AW344 - Roman Soldier vs Dacian Warrior

Ancient Warfare Podcast

The History Network

Society & Culture, Greece, Warfare, Ancient, Rome, History, Military

4.4 • 631 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

In the latest episode of the Ancient Warfare Magazine podcast, Marc De Santis speaks with Murray Dahm about his new book, Roman Soldier vs Dacian Warrior: Dacian Wars AD 85–106.

The wars between Rome and Dacia were some of the most intense and strategically important conflicts of the early 2nd century AD. Fought during the reign of Emperor Domitian and later under Trajan, these battles saw the disciplined Roman legions face off against the determined warriors of Dacia. The struggle ended with Rome’s annexation of Dacia, a victory commemorated on Trajan’s Column in Rome.

Murray’s new book, published by Osprey, examines the tactics, weaponry, and battlefield experiences of both Roman soldiers and their Dacian opponents. In this episode, he discusses the challenges faced by both sides, the effectiveness of Dacian weapons—such as the falx—and how Rome adapted its military approach to counter the threat.

Listen to the episode to learn more about one of Rome’s toughest adversaries and the warfare that shaped the empire’s northern frontier.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Ancient Warfare Podcast.
0:09.0	I'm Mark DeSantis and today I'll be talking with historian Murray Dom about his latest book,
0:14.0	Roman Soldier versus Dacian Warrior, Dation Wars 805 to 106.
0:20.0	Greetings Murray. How are you doing?
0:21.6	Very well, very well. So your book is number 80 of the combat series from Osprey.
0:27.6	Yes. Let's get started and begin with the most basic of questions. What were the Dation Wars?
0:33.6	So the Dation Wars, I think if you say Dation Wars to most people, even uninitiated non-Roman military historians,
0:41.2	they've seen a giant column in the forum of Trajan in Rome, and they know that Trajan's column records Trajan's Dacian Wars.
0:49.0	And so I think to most people, when you say Dation Wars, it's Trajan's Dation Wars, which were fought two campaigns
0:56.7	fought between 101 and 106 AD. He goes into Dacia twice, wins one war, makes peace, the king of the
1:07.0	Dacians, deceiveless, although some people think that that's a title rather than a name,
1:12.4	he makes peace, breaks the peace, and then there's a second campaign, which creates the province
1:17.6	of Dacia in the aftermath of that second war. Now, one of the points I wanted to make in the book
1:22.3	was that Trajan is not the end point of the Dacian Wars.
1:31.6	There continue to be wars fought in Dacia, nor is he the beginning point.
1:35.0	It's not come out of the blue his invasion in 101. So, in fact, the Dacians have a whole record of contact with Rome going back into the age of even prior to Augustus.
1:45.8	But the big indicator that there is a campaign to be held in Dacia is under the reign
1:52.4	of Dermission. And so there's the Dyscianic Dacianian Wars from about 85 to 88 AD is, I think, a precursor to Trajan's wars, shows Trajan
2:08.5	what is achievable. And also, I think, I make the argument in the book that the mistakes
2:14.6	Domitian makes, Trajan doesn't fall into the same mistakes.
2:20.4	And I think, I've been watching too much on Chernobyl.
2:24.6	It's kind of a void coefficient that the lack of things that Domitian does or mistakes he
	...

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