Caesar vs. Burebista
 
 

 

Like Alexander the Great, but by different means, Burebista created a big and powerful Dacian territory, called by many people "Empire". Burebista had to deal with dangerous neighbours, so he was forced to organize many campaigns for protecting Dacia. Strabo mentions two peoples totally anihilated by Burebista: he made disappear the Oxen ruled by Critosiros and the Bulls. In 48 BC there was a memorial inscription accorded to Acornion, which said that Burebista was the first and the greatest king of Thracia, he was the owner of the entire danubian territories; than it says that Acornion was very closed to Burebista and he was appreciated for his contribution to the developpement of his nation. Burebista made an lucid political analysis, and he considered that the other powerful political center of the time, Rome, should be not an enemy but a partener, this beeing the way of avoiding some bloody conflicts. But the Romans were seriously concearned about the Dacian power, very stable comparing with the Roman Senate which changed every year. Strabo said even that not only the neighbour people feared Burebista, but also Rome considered him to be a real threat. Caesar seriously thought to restart the campaign against Burebista. And a moment came when to great personalities of antique world were facing one another without fear, with prudence that did not exclude the courage and with a great pride tempered by wisdom: Burebista and Caesar. If the status of the Roman state had been stable, the two rivals would have been confronting one another much sooner (49-48 B.C.) than they finally did.