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.[2] Polybius wrote that the Greeks brought slaves "of best quality" from the peoples living on the shores of the Black Sea.[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]