page_title: History of Transnistria to 1792
section_title: Antiquity
hierarchical_section_title: History of Transnistria to 1792 / Antiquity
caption_attribution_description: English: Stamp of Moldova
context_page_description: This deals with the History of Transnistria before it became part of the Russian Empire in 1792.
context_section_description: In ancient times, the area was inhabited by Thracian and Scythian tribes. Pliny the Elder names the Tyragetae, a Getae tribe living on an island of the Dniester (ancient name "Tyras"), the Axiacae living along the Tyligul River (ancient "Axiaces") and the Crobyzi, a Thracian tribe living beyond the Dniester.
  At the mouth of the river, the Ancient Greeks of Miletus founded around 600 BC a colony named Tyras. It fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Dacians about 50 BC. 
  In AD 56 it had been restored by the Romans and henceforth formed part of the province of Lower Moesia, which also included Dobruja (part of Romania) and northeastern Bulgaria. Roman emperor Trajan probably created the southern Trajan's Wall, between the Prut and the Tyras area on the Black sea coast, in order to defend the "Scythia Minor" province against barbarian invasions.
  Tyras enjoyed great development during Roman times: there it is a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus. But in the second half of the 4th century the area was continuously attacked by barbarians and the Roman legionaries left Tyras.
caption: Trajan's Wall on a Moldovan stamp.
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