Dacian Draco
Encyclopedia
The Dacian Draco was the standard and ensign of troops of the ancient Eastern European Dacian people, which can be seen in the hands of the soldiers of Decebalus
in several scenes depicted on Trajan's Column
in Rome
, Italy. It has the form of a dragon
with open wolf-like jaws containing several metal tongues. The hollow dragon's head was mounted on a pole with a fabric tube affixed at the rear. In use, the draco was held up into the wind, or above the head of a horseman, where it filled with air and gave the impression it was alive while making a shrill sound as the wind passed through its strips of material.
) and Drakon (Greek
) mean "serpent", "dragon". The root of these words means “to watch” or “to guard with a sharp eye”. Apparently, it is a derivative of Greek drakōn "gazing" .
, the draco symbol was assimilated in the Greco-Roman world with the Dacian ethnos.
as a special protective symbol, while it also played an important role in the religious life of the people.
The draco shows a religious syncretism
between the wolf and the dragon as well as the serpent. It was supposed to encourage the Getae
and to scare their enemies.
By the time of the phase D of Hallstatt Period (8th–6th century BC), the decorative pattern of a dragon head or a serpent had become quite common in Dacia
. In the La Tène Period (3thBC–1st century AD), it served as a standard for the Dacians.
The image of the draco appears on a 4th century BC ceramic piece discovered at Budureasca commune, Prahova county
, Romania
.
The draco first appears on Trajan's Column in Rome, a monument that depicts the Dacian wars of 101–102 AD and 105–106 AD. German historian Conrad Cichorius
notes that, even though Dacians carry the draco, it was called the Scythian draco in Arrian
's Tactica written around 136 AD. According to Ellis Minns
, the dragon standards of the Arrian were those of the Dacians.
by swimming with their horses. In another, the draco is planted in the center of a Dacian citadel and surrounded by the skulls of several Roman
prisoners. On Trajan's Column the draco is the symbolic image of victory although it is absent from pictures on the column that illustrate Trajan's second war against the Dacians
, when the Romans conquered Dacia.
(r.138–161 AD), indicating that it was still the characteristic emblem in the second century.
, Greece.
(Chester
, UK) in the North Wall (West) in 1890. The dragon flag is represented horizontally, as held by the cavalryman but its head is not visible, because the stone is rather deteriorated. Most scholars consider the horseman is a Sarmatian, wearing a Sarmatian helmet and carrying a Sarmatian standard. According to Mihăilescu-Bîrliba (2009) the depiction of the Dacian standard is certain and similar representations can be observed on the most important monuments of the Roman triumph over Dacians. A military diploma (dated to 146 AD) found at Chester mentions among the units of the released soldiers the name of cohors I Aelia Dacorum. Therefore, the horseman depicted on the tombstone at Chester could be a Dacian cavalryman, belonging to the cohors Aelia Dacorum (or more precisely to a vexillatio of that cohort). P. A. Holder suggest that the cohort was created in 102 or a little earlier, with Dacians settled in the Empire, and it received the name of Aelia later.
Scholars believe that the draco was adopted by the Roman army following their conquest of the Dacians. It became the standard of the cohort
in the same way that the aquila
or Imperial eagle was the standard of the Roman legion
. The adopted standard in the Roman cavalry was borne by a draconarius
. Later, the draco became an imperial ensign.
The draco was specific not only to Roman occupied Dacia but also to the Sarmatian and Parthia
n regions. As a result, some alternative origins for the Roman army
's draco have been proposed. According to Franz Altheim
, the appearance such ensigns in the Roman army coincided with the recruitment of nomad troops from central and southern Asian, and it was from this region that the image passed into China
, Iran and subsequently to the West. The Dacians and Germans would then have inherited it from the Sarmatian people.
Compared to those of the Dacians and Romans, the Sarmatian Draco was more Oriental in appearance with prominent ears, dog-like teeth and even fins. It did not usually have scales or the distinctive crest of the dragon-like gilded head of a late Roman standard found at Niederbieber, Germany
. Its head may have been represented by the legendary Iran
ian senmurv — half-wolf, half-bird.
Regardless its origin, Mihăilescu-Bîrliba (2009) suggests that at the end of the 1st century A. D., the Romans associated the draco with Dacians.
A draco banner is carried by one of the Danubian Riders, native Dacian deities, on a Danubian plaque ascribed to the first two decades of the fourth century. Because of the great importance of this symbol in the religious and military life of the Dacians, some writers believe that the draco must have been directly adopted and reproduced on the so-called Danubian plaques dating to the 3rd–4th centuries AD. According to some researchers such as Dumitru Tudor, the presence of this military ensign on the Danubian plaques is explained simply as due to chance — the result of a fortuitous combination of horseman and sky-god themes through the imagination of native sculptors.
placed the Christian symbol on military ensigns instead of the dragon, the name outlived the change, and the standard-bearer remained the draconarius
. Sometimes the ancient symbol is found joined to the new, the dragon being placed beneath the cross.
The cavalrymen of the Carolingian dynasty continued raising the draco previously adopted by the Roman Empire over their forces in the eight, ninth, and tenth centuries.
included the Dacian Draco in his Costume des anciens peuples, à l'usage des artistes
The Romanian artist Adam Nicolae created the sculpture Steagul Dacic ‘The Dacian Flag’ that can be seen in Orăștie
, Romania
.
According to Saxon ethnographer Teutsch, Transylvanian Romanians may have inherited something of the “snake-cult” of the ancient Dacians, who are known to have had a dragon (or snake) as a “victory banner”. He mentions that some doorknockers are shaped like snake heads (protective ones in this case). Furthermore, in Romanian villages in the Brașov
's region surveyed by Teutsch, the vaults of certain gates bear snakes carved in the shape of garlands with their ends representing the “sun-wheel””.
, the Dacian war flag, representing a wolf with a serpent's body, depicted the balaur
, a creature synonymous with the zmeu
of Romanian myth.
Some motifs developed in the folk tradition that defines the snake as protective of the household correspond, to some extent, to the interpretation of a protective Dacian “Dragon” symbol.
Decebalus
Decebalus or "The Brave" was a king of Dacia and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two interregnums of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors...
in several scenes depicted on Trajan's Column
Trajan's Column
Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, which commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy. It has the form of a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
with open wolf-like jaws containing several metal tongues. The hollow dragon's head was mounted on a pole with a fabric tube affixed at the rear. In use, the draco was held up into the wind, or above the head of a horseman, where it filled with air and gave the impression it was alive while making a shrill sound as the wind passed through its strips of material.
Name and etymology
Draco (LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
) and Drakon (Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
) mean "serpent", "dragon". The root of these words means “to watch” or “to guard with a sharp eye”. Apparently, it is a derivative of Greek drakōn "gazing" .
Origins
The origin of the standard is unknown and still a matter of dispute among scholars. A certain origin is still difficult to be determined, but Thracian, Scythian, Sarmatian or Parthian origins have been proposed in dedicated historiography. However according to Lucreţiu Mihăilescu-Bîrliba, by the 2nd century AD, i.e. after the conclusion of the Dacian WarsDacian Wars
The Dacian Wars were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian Roman Province of Moesia and also by the increasing need for resources of the staggering economy of the...
, the draco symbol was assimilated in the Greco-Roman world with the Dacian ethnos.
Significance
Among the Dacians, the draco was undoubtedly seen by the armyDacian warfare
The history of Dacian warfare spans from c. 10th century BC up to the 2nd century AD in the region defined by Ancient Greek and Latin historians as Dacia. It concerns the armed conflicts of the Dacian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans...
as a special protective symbol, while it also played an important role in the religious life of the people.
The draco shows a religious syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
between the wolf and the dragon as well as the serpent. It was supposed to encourage the Getae
Getae
The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
and to scare their enemies.
- A wolf was depicted at the standard's head, symbolic animal of the CarpathianCarpathianCarpathian may refer to:*Carpathian Mountains of Central and Eastern Europe*Carpathian Convention on sustainable development in that region*Carpathian Shepherd Dog, a Romanian sheep dog*Subcarpathian Voivodeship, an administrative division of Poland...
people since the phase B of Hallstatt Period (10th–8th century BC). The animal is shown in an aggressive posture similar to that of certain Hittite monstersHittite mythologyMost of the narratives embodying Hittite mythology are lost, and the elements that would give a balanced view of Hittite religion are lacking among the tablets recovered at the Hittite capital Hattusa and other Hittite sites: "there are no canonical scriptures, no theological disquisitions or...
. The religious association of the dragon with the wolf or the lion is first found around the year 1120 BC, on a stela of Nebuchadnezzar I, where an exact representation of the symbol of the Dacian dragon is found in the fourth quarter. This indicates that the Dacian draco stems from the art of Asia MinorAsia MinorAsia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
where the religious-military symbology of dragon extended both eastward to the Indo-IraniansIndo-IraniansIndo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....
and westward to the Thraco-CimmerianoCimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
-Getians/Dacians.
By the time of the phase D of Hallstatt Period (8th–6th century BC), the decorative pattern of a dragon head or a serpent had become quite common in Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
. In the La Tène Period (3thBC–1st century AD), it served as a standard for the Dacians.
The image of the draco appears on a 4th century BC ceramic piece discovered at Budureasca commune, Prahova county
Prahova County
Prahova is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploieşti.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 829,945 and the population density was 176/km². It is Romania's most populated county, having a population density double than the country's mean...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
- The body of the standard, depicting a dragon-like balaurBalaurA balaur is a creature in Romanian folklore, similar to a European dragon. A bălaur is quite large, has fins, feet, and is polycephalous...
or a large snake, was seen by the Dacians as a manifestation of the sky demon or "heavenly dragon". This relates to their supreme god ZalmoxisZalmoxisZalmoxis , is a divinity of the Getae, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories IV, 93-96...
who was a sky god (cf. also TomaschekWilhelm TomaschekWilhelm Tomaschek, or Vilém Tomášek was a Czech-Austrian geographer and orientalist. Born at Olmiitz, in Moravia, he received his education at Vienna,...
). In the Hallstatt Period "proper", the decorative pattern of a dragon head or a serpent became quite common in Dacia. The dragon symbol is also represented on the silver Dacian braceletsDacian bracelets]The Dacian bracelets are bracelets associated with the ancient peoples known as the Dacians, a particularly individualized branch of the Thracians. These bracelets were used as ornaments, currency, high rank insignia and votive offerings Their ornamentations consist of many elaborate regionally...
of the Classical periodClassical antiquityClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
. The snake-shaped bracelets and other similar ornaments show not only the spread of the snake as a decorative motif but also its significance in Dacian material civilization.
Dacian Draco in warfare
Dacians marched into the battle accompanied by the howl of boar-headed trumpets and following their sinister multicolored dragon-head standard. As intended, they made a terrifying audiovisual spectacle.The draco first appears on Trajan's Column in Rome, a monument that depicts the Dacian wars of 101–102 AD and 105–106 AD. German historian Conrad Cichorius
Conrad Cichorius
Conrad Cichorius was a German historian and classical philologist.- Selected works :* Rom und Mytilene, Teubner, Leipzig 1888* Die Reliefs des Denkmals von Adamklissi, Leipzig 1897...
notes that, even though Dacians carry the draco, it was called the Scythian draco in Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
's Tactica written around 136 AD. According to Ellis Minns
Ellis Minns
Sir Ellis Hovell Minns was a British academic and archaeologist whose studies focused on Eastern Europe.Educated at Charterhouse, he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge studying the Classical tripos including Slavonic and Russian. He lived briefly in Paris before moving to St Petersburg in 1898 to...
, the dragon standards of the Arrian were those of the Dacians.
Representations of the Dacian Draco
Trajan's Column in Rome
On Trajan's Column (113 AD) Dacian soldiers are represented carrying a draco in 20 scenes. One depicts the draco borne by Dacian cavalry crossing the DanubeDanube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
by swimming with their horses. In another, the draco is planted in the center of a Dacian citadel and surrounded by the skulls of several Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
prisoners. On Trajan's Column the draco is the symbolic image of victory although it is absent from pictures on the column that illustrate Trajan's second war against the Dacians
Second Dacian War
The Second Dacian War was fought in 105 to 106 because the Dacian king Decebalus had broken his peace terms with the Roman emperor Trajan from the First Dacian War...
, when the Romans conquered Dacia.
Roman coins of Dacia
The draco appears on coins of Roman Emperor Antoninus PiusAntoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
(r.138–161 AD), indicating that it was still the characteristic emblem in the second century.
Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki
The characteristic Dacian dragon emblem is carried by a group of Dacian horsemen depicted on the Arch of Galerius and Rotunda in ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, Greece.
A Funerary Sculptured Monument of Chester
A draco (considered in 1955 by R. P. Wright of Dacian or Sarmatian type) is depicted on a large stone found at Deva VictrixDeva Victrix
Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia. The settlement evolved into Chester, the county town of Cheshire, England...
(Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, UK) in the North Wall (West) in 1890. The dragon flag is represented horizontally, as held by the cavalryman but its head is not visible, because the stone is rather deteriorated. Most scholars consider the horseman is a Sarmatian, wearing a Sarmatian helmet and carrying a Sarmatian standard. According to Mihăilescu-Bîrliba (2009) the depiction of the Dacian standard is certain and similar representations can be observed on the most important monuments of the Roman triumph over Dacians. A military diploma (dated to 146 AD) found at Chester mentions among the units of the released soldiers the name of cohors I Aelia Dacorum. Therefore, the horseman depicted on the tombstone at Chester could be a Dacian cavalryman, belonging to the cohors Aelia Dacorum (or more precisely to a vexillatio of that cohort). P. A. Holder suggest that the cohort was created in 102 or a little earlier, with Dacians settled in the Empire, and it received the name of Aelia later.
Dacian Draco as adopted by the Roman army after 106 AD
The first sculptural representation of a draco borne by a Roman soldier dates from the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r.161 to 180 AD).Scholars believe that the draco was adopted by the Roman army following their conquest of the Dacians. It became the standard of the cohort
Cohort (military unit)
A cohort was the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion following the reforms of Gaius Marius in 107 BC.-Legionary cohort:...
in the same way that the aquila
Aquila (Roman)
The Aquila was the eagle standard of a Roman legion, carried by a special grade legionary known as an Aquilifer. One eagle standard was carried by each legion.-History:...
or Imperial eagle was the standard of the Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
. The adopted standard in the Roman cavalry was borne by a draconarius
Draconarius
For the spider genus in the family Amaurobiidae, see : Draconarius .The draconarius was a type of signiferi who bore a cavalry standard known as a draco in the Roman army.- Name :...
. Later, the draco became an imperial ensign.
The draco was specific not only to Roman occupied Dacia but also to the Sarmatian and Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
n regions. As a result, some alternative origins for the Roman army
Roman army
The Roman army is the generic term for the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the kingdom of Rome , the Roman Republic , the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine empire...
's draco have been proposed. According to Franz Altheim
Franz Altheim
Franz Altheim was a German historian, best known for his trip with Erika Trautmann funded by the Ahnenerbe and Hermann Göring.-Early life:...
, the appearance such ensigns in the Roman army coincided with the recruitment of nomad troops from central and southern Asian, and it was from this region that the image passed into China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Iran and subsequently to the West. The Dacians and Germans would then have inherited it from the Sarmatian people.
Compared to those of the Dacians and Romans, the Sarmatian Draco was more Oriental in appearance with prominent ears, dog-like teeth and even fins. It did not usually have scales or the distinctive crest of the dragon-like gilded head of a late Roman standard found at Niederbieber, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Its head may have been represented by the legendary Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian senmurv — half-wolf, half-bird.
Regardless its origin, Mihăilescu-Bîrliba (2009) suggests that at the end of the 1st century A. D., the Romans associated the draco with Dacians.
Votive tablets
Copies
The only copy left is a dragon-like gilded head of the late Roman standard found at the Niederbieber, Germany.Legacy
The draco was generally introduced in the fourth century as a Roman standard. When ConstantineConstantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
placed the Christian symbol on military ensigns instead of the dragon, the name outlived the change, and the standard-bearer remained the draconarius
Draconarius
For the spider genus in the family Amaurobiidae, see : Draconarius .The draconarius was a type of signiferi who bore a cavalry standard known as a draco in the Roman army.- Name :...
. Sometimes the ancient symbol is found joined to the new, the dragon being placed beneath the cross.
The cavalrymen of the Carolingian dynasty continued raising the draco previously adopted by the Roman Empire over their forces in the eight, ninth, and tenth centuries.
Art and Literature
Michel-François Dandré-BardonMichel-François Dandré-Bardon
Michel François André-Bardon, an historical painter and etcher, was born at Aix, in Provence, in 1700. He himself signed his name Dandré-Bardon, or D. Bardon, because his uncle, Louis Bardon, made him his heir on condition that he continued the name of Bardon; but his real name was André, as the...
included the Dacian Draco in his Costume des anciens peuples, à l'usage des artistes
The Romanian artist Adam Nicolae created the sculpture Steagul Dacic ‘The Dacian Flag’ that can be seen in Orăștie
Orastie
Orăștie is a city in Hunedoara County, south-western Transylvania, Romania.-History:7th–9th century – on the site of an old swamp , which today is the old center of town, it was a human settlement whose traces have been scattered into the X-th century by the construction of the first...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
According to Saxon ethnographer Teutsch, Transylvanian Romanians may have inherited something of the “snake-cult” of the ancient Dacians, who are known to have had a dragon (or snake) as a “victory banner”. He mentions that some doorknockers are shaped like snake heads (protective ones in this case). Furthermore, in Romanian villages in the Brașov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
's region surveyed by Teutsch, the vaults of certain gates bear snakes carved in the shape of garlands with their ends representing the “sun-wheel””.
Mythology
According to historian Vasile PârvanVasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.He studied history in Bucharest, with Nicolae Iorga as one of his professors. He continued his studies in Germany. His Ph.D. thesis, written in 1909, was titled The nationality of merchants in the Roman Empire...
, the Dacian war flag, representing a wolf with a serpent's body, depicted the balaur
Balaur
A balaur is a creature in Romanian folklore, similar to a European dragon. A bălaur is quite large, has fins, feet, and is polycephalous...
, a creature synonymous with the zmeu
Zmeu
The Zmeu is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Sometimes compared to other fantastic creatures, such as the balaur or the vârcolac, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability...
of Romanian myth.
Some motifs developed in the folk tradition that defines the snake as protective of the household correspond, to some extent, to the interpretation of a protective Dacian “Dragon” symbol.
See also
- Dacian warfareDacian warfareThe history of Dacian warfare spans from c. 10th century BC up to the 2nd century AD in the region defined by Ancient Greek and Latin historians as Dacia. It concerns the armed conflicts of the Dacian tribes and their kingdoms in the Balkans...
- DraconariusDraconariusFor the spider genus in the family Amaurobiidae, see : Draconarius .The draconarius was a type of signiferi who bore a cavalry standard known as a draco in the Roman army.- Name :...
- Draco (constellation)Draco (constellation)Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar for many observers in the northern hemisphere...
- Draco (military standard)Draco (military standard)A draco was a Roman cavalry military standard borne by a draconarius. It was the standard of the cohort as the eagle was that of the legion. In Europe, the dragon was originally a Dacian emblem...
- European dragonEuropean dragonEuropean dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
- BunchukBunchukA Bunchuk is a piece of horse or yak tail hair attached to the top of a pole, which is decorated with a trident, a ball or a crescent....