The Dacians worshipped Zalmoxis and their faith appears to have inspired great bravery in battle as well as a willingness to commit suicide if things went badly. Little is really known about their beliefs, and I have drawn from passages from Herodotus, who wrote more than five centuries before our story, and Strabo who wrote a mere century or so before our setting. As foreigners describing another race whom they considered to be barbaric, the reliability of their accounts must be doubted, but if we reject them then we have nothing at all. Herodotus tells of the five-yearly sacrifice of a Messenger to the god, of shooting arrows into the sky to calm it and of belief in a blessed afterlife spent in the company of the god.
From quite early on, the Dacians had traded with and learned from the Greek colonies on the Black Sea. Later, Decebalus in particular encouraged Roman deserters to join him and in the treaty with Domitian was given technical and military advisors. Dacian fortifications were formidable, exploiting the rugged terrain to the full and adding well-built walls and towers. Unlike any other tribal army in Europe, they used artillery and other siege equipment. Archers were common and effective, and in addition to composite bows there is a good chance that they made use of ‘belly-bows’, small handheld catapults a little like a crossbow. Many fought with straight swords, javelins and spears, but most famous were the curved one-handed sica and the larger falx, which could probably be wielded in one or both hands and was capable of penetrating armour and inflicting dreadful wounds. Apart from the Dacians themselves, at various times their armies were joined by allies from the Roxolani, a Sarmatian people, and various Celtic, Getic and Germanic groups, with the Bastarnae notable among the latter. Many of the warriors on the Adamklissi metopes have their hair twisted into a side knot, which was seen as a characteristic of the Germanic peoples, especially the Suebi, and use falxes, and may well be Bastarnae.
Much of this story is invention because we simply do not know how Dacian armies were organised and functioned, and indeed have many gaps in our understanding of Roman practices. The monâkon or ‘one-armed’ is the type of catapult more often known as an onager. Use by the Romans is clearly attested only in Late Antiquity, but the type had been invented in the Hellenistic period, although no one knows how often it was used in practice. I took the opportunity to present a couple of these machines to Ferox as something that would be possible, even if not very likely.
In some ways possible if not necessarily likely sums up the whole story. There is so much about the Roman period that scholars simply do not know. When writing a non-fiction history I feel it is my duty to be honest about this. For a novel I try to make the story as accurate as possible, but filling in the many gaps gives me the chance to explore ideas and at times simply use what makes a good story.
Glossary
ad stercus: literally ‘to the shit’, the expression was used in military duty rosters for men assigned to clean the latrines.
agmen quadratus: literally a square battle-line, this was a formation shaped like a large box and used by a Roman army threatened by attack from any side. Units were deployed to form a rectangle, sheltering baggage and other vulnerable personnel and equipment inside.
ala: a regiment of auxiliary cavalry, roughly the same size as a cohort of infantry. There were two types: ala quingenaria consisting of 512 men divided into 16 turmae; and ala milliaria consisting of 768 men divided into 24 turmae.
auxilia/auxiliaries: over half of the Roman army was recruited from non-citizens from all over (and even outside) the empire. These served as both infantry and cavalry and gained citizenship at the end of their twenty-five years of service.
Bastarnae: a tribal group living to the east of the Danube. Tacitus, writing a few years before our story, believed them to be akin to the German tribes in terms of language and customs. They had a reputation for bravery.
Batavians: an offshoot of the Germanic Chatti, who fled after a period of civil war, the Batavians settled on what the Romans called the Rhine island in modern Holland. Famous as warriors, their only obligation to the empire was to provide soldiers to serve in Batavian units of the auxilia. Writing around the time of our story, the historian Tacitus described them as ‘like armour and weapons – only used in war’.
belly bow (gastraphetes): an early type of siege engine, rather like a large crossbow and operated by one man. It was loaded resting the specially curved ends of the staff against the stomach, hence the name.
beneficiarii: were experienced soldiers selected for special duties by the provincial governor. Each carried a staff with an ornate spearhead.
Brigantes: a large tribe or group of tribes occupying much of what would become northern England. Several sub-groups are known, including the Textoverdi and Carvetii (whose name may mean ‘stag people’).
burgus: a small outpost manned by detached troops rather than a formal unit.
caligae: the hobnailed military boots worn by soldiers.
canabae: the civilian settlements which rapidly grew up outside almost every Roman fort. The community had no formal status and was probably under military jurisdiction.
centurion: a grade of officer rather than a specific rank, each legion had some sixty centurions, while each auxiliary cohort had between six and ten. They were highly educated men and were often given posts of great responsibility. While a minority were commissioned after service in the ranks, most were directly commissioned or served only as junior officers before reaching the centurionate.
centurio regionarius: a post attested in the Vindolanda tablets, as well as elsewhere in Britain and other provinces. They appear to have been officers on detached service placed in control of an area. A large body of evidence from Egypt shows them dealing with criminal investigations as well as military and administrative tasks.
clarissima femina: ‘most distinguished woman’ was a title given to women of a senatorial family.
cohort: the principal tactical unit of the legions. The first cohort consisted of 800 men in five double-strength centuries, while cohorts two to ten were composed of 480 men in six centuries of 80. Auxiliaries were either formed in milliary cohorts of 800 or more often quingeniary cohorts of 480. Cohortes equitatae or mixed cohorts added 240 and 120 horsemen respectively. These troopers were paid less and given less expensive mounts than the cavalry of the alae.
colonia: a city with the status of colony of Roman citizens, which had a distinct constitution and followed Roman law. Many were initially founded with a population of discharged soldiers.
commilitones: ‘comrades’ or ‘fellow soldiers’.
consilium: the council of officers and other senior advisors routinely employed by a Roman governor or senator to guide him in making decisions.
curator: (i) title given to soldier placed in charge of an outpost such as a burgus who may or may not have held formal rank; (ii) the second in command to a decurion in a cavalry turma.