Legions of Rome

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  All this time, Trajan was unaware that the Sarmatians had entered Moesia behind him. The legions in Moesia, called to arms by their officers in the last weeks of winter, marched from their camps and hurried to intercept the Sarmatian invaders in eastern Moesia. The first encounter between the two sides was a brief night skirmish near the village of Nicopole. Then, on a plateau at Adamclisi in the Urluia Valley of today’s Romania, as many as ten legions met some 15,000 Sarmatian cavalry. The battlefield was level ground ideally suited to infantry tactics, and while there are no details of the battle itself, nor of who commanded the Roman army, it is known that the legions slaughtered their mounted opponents that day.

  Roman generals had always known that cavalry unsupported by foot soldiers could be beaten by infantry. Here in Moesia, a little over thirty years before, the well under-strength 3rd Gallica Legion had proved that by wiping out 9,000 Roxolani Sarmatian cavalry. The 15,000 Sarmatians who had crossed the Danube on this offensive had not learned any lessons from the earlier brutal defeat, and paid the price now. Very few of the Sarmatian invaders survived the battle. Those that did managed to retreat to the Danube. Even then, with the river ice beginning to break up, a number of heavily armored Sarmatians drowned when the ice gave way under their horses. Not that this had been a cheap victory for the Romans; it has been suggested that as many as 4,000 legionaries died in the hectic Battle of Adamclisi.

  Defeated on both sides of the Danube, Dacians and Sarmatians withdrew to the Carpathian mountains. As Trajan returned to the Moesian side of the Danube with his prisoners and congratulated his victorious legions, King Decebalus, at Sarmizegethusa, ordered every possible preparation for the next Roman offensive that he knew must come in the wake of the spring thaw, and Dacian forces regrouped and completed hurried repairs to mountain fortresses that had been burned during the last Roman campaign. The next stage of the war would be crucial, to both sides.

  AD 102

  XLI. OVERRUNNING DACIA

  The first, false victory

  With the spring of AD 102, Trajan conducted the new year’s lustration ceremony. Trajan’s Column shows him then addressing an assembly of legions and auxiliary units, no doubt hoping to inspire them to victory and make this year’s campaign the last in Dacia.

  At Drobeta, the Roman army re-crossed the Danube and marched into the fertile sheep lands of Wallacia. As auxiliary infantry and cavalry scouted ahead, legion work parties cut roads through forests. For this campaign, Trajan again divided his army in two. A flying column of cavalry and light infantry under the command of Lucius Maximus would advance on the Dacian capital from the southwest. At the same time, Trajan would cross the plain of Wallacia then follow the Aluta river to the Red Tower Pass with the legions and the baggage. If all went according to plan, the two columns would link up at Sarmizegethusa in the Orastie Mountains.

  One mountain stronghold after another was stormed by Trajan’s legions as they pushed on across the Transylvanian Alps. Pliny the Younger, the noted Roman author, and a consul in AD 100, describes Roman marching camps “clinging to sheer precipices” during this campaign. [Pliny, VIII, 4] Trajan’s Column shows the Roman army assaulting a stone-walled citadel. On poles outside the walls sit severed heads of bearded men—either those of captured Roman auxiliaries or of Dacians who had wanted to surrender. The Column next shows auxiliaries setting fire to wooden buildings inside the captured Dacian citadel, then moving on.

  Trajan himself followed close behind the advance, and in the Column’s narrative he was at this point crossing a wooden bridge placed across a ravine. As the Roman advance guard erected another marching camp near a Dacian town which had several round shrines in the background, Dacians assembled behind their standards in the hills. The main Roman column arrived on the scene with legion musicians playing their trumpets and horns. The baggage train lumbered in, its oxcarts laden with equipment. From this camp, Trajan directed the next stage of the operation.

  Now Dacian forces descended from the heights and attacked advancing Roman cavalry and light infantry. Following a fierce struggle, the bloodied Dacians withdrew into the forests. Another day’s advance, another marching camp thrown up. Artillery was brought forward for an assault on the next Dacian hilltop fortress on the road to Sarmizegethusa.

  To save time, wooden hurdles, usually employed to cover enemy trenches, were used to create protection for the Roman catapults’ firing positions, for the Dacians possessed excellent archers. Trajan’s Column shows crates of catapult ammunition opened and ready for use, revealing catapult balls packed neatly inside. [Vitr., X.3] Small balls were for anti-personnel use; larger ones were fired at emplacements.

  On the Column, eastern archers with conical helmets and barefoot slingers without armor are shown launching a rain of missiles against the walls of the Dacian fortress. Behind them, the catapults let fly their balls. Between them, archers, slingers and catapults would have cleared one section of the wall of defenders. Dacians raising their heads above the parapet at that point would have invited death. Waiting Roman infantry rushed forward, clambered over outer palisades, hurdled ditches, then dashed for the wall with assault ladders.

  Trajan’s Column shows that, to try to drive the Romans back from the wall, Dacian defenders poured out of a fortress gate to the attack. But Trajan had been expecting this and thousands of auxiliaries surged toward the Dacians, who were slaughtered in the open; only a few escaped, fleeing into the forest. After that the fortress was swiftly taken. Relentlessly, the Roman army moved on. Dacians cut down trees to slow the Roman advance up the valley, and laid ambushes in expectation of catching legionaries as they tried to clear the roadblocks. But Trajan merely diverted via another route through the forest, with his advance guard cutting a road through the trees.

  As the advance guard emerged into open country from the forest, a large Dacian force fell on them. Roman auxiliaries fought off the Dacians, who fell back to another hilltop fortress. Trajan assaulted the fortress, where a wounded Dacian noble—perhaps the fortress commander or one of Decebalus’ generals—is shown, on the Column, in the arms of subordinates at the wooden palisade line.

  With the palisade overcome, a legion went against the fortress’s walls under the cover of raised shields in a testudo, or tortoise formation. Many ranks deep, the testudo was impervious to missiles rained down from defenders on the parapet above, and under its cover the legionaries undermined the wall. Creating a breach, the legionaries flooded inside, killing every Dacian they found. As the citadel fell, auxiliaries brought Trajan the heads of two Dacian leaders killed in the fighting; one probably belonged to the wounded noble previously depicted. These two Dacian leaders were unidentified, but Susagus is never again mentioned in classical texts, and he may have been one of them.

  Only a few Dacian villages now stood between Trajan and Sarmizegethusa. As the Romans pushed on, Dacian warriors withdrew ahead of them and climbed to the ridge-tops. There was fighting in forests and outside villages, as, with increasing desperation and decreasing effectiveness, the Dacians tried to halt the Roman advance. As Trajan drove toward Sarmizegethusa from one direction, Maximus’ flying column was surprising the Dacians from another. Inflicting heavy casualties on a disorganized defense, destroying settlements, causing mayhem, Maximus progressively decreased the distance between Trajan’s force and his own. At one stronghold, Maximus even captured King Decebalus’ sister. The arms of the pincer came together outside Sarmizegethusa, where the two forces linked up and surrounded the city.

  Sarmizegethusa, sited on a bend in the Sargetia river and covering 4 square miles (6.4 square kilometers), occupied several hills below Cogaionon, the holy Dacian mountain. The city was divided into two residential districts and a holy precinct which climbed up the hillsides via a series of stone terraces, on which were built mostly wooden buildings with stone foundations. The local stone was so brittle that limestone and andestite had been carried in from miles away. Sarmizegethusa had paved streets, running water and a
sewer system. There were residences, workshops and shops, while in the sacred precinct there were circular temples and one large rectangular temple, of wood and stone.

  The city was protected by a meandering limestone block wall 45 feet (13.7 meters) high, with rectangular stone towers at its corners. That wall consisted of two layers of stone blocks with rubble fill and wooden beams in between—which would have helped absorb the shock of catapult balls. Decebalus had made Sarmizegethusa his capital because of its nearness to the holy mountain and the cave of Zamolxis. In addition, it was at the heart of the gold, silver, iron and salt mining areas that had made Decebalus such a wealthy monarch.

  As the Roman army made visible preparations to begin a siege of the city, which was packed with both residents and tens of thousands of refugees from elsewhere, Decebalus sent out capwearing envoys to discuss an end to hostilities. Trajan again delegated Lucius Sura and Claudius Livianus, who offered terms for a Dacian surrender to the envoys. Those terms were speedily agreed and the siege was suspended. Truth be known, Trajan probably knew that his troops were as exhausted as were those of Decebalus after the two grinding campaigns that had brought him to the gates of Sarmizegethusa. Unable to sustain a prolonged siege of the Dacian capital, if he was to come away from this war the victor he had little choice but to grant Decebalus equitable terms.

  The Dacian defenders came out of the city, laid down their arms and fell to their knees, begging Trajan’s mercy. Trajan’s Column depicts the emperor seated on a tribunal, surrounded by the standards of the legions, Praetorian Guard and auxiliary units, as the capwearing Dacian nobles prostrated themselves before him. Then it was the turn of Decebalus himself. The bearded king cast away his curved sword and dagger, prostrated himself before Trajan and swore to abide by the terms of the peace treaty.

  Those terms required Decebalus to surrender an area in western Dacia called the Banat, and the flatlands of Wallacia extending from the Danube to the mountains. He was totally to evacuate these regions of Dacian citizens, who would be replaced by Roman settlers. Decebalus agreed to demolish those of his forts that still stood. He would hand over deserters from the Roman army who had fought for him, and surrender all artillery and advisers previously loaned to him under the treaty with Domitian. Decebalus was also forbidden to give shelter to, or to employ, soldiers from the Roman Empire in the future. He was also to follow forthwith the foreign policy of Rome, recognize Rome’s allies and enemies as his own and not send ambassadors to foreign nations. And, of course, Rome immediately ceased paying the hefty tribute that it had been sending to Sarmizegethusa since AD 89.

  Following the surrender, Trajan conducted an ad locutio thanksgiving ceremony, with sacrifices to the gods of war, and with the army assembled in ranks and the officers in ceremonial white robes. Addressing the troops, Trajan thanked them for their grit and courage, and called forward individual soldiers by name to receive bravery awards. Raising their right arms in salute, the men of the legions hailed Trajan imperator—the fourth time in his career that he received this honor.

  As Trajan set off back to Rome, where he would be welcomed as a hero, the legions withdrew from Dacia. Some returned to their bases, others set to work on major building projects in Moesia—a bridge and a monument. Trajan’s Column shows Dacian farmers abandoning their homes in Wallacia and the Dacian Banat, driving their stock before them, carrying their portable possessions and babies in arms, and with infants walking beside them. Auxiliary units were left to garrison occupied Dacian territory and protect Roman settlers who would soon cross the Danube. Trajan gave his old friend General Longinus the job of administering occupied Dacian territory and overseeing the treaty with Decebalus. Meanwhile, Dacian envoys appeared before the Senate at Rome with their hands behind their backs, to secure ratification of the peace treaty.

  Trajan had reversed the Dacian situation and avenged the legions that had perished under Domitian. All was peace along the Danube. For now.

  TRAJAN’S ADAMCLISI MONUMENT

  The Tropaeum Trajani

  Literally meaning “Trajan’s trophy,” the Tropaeum Trajani was built following the First Dacian War of AD 101–102. The commencement of its construction can be dated to AD 102 or shortly afterward, because the monument itself is depicted between the two wars on the chronological panels on the later Trajan’s Column.

  The monument is located south of the River Danube at Adamclisi, on a plateau in the Ueluia Valley in today’s Romania, site of the battle that took place during the winter of AD 101–102, in which Trajan’s legions defeated a force of Sarmatian heavy cavalry from north of the Danube. Dedicated to Mars the Avenger, the monument was intended to commemorate the sacrifice of the 4,000 Roman troops who fell at Adamclisi.

  The identity of this monument’s designer is unknown, but it is likely to have been Apollodorus of Damascus, who, on Trajan’s commission, designed the bridge, the massive arches of which spanned the Danube at Drobeta. Apollodorus was also responsible for Trajan’s elegantly curved Forum at Rome, and probably also Trajan’s Column, the unique circular monument that stood in the middle of Trajan’s Forum. The base of the Tropaeum Trajani is also circular, and this repeated use of the circular form was Apollodorus’ trademark. The monument was built at the same time as, and not far from, Apollodorus’ bridge at Drobeta, making it all the more probable that he was responsible for both.

  Around the monument’s frieze were fifty-four marble panels, called metopes, on which three sets of carved reliefs represented scenes from the Battle of Adamclisi, the Battle of the Carts, which took place in Dacia at the same time, and the Dacian countryside. The metopes, each about 4 feet (1.56 meters) high and 3 feet 6 inches (1.16 meters) wide, are not as realistic or skillful as those on the later Trajan’s Column at Rome, but they serve the same purpose, telling the story of Rome’s victory over the barbarians.

  At the top of the cone-shaped monument a 15-foot (4.5-meter) human figure in armor and helmet was erected. Although thought by many observers to represent a Roman legionary, the figure wears Sarmatian fish-scale armor and a conical Sarmatian helmet. In each hand are Sarmatian shields. These represent Sarmatian arms taken as trophies by the Romans. At the figure’s feet are three life-size statues, two of seated women with their hands bound behind their backs, the third of a standing male. The females represent two nations subjected by Rome—the Dacians and the Sarmatians. Frequently on Roman monuments and coins a subjected nation was represented by a female figure. The male probably represents Decebalus, the Dacian king who surrendered to Trajan.

  The monument that stands at Adamclisi today is not the original. Trajan’s Tropaeum was repeatedly damaged and ultimately destroyed by barbarian invaders from north of the Danube during the Marcomanni Wars of AD 167–180, just sixty-five years after the monument was raised. The present-day monument is a 1977 reconstruction based on remnants of the original.

  AD 103–104

  XLII. BETWEEN THE DACIAN WARS

  Both sides rebuild

  During the summer of AD 103, Trajan celebrated a Triumph in Rome for his Dacian success, and received the title Dacicus from the Senate. He had already commissioned architect Apollodorus of Damascus to build him a permanent bridge across the Danube at the Drobeta ravine, where the river was at its narrowest. Twenty monstrous piers of squared stone, each 60 feet (18 meters) thick, 150 feet (45 meters) high and 170 feet (52 meters) apart, would be erected across the river, connected by a lacework of graceful wooden arches over which a wide wooden roadway would pass. A marvel of engineering which took the breath away of all who saw it once it was built, Trajan’s Danube bridge was by far the largest bridge ever built anywhere in the world to that time. Simultaneously, at Adamclisi, work proceeded on the Tropaeum Trajani, Trajan’s circular monument to his victory over the Dacians and Sarmatians.

  Yet, Trajan did not rest on his laurels. Though he had won a famous victory, he had lost thousands of troops in the battles of AD 101–102. Besides, he did not trust Decebalus. As
Dio was to write, Decebalus had no intention of abiding by the peace agreement, but had only entered into it to “secure a respite from his temporary reverses.” [Dio, LXVIII, 9] By the summer of AD 103, it was reported to Trajan that Decebalus was “acting contrary to the treaty in many ways.” [Ibid.]

  The irrepressible Dacian king was collecting arms, welcoming Roman deserters, rebuilding forts destroyed during the war, and sending envoys to neighboring nations seeking new alliances. He even sent envoys and gifts to the king of the Parthians in the East. As for those nations that had not supported him in the last war with Rome, Decebalus threatened them with dire consequences if they let him down again, and as an example of what they could expect, he sent his troops to annex a portion of the territory of his Germanic neighbors the Iazyges, Roman allies who lived between the Danube and the River Tisa west of Dacia.

  Trajan knew that he could only terminate the threat posed by Decebalus by terminating Decebalus and his troops. A new war was inevitable. But first Trajan had to rebuild his bloodied army. It might be expected that he would have replaced losses suffered by his existing legions by levying masses of new recruits for those units. Yet this was not the Roman way; legions frequently operated well under strength, without replacements. Instead, Trajan raised two brand-new legions—the 2nd Traiana, named after Trajan himself, and the 30th Ulpia, which, like auxiliary units raised by Trajan, took his family name. By the last legion pay period of AD 103, the 30th Ulpia Legion was at Brigetio in Pannonia. The 2nd Traiana Legion, meanwhile, was sent to the East, making its temporary base at Laodicea, chief port of Syria.

  In the summer of AD 104, when Decebalus learned that Trajan was building up his forces on the Danube, he sent Roman deserters into Moesia to gain an audience with Trajan and then either kill or kidnap him. But one of the conspirators was arrested on suspicion, and under torture he revealed the plot. Undaunted, the wily Decebalus next sent for Trajan’s legate in Dacia, Longinus, “who had made himself a terror to the king in the wars.” [Dio, LXVIII, 12] Decebalus’ message said that he would do whatever was demanded of him, so Longinus rode to Sarmizegethusa with an escort—only to be made a prisoner by the crafty king.