Alecu Russo compared him to the medieval hero Stephen the Great, saying "The one and the other both had the same aim, the same sublime idea: the independence of their country! Both are heroes, but Stephen is a more local hero, a Moldavian hero, while Decebalus is the hero of the world." Mihai Eminescu, the Romanian national poet, wrote the historical drama "Decebalus". George Coșbuc's 1896 poem " Decebal către popor" (Decebalus to his People) lauds the Dacian leader's scorn of death.