Slavery in Dacia

There is limited evidence of slaves being used in the economic system of the Dacians.^[1] The lower classes of Dacia (comati) were free men; however, the widespread warfare in the region made it one of the most important sources of slaves for the Roman and Greek world,^[1] with which they engaged in slave trade.

Herodotus wrote that the Thracians (which he considered to include the Getae) sold their children in slavery to traders (See Pontic slave trade).^[2] Polybius wrote that the Greeks brought slaves "of best quality" from the peoples living on the shores of the Black Sea (via the Black Sea slave trade).^[3]

During the late Roman Republic (roughly between 130 BC and 31 BC), large numbers of Roman denarii were imported into Dacia.^[4] There are over 25,000 such coins in Romanian collections, most of which were found in large hoards, a far higher number than anywhere outside the Roman Empire.^[4] An explanation for this large amount of imported Roman silver would be that the Dacians exported large numbers of slaves to Rome.^[4] Based on the number of coins, Michael Crawford estimated in 1977 that perhaps as many as 30,000 slaves were exported each year to Rome between mid-60s and 30s BC.^[4]

• Herodotus, History, Book V
• Polybius, The Histories, Book IV

• Crawford, Michael H. (1977-01-01). "Republican Denarii in Romania: The Suppression of Piracy and the Slave-Trade". The Journal of Roman Studies. 67: 117–124. doi:10.2307/299923. JSTOR 299923.