (Nessebar) and Apollonia (Sozopol).From Moesia, Domitian began planning future campaigns into Dacia and by 87 he started a strong offensive against Dacia, ordering General Cornelius Fuscus to attack. Therefore, in the summer of 87, Fuscus led five or six legions across the Danube. The campaign against the Dacians ended without a decisive outcome, and Decebalus, the Dacian King, had brazenly flouted the terms of the peace (89 AD) which had been agreed on at the war's end.Emperor Trajan later arrived in Moesia, and he launched his first military campaign into the Dacian Kingdom c. March–May 101, crossing to the northern bank of the Danube River and defeating the Dacian army near Tapae, a mountain pass in the Carpathians (see Second Battle of Tapae). Trajan's troops were mauled in the encounter, however, and he put off further campaigning for the year to heal troops, reinforce, and regroup. During the following winter, King Decebalus launched a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, but this was repulsed. Trajan's army advanced further into Dacian territory and forced King Decebalus to submit to him a year later.Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title Dacicus. The victory was celebrated by the Tropaeum Traiani. However, Decebalus in 105 undertook an invasion against Roman territory by attempting to stir up some of the tribes north of the river against the empire. Trajan took to the field again and after building with the design of Apollodorus of Damascus his massive bridge over the Danube, he conquered part of Dacia in 106 (see also Second Dacian War).Sometime around 272, at the Moesian city of Naissus or Nissa (modern Niš in Serbia), future emperor Constantine I was born.Triballi (a subgroup in Moesia)The Triballi (Greek: Τριβαλλοί, romanized: Triballoí) were an ancient tribe whose dominion was around the plains of modern southern Serbia, northern part of North Macedonia and western Bulgaria, at the Angrus and Brongus (the South and West Morava) and the Iskar River, roughly centered where Serbia and Bulgaria are joined.The Triballi were a Thracian tribe that received influences from Celts, Scythians and Illyrians.Based on the archaeological findings, the history of the Triballi can be divided in four periods: Proto-Triballian (1300–800 BC), Early Triballian (800-600 BC), Triballian (600–335 BC) and period from 335 BC until Roman conquest.In 424 BC, they were attacked by Sitalkes, king of the Odrysae, who was defeated and lost his life in the engagement. They were pushed to the east by the invading Autariatae, an Illyrian tribe; the date of this event is uncertain.In 376 BC, a large band of Triballi under King Hales crossed Mount Haemus and advanced as far as Abdera; they had backing from Maroneia and were preparing to besiege the city when Chabrias appeared off the coast, with the Athenian fleet, and organized a reconciliation.In 339 BC, when Philip II of Macedon was returning from his expedition against the Scythians, the Triballi refused to allow him to pass the Haemus unless they received a share of the booty. Hostilities took place, in which Philip was defeated and wounded by a spear in his right thigh, but the Triballi appear to have been subsequently subdued by him.After the death of Philip, Alexander the Great passed through the lands of the Odrysians in 335-334 BC, crossed the Haemus ranges and after three encounters (Battle of Haemus, Battle at Lyginus River, Battle at Peuce Island) defeated and drove the Triballians to the junction of the Lyginus at the Danube. 3,000 Triballi were killed, the rest fled. Their king Syrmus (eponymous to Roman Sirmium) took refuge on the Danubian island of Peukê, where most of the remnants of the defeated Thracians were exiled. The successful Macedonian attacks terrorized the tribes around the Danube; the autonomous Thracian tribes sent tributes for peace, Alexander was satisfied with his operations and accepted peace because of his greater wars in Asia.They were attacked by Autariatae and Celts in 295 BC.The punishment inflicted by Ptolemy Keraunos on the Getae, however, induced the Triballi to sue for peace. About 279 BC, a host of Gauls (Scordisci) under Cerethrius defeated the Triballi with an army of 3,000 horsemen and 15,000 foot soldiers. The defeat pushed the Triballi further to the east. Nevertheless, they continued to cause trouble to the Roman governors of Macedonia for fifty years (135 BC–84 BC).The Illyrian Dardani tribe settled in the southwest of the Triballi area in 87 BC. The Thracian place names survives the Romanization of the region.Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) registers them as one of the tribes of Moesia.In the time of Ptolemy (90–168 AD), their territory was limited to the district between the Ciabrus (Tzibritza) and Utus (Vit) rivers, part of what is now Bulgaria; their chief town was Oescus.Under Tiberius, mention is made of Triballia in Moesia; and the Emperor Maximinus Thrax (reigned 235–237) had been a commander of a squadron of Triballi. The name occurs for the last time during the reign of Diocletian, who dates a letter from Triballis.ScordisciThe Scordisci (Greek: Σκορδίσκοι) were a Celtic Iron Age cultural group centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus (Sava), Dravus (Drava) and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era, and consolidated into a tribal state. At their zenith, their core territory stretched over regions comprising parts of present-day Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, while their influence spread even further. After the Roman conquest in the 1st century AD, their territories were included into the Roman provinces of Pannonia, Moesia and Dacia.The Scordisci were a Celtic group formed after the Gallic invasion of the Balkans, or rather a "Celtic political creation" having mixed with the local Thracians and Illyrians. Their tribal name may be connected to the Scordus, the Šar mountain. The personal names are noted to have been subsequently Illyricized, having South Pannonian–North Dalmatian influence. According to onomastic evidence, Scordiscan settlements to the east of the Morava river were Thracianized. In parts of Moesia (northeast Central Serbia) the Scordisci and Thracians lived beside each other, which is evident in the archeological findings of pits and treasures, spanning from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century BC.The Scordisci were found during different timelines in Illyria, Thrace and Dacia, sometimes splitting into more than one group like the Scordisci Major and the Scordisci Minor.Extensive La Tène type finds, of local production, are noted in Pannonia as well as northern Moesia Superior, attesting to the concentration of Celtic settlements and cultural contacts. However, such finds south of the Sava river are scarce.They still, from time to time, gave trouble to the Roman governors of Macedonia, whose territory they invaded in combination with the Maedi and Dardani. They even advanced as far as Delphi and plundered the temple; but Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus finally overcame them in 88 BC and drove them across the Danube. After this, the power of the Scordisci declined rapidly. This decline was more a result of the political situation in Barbaricum rather than the effects of Roman campaigns, as their clients, especially the Pannonians, became more powerful and politically independent. Between 56 and 50 BC, the Scordisci were defeated by Burebista's Dacians, and became subject to him.Celtic groups in the Balkans, c. 50 BCThey were crushed in 15 BC by Tiberius, and became Roman subjects, playing the part as mercenaries. Other sources say the Romans made alliance with the Scordisci in Sirmium and Danube valleys following the Alpine campaign under Tiberius in 15 BC, the alliance would be crucial for the victory over the Pannonians (15BC) and later Breuci (12BC).The Moesian provinces and the northern Balkans in Late AntiquityAs a frontier province, Moesia was strengthened by stations and fortresses erected along the southern bank of the Danube, and a wall was built from Axiopolis to Tomi as a protection against the Scythians and Sarmatians. The garrison of Moesia Secunda included Legio I Italica and Legio XI Claudia, as well as independent infantry units, cavalry units, and river flotillas. The Notitia Dignitatum lists its units and their bases as of the 390s CE. Units in Scythia Minor included Legio I Iovia and Legio II Herculia.After 238 AD, Moesia was frequently invaded or raided by the Dacian Carpi, and the East Germanic tribe of the Goths, who invaded Moesia in 250. Hard-pressed by the Huns, the Goths again crossed the Danube during the reign of Valens (376) and with his permission settled in Moesia. After they settled, quarrels soon took place, and the Goths under Fritigern defeated Valens in a great battle near Adrianople. These Goths are known as Moeso-Goths, for whom Ulfilas made the Gothic translation of the Bible.The Slavs allied with the Avars invaded and destroyed much of Moesia in 583–587 in the Avar–Byzantine wars. Moesia was settled by Slavs during the 7th century. Bulgars, arriving from Old Great Bulgaria, conquered Lower Moesia by the end of the 7th century. During the 8th century the Byzantine Empire lost also Upper Moesian territory to the First Bulgarian Empire.After the abandonment of Roman Dacia to the Goths by Aurelian (270–275) and the transfer of the Roman citizens from the former province to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of Dacia Aureliana (later divided into Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediterranea).During administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian (284–305), both of the Moesian provinces were reorganized. Moesia Superior was divided in two, northern part forming the province of Moesia Prima including cities Viminacium and Singidunum, while the southern part was organised as the new province of Dardania with cities Scupi and Ulpiana. At the same time, Moesia Inferior was divided into Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor. Moesia Secunda's main cities included Marcianopolis (Devnya), Odessus (Varna), Nicopolis (Nikopol), Abrittus (Razgrad), Durostorum (Silistra), Transmarisca (Tutrakan), Sexaginta Prista (Ruse) and Novae (Svishtov), all in Bulgaria today.The Battles of Viminacium were a series of three battles fought against the Avars by the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire. They were decisive Roman successes, which were followed by an invasion of Pannonia.In summer 599, the East Roman Emperor Maurice sent his generals Priscus and Comentiolus to the Danube front against the Avars. The generals joined their forces at Singidunum and advanced together down the river to Viminacium. The Avar khagan Bayan I meanwhile - learning that the Romans had determined to violate the peace - crossed the Danube at Viminacium and invaded Moesia Prima, while he entrusted a large force to four of his sons, who were directed to guard the river and prevent the Romans from crossing over to the left bank. In spite of the presence of the Avar army, however, the Byzantine army crossed on rafts and pitched a camp on the left side, while the two commanders sojourned in the town of Viminacium, which stood on an island in the river. Here Comentiolus is said to have fallen ill or to have mutilated himself so as to be incapable of further action; Thus Priscus assumed command over both armies.Unwilling at first to leave the city without Comentiolus, Priscus was soon forced to appear in the camp, as the Avars were harassing it in the absence of the generals. A battle was fought which cost the East Romans only three hundred men, while the Avars lost four thousands. This engagement was followed by two other great battles in the next ten days, in which the strategy of Priscus and the tactics of the Roman army were brilliantly successful. In the first, nine thousand of the Avars and their Slav allies fell, while the second was fatal to fifteen thousand, of whom the greater part, and among them the four sons of the khagan, perished in the waters of a lake, into which they were driven by the Roman swords and spears.Priscus subsequently pursued the fleeing khagan and invaded the Avar homeland in Pannonia, where he won another series of battles on the banks of the River Tisza, deciding the war for the Romans and ending, for a time, the Avar and Slavic incursions across the Danube.The conquest of the Balkans influenced by the Battle of MagnesiaThe Battle of Magnesia took place in either December 190 or January 189 BC. It was fought as part of the Roman–Seleucid War, pitting forces of the Roman Republic led by the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus and its Pergamene allies under Eumenes II against a Seleucid army of Antiochus III the Great. The two armies initially camped north-east of Magnesia ad Sipylum in Asia Minor (modern day Manisa, Turkey), attempting to provoke each other into a battle on favorable terrain for several days.The two main historical accounts of the battle come from Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita Libri and Appian’s Syriaca. Both of the authors agree that the Roman army was about 30,000 man strong and the Seleucids fielded approximately 72,000 soldiers. However, modern historians disagree on the issue, with some believing the estimates found in primary sources, while others claim that the two armies might have both numbered some 50,000 men. Additionally the Romans had 16 war elephants at their disposal, while the Seleucids fielded 54. A popular anecdote regarding the array of the two armies is that Antiochus supposedly asked Hannibal whether his vast and well-armed formation would be enough for the Roman Republic, to which Hannibal tartly replied, "Quite enough for the Romans, however greedy they are."The left wing of the Seleucids was commanded by Antiochus' son Seleucus and his nephew Antipater. It was composed of Cyrtian slingers and Elymaean archers, 4,000 peltasts, 1,500 Illyrians, 1,500 Carians and Cilicians, 1,000 Neocretans. The rest of the left wing consisted of 2,500 Galatian and 500 Tarentine light cavalry, 1,000 royal cavalry, 3,000 cataphracts, 2,000 Cappadocian infantry, 16 war elephants and a miscellaneous force of 2,700 light infantry. The center was formed by a 16,000 man strong Macedonian phalanx, commanded by Philip, the master of the elephants. It was deployed into ten 1,600 man strong taxeis, 50 men wide and 32 men deep. Twenty war elephants separated into pairs and deployed in the gaps between the taxeis, the phalanx was supported by 1,500 Galatian and 1,500 Atian infantry. The right flank was led by Antiochus, it consisted of 3,000 cataphracts, 1,000 agema cavalry, 1,000 argyraspides of the royal guard, 1,200 Dahae horse archers. 2,500 Mysian archers, 3,000 Cretan and Illyrian light infantry, 4,500 Cyrtian slingers and Elymaean archers as well as a reserve of 16 war elephants. At the front of the left flank, stood units of scythed charioteers and a unit of camel-borne Arab archers. To their immediate right, Minnionas and Zeuxis commanded 6,000 psiloi light infantry. The war camp was guarded by 7,000 of the least combat-ready Seleucid troops.The left wing of the Romans was commanded by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. It numbered 10,800 heavy infantrymen drawn from among the Romans and Rome's Latin allies, along with four cavalry companies of 100 to 120 men. The center likewise consisted of 10,800 Roman and Latin heavy infantrymen, and was commanded by consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. The Roman infantry was divided into three lines, with the youngest soldiers standing at the front, in a more open formation than their adversaries, granting them flexibility. The right flank was led by Eumenes, and was made up of 2,800 to 3,000 cavalry, the majority being Romans supplemented by an 800-man Pergamene force. There were also 3,000 Achaean and Pergamene light infantry and 800 Cretan and Illyrian archers. The rearguard was formed by 2,000 Thracian and Macedonian volunteers and 16 African war elephants that were considered inferior to the Asian war elephants deployed by the Seleucids.When the battle finally began, Eumenes managed to throw the Seleucid left flank into disarray. While Antiochus' cavalry overpowered his adversaries on the right flank of the battlefield, his army's center collapsed before he could reinforce it. Modern estimates give 10,000 dead for the Seleucids and 5,000 killed for the Romans. The battle resulted in a decisive Roman-Pergamene victory, which led to the Treaty of Apamea, which ended Seleucid domination in Asia Minor.The Roman infantry broke ranks retreating to their camp where they were reinforced by the Thracians and Macedonians and subsequently rallied by tribune Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Antiochus's cavalry was unsuitable for taking the camp and he became bogged down in the fighting while his forces were badly needed elsewhere. In the center, the Seleucid phalanx held its ground against Roman infantry, however it was not mobile enough to dislodge the enemy archers and slingers who bombarded it with projectiles. It began a slow organized retreat, when the war elephants positioned between its taxeis began panicking because of the projectiles, causing the phalanx to break formation. The phalangites discarded their weapons, abandoning the battlefield. By the time Antiochus' cavalry had returned to reinforce the center, his army had already dispersed. He gathered the surviving troops and retreated to Sardes, while the Romans were busy looting his camp.Antiochus' defeat at Magnesia marked the end of the Macedonian phalanx's dominance across Hellenistic period battlefields.The defeat at Magnesia and the transfer of the Seleucid fleet from Ephesus to Patara led the garrisons of numerous cities including Sardes, Ephesus, Thyatira and Magnesia ad Sipylum to surrender to the Romans.The Romans sought to subjugate Asia Minor and punish Antiochus' allies, starting the Galatian War. In mainland Greece they suppressed the Athamanians and Aetolians who broke the terms of a previous truce. During the summer of 189 BC, ambassadors from the Seleucid Empire, Pergamon, Rhodes and other Asia Minor states held peace talks with the Roman Senate. Lycia and Caria were given to Rhodes, while the Attalids received Thrace and most of Asia Minor west of the Taurus. The independence of Asia Minor city states that sided with the Romans before the Battle of Magnesia was guaranteed.The Attalids became allies of Rome during the First Macedonian War (214–205 BC) and supported Rome in subsequent wars. Attalus I, who had helped the Romans in the first war, also provided them with assistance in the Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC).The Attalids bequeathed Asia Minor to the Roman Republic in 133 BCThe Attalids became allies of Rome during the First Macedonian War (214–205 BC) and supported Rome in subsequent wars. Attalus I, who had helped the Romans in the first war, also provided them with assistance in the Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC).Eumenes II (r. 197–159 BC) supported Rome in the Roman–Seleucid War (192–188 BC) and in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC). In 188 BC, after the war against the Seleucids, the Romans seized the possessions of the defeated Antiochus III the Great in Asia Minor and gave Mysia, Lydia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia to the kingdom of Pergamon and Caria Lycia and Pisidia, in the southwestern corner of Asia Minor, to Rhodes, another Roman ally. Later the Romans gave these possessions of Rhodes to Pergamon.Before he became king, Attalus II was a military commander. In 190 BC he took part in the Battle of Magnesia, which was the final victory of the Romans in the war against the Seleucids. In 189 BC he led the Pergamene troops which flanked the Roman Army under Gnaeus Manlius Vulso in the Galatian War. In 182–179 BC, he was at war with Pharnaces I of Pontus. He won victories and gained some territory. He acceded to the throne in 159 BC. In 156–154 BC he made war against Prusias II of Bithynia with the help of the Romans. In 154 BC he was also assisted by Ariarathes V of Cappadocia, who provided troops led by his son Demetrius. Attalus expanded his kingdom and founded the cities of Philadelphia and Attalia. In 152 BC the two kings and Rome helped the pretender Alexander Balas to seize the Seleucid throne from Demetrius I Soter. In 149 BC, Attalus helped Nicomedes II Epiphanes to seize the Bithynian throne from his father Prusias II.The last Attalid king, Attalus III died without issue and bequeathed the kingdom to the Roman Republic in 133 BC. The Romans were reluctant to take on territory in Asia Minor and did not take charge of the kingdom. Aristonicus, claimed to be the illegitimate son of Eumenes II, assumed the dynastic name of Eumenes III, claimed the throne, instigated a rebellion and in 132 BC "occupied Asia, which had been bequested to the Roman people and was supposed to be free". In 131 BC Rome sent an army against him which was defeated. The Romans defeated Eumemes III in 129 BC. They annexed the former kingdom of Pergamon, which became the Roman province of Asia.In the interior of the Pergamon Altar there is a frieze depicting the life of Telephus, son of Herakles. The ruling dynasty associated Telephus with its city and used him to claim descent from the Olympians. Pergamon, having entered the Greek world much later than its counterparts to the west, could not boast the same divine heritage as older city-states and so had to cultivate its place in Greek mythology retroactively.Perinthus (Thrace)Perinthus or Perinthos (Ancient Greek: ἡ Πέρινθος) was a great and flourishing town of ancient Thrace, situated on the Propontis. According to John Tzetzes, it bore at an early period the name of Mygdonia (Μυγδονία). It lay 22 miles west of Selymbria, on a small peninsula of the bay which bears its name, and was built like an amphitheatre, on the declivity of a hill. Its site is near modern Marmara Ereğlisi, in Turkey.It was originally a Samian colony, and, according to George Syncellus, was founded about 599 BC. German archaeologist Theodor Panofka, however, makes it contemporary with Samothrace, that is about 1000 BC. It was particularly renowned for its obstinate defence against Philip V of Macedon. At that time it appears to have been a more important and flourishing town even than Byzantium and being both a harbour and a point at which several main roads met, it was the seat of extensive commerce. This circumstance explains the reason why so many of its coins are still extant from which we learn that large and celebrated festivals were held here. After the fourth century AD it assumed the name of Heraclea or Heracleia (Ἡράκλεια); which we find sometimes used alone, and sometimes with additions Heraclea Thraciae and Heraclea Perinthus.Justinian restored the old imperial palace, and the aqueducts of the city. Coins of Perinthus have also survived, which were studied by Edith Schönert-Geiß.Lysimachia (Thrace)Lysimachia (Greek: Λυσιμάχεια) was an important Hellenistic Greek town on the north-western extremity of the Thracian Chersonese (the modern Gallipoli peninsula) in the neck where the peninsula joins the mainland in what is now the European part of Turkey, not far from the bay of Melas (the modern Gulf of Saros).The city was built by Lysimachus in 309 BC, when he was preparing for war with his rivals; for the new city, being situated on the isthmus, commanded the road from Sestos to the north and the mainland of Thrace. In order to obtain inhabitants for his new city, Lysimachus destroyed the neighbouring town of Cardia, the birthplace of the historian Hieronymus, and settled the inhabitants of it and other Chersonesean cities here. Lysimachus no doubt made Lysimachia the capital of his kingdom, and it must have rapidly risen to great splendour and prosperity.After his death the city fell under Seleucid dominion, and during the wars between Seleucus Callinicus and Ptolemy Euergetes it passed from the hands of the Seleucids into those of the Ptolemies. Whether these latter set the town free, or whether it emancipated itself, is uncertain; at any rate it entered into the relation of sympolity with the Aetolian League. In 287 BC, the city was severely damaged by an earthquake, as reported by the Roman historian Justin (17.1.1-3). In 277 BC, near Lysimachia the Macedonian king Antigonus II Gonatas defeated the Gauls. As the Aetolians were not able to afford the town the necessary protection, it was destroyed again in 197 BC by the Thracians during the war of the Romans against Philip of Macedonia. Antiochus the Great restored the place, collected the scattered and enslaved inhabitants, and attracted colonists from all parts by generous promises. This restoration, however, appears to have been unsuccessful, and under the dominion of Rome it decayed more and more.The last time the place is mentioned under its ancient name, is in a passage of Ammianus Marcellinus. The emperor Justinian (527–565) restored it and surrounded it with strong fortifications, and after that time it is spoken of only under the name of Hexamilion. The place now occupying the site of Lysimachia, Eksemil, derives its name from the Justinianian fortress, though the ruins of the ancient city are more numerous in the neighbouring village of Ortaköy.Roman – Dalmatian-Pannonian warWhat little is known about these events comes chiefly from brief accounts by Cassius Dio and a few references by other authors, though there is no information about the causes. The Roman sources had little interest in events in Illyria from the campaigns of Augustus in 35–33 BC to 16 BC. Cassius Dio wrote that in that year the governor of Illyria for 17–16 BC, Publius Silius Nerva, went to fight in the Italian Alps because there were no troops there. Some Pannonians and Noricans entered Istria and pillaged it. Silius Nerva quickly brought the situation under control. At the same time there was a small rebellion in Dalmatia. The Dentheletae, together with the Scordisci, who lived in present-day Serbia at the confluence of the Rivers Savus (Sava), Dravus (Drava), and Danube, attacked the Roman province of Macedonia. A civil war broke out in Thrace. In 15 BC the Romans conquered the Scordisci and annexed Noricum and conducted other operations in other parts of the Alps against the Rhaeti and Vindelici. In 13 BC, Augustus gave Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, his most important ally, the supreme command in Illyricum. Agrippa found a negotiated solution; however, he died suddenly and the treaty was ignored. Command was then given to Tiberius, who finally defeated the Illyrians. Roman military operations in Illyricum might have started by the time of Marcus Vinicius' governorship in 14–13 BC. The Pannonian War led to Illyricum being redesignated an imperial province.Illyricum had seen some fighting during the Great Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Senate led by Pompey several decades earlier. The Romans who lived in some of the coastal towns supported Caesar, while the native peoples largely supported Pompey. Quintus Cornificius, a Caesarian, repulsed Quintus Octavius, a Pompeian. The Dalmatians routed Aulus Gabinius, a Caesarian who had been ordered by Caesar to join Cornificius in Illyricum. The Dalmatians later asked Caesar for pardon. Caesar demanded a tribute and hostages as compensation, which was standard practice, and sent Publius Vatinius with three legions to enforce this. After Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, the Dalmatians ignored these demands and routed five of Vatinius' cohorts. With the disruptions caused by further Roman civil wars in the years following, Dalmatian piracy in the Adriatic Sea became a problem again.In 35 BC, the Iapydes, the northernmost tribe of Dalmatia, carried out raids into northeastern Italy. They attacked Aquileia, and plundered Tergestus (Trieste). From 35–33 BC Octavian (who would soon become the emperor Augustus) undertook military campaigns in the region. He defeated the Iapydes and then pushed into southern Pannonia, where he seized the city of Segesta (which later, as a Roman town, was called Siscia). He then turned on the Dalmatians and captured Promona (to the south of modern Knin, Croatia) on the coast, the main city of the Liburnians, which had been seized by the Dalmatians. After that he took the Dalmatian cities of Sunodium and Setovia. He then moved upon the Derbani, who sued for peace. He also destroyed the settlements on the islands of Melite (Mljet) and Melaina Corcyra (Korčula), and deprived the Liburnians of their ships, because all were involved in piracy. Octavian's lieutenants conducted various other operations in the region. Octavian temporarily restored Roman authority in Dalmatia and pushed into southern Pannonia, which had never before been reached by Roman armies.In 27 BC, the first settlement between Octavian and the Roman Senate formalised Octavian's absolute rule, bestowing the title of Augustus on him and making him the first Roman emperor. It also made arrangements about the provinces of the empire. Most provinces remained senatorial provinces, whose governors were chosen by the Senate from among the senators, while the frontier provinces became imperial provinces, whose governors were appointed by Augustus. The province of Illyricum was constituted out of both Dalmatia and the newly conquered southern Pannonia, and, despite being a frontier province, was designated as a senatorial province.The Bellum Batonianum (Latin: War of the Batos) was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Dalmatia and Pannonia, revolted against the Romans. The rebellion began among native peoples who had been recruited as auxiliary troops for the Roman army. They were led by Bato the Daesitiate, a chieftain of the Daesitiatae in the central part of present-day Bosnia, and were later joined by the Breuci, a tribe in Pannonia led by Bato the Breucian. Many other tribes in Illyria also joined the revolt.The Romans referred to the conflict as Bellum Batonianum ("Batonian War") after these two leaders with the same name; Velleius Paterculus called it the Pannonian and Dalmatian War because it involved both regions of Illyricum, and in English it has also been called the Great Illyrian Revolt, Pannonian–Dalmatian uprising, and Bato uprising.The four-year war lasted from AD 6 to AD 9 and witnessed a large deployment of Roman forces in the province, with whole armies operating across the western Balkans and fighting on more than one front. In AD 8, the Breuci of the Sava valley surrendered, but it took a winter blockade and another season of fighting before the surrender in Dalmatia in AD 9. The Roman historian Suetonius described the uprising as the most difficult conflict faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier.DromichaetesDromichaetes (Ancient Greek: Δρομιχαίτης, romanized: Dromichaites) was king of the Getae on both sides of the lower Danube (present day Romania and Bulgaria) around 300 BC.The Getae had been federated in the Odrysian kingdom in the 5th century BC. It is not known how the relations between Getae and Odrysians developed. The Balkan campaigns of Philip II of Macedon between 352 and 340 BC shattered Odrysian authority and the Getae profited from the situation. By the second half of the 4th century, the Getae occupied sites on both banks of the lower Danube and this region flourished as never before. The new Macedonian conquests, secured with considerable military power, caused consternation in the adjoining territories and thus stimulated the political fusion of the Getic tribes.There is no consensus on the etymology of the name Δρομιχαίτης (Dromichaites). It can be a Greek name (δρόμος "run" + χαιτήεις "long-haired"), a Thracian name, or a Thracian name formed with Greek elements (Δρομο- and Χαιτο-, -χαιτης).Other people with this name include:a Thracian mercenary soldier in Attica around 300 BCa Thracian chief helping Antiochus II Theos (261 – 246 BC) at the siege of Kypselaa general of Mithridates VI Eupator sent with reinforcements in 87 BC to support Archelaus in AthensAccording to Diodorus, the main residence of Dromichaetes was named Helis. Traditionally, Helis and the kingdom of Dromichaetes have been placed beyond the Danube, in the Romanian Plain. Thus Helis was variously located at Piscul Crăsani on Ialomița River, at Popeşti on Argeş River, at Zimnicea on the left bank of Danube, or identified with one of the several earth-walled fortifications from the Alexandria-Roşiorii de Vede complex. It was also suggested Helis was located in the Moldavian Plateau in a cluster of fortified settlements dated to between the 6th and the 3rd century BC, where two royal treasures were also found at Cucuteni Băiceni and Stânceşti.The Getic tomb at Sveshtari (discovered in 1982) in the western Ludogorie in Bulgaria is also supposed to have been near the location of Helis. In the vicinity of the mausoleum, the remains of a large ancient city were found along with dozens of Getic mound tombs. The settlement is situated in a natural stronghold, a plateau surrounded like a peninsula by the ravines of Krapinets River. The outer stone wall, up to 4m thick, follows the edges of the peninsula and defends a territory of about 10 hectares. The inner wall, of similar construction, encloses a roughly quadrilateral area of about 5 hectares. The fortified territory was relatively densely occupied by dwellings connected by a network of thoroughfares. Dating finds such as amphorae stamps and coins indicate that this settlement existed between c. 335 and c. 250 BC.The settlement enjoyed economic prosperity and sustained active trade relations with the Greek colonies in the Aegean and the Black Sea region. Imported goods were found in abundance: Attic black-glazed ceramics, amphorae from Thassos, Sinope and Heraclea Pontica and pottery of probably West-Pontic colonial origin. It was also an important production centre with metalworking, bone and pottery workshops.The war with LysimachusIn 313 BC, during the Third War of the Diadochi, the Greek colonies of the western Black Sea shores revolted against Lysimachus, a former general of Alexander the Great, and expelled the military garrisons imposed by him. Lysimachus besieged successively Odessus and Histria and forced them to capitulate. A peace treaty was drawn up in 311, but the siege of Callatis continued until 310 or 309 BC. No other action of Lysimachus is known north of Haemus until the clash with Dromichaetes in the 290s BC.The evidence for the conflict is incomplete and contradictory, although attested by a number of ancient authors. It was probably provoked by the territorial expansion of Lysimachus and the control of the Greek colonies was perhaps the issue at stake.The two fragments of Diodorus' history suggest two separate campaigns. During the first the Getae captured Agathocles, the son of Lysimachus, but later set him free hoping to recover the territories lost to Lysimachus. During the second Lysimachus himself was taken prisoner and then released under similar conditions. However Pausanias, mentioning the same two episodes, implies they are parallel versions of one and the same event.The campaign in which Lysimachus fell captive to the Getae is dated by scholars variously between 294 and 291 BC. Lysimachus invaded with significant forces and his offensive enjoyed some early success before ending in disaster. According to Polyaenus, Seuthes, a general of Dromichaetes, presented himself as a deserter, deceived Lysimachus and led him into difficult terrain. Attacked by Dromichaetes, the army of Lysimachus was defeated and the king had to surrender.Diodorus gives our only account of the captivity and subsequent release of Lysimachus. Dromichaetes succeeded in persuading the assembly of his compatriots that the release of the enemy king would bring them greater political advantage than his punishment. Dromichaetes also set out a feast to demonstrate the barbarian ways and the poverty of his people, using different furniture, tableware and food. He then asked Lysimachus:Why then, forsaking such ways, a splendid manner of life, and a more glorious kingdom as well, did you desire to come among men who are barbarous and lead a bestial existence, and to a wintry land deficient in cultivated grains and fruit? Why did you force a way against nature to bring an army into such a place as this, where no foreign force can survive in the open?— Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, book XXI, chapter 12Dromichaetes crowned Lysimachus with a wreath and then set him free, after receiving promises of loyalty and friendship and the return of the Getic territories occupied by Lysimachus. As precaution, the Getae held some high-born hostages like Clearchus, the son of the tyrant Dionysius of Heraclea. Lysimachus also had to give his daughter in marriage to Dromichaetes.The great tomb in Ginina mound near Sveshtari is among the most prominent Thracian tombs with its unique architecture and luxurious decoration. It is dated approximately to the early 3rd century BC. A painted scene, interpreted as either one of heroization or investiture, points to its probable royal character. The man and the woman buried here were tentatively identified with Dromichaetes and his consort. The unfinished details of its sculptured and painted decoration indicate a hasty and premature burial. The woman was probably murdered to accompany her royal husband in the grave.The Roman historian Justin mentions a large army of Celts defeating both Triballi and Getae before attacking Antigonus Gonatas in 279 BC. Based on this account, Peter Delev argued that Dromichaetes could have fallen in battle against these Celts.Oroles was a king of Dacia during the first half of the 2nd century BC.He successfully opposed the Bastarnae, blocking their invasion into Transylvania. The Roman historian Trogus Pompeius wrote about king Oroles punishing his soldiers into sleeping at their wives' feet and doing the household chores, because of their initial failure in defeating the invaders. Subsequently, the now "highly motivated" Dacian army defeated the Bastarnae and king Oroles lifted all sanctions.Rubobostes was a Dacian king in Transylvania, during the 2nd century BC.He was mentioned in Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus's Prolegomena. Trogus wrote that during his rule, the Dacians' power increased, as they defeated the Celts who previously held the power in the region.Trogus Pompeius and Justin mention a rise in Dacian authority under the leadership of King Rubobostes (before 168 BC) which probably suggests the end of Celtic dominance in Transylvania, that is, that they were possibly thrust out of Dacia by the growing power of an indigenous dynasty. Alternatively, some scholars have proposed that the Transylvanian Celts remained but merged into the local culture context and thus ceased to be distinctive archaeologically. It is possible that both processes were partially responsible for the disappearance of La Tène material in Romania.Such regional unions were found among both the Transylvanian Dacians under the rule of Rubobostes and the Moldavian and Muntenian Getae in Argedava. It is from the La Tène that the Dacians were introduced to the potter's wheel, superior metal-working techniques, and probably a tradition of minting coins. In homes were found a combination of Celtic and Dacian pottery, and certain Celtic-style graves contain Dacian style vessels. This suggests a sort of co-existence and fusion between the cultures. Sometime after around 150 BC, however, evidence of La Tène culture peters out, around the same time the Dacian culture began to mature, as evidenced by population and economic growth. Under Rubobstes the authority of the Dacians appears to have increased, thus ending the dominance of the Celtic culture, and leading to the Celts being expelled from the area or merging into the culture, or both. There is archaeological evidence to suggest that relations between Dacians and Celts living in the areas north and west of Dacia continued. Painted ceramics of late La Tène-style have been found in Dacian sites in west and central Dacia. Some of these ceramics were imported while others were made by Dacian potters imitating Celtic style. A stable monarchy, however, only developed when Burebista became king. Burebista's accession came with the expulsion of Celts around 60 BC when his forces moved through to the middle Danube region, and with the support of the religious establishment and leaders in Dacia which brought around a stricter moral code in the Dacian kingdom. Around this time the pottery of the Dacian style began appearing in Celtic settlements in Central Europe, including the area covered by the former Yugoslavia, especially in Gomolava, Yugoslavia, and Budapest, Hungary.Dacia of BurebistaDacia in 82 BCBurebista (Ancient Greek: Βυρεβίστας, Βοιρεβίστας) was a Thracian king of the Getae and Dacian tribes from 82/61 BC to 45/44 BC. He was the first king who successfully unified the tribes of the Dacian Kingdom, which comprised the area located between the Danube, Tisza, and Dniester rivers and modern day Romania. In the 7th and 6th centuries BC it became home to the Thracian peoples, including the Getae and the Dacians. From the 4th century to the middle of the 2nd century BC the Dacian peoples were influenced by La Tène Celts who brought new technologies with them into Dacia. Sometime in the 2nd century BC the Dacians expelled the Celts from their lands. Dacians often warred with neighbouring tribes, but the relative isolation of the Dacian peoples in the Carpathian Mountains allowed them to survive and even to thrive. By the 1st century BC the Dacians had become the dominant tribe.From 61 BC onwards Burebista pursued a series of conquests that expanded the Dacian kingdom. The tribes of the Boii and Taurisci were destroyed early in his campaigns, followed by the conquest of the Bastarnae and probably the Scordisci peoples.He led raids throughout Roman Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyria.From 55 BC the Greek cities on the west coast of the Black Sea were conquered one after another. These campaigns inevitably culminated in conflict with Rome in 48 BC, at which point Burebista gave his support to Pompey. This in turn made him an enemy to Caesar, who decided to start a campaign against Dacia. This plan fell through in 44 BC when Caesar was assassinated. Burebista himself was assassinated in a plot by the Dacian aristocracy at around the same time.After Burebista's death, the empire he had created broke up into smaller kingdoms. From the reign of Tiberius to Domitian, Dacian activity was reduced into a defensive state. The Romans abandoned plans of mounting an invasion against Dacia.In 86 AD the Dacian king, Decebalus, successfully reunited the Dacian kingdom under his control. Domitian attempted a hasty invasion against the Dacians that ended in disaster. A second invasion brought peace between Rome and Dacia for nearly a decade, until Trajan became emperor in 98 AD. Trajan also pursued two conquests of Dacia, the first, in 101–102 AD, concluded in a Roman victory. Decebalus was forced to agree to harsh terms of peace, but did not honour them, leading to a second invasion of Dacia in 106 AD that ended the independence of the Dacian kingdom.Before Burebista became king, the Dacians had experienced a succession of kings through the period 450 to 60 BC. The kings included Dromichaetes, Oroles, and Rubobostes in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. From the 4th century BC to the 2nd century BC the La Tène Celts of the Danube, Alpines, and Balkans influenced the Dacian culture. La Tène material culture was found in the central and north-west regions of Dacia. The development of a La Tène-based economy in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC allowed the consolidation of political power through tribal unions.ScoriloScorilo (died c.70) was a king of Dacia who may have been the father of Decebalus. Evidence for his life and reign is fragmentary.The Roman historian Jordanes lists a series of Dacian kings before Decebalus, placing a ruler called "Coryllus" between Comosicus and the independently attested Duras, who preceded Decebalus as king. Coryllus is supposed to have presided over a long peaceful 40-year rule.The name Coryllus is not mentioned by any other historian, and it has been argued that it "is a misspelling of Scorilo, a relatively common Dacian name". On this basis, Coryllus has been equated with the Scorilo named on an ancient Dacian pot bearing the words “Decebalus per Scorilo”. Though far from certain, this has also been translated as "Decebalus son of Scorilo". If so, this might mean that Decebalus was the son of Scorilo, with Duras possibly being either an older son or a brother of Scorilo. A Dacian king (dux Dacorum) called Scorilo is also mentioned by Frontinus, who says he was in power during a period of turmoil in Rome.The Dacians regularly raided into Roman territory in Moesia. The emperors Tiberius and Caligula solved this problem by paying protection money to the Dacians in the form of annual subsidies. This policy appears to have coincided with the reign of Scorilo. Scorilo's brother was apparently held captive for a period in Rome, but was released in exchange for a promise that the Dacians would not intervene in Rome's volatile power-politics.During the reign of Nero, troops were withdrawn from the Dacian border, leaving the empire vulnerable. When Nero was overthrown in 69, the empire was plunged into turmoil in the Year of Four Emperors. The Dacians appear to have tried to take advantage of the situation to launch an invasion of Moesia in alliance with the Sarmatian Roxolani. The invasion was ill-timed. Licinius Mucianus, a supporter of Vespasian, was advancing with an army through Moesia towards Rome to overthrow Vitellius. The Dacians unexpectedly encountered his forces and were pushed back, suffering a major defeat.Scorilo appears to have died around this time, perhaps during the campaign.From this evidence and references to Dacian kings elsewhere, it is suggested that Scorilo probably ruled from the 30s or 40s AD through to 69-70.The Roman – Dacian wars (101–102, 105–106)Since the reign of Burebista, widely considered to be the greatest Dacian king—who ruled between 82 BC and 44 BC—the Dacians had represented a threat for the Roman Empire. Caesar himself had drawn up a plan to launch a campaign against Dacia. The threat was reduced when dynastic struggles in Dacia led to a division into four (or five, depending on the source) separately governed tribal states after Burebista's death in 44 BC. Augustus later came into conflict with Dacia after it sent envoys offering its support against Mark Antony in exchange for "requests", the nature of which has not been recorded. Augustus rejected the offer and Dacia gave its support to Antony. In 29 BC, Augustus sent several punitive expeditions into Dacia led by Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives, the consul of the prior year, that inflicted heavy casualties and apparently killed three of their five kings. Although Dacian raids into Pannonia and Moesia continued for several years despite the defeat, the threat of Dacia had effectively ended.Then, after 116 years of relative peace along the Roman frontier, in the winter of 85 AD to 86 AD the army of King Duras led by general Diurpaneus attacked the Roman province of Moesia, killing its governor, Oppius Sabinus, a former consul.The Battle of Histria, c. 62–61 B.C.Burebista himself took command of the Bastarnae, Scythian, Dacian and Getae peoples sometime between 82 B.C. and 60 B.C. His rule led to a vast expansion of the Dacian kingdom, as far north as the Bug River at Olbia, south into Thrace, east along the Black Sea and west into Moesia and Pannonia. It was fought between the Bastarnae peoples of Scythia Minor and the Roman Consul (63 B.C.) Gaius Antonius Hybrida. The Bastarnae emerged victorious in the battle after having successfully committed a surprise attack against Hybrida and his troops; Hybrida escaped alongside his cavalry forces leaving behind the infantry to be massacred by the Bastarnian-Scythian attackers.First Dacian War in 87 ADThe emperor Domitian led legions into the ravaged province and reorganized the possession into Moesia Inferior and Moesia Superior, planning an attack into Dacia for the next campaign season. The next year, with the arrival of fresh legions in 87 AD, Domitian began what became the First Dacian War. General Diurpaneus sent an envoy to Domitian offering peace. He was rejected and the praetorian prefect Cornelius Fuscus crossed the Danube into Dacia with 5 or 6 legions on a bridge built on boats. The Roman army was ambushed and defeated at the First Battle of Tapae by Diurpaneus, who was subsequently renamed Decebalus (Dacian for "the Brave"), and who, as a consequence, was chosen to be the new king. Fuscus was killed and the legions lost their banners, adding to the humiliation. In 88, the Roman offensive continued, and the Roman army, this time under the command of Tettius Julianus, defeated the Dacians at their outlying fortress of Sarmizegetusa, also at Tapae, near the current village of Bucova. After this battle Decebalus, now the king of the four reunited arms of the Dacians, asked for peace, which was again refused. Domitian later accepted the offer, mainly because his legions were needed along the Rhine to put down the revolt of Lucius Antonius Saturninus, the Roman governor of Germania Superior who had allied with the Marcomanni, Quadi and Sarmatian Yazgulyams against Domitian.The Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian province of Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the economy of the Empire.Trajan turned his attention to Dacia, an area north of Macedon and Greece and east of the Danube that had been on the Roman agenda since before the days of Caesar:o The Dacians defeated a Roman army at the Battle of Histria.:o In AD 85, the Dacians swarmed over the Danube and pillaged Moesia and initially defeated the army that Emperor Domitian sent against them.o The Romans were defeated in the Battle of Tapae in 88 and a truce was established.o Emperor Trajan recommenced hostilities against Dacia and, following an uncertain number of battles, defeated the Dacian king Decebalus in the Second Battle of Tapae in 101.o With Trajan's troops pressing towards the Dacian capital Sarmizegetusa Regia, Decebalus once more sought terms.o Decebalus rebuilt his power over the following years and attacked Roman garrisons again in 105. In response Trajan again marched into Dacia, besieging the Dacian capital in the Siege of Sarmizegetusa, and razing it.o With Dacia quelled, Trajan subsequently invaded the Parthian empire to the east, his conquests expanding the Roman Empire to its greatest extent. Rome's borders in the east were indirectly governed through a system of client states for some time, leading to less direct campaigning than in the west in this period.The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked a triumph for Rome and its armies. Trajan announced 123 days of celebrations throughout the Empire. Dacia's rich gold mines were secured and it is estimated that Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy, providing finance for Rome's future campaigns and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe. The remains of the mining activities are still visible, especially at Roșia Montană. One hundred thousand male slaves were sent back to Rome; and to discourage future revolts, legions XIII Gemina and V Macedonica were permanently posted in Dacia. The conquered half (southern) of Dacia was annexed, becoming a province while the northern part remained free but never formed a state.The two wars were notable victories in Rome's extensive expansionist campaigns, gaining Trajan the people's admiration and support. The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked the beginning of a period of sustained growth and relative peace in Rome. Trajan began extensive building projects and was so prolific in claiming credit that he was given the nickname Ivy. Trajan became an honorable civil leader, improving Rome's civic infrastructure, thereby paving the way for internal growth and reinforcement of the Empire as a whole.The Roman province of Moesia, mainly modern day Bulgaria and Serbia, was a stretch of mountainous terrain in the west and more fertile plains in the east. It bordered Macedonia and Thracia to the south, the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) to the east and shared the Danube as a border with Dacia in the North.The region was initially inhabited by Dacian tribes, but were mostly supplanted by migrating Thracian Moesi tribe people in the mid 1st millenium BC. These Thracians would eventually come to dominate the territory.Roman interest in Moesia was prompted by the realization of the rich mining and fertile fields that it had to offer. In 75 BC, C. Scribonius Curio, proconsul of Macedonia, in expanding territory and protecting Roman interests, penetrated as far as the Danube. The Romans gained victories as they went, but would only stay a short time, leaving the area out of Roman control. Little is really known about these early expeditions or the formal declaration of Moesia as a province, but after the ascension of Augustus the conquest was completed.During his reign, Augustus commissioned Marcus Licinius Crassus, grandson of the original Caesarian Triumvir, serving as proconsul of Macedonia, to subdue the local tribes and brings its wealth under Roman influence. By 29 BC the campaign commenced and the Moesi and Dacian residents were defeated, seemingly by 6 AD. It is this year, according to Dio Cassius, that the first actual governor of Moesia is recorded, Caecina Severus.Moesia was initially developed as a single province, but the different challenges in terrain and size prompted Domitian (85 AD) to the divide it into two: Upper (superior) and Lower (Inferior, also called Ripa Thracia) Moesia. Moesia was not only rich in mineral wealth in the west, and grain in the east, but served as an all important buffer between the Greek provinces and various potential invaders.The primary settlements of the provinces were Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium, both major legionary outposts on the Danube, Bononia (Widdin), Ratiaria (Artcher): Naissus (birthplace of Constantine), Oescus (colonia Ulpia, Gigen), Novae (near Sistova), Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikup), Odessus (Varna), and Tomis (Constanta). Of these, Tomis was interesting in that it became the place of banishment for the Roman Poet Ovid. He was banished by Augustus in 9 AD, for seemingly disagreeable poetry, where he lived until his death in 17 AD. Ovid painted a bleak picture of Tomi and Moesia, claiming it was a violent and uncivilized place, obviously far different than what a highly cultured artist would be accustomed to.Romanization of the Moesian people, being a volatile border province, was far less observed than in other more peaceful concerns, but the people seemed to settle in under Roman rule without a great deal of trouble over the years. While Ovid's descriptions must be measured by his prejudice, it is evident that the province was under constant pressure from Germanic Goths, Scythians, Sarmatians and other regional migrating tribes. The permanent legionary garrisons may have contributed to the lack of trouble from within.Emperor Valens (r. 364–378) settled Goths in Moesia and planned to use them for protection. In 382, the Thervingi received land in Moesia by treaty with Roman Emperor Theodosius I.In the 460s, the Thracian Goths were recognized foederati (barbarian military aid to the Romans) of the Eastern Roman Empire, and seem to have prospered. They had an annual subsidy, and some influence due to the proximity of Thrace to Constantinople. In 471, the Thracian Goths under Theodoric Strabo revolted after fearing they would be removed, Emperor Leo having come under the influence of his son-in-law, general Zeno. Two years later the Pannonian Goths (Ostrogoths) under Theodemir decided to move into Thrace, presumably wanting to share the benefits of the Thracian Goths. Leo made agreements with both Gothic groups, settling the Goths under Theodemir in Macedonia and renewing Strabo's subsidy and elevating him to magister militium. Zeno succeeded Leo after his death in 474, while Strabo supported a coup staged by Leo's widow to put her brother Basiliscus on the throne; however, Zeno won back power in 476 with his Isaurian troops.In 476/77, Zeno allied himself with Theodoric Strabo's rival, Theoderic the Great or Theoderic the Amal (r. 474–526), the successor of Theodemir, and ordered him to attack Strabo. The leader of the Thracian Goths sent an embassy to the Byzantine emperor, offering peace and blaming the Amal. Zeno believed that this offering was hiding further conspiracies, and obtained that the Byzantine senate and army declare Strabo a public enemy. Zeno planned to have the two Theoderics attack each other. He sent the Amal against Strabo, with the promise of a huge East Roman force as reinforcement (478). The Ostrogoths under king Theoderic advanced as far as Marcianopolis in Thrace in 478. The Moesian Goths prepared to cross the Balkan mountains (Sondis), and were then told that their Roman gold awaited south of the mountain. Theoderic the Amal did not find the Roman reinforcement army he expected, but Theoderic Strabo's army instead, in a strongly fortified camp. Strabo provoked the Amal, running in front of the Moesian Gothic camp and claiming that the leadership of the Amal had reduced the Goths to fighting each other, and only for the Roman gain, to have none of the wealth for which they had moved from their territories. With this speech recalling the common interest of the Goths, Strabo forced the Amal to ask for peace. The two Theodorics agreed to put forward a joint request to the Emperor, in order to extend Moesian Gothic territory to the south.According to Jordanes (fl. 551), the Moesian Goths were taught to write by Ulfilas (311–383). They were, according to him, still present in Moesia, "numerous, but poor and unwarlike, rich in nothing save flocks of various kids and pasture-lands for cattle and forests for wood ... Most of them drink milk".