CHAPTER XV. DACIA, MOESIA, THRACIA, AND MACEDONIA. DACIA. 1. Dacia was bounded on the S. by the R. Danube, on the E. by the Euxine Sea, on the N. by the R. Danaster Dniestr, and on the W. by an imaginary line, commencing near the source of this river, and terminating on the Danube, a few miles to the East of Belgrade. To the S. it bordered on Mosia, to the N. on Sarmatia Europæa, and to the E. on the territory of the Jazyges Metanasta, who separated it from Pannonia and Germany. It included the Eastern part of the Banat, the whole of Walachia and Transylvania, Moldavia, Bessarabia, and the Southern part of Galicia; in all, 87.000 square miles. The inhabitants were called Daci', or Geta2, the former name being more familiar to the Romans, and the latter to the Greeks; the Geta were, however, considered by some as dwelling in the Eastern part of the province, and the Daci as cantoned to the West of them, about the upper course of the Danube. This province must not be confounded with the Dacia of Aurelian, who, finding it difficult to maintain his possessions on the Northern side of the Danube, withdrew the Roman colonists into Mosia, where he established a new province, under the name of Dacia Aureliani. 2. The Daci, who were Thracians, dwelled originally between M'. Hamus and the Danube; but they were driven beyond the river, by the victories of Philip, and his son Alexander the Great. The new territory, which they acquired here from the Scythians, either by conquest or treaty, increased rapidly, till it extended at length from the R. Danaster to Pannonia; and to such an extent had their power at one time risen, that they were encouraged, with the assistance of the Scordisci, to attack the Taurisci and Boij, whom they subdued, reducing the territory of the latter to a mere desert. A short time previous to this, they had lost a part of their own pos 1 Aut conjurato descendens Dacus ab Istro:-Virg. Georg. II. 497. Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ, Pæne occupatam seditionibus Delevit urbem Dacus et Æthiops; Hic classe formidatus, ille Missilibus melior sagittis. 2 Non qui profundum Danubium bibunt, Hor. Carm. I. xxxv. 9. Id. III. vi. 14. Id. IV. xv. 92. sessions by the incursions of their neighbours the Bastarna3: this tract of country, situated between the Dniestr and Pruth, obtained, from its being uninhabited, the name Getarum Solitudo. At a subsequent period, they were also driven from the neighbourhood of Pannonia and the R. Tibiscus, by the Jazyges' Metanaste, and their territory was then included in the limits assigned to it above. The growing power of the Daci, and their incessant attacks upon the forts, with which Augustus had lined the shores of the Danube", drew upon them the jealousy and vengeance of the Romans; they were, at length, attacked and conquered by the emperor Trajan, who, in order to secure his new province, sent colonies into it from all parts of the Roman world, constructed roads in it, and fortified its Western frontier. The Daci were actual or nominal subjects of Rome till the time of Aurelian, who felt himself unable to defend this extended frontier, and accordingly contracted his empire within narrower limits. They were divided into several tribes: in the Northern part of the province were the Anarti, Predavensii, Beiphi, Teurisci, Rhatacensii, Burridensii, Cistoboci, Caucoensii, and Cotensii; in the Southern part were the Albocensii, Saldensii, Potulatensii, Ciagisi, Sensii, and Piephigi. The Peucini, a branch of the Bastarnæ, dwelled about the mouths of the Danube, and received their name from the island Peuce® Pitzina, formed by two arms of that river, and so called from the number of pine-trees which grew there. 3. Carpates M. Carpathian Ms. is the continuation of Asciburgius M., already mentioned in the description of Germany, and enters Dacia near the sources of the Danaster and Tibiscus; from it all the rivers, which water the province and flow into the Danube, take their rise: its Southern part was called Alpes Bastarnica. Cogæonus M., reckoned sacred by the Getæ, and giving rise to a cognominal river, was probably the Southern extremity of the Bastarnic Alps, now called Kaszom; the Serrorum Montes, separating the modern provinces of Transylvania and Walachia, were a continuation of them to the Westward, crossing the Danube near Orsova, and forming The Cataract (The Narrows) in that river, where its name, Danubius, is said to have been lost in that of Ister'. 4. The Tibiscus, or Pathissus, Theiss, is the longest tributary of the Danube; it rises in the Bastarnic Alps, and flows with a Westerly, and afterwards Southerly course, through the country of the Jazyges Metanasta, into the great river near Belgrade; its length is 570 miles: before its 3 Hactenus Euxini pars est Romana sinistri; 4 Jazyges, et Colchi, Metereaque turba, Getæque, 3 Frigidus a rostris manat per compita rumor; Id. II. 191. Hor. Sat. II. vi. 53. 6 Deseritur Strymon, tepido committere Nilo 7 Stat vetus urbs, ripæ vicina binominis Istri,-— Lucan. III. 202. Ovid. ex Pont. I. viii. 11. confluence with the Danube, it receives the Marisus, or Marisia, Maros, a considerable river, which rises not far from it in the Bastarnic Alps; the Grissia, or Gerasus, Feher Koros, is likewise one of its tributaries. The Aluta, or Tiarantus, Alt, rises in the Bastarnic Alps, and enters the Danube opposite Nikopol. The Porata Pruth, called by the Greeks Pyrethus and Hierasus, rises on the Eastern side of the Bastarnic Alps, and flows with a Southerly course into the Danube, near Galatz; it is 430 miles long. The Tyras, called in a later age Danaster Dniestr, rises in the Carpathian Mountains, and after a S. E. course of 715 miles, enters the Black Sea near Odessa: upon its banks dwelled the Tyritæ or Tyragitæ, who are thought to have derived their name from Tiraz, a son of Japhet, and to have been distinguished by the latter appellation, after having entered into relationship with the Getæ. 5. Besides these, the Danube receives the Ararus Sereth, near Galatz; the Naparus Jalomnitza, opposite Hirsova; the Ardeiscus, or Ordessus, Argis, to the E. of Rustchuk; the Rhabon Schyl, opposite Rahora, and the Apo Nera, at the Western extremity of the province. The famous bridge of Trajan, which he built over the Danube for completing his conquest of the Daci, is now in ruins near Severin, at the Western extremity of Walachia; it was raised on twenty piers of hewn stone, one hundred and fifty feet from the foundation, sixty feet broad, and one hundred and seventy feet distant from each other. It was about 3,400 English feet long, and was defended on each side by a fortress; that on the East being called Pontes Severin, and that on the West Theodora Gladova. It was destroyed by his successor Hadrian, out of envy, under the pretext that it favoured the irruptions of the barbarians". 6. Zernes Tchernetz, a Roman colony, and a place of considerable strength, was not far from the Pons Trajani. To the N. of it were Tibiscus Cavaran, and Sarmizegethusa Varhely: the latter city was situated near Sargetia fl. Strehl, a tributary of the Marisus, and was the old capital of the province; a dignity which it maintained after its subjection by Trajan, who made it a Roman colony, with the epithet Ulpia Trajana. Beyond these, to the Northward, were Cedonia Hermanstadt; the colonies Apulum Carlsburg, and Patavissa Tovis, both on the river Marisus; Salinæ Thorda, one of the most productive salt-mines in Transylvania; Napoca Valaszut, and Porolissus Bistritz: the two last were Roman colonies. 7. Besides these, we meet with Dierna Alt Orsova, near Trajan's Bridge; Bersovia, on Berzava R.; Singidava Deva; Utidava Udvarhaly; Marcodava Maros 8 Partheniusque rapax, et volvens saxa Cynapes Labitur; et nullo tardior amne Tyras. Ovid. ex Pont. IV. x. 50. The longest bridge now existing in Europe is said to be the Pont de Saint Esprit, built in the 12th century across the Rhone, between Montelimart and Orange; its length is 3,197 feet: that of Waterloo bridge, over the Thames, is 2,890 feet. Vasarhely, and Rucconium Regen. Ardeiscus was at Kurta Argisch, near the source of Ardeiscus fl.; Prætorium at Rimnik, on the Aluta; Pons Alittæ, at Slatina, on the same river, and Castra Nova at Craiova. In the Eastern part of the province were Paloda Birlat; Hermonactis Akerman; Tyras Palanka, called formerly Ophiusa, a Milesian colony, near the mouth of Tyras fl.; Iassii Jassy; Petrodava Piatra; Susidava Soutchava, and Netindava Sniatyn. MOESIA. 8. Moesia, called also Mysia 10 (with the epithet Europæa, to distinguish it from the Mysia of Asia Minor), was bounded on the N. by the Danube; on the W. by Drinus fl. Drin; on the S. by a high range of mountains, known under the various names of Scardus, Orbelus, Scomius, and Hamus; and on the E. by the Euxine Sea. To the N. it touched on Dacia, to the W. on Illyricum, and to the S. on Macedonia and Thrace. It corresponded generally with the modern provinces of Servia and Bulgaria, and contained 41.600 square miles. It formed originally a portion of the great district of Thrace, and is said to have first obtained the name of Moesia on its subjugation. by the Romans under M. Crassus. This latter appellation was probably used originally as a collective one for all the Thracian tribes between the Hamus and Danube, and was supposed by the ancient heathens to have been communicated by them to the province of Mysia in Asia Minor; but there seems better ground for supposing that the Asiatic Mysi were the ancestors of the European Mysi, or at all events that they were originally a colony from Madai, Japhet's son, and did not pass over from Europe into Asia. The name of Mosia was not applied in its full extent to the European province till the time of Augustus, who included within its limits the possessions of the Dardani and Triballi. It was, in a later age, divided by the little river Cebrus Zibritza, into Superior and Inferior, so called with respect to the Danube; the former touching on Illyricum and Macedonia, the latter on Thrace and the Euxine Sea. 9. This partition of Mosia lasted till the time of Aurelian, who formed within it his province of Dacia, bounded on the N. by the Danube from The Cataract to Utus fl. Vid, on the E. by the latter river, on the S. by the mountains, and on the W. by the upper course of the Margus Moraca, as far as Horrea Margi Morava Hissar. In a later age this arrangement was again altered. Moesia Superior was divided into Mosia Prima, the capital of which was Viminacium, and into Dardania, with its capital Scupi: Aurelian's Dacia was also divided into Ripensis, nearer the Danube, and into Mediterranea, towards the hills; the capital of the former was Ratiaria, of the latter Sardica. These four provinces and that of Prævalitana mentioned in a former chapter, constituted, in addition to Macedonia and the whole of Greece, the Illyricum of the Eastern Empire. 10 Hic tenuit Mysas gentes in pace fideli: Hie arcu fisos terruit cnse Getas. Ovid. ex Pont. IV. ix. 77. 10. The range of mountains, which formed the Southern boundary of Moesia, was the continuation of that chain already described as striking off from the Alps, and intersecting the whole of Illyricum. It entered the province at Scodrus, or Scardus, M. Rachka and Tchar Dagh, shortly after which it assumed the names Orbelus Gliubotin, and Scombrus, or Scomius, Ghiustendil; hence to the Eastward it was called Hamus Balkan, a name still preserved in Emineh Dagh, and in C. Emineh, its termination on the Black Sea, which promontory was known to the ancients as Hæmi Extrema. The Hamus" was erroneously said to be so lofty, that from its summit the Alps and the Danube, the Adriatic and Euxine, could be at once seen; it was fabled to have been so called from the Thracian king Hamus, who was changed into a mountain for aspiring to divine honours. It is from this range of mountains that all the rivers of Mosia take their rise, flowing thence into the Danube. 11. MŒESIA SUPERIOR comprehended Servia, the Eastern part of Bulgaria, and the South Eastern part of Bosnia, and contained 21.200 square miles. The longest river in the whole of Mosia was the Brongus, or Margus, as it was also called, Morava, which rises in Scomius M., and after being increased by the waters of the Angrus or Servian Morava, joins the Danube near Semendria. Besides this we may notice the Timacus Timok, about which dwelled the Timachi; the Almus Lom, and the Cebrus, or Ciabrus, Zibritza, already mentioned as the boundary between the two provinces. Amongst the inhabitants of Moesia Superior were the Mosi, or Mysi, a particular tribe so called, dwelling between the rivers Drinus and Brongus; the Merdi were cantoned about the sources of the latter river, and farther S. were the Treres, who are said to have occupied the country round Troy, after its destruction. Dardania comprehended at one time the whole Southern part of the province, and extended into Macedonia from the Drilo to |