The Dacians were a Thracian people who were the ancient inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. In the absence of historical records written by the Dacians (and Thracians) themselves, analysis of their origins depends largely on the remains of material culture. From roughly 500 BC, the Dacians developed a distinct civilization, which was capable of supporting large centralised kingdoms by 1st BC and 1st AD.
Dacian polities arose as confederacies, united only periodically by the leadership of Dacian kings such as Burebista (r. 82-44 BC) and Decebal (r. 87-106 AD). This union was both military-political and ideological-religious on ethnic basis. The unifying actions of Decebal were seen as dangerous by Rome, and Emperor Trajan (r. 97-117 AD) decided to conquer the Dacian kingdom, partly in order to seize its vast gold mines wealth. The effort required two major wars, in 101-102 AD and in 105-106 AD. Despite the fierce resistance, Decebal was defeated, and committed suicide rather than being marched through Rome in a triumph as a captured enemy leader.
About half part of Dacia became a Roman province, with a newly built capital at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, 40 km away from the site of Old Sarmisegetuza Regia, which was razed to the ground. In 271 Roman Dacia was evacuated by the Romans under emperor Aurelian, but the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in the province of Dacia Traiana led to the formation of the Daco-Romans, and later of the Romanians.
The Dacian capital's defensive system includes six Dacian fortresses, which have been named UNESCO World heritage sites (details here). I think that the presentation of the Dacians as comics characters, as the French did with their Gauls ancestors, in Asterix and Obelix, it is by no means disrespectful, but a commendable attempt to bring to the attention of young people the ancestors they have forgotten.
About the stamp
The stamp belongs to the series The Constitution of Romania, Guarantor of the Romanian Citizens’ Rights, about which I wrote here.
References
Dacians - Wikipedia
Sender: Dănuţ Ivănescu
Sent from Orăștioara de Sus (Hunedoara / Romania), on 30.07.2019
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