Fig. 2. Altars erected to Mithras at Poetovio, western Pannonia, by the legions with
drawn from Dacia in the 260s
The attacks against Dacia are poorly reported in the sources since the area most badly affected lay in the Balkans, and not in Dacia which had, in any case, lost its strategic and military importance. In 257, Gallienus took the title Dacicus Maximus, which indicates some sort of action against the Carpi. This period marks the last phase of building activity in the forts of the province. The wide gates of the forts at Enlaka, Barcarozsny6, Sebesvar- alja and Porolissum were walled up in order to leave as few penetrable surfaces as possible. Under Gallienus, that is before 260, the custom of erect
ing inscription stones was also abandoned. The disappearance of coinage in western Dacia is reflected by the fact that with the exception of Apulum, 44. Lactantius, de moribus persecutorum a. 2.; A u r e l i u s , Epitome de Caesaribus
10. 16.
Danube
M O E S I A S U P E R I O R
D A C I A R I P E NS I S
1 / DACIA /
K s / M E D I T E RR A N E A
''V /
---
1---M O E S I A I NFERI OR
Map 3. The abandonment of Dacia
1. Singidunum ; 2. V im inacium ; 3. R atiaria;4. O escus;5. N ovae; 6. D urostorum ; 7. Coin hoards concealed in the m id d le o f the th ird cen tury, indicating th e decay o f old D acia
the military headquarters, hardly any coins have come to light in the forts and towns. The chronic lack of money — an ongoing attendant to the crises of the middle of the third century — was aggravated by the closing of the Viminacium mint in 257-258 when it was dismantled and transported away.
The conclusive wars, conducted on several frontiers for three decades, the catastrophic economic situation, the chronic shortage of money and the in
ternal power struggles eventually led to anarchy within the imperium. At the close of the 250s, however, after the rockbottom depression brought on by the terrible sufferings of the earlier incursions, Gallienus devoted his energies to reorganizing the empire. He created a mobile central army from detachments drawn from the legions, and in 260, he succeeded in expelling the Alamanni, who had penetrated as far as Italy. He then consolidated and restored the Rhineland frontier.
Gallienus established his military headquarters for the defence of Italy and Illyria at Poetovio. In the 260s, the Dacian legions, the legio V M acedonica and the legio XIII Gemina were both transferred to this base under the lead
ership of Flavius Aper praepositus. The soldiers took up quarters in the town.
Their presence is attested to by marble inscriptions and reliefs that have
com e to light in the third Mithras sanctuary of the town which was rebuilt and richly furnished by them. The presence of staff officers and their ad
ministrative rank in Poetovio indicates that numerous detachments from the two legions were stationed there. This in turn suggests that these troops had been transferred from Dacia because the province had lost its strategic and military importance and because Dacia was now surrounded by hos
tile and belligerent barbarians. This transfer was a continuation of the former partial relinquishing of territories and a prelude to later events.
The reorganization of the Danubian provinces was facilitated by the fact that after a series of attacks, the Gothic thrust lost its strength. In 269, Em
peror Claudius II inflicted a crushing defeat on the Gothic army at Naissus.
The title Gothicus taken by the emperor marked a real military victory and becam e a constant epithet connected to his name. His successor, Aurelian, cleared Illyria and Thracia of the plundering barbarian hordes and defeated the Goths on their own territory before leaving for the eastern front. The Goth king, Cannabaudes, also fell in battle. The war on the Lower Danube cam e to an end at this point. The victories brought relief to the people of the area, but they could not save Dacia. The coins minted in 270, at the begin
ning of A urelian's reign, bear the legend GEN IUS ILLYRICI and PAN N ON IA or DACIA FELIX reflecting the importance of Illyria, and proclaim ing the luck of Dacia, which had been salvaged for the Imperium. It is possi
ble that the legend indeed refers to the salvation of Trajan's Dacia, but it appears more probable that it commemorates the deliverance of the pro
vincial population, and celebrates the new province of Dacia that had been founded south of the Danube. Aurelian, who gained personal experience of the situation in the province, probably saw no reason to maintain a prov
ince plagued by constant raids, and, to boot, one with a much diminished population. The remaining garrison troops were withdrawn and the sur
viving population was resettled in Moesia. To keep up appearances, a new province called Dacia (later Dacia Ripensis and Dacia M editerranea) was created between the two Moesia with Serdica (Sofia, Bulgaria) as its capital.
The final forty years of Dacian history repeatedly demonstrated what had already been apparent in Hadrian's time, namely, that the province did not play a significant role in the defence of the Balkan provinces and the central areas of the empire. The Sarmatians and the Goths had been able to plunder the two Moesias and Thracia unhindered. The long frontier section of the empire in this region could not be effectively defended even by tens of thousands of soldiers. By withdrawing the Romans from Dacia, Aurelian considerably reduced the length of the imperial frontier. W hat remained could then be better protected, similarly to the frontier in Germania and Raetia, in the triangle between the Rhine and Danube rivers. He strength
ened the Danubian limes in its late first-century form. The legio XIII Gemina occupied the castrum at Ratiaria, whilst the legio V Macedonica returned to Oescus, its garrison of 170 years before. After shortening the frontier sec
tion, Aurelian was able to lead a segment of the Illyrian army east in the knowledge that the Balkan provinces were now secure.