caption father predecessor death_date title image article_title name reign
decebalus '' -lrb- 1919 -rrb- , as depicted in '' cartea omului matur scorilo -lrb- purported -rrb- duras 106 king of dacia decebal % 27s_portrait . png decebalus
 decebalus 87 -- 106 ad
decebalus

decebalus -lrb- ruled 87-106 -rrb- was the last king of dacia .
he is famous for fighting three wars , with varying success , against the roman empire under two emperors .
after raiding across the danube , he defeated a roman invasion in the reign of domitian , securing a period of independence during which decebalus consolidated his rule .
when trajan came to power , his armies invaded dacia to weaken its threat to roman border territory .
decebalus was defeated .
he remained in power as a client king , but continued to assert his independence , leading to a final and overwhelming roman invasion in 105 .
trajan reduced the dacian capital sarmizegetusa in 106 , absorbing dacia into the empire .
decebalus committed suicide to avoid capture .
since the mid 19th century decebalus has been portrayed as a national hero in romania , the modern successor to ancient dacia .
there are several monuments depicting him .
