GETAE, the same people who were known to the Romans under the name of Dacians. They were originally a Thracian tribe, occupying the country between Mount Hasmus, the lofty ridge of the Balkan, and the lower part of the river Danube, and distinguished from the rest of their countrymen neither in language nor in manners. Here Herodotus seems to have known them probably from personal observation (iv.93), and Thucydides speaks of them as occupying the same position (ii. 96). It was not till Philip of Macedon and his successors proceeded to extend their conquests over the Thracian tribes, that we hear of the Getae changing their abode. When Alexander (about 333 b. c.) made an expedition into their country, he found them on the north side of the Danube, but we have no means of ascertaining whether they still retained their possessions to the south. His successor Lysimachus was not∙equally successful in his war with the Getae. Having been taken prisoner by their king, he was asked to observe the poverty of the nation, and at the same time advised not to make war upon a people whose wants were so few and so easily supplied. He was afterwards allowed to depart in safety. (Diod. Sic. Fragm. xxi.; Memnon, ap. Phot. cod. 214, c. 6.) In the reign of Perseus, last king of Macedon (170 b c.), we find the eastern bank of the Danube in possession of the Bastarnae, a Teutonic people, who must have expelled the Getae, and gave occasion to the appellation of Deserta Getarum, by which it was first known to the Romans. The Getae seem to have travelled westwards, and settled in Transylvania, spreading themselves over Hungary. Here their power increased so much under one of their kings, Bocribistas, that it became formidable even to the Romans; they pillaged Thrace, and reduced the country of the Boii to a desert. At this time they were in possession of part of the country to the south of the Danube, a part of Servia and Bulgaria, where we find them attacked by the Romans (Justin. xxv. 1.; Flor. iii. 4). At last Augustus determined to subdue them, and he found the attempt less difficult than he had expected, for Bocribistas was dead, and his kingdom divided into several parts. The Roman generals compelled the Getae partly to submit, and partly to withdraw to the north of the Danube. Moesia was erected into a province, the banks of the river were studded with fortresses, and the kingdom of the Getae to the south was put an end to for ever. (Strab. vii. 304, 305.) During the whole of the first century of the Christian era, the Getae continued to make incursions from their mountains into the Roman territory, but it was not till the reign of Domitian that they became truly formidable. They were then under the command of Decebalus, who directed their proceedings with so much prudence and vigour, that the emperor found himself obliged to conclude with them a disgraceful treaty. The succession of Trajan to the empire, and his well-known experience and wisdom, induced Decebalus to lower his tone; but it was too late, for Trajan was determined to relieve the Romans from all danger in this quarter. Trajan crossed the Danube with a formidable army; and Decebalus, after several unsuccessful battles, found himself obliged either to submit or to put an end to his life. The latter alternative he chose as the more honourable, and his subjects submitted to the conqueror. His kingdom was erected into the province of Dacia, the only one which ever existed to the north of the Danube; and as the land was nearly without inhabitants, Trajan transferred to it many from other parts of the empire, and the province became Roman not only in manners, but even in language (Dion. Cass. Ixviii. 14; Eutrop. viii. 2, 6). The Romans were not allowed to remain quietly in possession of this country, but they continued to maintain their footing until the reign of Aurelian (a. d. 271), who, convinced of the impossibility of resisting the encroachments of the Goths without some better protected frontier than Dacia presented, determined to withdraw the Roman inhabitants to the south side of the Danube. The greater number followed his advice, and were placed in the country between Upper and Lower Moesia, in the present district of Servia and Bulgaria, which was then called Dacia Ripensis (Eutrop. ix. 15; Vopisc. in Aurel, c. 39). The name of Dacian or Getan was no longer heard of; but a considerable number of the people still remained, preserving their ancient customs and the Latin language. There seems indeed to be little doubt that the present inhabitants of Wallachia are descendants from this people, as it is difficult otherwise to account for their language so closely resembling the ancient Latin. (See a discussion on this subject in Thunmann’s Untersuchungen über die Geschichte der östlich Europ. Volker, Leips. 1774.)