Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with me, Murray.

I'm going to attempt to answer a question on Dacian warfare today from Negra San,

George, or it may be George Negra San, I hope I'm saying that right. I'm not sure if that should be Jorge or however that said. He asks, read about

how Dacians have imposed high tribute from the Romans in the first century AD. I'm not an expert,

but I think the Dacians were the only tribe who got tribute from the Roman Empire. And then how

the Daseo-Romans started a war with Trajan and invaded Dacia with a third of the Roman army.

And of course, they defeated the Dacians, robbed Dacia.

So this is most interesting because, yes, indeed, the Dacians do get tribute.

There are probably more tribes that are provided tribute that we don't

really get evidence on, but certainly the nations are the major one. Later in the Roman Empire

in the 5th century, you certainly have the Huns being paid off in hundreds, not thousands of

kilograms of gold to stay away.

Now, the interesting thing with that, of course, is that the weight of gold looks impressive

and looks to be a, not an admission of defeat, but certainly not the Roman, never saying no

to an invasion that we think of.

But if you're thinking about it in pragmatic

terms, the cost of that gold to prevent the nations from raiding or invading, just like with

the Huns later, is probably much cheaper than the cost of a military expedition. And so in that regard, it may not actually be defeatist at all.

It could actually be quite pragmatic.

Having said that, of course, what you get in the wars with the Dations

and not just Trajans, which famous because of the column,

but other wars against the Dations. And of course,

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