Aurelian abandons Dacia

Roman Dacia, conquered by Trajan in 106 on the exposed north bank of the Danube, came under growing pressure in the middle of the 3rd century from the Free Dacians, the Carpi, the Goths and other peoples; according to the late Roman historian Festus it was lost already under Gallienus. After defeating the Goths north of the Danube in 271, Aurelian decided to give up the province as too difficult and costly to defend. The legions and the administration were withdrawn, and, in the words of Eutropius, the Roman citizens removed from the towns and lands of Dacia were settled in the interior of Moesia. There a new province named Dacia (later known as Dacia Aureliana) was created, with its capital at Serdica, modern Sofia, and later divided into Dacia Ripensis and Dacia Mediterranea; Festus, however, speaks of two Dacias created at once.

Both the date and the extent of the withdrawal are debated. Historians place it between 271 and 275. Supporters of Daco-Roman continuity hold that only the army, the officials and part of the townspeople left, while a sizeable Latin-speaking population stayed north of the Danube; their opponents, citing Eutropius and the Historia Augusta (Aurelian “withdrew both the soldiers and the provincials”), think that most of the romanized population was evacuated. The question lies at the heart of the long dispute over the origin of the Romanians.