If the Dacians all looked like this, what took Rome so long to defeat them?

The Dacians and some Romans did need some Snickers. Working or fighting on an empty stomach is no fun.

So, we have Sahel region Dacians, we have the Imperial Draco-wielding Dacians, here is an utterly Roman Dacia with a regular legionary standard and happy about it:

 

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Peter, I've seen many examples of this fairly common coin, but the reverse on your coin is the finest I've seen. It's a treasure to behold !

 

Thank you, Al.
Pete

 

Trajan issued many types that refer to Dacia:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Trajan/

I have a DACIA coin of Trajan Decius a lot like the one @PeteB showed:



RIC 12b, 21 mm, 4.68 grams,
and a DACIA FELIX which is much scarcer but not in such good condition:



23 mm. 4.16 grams.
RIC 37b.

 

Better!!! Congrats!

 

PROPAGANDA ,

 

Nice catch @DonnaML. Here's my example, of a different type, but with the same theme. Including, I think, two Falx swords behind the captive.

 

The message in these is quite interesting. Not only are they small but on many examples the emperor can be seen to be standing on the leg of the captive keeping him down.





whilst on others (other mints) the emperor is less strident and they are allowed to stand

 

The scale of the emperor to the captive is evident on other types too

Captive under hoof

Captive being trodden down by the emperor

Captive about to be put to the sword by the emperor


Next to a god you can understand the possible difference in scale....


But sometimes they were just depicted as part of a group of 1960s musicians from Liverpool

 

My Trajan , Dacian reverses

 

This Antoninus Pius sestertius came cheap but provided me with days of fun trying to identify it as it was not listed in the RIC or Cohen Roman coin catalogs.


Antoninus Pius Sestertius Dacia
Obverse: Laureate head right / ANTONINVS AVG PIUS
Reverse: Dacia standing left, holding crown and sword / DACIA round edge, S.C. in field
COS II in exergue
Size: 32 mm, thickness: 4 mm, weight: 23.58 gm
Struck: AD 139 Rome mint

This coin is corroded and it is hard to see the curved sword in Dacia's left hand.

I found it in a 1937 German catalog of which the University of California had a copy,
Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts III Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit Antoninus Pius
by Paul L. Strack, Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer, 1937

This coin was part of a set issued in AD 139 depicting Roman provinces offering presents to the new Emperor Antoninus.

 

PeteB, I was making a leisurely scroll down, waiting for someone to have posted one of these! The Draco-headed staff took me back to my antiquated edition of Sear (...yep, '74). I never knew the type as involving anything but 'staff surmounted by ass's head.' Thanks for the enlightenment!

 

See this link to a previous thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/this-is-not-a-donkey-head.336071/#post-3444367

 

I believe I read that thread shortly after I joined this forum in late January. I spent months after that waiting to find an example that was nice enough, and showed the battle standard with Draco in enough detail -- with both ears, the snout, and the "neck" clearly showing -- for me to want to buy it. Now that we've jumped from Trajan to Trajan Decius, I might as well post the one I finally picked out. Not the best obverse, but I'm very happy with the reverse:

Trajan Decius, AR Antoninianus, 249-250 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate and cuirassed bust right, IMP C MA Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG / Rev. Dacia standing left, wearing cloak over left shoulder and, with right hand, holding Dacian battle-standard surmounted by Draco (wolf’s head), D-A-CIA. RIC IV 12(b), RSC IV 16, Sear RCV III 9368. 22.28 mm., 4.09 g.



The reverse looks very similar to @PeteB's, although I'm not sure that it's a die match.

Obviously, 140 years of Roman rule was very good for Mr. Dacia, who looks considerably better-nourished than his ancestor. Not only did the Dacians adopt their conquerors' language, but they obviously learned how to dig in to all that Italian food -- even though it was probably long before pasta was introduced. (The Marco Polo story is a complete myth, by the way!)

Edited to add: can anyone identify the oval objects on Dacia's thighs? Is it armor?

 

Here's @PeteB's reverse, above mine. They really are quite close, but aren't identical in every respect. To point out one difference, the bottom end of the Draco standard on Pete's rests at the very end of the platform. On mine, it rests slightly to the right of the end. Also, the Dracos' snouts appear to be shaped and angled a bit differently. Perhaps the same engraver, even if not the same die?

 

That is funny - I do see the scarecrow there. Here's another wiry Dacia, morning her defeat by the Romans.

Trajan, 98-117, AR denarius, Rome, circa 108-109
Obv: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P, laureate head of Trajan to right, drapery on left shoulder
Rev: COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC / DAC CAP, Dacia, wearing peaked cap and tunic, seated left on pile of arms, one round, one oblong shield, her head resting on her right hand in attitude of mourning; to left, two long swords; to right, two long spears
Ref: RIC 2 98

 

Despite the fact that Dacian prisoners look miserable and sad on coins, they seem to have been respected to a point - as evidenced by the handful of extremely valuable imperial porphyry statues of Dacian prisoners.
For being barbarians, they look pretty regal and noble in porphyry.

 

Congrats @DonnaML , both coins have beautiful details !

I have two from this type :
Trajan Denarius. RIC 218
IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V P P, laureate bust right, draped far shoulder /
SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Dacia seated right on shield in mournful attitude, curved sword below.


Trajan Denarius. RIC 218
IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC PM TRP COS V P P, laureate bust right, draped far shoulder /
SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Dacia seated right on shield in mournful attitude, curved sword below.

 

Great OP coin! Cool sword. Here is an example of the Dcian Falx on etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/712222...cky6H_zoWvNTVYDffgGgGZ_I_exzOckBoCXZ8QAvD_BwE

 

I will try to answer your title question , ''what took Rome so long to defeat them?'' , one of the main reasons would have been that the Dacians had well-armed forces , not at the same level as the Roman legions for sure but much better than others foreign enemies of the empire. Researchers estimate that only ten percent of barbarians such as Spanish and Gallic warriors had access to swords, usually the nobility. By contrast Dacia had rich resources of iron and copper and were prolific metal workers. A large percentage of Dacians owned swords, greatly reducing Rome's military advantage.

Another reason would be that they had an army large enough to counter the roman attacks. Dacia spotted 250,000 potential combatants and was allied to several of its neighbors and on friendly terms with others that Rome considered enemies.

After the humiliating defeat of Domitian's army(5 or 6 legions) in 87 , for his dacian campaigns , Trajan gathered the biggest army used by Romans versus a foreign enemy , no less than 14-17 legions, draining troops from all over the empire. Wikipedia is indicating 150,000 soldiers in the first war – 200,000 in the second war. Was one of the few instances when Romans had numerical superiority on the battle field. Even if the Dacian capital, Sarmisegetuza, was at a distance of 125-150 km from the Trajan's bridge(main entry point to Dacia), Romans needed almost a year, each war, to reach there.......

Dacia was mainly personified by Romans(sculpture or on coins) holding the Draco standard or a curved sword(Dacian falx). The story behind the Draco standard was already presented by @Roman Collector in very interesting thread(link above) , I will try in a few sentences to introduce you this Dacian falx and to find why it was so special to be declared as a symbol.

This type of sword is well represented on the Trajan's column and also on many Trajan , Hadrian and Antoninus Pius coins :


https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=453857


https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=67450

ebay.com

The Dacian falx was a two handed shaped blade(used with a long handle then) , sharp on the inside edge as a sickle.. As a two handed weapon it could cut through Roman shields. It might go around the shield and strike the legionnaire head or its shoulders. The Romans adapted their helmets and added crossbars to the top of the helmets so that they could better defend the soldier’s head. It might even be used to disarm the legionnaire of his shield. Any weapon that mitigated the legionnaire’s shield put the legionnaire and his unit at a disadvantage. So fearsome was this weapon, the Romans developed additional armour to protect arms, legs and heads from it's devastating impact.


The most terrifying and effective Dacian troops were those armed with the lethal falx , the falxmen were probably very skilled warriors and formed just a fraction of the Dacian army , they were always the first line in battle.

sources : wikipedia.org and romanarmytalk.com