ABSTRACT
They possessed a strong sense of national identity, strengthened by their location in the Transylvanian Basin, a fertile area enclosed by the Carpathians, a mountain chain ranging from 4,520 to 8,200ft (1,378-2,500m) high, with few natural access routes to the interior.3 Trade with the Hellenistic world, based upon Dacia’s considerable mineral reserves, especially of gold and silver, exposed them to more advanced technological and cultural strategies than their Celtic and German neighbours. In particular, the ashlar walls and projecting rectangular towers surrounding the Greek colonies of the Black Sea littoral influenced their own development of the unique murus Dacicus. Quite unlike the earthworks or palisades that fortified most towns in barbarian Europe, these drystone revetments retained a timber-reinforced rubble core, for resilience against batteringrams, and incorporated towers modelled after their Greek prototypes, for providing flanking fire for archers and missile-throwing engines. Earlier Dacian strongholds already made skilful use of natural defences, hilltops or promontories surrounded by precipitous slopes, dominating the chasm-like routes into their heartland: the addition of advanced defensive systems now made them an almost insuperable obstacle to any invader, each necessitating reduction before further passage through the extremely difficult terrain.
