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National Geographic : 2015 Apr
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Trajan’s Column 129 his team have found evidence of Roman military know-how and Greek architectural and artistic influences. Using aerial imaging, archaeologists have identified more than 260 man-made terrac- es, which stretch for nearly three miles along the valley. The entire settlement covered more than 700 acres. “It’s amazing to see how cosmopolitan they were up in the mountains,” says Florea. “It’s the biggest, most representative, most complex settlement in Dacia.” There is no sign that the Dacians grew food up here. There are no cultivated fields. Instead archaeologists have found the remains of dense clusters of workshops and houses, along with furnaces for refining iron ore, tons of iron hunks ready for working, and dozens of anvils. It seems the city was a center of metal production, sup- plying other Dacians with weapons and tools in exchange for gold and grain. The site is lush and quiet. Not far from the al- tar rises a small spring that could have provided water for religious rituals. Flecks of natural mica make the dirt paths sparkle in the sun. The few tourists speak in hushed voices. It’s hard to imagine the ceremonies that took place here—and the terrible end. As Florea conjures the smoke and screams, looting and slaughter, suicides and panic depicted on Trajan’s Column, there’s a rumble of thunder. The sky is suddenly menacing, the air sticky and humid. The destruction of Dacia’s holiest temples and altars followed Sarmizegetusa’s fall. “Everything was dismantled by the Romans,” Florea says. “There wasn’t a building remaining in the entire fortress. It was a show of power—we have the means, we have the power, we are the bosses.” The rest of Dacia was devastated too. Near the top of the column is a glimpse of the denoue- ment: a village put to the torch, Dacians fleeing, a province empty of all but cows and goats. The two wars must have killed tens of thou- sands. A contemporary claimed that Trajan took 500,000 prisoners, bringing some 10,000 to Rome to fight in the gladiatorial games that were staged for 123 days in celebration. Dacia’s proud ruler spared himself the hu- miliation of surrender. His end is carved on his archrival’s column. Kneeling under an oak tree, he raises a long, curved knife to his own neck. “Decebalus, when his capital and all his ter- ritory had been occupied and he was himself in danger of being captured, committed sui- cide; and his head was brought to Rome,” the Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote a century later. “In this way Dacia became subject to the Romans.” j A partially recon structed temple stands near a round altar in the sacred precinct of Sarmizegetusa, which was demolished after Rome’s victory. Trajan colonized his newest province with Roman war veterans, a legacy reflected in the country’s modern name, Romania. MORE ONLINE ngm.com/more How They Built the Column Spinning the Frieze ANIMATION INTERACTIVE
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