Author: ªtefan Stanciu
Although
Europe has been troubled by numerous wars during its history it still represents an ample and old cultural syntheses, flexible
to external influence. Beyond all appearances, it knew a continuous development
and was endowed with spiritual structures emerged 8 or 9 millenniums ago.
In 7000 BC large areas in the South-East of Europe - the Danubian space, the
Adriatica basin, the islands of the Egee sea, the South and East of Italian
Peninsula - knew an early flourishing. Here the Old European Civilization
emerged in a process which lasted 4000 years.
The
remarkable accomplishments of this civilization - "urban settlements,
a writing system and richly ornamented temples” - represented the starting
point for the spreading of culture in the European space.
The
Old European Civilization emerged after the introduction of food producing
economy through the cultivation of land, rendered evident in its turn by the
wheat-barley-sheep-goat-cow-pig complex which appeared just before 7000 BC
on the Greek shore, in the East of Italy, Creta, the South of Anatolia, Siria,
Palestina, the Near East, the Low Danube basin, Romania and the whole Balkanic
space.
Although this vast region was characterized
by mutual exchanges and influences, the old Europe went on its own way, generating
similar cultures, with direct links with each other, but which formed a self-sustained,
original complex through their distinct accomplishments, different from the
evolutions in the Far East or the Northern and Western Europe.
Around
6500 B.C., from within the Old Europe emerged a particular kind of pottery dried at high temperature and polished.
Gradually the painted pottery was introduced with vases of different forms
and styles, suggesting the development of an original idea with no connection
with the process of migration and transfer. At the end of the 7th millennium
B.C., technology and arts knew flourished in the South and East of Europe
and the centre of Anatolia, the "bridge” of islands in the Egean Sea
making possible the exchanges between the two regions.
The
great number of clay statues, dating from before 6000 B.C., discovered in
Romania, Bulgaria, ex-Jugoslavia, the South-East of Hungary, have common features
with those characteristic to the Hassuna and Samarra cultures from Mesopotamia.
The
mythical imagery spread throughout this large area indicates an obvious uniformity
reflected in architecture as well; rectangular houses, some of them having
buttresses, stone foundations, brick walls and roofs made of plants, built
on a wooden structure. This kind of rectangular houses formed the Neolithic
villages from the Old Europe, some of them being surrounded by moats and walls.
The
Neolithic culture which developed in the entire area of the Southern and Eastern
Europe had an unitary development. Inspite of this it is known under different
names given by archaeologists according to the areas where its traces were
discovered in the Modern Era.
Neolithic cultural complexes
from the Romanian space (established between 6500-3500 B.C.) are known under
different names. From a geographical point of view, they surpassed Romania’s
present territory.
By
5000 B.C. the ‘Old European” culture was already crystalized toghether with
its regional variants. It presented significant traditions in the art of pottery,
architecture, cult organization, leading institutions and a rudimentary writing
system and handicraft skills as well.
Towards
the end of the Neolithic period people began to use metals, especially copper.
The
Neolithic populations of farmers and handicrafts-men lived in big numerous
villages which became later urban settlements (in the Cucuteni culture several
thousands of necropolises and settlements are known). They also built temples
(Cascioarele), created a mythical world represented by earthen statuettes
and cult pots, suggesting an intense spiritual life.
The
interpretation given to signs engraved on pottery (found in Neolithic settlements
- Tartaria, Vinca, Fafos, Kosovska Mitrovika, Gradesnica) led to the conclusion
that had appeared 2 millenniums before the Sumerian one.
During
4 millenniums the Old European Civilization gave birth to a very profound
substratum which was at the origin of the spiritual life and subsequent European
cultures, especially in the regions where the Neolithic manifested. The symbols
and graphical images of the Old European Civilization form "the grammar
and syntax of a meta-language by means of which a whole system of mythical
thinking was transmitted to us”. The goddesses and natural symbols of the
Neolithic "tells’ today about the European cultures in a language which
proves the perenniality and continuity of the creators of the spiritual pattern
of the continent.
The
waves of the patriarchal and pastoral Indo-European populations coming from
East in the Centre and East of Europe led to a gradual "hybridization”
of the two different cultures and systems without affecting the domestic cultures.
The
new inhabitants who had come in successive waves were inferior when compared
to the autochthonous population and didn’t possess the necessary strenght
and show interest in eliminating them.
The
Neolithic civilization from the South and East of Europe got into direct touch
with the Proto-Indo-European population of the pastoral-patriarchal type from
the North-Pontic steppes for the first time at the beginning of the 4th millennium
B.C. (between 4000 and 3500 B.C.).
The
desintegration of the Old Europe didn’t affect the previous achievements and
customs. On the contrary, by "hybridation” new cultural complexes strongly
influenced by the Indo-European cultures appeared.
The
migratory population integrated in the more numerous domestic coommunities.
Because of the archaeological discoveries made especially in tumular tombs,
of the wrong estimation concerning the new-comers’ weapons and of the mistaken
idea that they had brought metallurgy in Europe, many researchers over-estimated
the role of the migratory populations. The Indo-European groups penetrated
imaking use of their weapons in the middle of peaceful communities, in the
same way all migratory population did.
The
Neolithic cultures in Romania assimilated in their turn, material and spiritual
elements from the new-comers, thus giving birth to three important cultural
complexes: Horodistea-Foltesti (in Moldavia and the North-east of Wallachia)
and Cotofan-Bodrog (in Oltenia and the intracarpathian space)8.
This period was characterized by globular pottery with median ears and large-opening
pots without totally elliminating the pots from the previous Neolithic cultures.
Beside these painted pots from in the areas the Neolithic cultures cord-ornamented
pots were unearthed as well. This kind of ornamented pots- with cord - were
discovered on a large area (Romania, the South of Ukraine, Bulgaria, the South
of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and the South of Germany). This fact confirms
the hypothesis according to which the Neolithic cultures vein was predominant.
The
Romanian space was also influenced by the South, fact leading to important
changes in the people’s beliefs, the underground world of the dead being replaced
by a heavenly one, that of the spirits.
Changes in the Neolithic
and the Age of Bronze emerged under the influence of the Indo-European groups
whose "primitive” country hasn’t been located yet: a) Central Asia, around
the Aral Sea, from where they migrated towards Europe, Iran and India; b)
in Middle Danube area; c) in Ukraine and South of Poland from where they went towards the South-East and centre of Europe; d)
the balcanic area from where they migrated towards South & North. The
last theory, the one concerning the "Balcanic” origin of Indo-European
populations was sustained by the continuity of the Neolithic elements in the
3rd and 2nd millennium in
the Carpathian-Danubian Pontic space. This theory confirms that the allongeneous
populations cannot disintegrate powerful civilizations with a millenary history.
The
uncertanly concerning the location of the indo-europeans "primitive’
country is also the result of the lack of collaboration among archaeologists,
anthropologists and linguists and of the
negletion of the historical logic according to which neolithic civilizations
went through process of evolution.
It
is certain that the peaceful and stable Neolithic civilizations from the South-East
of Europe have mixed with groups of warriors, animal breeders who where permanently
moving and looking for grazing areas. Forced by climate changes in their "primitive”
country the warrior sheperds "migrated” and of course, they took advantage
of their weapons and fighting-leaders cope easier and efficiently with the
opposition indigenous populations.
This
process lasted for centuries in the Euro-Asiatic area.
Later
on during the entire Age of Bronze (1900 - 1100 B.C.) on the historical territory
of the Romanian people an original and lasting culture
of the Daco-Thracian tribes characterized by ornamented pottery with flaring handles, emerged between
the Egee Sea and Wooden Carpathians. This period is characterized by stability when speaking about
populations, it was quiter millennium although, by archaeological discoveries
it had been found that the period knew a wider spread of weapons the specific
weapon being the bronze axe with disk in the area between Transylvania and
Nipru. At the beginning of the Age of Bronze the course of migrations changed
from Serbia to the present days Macedonia. Some Thracian tribes dardanii,
moesii, frigieni, pelagonii migrated towards the North -West of Small
Asia. The later Grecian Sources, the Hittite documents and the Egiptian inscriptions
from the time of Ramsee II (1290 - 1224 B.C. ) proved the existance of the
Thracian tribes in Small Asia Thracians had already been known and in Grecian
texts with Blineary writing, they mentioned Tre-ke-wi-ja which meant Thracia in 13th century
B.C.
Thus,
Thracians have already had a "country” of their own. During the Trojan
War, Homer (Iliada II, 833 - 852) mentioned that toghether with misi faught peonii, ciconii paflagonii, dardanii and frigienii who
put up resistance to the grecian expedition. Gradually, Thracians became known
among the nations of the Ancient World in such a way that, the father of hystory,
Herodot (Histories, V, 3) said that: " the Thracian nation in the most
numerous of the whole world, after that of inzi.
If they had only one ruler or if they got
along with each other after me it would be invincible and much more powerful
than all nations”. It wasn’t the time for uniting the Thracians in a state
form. Thracians were the continuers of the big neolithic civilization
in the Old Europe.
During
the Old Iron Age (about 1100 - 450 B.C.) changes in the Thracian World weren’t
spectacular: their settlements were numerous in the Carpathian-Danubian -
Pontic space, the pottery continued its earlier stages, the majority of weapons
were made of bronze, they built many fortresses and had commercial relationships
with the Grecian world and the North-Pontic scitic tribes.
The black Sea, discovered by Grecian navigators
in the 13th century B.C.,
became a communication space for the Thracian World as well. Geto-Dacian tribes,
the most known branch of the thracians, wewre located compactly from Balkan
to Gaelitia and Slovakia to Bug, the centre of their power being concentrated
in fortresses, and civilian settlements or water course. It is interesting
that, from a geographical point of view, the place of these fortresses was
taken by the old Romanian towns and by the majority of the modern Romanian
towns.
The
oldest pieces of information about the Geto-Dacians from the Danube basin
are provided by the grecian historian Hacateu (about 550 - 470 B.C.) who said that crobizi and trizi were located
in the Argamum fortified town situated from the South of the Danube Delta
to the present day Varna region. The Expedition led by the king of Persians
Darius I ( 521 - 484 B.C.) against the sciti led
by their king Idanthyrsos expedition which lasted between 519 and 510 B.C.)is
told by Herodot (histoories, IV, 83-143). After Herodot, the Getae who "are the most brave and honest of Thracians” and " consider
themselves as immmortal” decided to fight against the Persian king (Histories,
IV, 83-143). This short piece of information leads to the
conclusion that Getae were aware of their stability
without abandonning their natal places because of danger the same way they
used to do earlier.
In
the North of the Black Sea on the inferior course of Don, Nistru, Bug and
Nipru the sciti lived, a population of shepherds "who don’t
have fortresses or stone walls but all of them carry their own "house”
and are archees on horseback, gaining their living not from ploughing but
from the growing of cattle and live
in carts” (Herodot, Histories, IV, 99-100, 103). Such a nomad population couldn’t
influence the stable Thracians who were farmers and craftsmen and who had
built powerful fortresses. In the Geto-dacian settlements, weapons ressembling
those of the sciti were found, fact which
helped some researchers get to the conclusion that the scitice tribes
penetrated massively on the territory of the Thracians 11. During
the time of Herodot the agathyrsi, neuri, melanhleni lived
in the north-Pontic Steppe;
Such
a powerful Thracian king, named Dromichaites, is mentioned at the beginning
of the 3rd century BC and who ended by becoming related with Macedonian
kings after a succession of battles with Lyisimachus and Agathocles. The capital
of the state led by Dromichaites was Helis in the Northern part of the Danube.
Contemporary to Dromichaites, in Dobrudja, was another Geta kingdom led by
Zalmodegikos, state also attested in the following century under the leadership
of Moskonos and Rhemaxos (about 200 BC).
The
Thracian world was formed in the North of the Danube, in the East of Carpathians
and in the interCarpathian area (the kingdom of Oroles and Rubobostes).
Under the king Burebista
(about 70-44 BC) the Geto-Dacians formed a large state between the middle
Danube and the Bug river, from Haemus Mountains (Balkans) to the Wooden Carpathians.
The politic and religious
centre of that large state was placed in the Orastiei Mountains, its royal
capital still being under the sign of suppositions: at Popesti on Arges, at
Archidava in Banate, at Ocnita in Oltenia, at Zargidova or Piroboridava in
the South of Moldavia.
After
the death of Burebista, the Dacian state decomposed in small kingdoms ruled
by kings whose names were kept by Helenic and Latin sources: Coson (Cotiso)
about 48-38 BC, Dicomes and Comosicus between 32 BC and 28 AC, Duras Durpaneus
between 68-87 AC and Decebal between 87-106 AC.
In
Moldavia, between the Carpathians and the Bug river, the Carpae, tribes of
Geto-Dacian origin had powerful fortresses and would later set up stable state
forms on a large territory, with centres of power placed along the Siret river.
In
the Northern part of Dacia there were the Caestoboci, Thracians related-tribes
(placed in Gaelitia and the Northern part of Bucovina). The Tyragetas were
settled in Eastern part of Dacia, across middle Nistru river. Thus Geto-Dacian
population settled in state forms on a territory which had included the specific
spreading area of Hamangia, Cucuteni, Gumelnita and Starcevo-Cris cultures
in the Neolithic period. Therefore the Geto-Dacian people settled in the area
for 5 millenia, without discontinuities and assimilated elements from the
Indo-European populations from the area of Old European Civilization succeeded
in achieving the unity in the middle and the South-Eastern part of Europe
through conquests and stipends.
The
Romans attacked and conquered Illyria (about 225-219 BC) and the Eastern shore
of Adriatic Sea, defeated Makedonia (year 168 BC) and turned Greece into a
Roman province (about 168 BC), conquered Pergam (about 133 BC) and ensured
a powerful military centre in Small Asia. The powerful Geto-Dacian kingdom
led by Burebista stopped the Roman expansion in the Balkan, for short period
of time. Between 29-28 BC, the Romans defeated the Celts in the middle part
of the Danube and expanded the limits of the empire to that river.
The
only strong enemies of Romans in the South-Eastern part of Europe were the
Dacians from Banat and Transylvania who were irreversibly defeated by Traian
in 106 AC. The Carpae multitribal union from Moldavia
became vassal to Rome after the defeat of Decebal. The Thracian-Dacian populations
included in the territory of the Roman Empire, continued their existance,
taking over the Latin language and the elements of culture and material civilization
from Romans.
The quiet life of stipend
Carpae was threatened by the migration of the Goths from North to South at
the end of the 2nd century. The Goth tribes were attested in the
Southern part of Sweden in the first century AC, from where they migrated
first towards the North part of Poland (first century BC) and in 195 they
reached the Northern part of Ukraine.
The
movement of Goths made the Eastern Slavs (creators of the late Zurubinti culture)
migrate in the region of Superior Nipru. The Goths moved from the mouth of
Vistula to the valley of Bug towards Ukraine, being followed by Gepidae who
were present under king Fastida leadership in the Northern part of Dacia where
they fought against the Goths led by king Ostrogotha. In 238, an alliance
between Carpae and Goths attaked Moesia. The alliance was defeated by Romans
who refused the stipends they asked for. Between 238-248, the Goths conquered
the steppe area from Ukraine and made the Sarmatians run in Moldavia from
where they attacked the Roman Dacia together with the Carpae.
The disorganization of the empire in the Southern
part of the Danube and the war fought in the East with Palmyra made the Emperor
Aurelianus (270-275) leave Dacia without fighting, only with the army and
the administration, in the same manner it would happen with Britannia in 407.
After these events, the Vandals were recognized as federations and they might
had undertaken expeditions in the ex-Roman Dacia, hypothesis confirmed by
the archaeological discoveries from Transylvania.
The
free Dacians, the Jayzges (Sarmatians) and the Carpae (also free Dacians) entered the Roman Dacia.
In the Southern part of Danube river
Dacia Ripensis was settled, a province defeated by the 5th legion
Macedonica and the 13th legion Gemina which also controlled the
Northern part of the river, between Dierna and Sucidava, with over 10 Roman
camps and fortresses. In 272, coming victorious from East, the Emperor Aurelianus
defeated the Carpae who had entered the Moesia, between Carsium and Sucidava
(in the middle part of Dobrudja), being given the title of Carpicus Maximus.
The Emperor Probus (276-284) came to the Danube in the 279 and he received
the Getic population as friends and subjects in order to relax the tensioned
situation. The Goths, who had entered the Ukrainian steppes, made their domination
harder for the Slavs who took refuge in the Superior basin of Nipru from where
they dislocated the Baltic tribes and created a new culture; another part
of these Slavs (100,000 Bastarnae) went through the Southern part of Moldavia
and settled up in the Roman Empire in 280, without influencing the extant
population when crossing the Danube. The Bastarnae will be followed by a big
number of Gepidae (from Poland), the Ostrogoths (from Ukraine) and the Vandals
(from Gaelitia) who, for sure, crossed the territory of the Carpae.
Because
the pressure of the Goths, in 295, some groups of Carpae, who were coming
from East, would be colonized by Dioclitian in Pannonia (between 284-305)
while others would pass in Transylvania and Oltenia.
After
the conquest of Dacia, at the beginning of the 2nd century, its
colonization was made with thousands of ex-servicemen, handicrafts men and
public office workers and, in 212, by Caracalla Emperor constitution the Roman
citizenship was granted for the majority of the inhabitants of the Empire,
fact which gave for all the people the feeling of affiliation to the Roman
civilization. It can be considered that the Roman civilization was officially
and definitively implemented in the Northern part of the Danube.
After
the retreat of Aurelian, the army, administration and the richer part of the
population left, the majority remaining in their native places.
The
process of Romanization continued inside and around the former province. The
use of the Latin language in its popular form, accesible to the army and administration,
with simplifying grammatical formes was the first sign of the Romanization
process. The Latin language and the maintenance of some old words, perpetuated
over the centuries, also reflected the socio-political organization of the
Romanized population.
Because
of the internal crisis of the Roman Empire and the threatenings of the migrators,
the emperor Dioclitian (284-305) and Constantine the Great (307-337) acted
for the reorganization of the state. The German tribes which attacked whole
Northern boundary from the North Sea to the Black Sea were the most active.
At
the beginning of the 4th century, the Goths dispersed in the Moldavian
territory and on the present-day territory of Ukraine, being divided in two
groups of tribes: a) Ostrogoths, placed in the East of Nipru, together with
the antii, sclavinii (the old Bastarnae and
peucini) and the Sarmatians - neighbours of Heruli (German tribe) in the East
of Nipru and Boranii and Boruskii (Slavs) in the North; b) the Visigoths who
entered first in Moldavia and then in Wallachia from where they prepared their
penetration in the Roman Empire. For a complete image, it can be mentioned
that the tribes of Vandals had driven away the Caestoboci and settled up themselves
in Gaelitia at the beginning of the 5th century; the Gepidae were
in the Vistula basin area and of the Superior Bug area, next to the Venedi (Slavs) and had as neighbours the German tribes
of Skiri from Pomerania in the North-West.
Those populations with the Goths as leaders, expected the moment of weakness
of the Roman Empire, their setting up in the mentioned territory being only
temporary. In response to all those actions, the emperor Constantine the Great
had repelled the attack of Goths and Sarmatians in the 323, he hunted after
them in the Plain of Wallachia and the Visigothic king Ransimodus was killed.
The victorious emperor tried to consolidate his victory and the borders of
the empire; he rebuilt the old Roman bridge from Celei, in 328, built Roman
camps and fortified castles on the left side of Danube river, made his allies
the federates Vandals, who were placed in Oltenia and gave the command of
the war against the Visigoths to his son Constantine (the future emperor Constantine
the 2nd). After these successes, the Romans returned in the North
of Danube. A Roman camp was built at Pietroasele and the 9th legion
Claudia was brought back from Durostorum; the Daphne fortress was built near
Oltenia, a guard tower was also realized in the old Roman camp from Barbosi
(Galaþi). After the return of the Romans in the North of Danube a century
of quiet life followed for the Romanized population from the former Dacia,
period confirmed by the archaeological discoveries which certify the material
development (archaeological discoveries to Barlad-Valea Seaca-Barcea-Tecuci,
Pietroasele).
The
leaving of the Ostrogoths and Heruli from Ukraine, of the Vandals from Gaelitia
and of the Gepidae from Poland facilitated the appearance of some Slavs tribes
unions in those regions, which began migrating towards Czechia, Slovakia and
Eastern part of Germany at the beginning of the 6th century. At
the beginning of the ruling period of Justinian (527-565), the Sclavinii from
Gaelitia started attaking the Eastern Roman Empire through Thracian diocese.
In that period the Slavs were divided into three groups: Venedi (Western Slavs from Poland); Sclavinii (in the Western part of Ukraine) and Antii (the Southern branch of Eastern Slavs, placed
in Ukraine in the proximity of Hun-Bulgarians from the steppe); the Antii who were situated on the territory between Nipru
and Nistru in the Eastern part of Moldavia. Between 528 and 558, the Antii and the Sclavinii undertook
10 attacks against Thracia and Illyria. In the middle of 6th century,
groups of Sclavinii had already settled in
the Southern side of the Danube, near Ulmetum and Durostorum. In 545, the
emperor Justinian offered the Turis fortress to the Antii, also paying them
stipends, in order to stop the Huns’invasion in the empire (probably Tyras
fortress). In 557, the Avars appeared in Ukraine, a people of Turk origin,
who migrated to Europe as result of their defeat by the Turks from Central
Asia. The Avars defeated the Slav tribes of Anti between Bug and Nistru and,
in 562, under Baian khan command they reached the Danube and asked stipends
from Byzantines and they were refused by emperor Justin the 2nd (565-578). Because they had been called by
Longobards and followed by Turks, the Avars left Ukrainian steppes, they defeated
the Gepidae and settled, temporarily, on the territory of the former Roman
Dacia. Their strong appearance in
the Northern part of the Black Sea stopped the attacks of antii, sclavinilor and Bulgarians over the Byzantine
provinces. After three campaigns in 568, 570 and 573 the Avars made peace
with Byzantines and after that they developed theirs political centre in Pannonia,
replacing the Longobards. In 579, under Tiberiu the Second (578-582) a hundred
thousand of sclavinii invaded Illyria, were
phundered the empire for four years and then settled all over. The emperor
asked the help of the Avars; they crossed Illyria, following the slav army
commanded by Dauritas and defeated them, probably in Oltenia.
In
582, the Avars conquered Sirmium , where Baian, their Khan moved his residence.
In 584, the sclavinii, under the command of
Ardagast, ravaged Thrace as far as Adrianopole ; between 585-588 the same sclavinii reached Salonic.
In their turn, the Avars attacked Moesia and reached Tomis.
In
593, the general Priscus, with a strong army crossed the Danube, defeated
Ardegast, then advanced through the Heliwachia river’s swamps and with the
support of Gepidae, Musokios the leader of sclavinilor, who
operated in Moldavia, was caught.
In
response, in 595, sclavinii invaded Moesia where they were defeated by Petru general,
who continued the military actions in the North side of Danube and, in the
following years, against the avars, bulgarians and slavs leaded by Piragast.
The
Avars attacked the Byzantine Empire on a large front, from Dalmatia to the
Black Sea. The Byzantine generals got through ten attacks of Slavs and Avars,
with difficulty populations who hadn’t
stable settlements. The autumn 602, the Roman army, under the command of general
Petru, took order to hibernate in
the Northern part of Danube, in Wallachia. The soldiers were discontented,
they revolted and chose Focas as emperor (602-610). The Byzantine army wouldn’t
resist near the Danube and they come back with the new emperor to Constantinopole.
The
Slavs took imediately advantage of this, they crossed the Danube and invaded
the Byzantine Empire, in 604 the Avars attacked Italy through Histria. A strong
barbarian coalition between the Avars,
the Bulgarians on the Tisa and the Slavs attacked the Constantinopole in 617
and 626, but the capital resisted. During Heraclius the ruling of (610-640), the Slavs crossed in the Southern
part of Danube, pushed the Roman population near the mountains and obliged
the imperial armies to retreat. The Byzantine Empire was weakened by the repeated
attacks of the migrators along the Danube and by the war with the Persians who conquered
Siria and Egypt
In
their masive movement to the Southern part of Danube, the Slavs weren’t accompanied
by the Romanized local population who remained there, becauseit wasn’t an
expedition in a robbery purpose but they were seeking a settlement. The slavinii had their
lost "country” in Volania, Gaelitia and Podolia after their came in Byzantine Empire, their language being similar being similar to that
of the Slavs.. In the same period, the ulici tribe of
Eastern Slavs people settled in the left side of Nistru river, in the area
of the Inferior basin. The new "settlement” of slavs didn’t involve the
Romanized territories where the Romanian people had already been formed. The
Roman population was almost completely Gentile/Christian, as Nicetas by Remesiana
revealed through his activity; he was borned in Dacia and wrote and spoke
the Latin language and was practising a theology
of Western structure, similar with the theological solutions of the Damasus
synod in 380. Nicetas was a Daco-Roman
fact proved by the testimonies of Paulinus, by his activity and by the frequent
use of Nicetas name in that area. Nicetas brought the Evangelic words to all
territories both in the Northern and in the Southern side Danube, in the second
part of the 4th century
and the beginning of the next century.
After
the Slavs, the Bulgarians from Kuban were invaded by hazari,
a people who had separated from the Kaganat of the turks and took refuge in
Pannonia from where, under Alteko Khan, a part of them reached Italy and others
led by Kuber ould be mentioned in Macedonia in 670.
Another
branch of Bulgarians from Onglos (Bugeac) led
by Asparuh, followed by hazari crossed the
Danube (between Silistra and Varna) in 679. The last Asian migrators, the
Petchenegs, the Cumarians, the Hungarians and the Tatars weren’t able to influence
the development of the Romanized populatuon from the Northern side of Danube,
who preserved the customs and traditions between Nistru and Tisa.
Between
the 7th-8th centuries, the Roman inhabitants from Moldavia,
Wallachia, from intracarphatian area and those from Banat, Crisana and maramures
was named Romans and the contemporary historians named them dacians, to differentiate
to other inhabitants who live in other empire provinces.
The
Roman population had belonged to the Eastern Roman World and, in the next
centuries, there named "vlahi”, "valahi” or "volohi”.
The
abandonment of Dacia province from the Roman army and administration meaned
the beginning of Romanian people history, who envolved and
developed in tight relation with Roman population from South of Danube, the Romanian language
kept numerous Daco-tracians words in latin gramatical structure, in the same
way with Albanian or Bulgarian language. Some slave words entered in Romanian
language were due more to Romanian people affiliation to the Orthodoxie, to
the ordinary loans taked over through bilinguism or through direct connection
with South slave tribes, between the II-X centuries.
The
most basic words from romanian language have latin origin and continually
using the same agricultural tools,
between II-XII centuries prove that the romanian people kept their occupations,
the agriculture was the base of economy. The Romanian people had remained
in his homeland and supported only easy influences from migratory people.
Romanian
people was formed in a Old European Civilization Base constituted for three
milleniums in neolithic and mixed with indo-european elements for two other
milleniums.
The
romanization of gaeto-carpo-dacian population ridged of final stage of indo-europenization,
a trial to recover Rome, under the symbol of the eagles of the Old European
Civilization space spreaded to west untill the Atlantic Ocean and in Britain.
The
structures constituted in neolithic, the spiritual conquests during five millnniums
of civilization didn’t transform under the migrators influences which only
a few decades was in contact with daco-roman population from Danube to Carphatians.
These migrator people seeking for the european civilization didn’t influence
the trend of hystory of old european people but, in normal way, they was integrated
through dialects differentiated the people from lingvistic viewpoint. All
languages of Europe, with four exceptions, have the same origin.
The
neolithic and the indo-europeans could be the start from a new Unit Europa.
NOTES:
1.
See:
Gimbutas, Marija,Civilization and Culture.
Prehistoric vestiges in the South-Eastern Europe, Bucharest, 1989, page
51;
2.
Ibidem,
page 59. Chronological table of the Old European Civilization;
3.
Dumitrescu,
Vladimir, Edifice destiné au culte découverte
dans la couche Boian-Spanþov de la station-téll de Cascioarele, in Dacia,
XIV, 1970, page 5-24, and Dumitrescu, Hortensia Un
modéle de sanctuaire découverte dans la station énéolithique de Cascioarele,
in Dacia, XII, 1968, page 381-394;
4.
Georgiev,
Vladimir, I., Nikolov, Bogdan, Pismenosta
varbu glineneta plocika ot s. Gradesnica, in Archeologija, Sofia, no.3/1970, page 1-9; an interpretation of "writing”
from Tartaria was suggested by Radu Florin in note 13, page 272 in the paper
work of Gimbutas, Marija, Civilization
and Culture. Prehistoric Vestiges in the South-Eastern Europe, quoted work;
5.
The
most important discoveries which prove the old European civilization were made
in the South-Eastern and Danubian Europe on the present day territories of Greece, Eastern and Western Italy, the former
Jugoslavia, Bulgary, Romania, Western Ukraine, Czechia and the Eastern Slovakia;
6.
Gimbutas,
Marija, Civilization and Culture. Prehistoric
Vestiges in the South-Eastern Europe, quoted work, page 78;
7.
Blance,
B., Die Anfange der Metalurgie auf der Iberischen
Halbinsel, in Studien zu den Anfangen der Metalurgie, no.4/1971; Charles,
J., A., Early Arsenical Bronzes - a
Metallurgical View in American Journal
of Archaeology, 71, 1967, page 21-26; Deshayes, J., Les outils de bronze de Pondus au Danube,
Paris, 1960; Gimbutas, Marija, Civilization
and Culture. Prehistoric Vestiges in the South-Eastern Europe, quoted work,
page 51-123;
8.
Nestor,
Ion, Zaharia, Eugenia, Sur la périod
de transition du néolithique a l’age du bronze dans l’aire des civilisations
de Cucuteni et de Gumelnita, in Dacia,
12, 1968, page 17-44; Dinu, Marin, Quelques
considerations sur la périod de transition du néolithique a l’age du bronze
sur le teritoire de la Moldavie, in Dacia,
12, 1968, page 129-140; Berciu, Dumitru, Contributions
to the Problems of Neolithic in the Light of the Last Discoveries on Romania’s
territory, Bucharest, 1966, page 86-93, 173-190; Gordon-Childe, V., The Creation of the Civilization, Bucharest,
1966, page 82-115; Idem, From Prehistory
to History, Bucharest, 1967, page 60-76; Mellaart, J., Prehistory of Anatolia and its Relations
with the Balkans, in Studia Balcanica,
art.5, 1971, page 119-137; Niþu, A., The Plastic Zoomorphic Representations on Carpathian-Danubian Neo-Aeneolithic
Ceramics, in Archaeology of Moldavia,
no.VII, 1972, page 9-96; Mongait, A., L., Arheologia Zapadnoi Evropî. Kamenîi vek, Moskow, 1973, page 195-247,
272-292; Mansuelli, C., A., Civilizations
of the Old Europe, Bucharest, 1978, vu. I, page 64-109; Marinescu-Bîlcu,
S., Some Aspects of the Links between
Romanian Neo-Aeneolithic Aegean and micro-Asian Cultures, in Pontica, no.XIII, 1981, page 57-65; Cucoº,
ªt., Some Opinions about the End of
Cucuteni Culture, in Carpatica,
no.XVII, 1985, page 33-40;
9.
Morintz,
S., Archaeological Contributions to the Early
History of Thracians.The Bronze Period in the Carpathian-Balkanic Space,
1978; Bader, T., The Bronze Period in
the North-Weastern Transylvania. The pre-Thracic and Thracic Culture, Bucharest,
1978; Petrescu-Dîmboviþã, M., Romanian
Bronze Storehouses, Bucharest, 1977; Mongait,
A., L., Arheologia Zapadnoi Evropî.
Bronzovîi Jeleznîi veka, Moscow, 1974; Florescu, M., Contributions to the Problem of Beginnings
of the Bronze period in Moldavia, in Archaeology
of Moldavia, II-III, 1964, page 143-216;
10.
Pîrvan, V., Getica. A Prehistory of Dacia, edition R. Florescu, Bucharest, 1982; Vulpe, A., Aspects significatifs dans l’histoire et la culture des geto-daces, in RESEE,
XVI, 1978, 4, page 619-631; Preda, C., Gaeto-Dacians
Coins, Bucharest, 1973; Danov, H., M., Antique
Thrace, Bucharest, 1976; Florescu, A., New
Aspects about Thracian-Gaeto-Dacians Fortresses from the Second Half of the
First Milenium before Christ, in Historical
Monuments, XLIX, 1980, page 11-18; Petrescu-Dâmboviþã, M., The pre-Requisites of Gaeto-Dacian Civilization,
in Archaeology of Moldavia, IX,
1980, page 63-68;
11.
Marinescu, G., Appreciations about the So-called "Scythian problem” under the Influence
of the Archaeological Discoveries on Romania’s territory, Bistrita History
Museum (reports and essayes), Vol.II, 1971, page 25-35; Balsacov-Ghimpu, Al.,
A., Moldavia from days of yore to Principality,
Bucharest, 2000, page 35-37;
12.
For the quoted texts after
Herodot, see Histories, edition
A. Piatkovschi, F. Vant-Stef, Bucharest, 1961; Thrace, vu V, Sofia, 1980 (article signed by A. P. Mantevici, page
97-120); Berciu, D., Berciu-Draghicescu, A., The War between Getae and Persians, 514 before Christ, Bucharest,
1968, page 59-76; Vulpe, A., First Mentions
about Getae-Dacians in the Light of Some Historic-Archaeological Analysis,
in Review of History, 39, 1986,
4, page 825-834; Alexandrescu, P., Histria in the Archaic Period (II), Pontica, XIX, 1986, page 70-83;
Berciu, D., 2500 years from the Getae
Fight for Freedom and Independece, in Review
of History, 39, 1986, 12, page 1165-1171;
13.
Daicoviciu, H., Dacia between Burebista and The Roman Conquest, Cluj-Napoca, 1972,
page 30-90; Crisan, I., H., Burebista
and His Period, Bucharest, 1977, page 77 and the following ones;
14.
For the follow up of "events”
of Thracian world, after Greek historians stories, see Fontes Historiae Thraciae Thracumque, vu I, edited by Zl. Goceva,
V. Tapkova-Zaimova, V. Velikov, Sofia, 1981; Bikerman, J., E., Chronology of the Ancient World, London,
1961, page 163-168;
15.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, Bucharest, 1964, vu I, (texts from the antic authors:
Polibiu, page 165, Pseudo-Scymnos, page 173, Diodor from Sicilly, page 199,
Strabon, page 224-243, Titus Livius, page 225-263, Trogus-Pompeius, page 359-361,
The Old Plinius, page 405, Ptolomeu, page 359, 361, Dio Cassius, page 671-677);
16.
See: Daicoviciu, H., Dacia between Burebista and The Roman Conquest,
Cluj-Napoca, 1972, page 30-91; Vulpe, R., Studia Thracologica, Bucharest, 1976, page 39-79; Crisan, I., H., Burebista and His Period, Bucharest,
1977;
17.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, quoted paper work, vu
I, page 231, 237, 239 (informations from Strabon’s Geography);
Gostar, N., Dacians Dinasties from Burebista
to Decebal, 1984, 1, page 45-53; Protase, D., Decebalus per Scorilo in the lights of
thre old and new interpretations, in Thraco-Dacica,
VII, 1986, 1-2, page 146-153;
18.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, Bucharest, 1964, vu I, the Carpae are mentioned in
that period by: Ptolemeu, page 539, 543, 555; Dexip, page 733; vu II, Lactantiu,
page 5; Eusebiu from Caesareea, page 11; Aurelius Victor, page 25; Ammianus
Marcellinus, page 25-127; Gostar, N., Dacian Fortresses in Moldavia, Bucharest, 1969; Bichir, Gh., The Carpae Culture, Bucharest, 1984;
Diaconu, Gh., North-Western Dacia in
the Roman Period. The Carpae in the Inter-Carpathian Area, 1986, 4, page
296-308;
19.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, Bucharest, 1964, vu I, page 539, 543, 555;
20.
Dragan, C., I., The Imperial Milenium of Dacia, Bucharest, 1986;
21.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, Bucharest, 1964, vu I, page 359; Strabon, Geography, Bucharest, 1974, vu II, page
156;
22.
Petolescu, C., C., Again about the so-called War of Caracalla
against the Carpae, in SCIVA,
39, 1988, 3, page 281-286;
23.
Diculescu, C., C., Die Wandale und die Goten in Ungarn und Rumanien,
Leipzig, 1923, page 6, 13-14; Schmidt, L., Geschichte der Wandalen, Munich, 1942, page 3-15; Vlassa, N., An Invasion from West of the Former Dacia
Province by the Free Dacians in the 4th Century after Christ. (The
discoveries from Cipan-Garle), in SCIVA, 16, 1965, 3, page 501-518. First
two authors sustain the existance of a German (Vandal)-Roman kingdom in Transylvania
after the Roman retreat, with the capital to Cluj-Napoca;
24.
Bichir, Gh., The Carpae Culture, quoted paper work, page 183-185;
25.
Rosetti, R., The History of Romanian Language from the Beginnings to the 17th Century,
Bucharest, 1968;
26.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, quoted paper work, vu II, page 49 (Anonymus Valesii);
81 (Latin Panegirici); page 111-113 (Auxentiu from Durostor); page 133 (Ammianus
Marcellinus); page 307 (Zosimos); page 425 (Iordanes); Preda, C., The
Circulation of post-Aurelian Roman Coins in Dacia, in SCIVA, 26, 1975,
4, page 441-485; Diesner, J., H., The Great Migration, Leipzig, 1978, page
91-129; Barnea, I., La politica dell’Imperio
Romano nel Basso Danubio dopo il ritiro aureliano, in Coloquio italo-romano, Rome, 1982, page
29-44 (extras); Barnea, I., Iliescu, O., Constantine
the Great, Bucharest, 1982, page 29-44;
27.
Palade, V., Workshops for the Achievement of Boned Combs between Barlad and Valea
Seaca, from the 4th Century, in Archaeology of Moldavia, IV, 1966, page 261-276; Idem New Workshops for the Achievement of the
Combs of Antlers (stag) at Barlad
and Valea Seaca, in the 4th Century, in Archaeology of Moldavia, IV, 1966, page 261-276; Idem, New Handicraft Centre for the Processing
of Stag Antlers at Barlad-Valea Seaca, from the 4th Century after
Christ, in Studies and Communications
of History of Romanian Popular Civilization, no.1, Sibiu, 1981, page 179-215;
Tau, S., Nicu, M., Ein beschrifteter
Glasbecher aus der Nekopole von Barcea-Tecuci (4 Jahrhundert U.Z.), in Dacia,
new series, XXIX, 1985, 1-2, page 165-166; Davidescu, M., The Roman Fortress from Harsova, Bucharest, 1989, page 27-120; Plamadeala,
A., History and Spirituality to the
Carpathians Curvature, Buzau, 1983, page 69-77;
28.
Popa-Lisseanu, C., The Sources of Romanians’ History, Bucharest,
1934-1939, quoted paper, vu I, page 26, 27, 43, 88; vu XV, page 67, 107; Fontes
Historiae Daco-Romanae, quoted paper work, vu II, page 413, 427, 445, 457,
471;
29.
Procopius from Caesareea, The War with the Goths, edition H. Mihaescu,
Bucharest, 1963, page 180-254; Bolsacov-Ghimpu, A., A., La localisation de la forteresse Turris,
in Revue des études sud-est européennes, VII, 1969, 4, page 686-690;
30.
Laszlo, Gy., Etudes archéologiques sur l’istoire de la société des Avares, Budapest,
1955, page 5-14; Guboglu, M., The Selgiuci
Turks and theirs State, in Studies
and Articles of History, XXXII, 1976, page 33-43; Derijavin, N., S., The Slavs from
days of yore, Bucharest, 1949, page 9-12; Lemerle, P., Invasions et migrations dans Balkans depuis de fin de l’époque romaine
jusqu’an VIII siecle, in Revue historique,
221, fascicule 2, 1954, page 265-308; Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, quoted paper work, vu II, page 539, 551, 603; Sampetru,
M., The Roman-Byzantine Empire Situation
at the Lower Danube at the end of the 4th Century and the beginning
of the 7th Century, in SCIVA, 22, 1971, 2, page 271-245;
31.
Macinskii, D., A., K voprosu o teritoriia obitaniia slavian
v. I-IV vekah, in Arheologicenskii
Zbornik, Sankt Petersbourg, 17, 1976, page 82-100; Goriunov, A., E., Rannie etapã istorii slavian Dneprovskogo
Levoberejia, Sankt Petersbourg, 1981, page 11-82; Sedov, V., V., Vostocinîe slaviane v. VI-XIII v.v.,
Moskow, 1982, page 3-45;
32.
Zeiller, J., Les origines chrétienne dans les provinces danubiennes d’Empire Romain,
Paris, 1918, page 555;
33.
Burn, E., A., Nicetas of Remesiana, his Life and Work, Cambridge, 1905, 13.Quoted
from Paulinus Nolanus, Carmina,
XVII, page 55-56: "donec optato patriam vehatur lactus ad urbem, …patrio
que reddat limite tutum…”.