namely, that in the year 105 AD, between the two Daco-Roman wars, King
Decebalus asked Emperor Trajan to restore τήν τε χω ρανμε χρι τoυ Ίστρoυ („the
land to the Danube”) to him.
After the conquest and the subsequent transformation of Dacia into a Roman
colony, a century and a half of pax romana followed. In the year 212, Emperor
Caracalla issued his well-known edict (Constitutio Antoniniana), which granted
Roman citizenship to all free men in the empire. By the end of the third century AD,
the Goths, a branch of the Germanic tribes who would conquer, later, the center and
the western parts of the empire and would cause in 476 AD the fall of Rome, and
implicitly of the Western Roman Empire, raided Dacia and the present day Transylvania. Under their pressure, to which one should add the danger posed by other
migrant barbarians coming from the north, in 271 AD, Emperor Aurelian withdrew
the Roman army and administration from the region. The Romans continued to pay
attention to Dacia, as an outpost in the way of migrators. The reign of Constantine
the Great (306–337) was a glorious one for the empire, as the emperor issued the
Edict of Milan in 313, which granted religious liberty to the Christians, moved the
capital to Byzantium in 330, and fortified the northern frontier. He had some cities
in the region rebuilt, and had the foundations set for new ones, such as
Constantiana, Constanta today.
11
Toward the end of the fourth century, the situation in Scythia Minor turned
serious, because the foederati Goths broke the peace treaty concluded with Constantine the Great and allied themselves with the Visigoths, and the Huns of Attila.
At the end of the fifth century, the Slavs, led by Avars and Bulgarians, forced their
way into the Eastern Roman Empire, which, ruled by emperors of Greek ancestry,
gradually Hellenized, a process that began with the officialization of Greek in
administration. For a short period of time, the reign of Justinian (527–565) brought
peace to the empire, as he successfully opposed the Slavs, who attempted to
conquer Byzantium. It was Justinian who had Dacia and in Scythia Minor built
and rebuilt, it was he who gave the country new laws, Noveles, however written in
Greek. After him, Emperor Fokas decreed Greek as state language, yet he could not
repel the Slavs, who eventually settled south of the Danube. During this period,
Dacia and Scythia Minor, whose autochthonous population had concluded the
process of Romanization, were lost forever. South of the Danube, in the following
two centuries after Justinian, Byzantium was faced with increasing difficulties to
respond to the growing power of Bulgarian tsardom. Under the circumstances,
Byzantium required assistance from Kiev: an army led by Prince Svyatoslav was
sent by land and by water. In a succession of military campaigns, between 968 and
969, Svyatoslav annihilated the Bulgarian state, yet he refused to leave the liberated
territory. In a decisive battle, Byzantium succeeded in chasing him away, however
11 Emperor Constantius II (337–361) rebuilt the Greek cities, defended the Christian rite, strengthened the fortress Constantiana, not far away from the former city of Tomis; its name survives in
contemporary Constant ¸a, after and intermediary phase, when it was known as Constantia (with
Constantin Porphyrogennitos: Kωνσταντίας) (cf. Ion Barnea in (Vulpe and Barnea 1968, I: 391).
32
M. Petris ¸or
Decebalus asked Emperor Trajan to restore τήν τε χω ρανμε χρι τoυ Ίστρoυ („the
land to the Danube”) to him.
After the conquest and the subsequent transformation of Dacia into a Roman
colony, a century and a half of pax romana followed. In the year 212, Emperor
Caracalla issued his well-known edict (Constitutio Antoniniana), which granted
Roman citizenship to all free men in the empire. By the end of the third century AD,
the Goths, a branch of the Germanic tribes who would conquer, later, the center and
the western parts of the empire and would cause in 476 AD the fall of Rome, and
implicitly of the Western Roman Empire, raided Dacia and the present day Transylvania. Under their pressure, to which one should add the danger posed by other
migrant barbarians coming from the north, in 271 AD, Emperor Aurelian withdrew
the Roman army and administration from the region. The Romans continued to pay
attention to Dacia, as an outpost in the way of migrators. The reign of Constantine
the Great (306–337) was a glorious one for the empire, as the emperor issued the
Edict of Milan in 313, which granted religious liberty to the Christians, moved the
capital to Byzantium in 330, and fortified the northern frontier. He had some cities
in the region rebuilt, and had the foundations set for new ones, such as
Constantiana, Constanta today.
11
Toward the end of the fourth century, the situation in Scythia Minor turned
serious, because the foederati Goths broke the peace treaty concluded with Constantine the Great and allied themselves with the Visigoths, and the Huns of Attila.
At the end of the fifth century, the Slavs, led by Avars and Bulgarians, forced their
way into the Eastern Roman Empire, which, ruled by emperors of Greek ancestry,
gradually Hellenized, a process that began with the officialization of Greek in
administration. For a short period of time, the reign of Justinian (527–565) brought
peace to the empire, as he successfully opposed the Slavs, who attempted to
conquer Byzantium. It was Justinian who had Dacia and in Scythia Minor built
and rebuilt, it was he who gave the country new laws, Noveles, however written in
Greek. After him, Emperor Fokas decreed Greek as state language, yet he could not
repel the Slavs, who eventually settled south of the Danube. During this period,
Dacia and Scythia Minor, whose autochthonous population had concluded the
process of Romanization, were lost forever. South of the Danube, in the following
two centuries after Justinian, Byzantium was faced with increasing difficulties to
respond to the growing power of Bulgarian tsardom. Under the circumstances,
Byzantium required assistance from Kiev: an army led by Prince Svyatoslav was
sent by land and by water. In a succession of military campaigns, between 968 and
969, Svyatoslav annihilated the Bulgarian state, yet he refused to leave the liberated
territory. In a decisive battle, Byzantium succeeded in chasing him away, however
11 Emperor Constantius II (337–361) rebuilt the Greek cities, defended the Christian rite, strengthened the fortress Constantiana, not far away from the former city of Tomis; its name survives in
contemporary Constant ¸a, after and intermediary phase, when it was known as Constantia (with
Constantin Porphyrogennitos: Kωνσταντίας) (cf. Ion Barnea in (Vulpe and Barnea 1968, I: 391).
32
M. Petris ¸or