''Dacica'' ("Dacian atters), or ''De bello dacico'' ("On the Dacian War"), is a lost

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

work by Roman Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

, written in the spirit of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's commentaries like '' De Bello Gallico'', and describing Trajan's campaigns in

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

. It is assumed to be based on

Criton of Heraclea Criton of Heraclea (, ) was a 2nd-century (c. 100 AD) Greek chief physician and procurator of Roman Emperor Trajan (98–117) in the campaign in Dacia. He is perhaps the Criton mentioned in Martial's ''Epigrams''. He wrote a work on ''Cosmetics ...

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

, a work on the history of the

Daco The Dacians (; ; ) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often considered a subgroup of the Thracians. This area inclu ...

Getae The Getae or Getai ( or , also Getans) were a large nation who inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, throughout much of Classical Antiquity. The main source of informa ...

. Criton was Trajan's

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

chief physician and procurator, during the Dacian wars. Based on the research so far, ''Dacica'' is considered lost. However, one sentence survived in the Latin grammar work by Priscian. To describe a grammatical rule, Priscian cites Trajan: ''inde Berzobim, deinde Aizi processimus'', meaning ''We then advanced to Berzobim, next to Aizi''. The phrase describes the initial penetration into Dacia by the Roman army. It also mentions two

n towns where later Roman

castra ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

were built:

Berzovia Berzovia () is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, Banat, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to ...

and

Aizis Aizis (''Aixis'', ''Aixim'', ''Airzis'', ''Azizis'', ''Azisis'', ''Aizisis'', ''Alzisis'', ''Aigis'', ''Aigizidava ', ''Zizis'', ) was a Dacians, Dacian town mentioned by Emperor Trajan in his work ''Dacica''. Located at ''Dealul Ruieni'', F ...

Notes

References

*
Sprache Und Literatur (Einzelne Autoren Seit Der Hadrianischen Zeit Und Allgemeines Zur Literatur Des 2. Und 3. Jahrhunderts), Volume 2; Volume 34 by Wolfgang Haase

External links

* Writers of lost works Lost books 2nd-century historians Books about Dacia Trajan {{Romania-hist-book-stub