section_path: History/Dacia and the Roman Empire
section_name: Dacia and the Roman Empire
paragraph_text: Dacia and the Roman Empire
  
  It is believed that the tribes responsible for creating the Bronze Age culture on the territory of modern Romania belonged to the Indo-European group of Thracians. Strabo, in Geographica, notes that the Getae spoke the same language as the Thracians, and the Dacians the same language as the Getae. However, the earliest account of the Getae is attributed to Herodotus. The conquest of Dacia by the Romans led to the fusion of two cultures—the Daco-Romans became the ancestors of the Romanian people. After Dacia became a province of the Roman Empire, elements of Roman culture and civilisation—most notably Vulgar Latin, which laid the foundation for the development of the Romanian language —were introduced.
  
  Based on information from the inscription at Dionysupolis and the account of Iordanes, it is known that under the rule of Burebista, assisted by the great priest Deceneu, the first Geto-Dacian state was formed. In 44 BC, Burebista was assassinated by one of his servants. After his death, the Geto-Dacian state fragmented into four, and later five, kingdoms. The core of the state remained in the area of the Șureanu Mountains, where successive rulers such as Deceneu, Comosicus, and Coryllus held power. The centralised Dacian state reached the peak of its development under Decebalus. During this period, a series of conflicts with the Roman Empire continued, with part of the Dacian state being conquered in 106 AD by the Roman emperor Trajan. Between 271 and 275 AD, the Aurelian retreat took place.