Burebista, King of Getae and Dacia which were unified for the first time and ruled from 82 BC and 44 BC. Burebista was known to plunder and raid countries/tribes in Central and Southeastern Europe which subjugated most neighboring tribes. He was assassinated in a palace coup and divided the kingdom or rather empire, into 5
states.
Conquests and external policy[]
Burebista led a conquest on new territories between the time of 60 or 59 BC, he decided to attack and kill Celtic tribes which were Boii and Taurisci, they were around the Middle Danube and in what today is known as Slovakia. After 55 BC and maybe before 48 BC, Burebista planned to conquer the Black Sea shore and which he did, which subjugated Greek fortresses from around Olbia to Apollonia, and the Danubian Plain stretching to the Balkans.
There was only one Greek polis that Burebista had a fond relationship with and that was Dionysopolis and according to a inscription found in a city called, Akornion, one of the citizens of the city was a chief aviser of Burebista.
When Burebista's empire was at it's peak, it stretched from the modern Slovakian Carpathians to the Balkans and from Middle Danube to the Black Sea. 200,000 men were able to be raised from the Getae as the Greek philosopher, Strabo said. Burebista was also known to be a worthy adversary to the Roman Empire and his army could cross the Danube, plunder Roman towns and it could reach as far as Thrace, Macedonia, and Illyria.
In 48 BC, Burebista decided to join Pompey when he was struggling against Julius Caesar in the known Roman Civil War which sent Akornion as an ambassador and a military adviser. When Caesar won the war, he decided to punish Burebista for his cruelty of such to be killed and punished by Roman Legionairres, yet they could not do as Burebista was already found dead and assassinated in the Senate on March 15, 44 BC.
Death[]
As Burebista outlived Caesar for very short times, as the same year; he was assassinated in a plot by a tribal aristocracy which thought would centralize and reduce their power. When Burebista's death occured, the empire/kingdom was destroyed and died out and the rest were into various kingdoms except for one which was around Orăştie Mountains. Augustus Caesar sent an army against the Getae and the former state of Burebista was divided.
Legacy[]
In the 1970s of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, a Communist Dictator used his own nationalistic interpretation of ancient history as a way to legitimize his own rule.
As this happened, when it was 1980 the Romanian government decided to declare it's celebration of the 2050th anniversary of the founding of the "unified and centralized" Dacian State of Burebista.