Decebalus

c. 1st century–106

Decebalus was king of Dacia and the main opponent of Rome during Trajan’s Dacian Wars. His resistance and eventual defeat led to the Roman conquest of Dacia and the creation of a new imperial province north of the Danube.

Decebalus died in Bălcești. Decebalus united and strengthened Dacian resistance to Rome, defeating Roman forces before Trajan’s two Dacian Wars ended in the conquest of his kingdom; facing capture in 106, he killed himself and Dacia became a Roman province.

In Adrian Goldsworthy’s The Fort, Flavius Ferox is sent beyond the Danube to command an isolated fort during the uneasy peace between Trajan’s Rome and King Decebalus. In Simon Turney’s The Iron Gates (Rider of Rome), Trajan begins the war that Domitian failed to finish, driving Roman armies towards the mountain passes controlling the kingdom of Decebalus.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Decebalus (1 series)

City of Victory in Order

by Adrian Goldsworthy 3 books 4.4(4,972)

City of Victory continues the story of Flavius Ferox after the Vindolanda novels, moving him from the northern frontier of Britain to Trajan’s Dacian and eastern campaigns before bringing him back to Hadrian’s Wall. The sequence follows frontier command, imperial politics, sieges and the dangerous patronage of Hadrian…