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Nations and Nationalism
Daco-Roman Continuity Theory:How mythical history writing affected
Romanian national awakening.Final PaperFall 2004
Christoffer Andersen
Mythical History Writing
All origins become mysterious if we search enough into the past. Andalmost all peoples, when we look at their earliest origins, turn out to havecome from somewhere else [] we should never forget that all ancestriesare mixed 1
The Daco-Roman continuity theory evolves around the origins of the Romanians. This has
been of great importance for the Romanian national awakening and as a tool for Ceausescu
to keep a united Romanian people. It has also clashed with Hungarian origin myths.
Therefore, it has been used as a tool to justify Romanians belonging in Transylvania, and
further, why Transylvania should be a part of Romania. However, it is not significant for
Romanians to believe in a national mythical history of origin. Many nations do so, and there
is nothing wrong in doing so. Nevertheless, Transylvania is an unique case: both
Romanians and Hungarians consider the region a cradle essential to their whole image of
national identity and the historiography of both countries was dedicated in modern and
contemporary times primarily to the task of proving the legitimacy of claims to Transylvania
1
Malcolm, Noel (1998) Kosovo, a short story . London: MacMillan, p. 22.
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or the other way around. 2 Mythical history writing helps nations remember their history,
though flawed, in a national-romantic way. However, it becomes a problem when it is used
in exploiting and superior terms, just as one can perceive degrees of positive and negative
nationalism.
The Communists in Romania after World War II went further than forging an
organized solidarity, but also used the origins of Romanians to keep them loyal to the
regime. Ceausescu was probably the one who exploited the Daco-Roman theory to the
fullest, imprinting it in every Romanians head. This lead to that Romanian historians and
researchers has used every mean to prove the Romanian ancestry and their Daco-Roman
origin3. Further, this exploded to a war on research between Hungary and Romania on who
was first in Transylvania. Therefore, the topic is well documented and explored (but also
subjective and confusing), nevertheless interesting and useful to review. Dragos Petrescu, in
Historical Myths, legitimating discourses, and identity politics in Ceausescus Romania , has identified
four different pillars which Romanian writing and teaching of national history was based on
after the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) program imposed in 1974: (1) the ancient roots
of the Romanians; (2) continuity; (3) unity; and (4) independence 4. The Daco-Roman
continuity theory evolves around several of these aspects. However, for the Hungarians not
even communist indoctrination can match the effectiveness of national socialization in a
matter seen essential, 5 such as cross-border Hungarian Radio, circulation of Hungarian
2 Mungiu-Pippidi, Alina (2000) Legacy of Ethnic Conflict: Transylvania . OSI-IPF Policy Papers, p. 5.Available at: http://www.osi.hu/ipf/pubs.html.3 One has to keep in mind that under Communist regimes scholars were often restricted to ancient and pre-war history.4 Petrescu, Dragos. East European Perspectives: Historical myths, legitimating discourses, and identity
politics in Ceausescus Romania (Part 2) , 14 April 2004, Volume 6, Number 8. Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty. Available at: http://www.rferl.org/reports/eepreport/2004/04/8-140101.asp5
Mangiu-Pippidi 2000: 11
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books and Hungarian national unity. But here I will mainly consider the development of the
theory in itself, how it became known and by who. And one has to keep in mind that all
legends contain a kernel of truth.
The Daco-Roman Continuity Theory
The inhabitants of Transylvania in the 1 st and 2 nd century A.D. is said to be the Dacians.
During the expansion of the Roman Empire Transylvania was conquered by Emperor
Traian. Transylvania (and surrounding areas) was made a part of the Roman Empire under
the name Dacia. The province of Dacia existed approximately from 101 or 106 and ended in
271-275. During these 165-170 years under the Romans the Dacians became assimilated and
integrated with them. When the Romans had to evacuate in the end of its heights the Daco-
Romans had by that time become so homogenous that they today constitute the Romanians
ancestors. In other words, this melting pot of Dacian and Latin culture resulted in the birth
of Romanian culture. However, when the Romans retreated the mixed Romanian people
took refugee in the nearby Carpathian Mountains. The official Romanian historiography has
always been that Romania is a continuity of an old Dacian state. Within this interpretation of
history the Romanian ancestors have been in Transylvania long before anyone else. 6 The
Romanians stayed in the mountains where they conserved their Latin language and culture.
Since Romanians speak a Latin language, Transylvania became the cradle of civilization for
the Romanian nationality, even after waves of immigrants and conquers Avars, Germans,
Slavs, Ottomans and Magyars the mountains, which so geographical describe this area,
6
Gerner, Kristian (1997) Centraleuropas historia . Stockholm: Natur och Kultur, p. 368.
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surrounded and protected them. It is this story that is called the Daco-Roman continuity
theory.
A lot of the evidence or myths come from old national chronicles, but the first
developments of the Daco-Roman theory was developed by Italian and German scholars
looking through old writings in the Vatican in Rome. The Italian Poggia Bracciolini (1380-
1459) wrote one of the first descriptions of Romanians origin. He did not himself travel in
areas populated by Romanians, but probably received information from other Italians that
had traveled there. He wrote about a colony abandoned by Trajan, and indicated the
existence and continuity of Romans (Romanians) in those areas since the fall of the Roman
Empire. However, he did not present any details of this presumed continuity, but only
quoted others. Also scholarly German Transylvanians used their time to prove their
Transylvanian ancestry, as well as the Romanians. Toppeltinus was probably the most
important of these, and meant that the Dacians were the ancestors to Germans in
Transylvania and that Romanians was descendants from the Roman in Dacia. This theory
inspired several young German scholars in Transylvania: The Transylvanian German
scholars were anxious to prove that the Romanians were of purely Roman origin and had
nothing to do with the Dacian, in order to affirm that the Dacians were their ancestors. 7
The work from the German scholars was soon to be known by Moldovian
chroniclers when they researched their historical background. Grigore Ureche (1590-1647)
was the first chronicler of Romanian heritage. He wrote mainly about the Romanian origin
and the history of Moldova. Romanians, as he saw it, shared the same language and was
therefore also the same people. For that reason his works did not only apply to those living
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in Moldova, but also to those living in neighboring Walachia, Transylvania, and elsewhere. In
his main work Letopiset (Chronicle), written between 1642 and 1647, Ureche presents several
strong claims that Moldovians, Walachians and Transylvanians are all descended from
Rome. 8 Historians for political gain have later unjustly and selectively used this quote
together with the typical we originate from Rome. 9 Ureche, still basic reading for
Romanian historians and students of letters, is viewed as the person who gave Romanian
historiography springboard to further development. Miron Costin (1633-1691) was another
Moldovian chronicler who extended on Ureches works. He managed to create a base for
Romanian national consciousness through the Romanian language. He meant that
Romanians were of pure Roman descendant, without any mix with any other nations. He
wrote extensively on the conquering of Dacia and the Roman colonialization. Further,
Costin was the first one ever to use the theory of Roman heritage as a political argument.
Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), a well educated prince of Moldova, enumerated
Ureche and Costins ideas in the early 18 th century. On the background of his position his
works were widely accessible and was distributed across all the three principalities. He
moved the Romanians into a solid tradition of history writing. Cantemir concluded early that
the reason Romanians had not any great power or influence in Europe was to blame on the
Slavs. Such an unfair view on the Slavs was not relatively new, but it could have had an
effect on the attempt of Latinizing the Romanian language, which was (and still is) heavy
influenced by Slavic words. One can presume that the process of making the language of the
state bureaucracy Romanian, rather than Slavic (which was the case), was inspired by
7 Elemr Illys (1988) Ethnic Continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian Area . New York: Colombia UniversityPress, p. 35.8 Cited in: Georgescu, Vlad (1984) The Romanians . London: I.B. Tausris & Co. Ltd. Publishers, p. 70.9
Cited in: Illys 1988: 53
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nationalistic feelings. However, Cantemir didnt present anything new, but adopted those
facts that others had found before him and made it more colorful with new stories and
vigorous ideas inspired by a growing ethnic consciousness. He represented several historical
misinterpretations, but still there are people who consider his work well documented. One
thing one cannot doubt is the value of Cantemirs work for historians, and for the Romanian
national awakening. However, Elemr Illys in Ethnic Continuity in the Carptho-Danubian Area
means that Romanian scholars consider Cantemir today as a promoter of pure
inventions. 10
Mihai Cantacuzino (1640-1714) contributed to pull history writing in Walachia to the
same heights as in Moldova at the same time as Cantemir worked on his theories in
Moldova. Cantacuzino was also aware of Ureche and Costins chronicles, and the idea of a
common heritage and descendant of all Romanian lead him to the idea of a political union of
the Romanian principalities. He came with the earliest proposal of a union of Moldova and
Walachia in 1672. Between 1674 and 1676 he published Istoria Trii Romnesti (History of
Walachia), which was published in Greek in 1706. In this work he mentioned that it had
happened a symbiosis of the two peoples and languages. Therefore, Romanian was not a
pure Roman language, but a mix of them both. This has led several scholars to try to depict
Dacian words in Romanian. 11
The historical national sentiment became a part of a popular trend, but it did not
have any immediately effect since it was unknown for the ordinary Romanian. It was only
limited to a small percentage of educated scholars in Moldova and Walachia. However, one
of the big differences was that while in the two principalities only the upper aristocracy knew
10 Elemr Illys 1988: 35
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about the theory, in Transylvania this was going to be discovered be a small group of
intellectuals. Since a Romanian upper class was to a high degree absent in Transylvania, it
was to achieve more popular support. But this would take time, since one should expect that
if it had had popular support among the general population, about their Roman in heritage
and continuity since the fall of Dacia, Romanian historians should have recorded this, which
they have not.
On the background of this and other political, as well as historical works several
political leaders and intellectual gained ethnic consciousness that culminated, maybe limited,
in Romanian national awakening.
Scholars have often asked whether the ethnic consciousness of seventeenth-century historians andpolitical leaders was not accompanied by some degree of national awareness. Did not ethnic unity suggest political unity? Extent documents do not support such a conclusion, although some passagessuggest a tendency in that direction. For example, in 1642 Vasile Lupu of Moldovia considered theconquest of Transylvania by Moldovian and Wallachian troops possible, since in Transylvania morethan a third are Romanian, and once they are freed we will incite them against the Hungarians.Brncoveanu and his high steward Cantacuzinos correspondence with the Russians also show somepolitical interest in Transylvania. Their letters include reference to plans for pan-Balkan liberation andto the Romanians of Transylvania. But in general ethnic consciousness was not accompanied by pressure for political unification, and even as politically active as prince Cantemir did not think of including it among his policies. 12
However, in the end of the 18 th century Romanian ethnic consciousness started to create
roots among Romanians. In 1797 Ienachita Vacarescus Gramatica rumnseasc (Romanian
grammar) was published, and in 1792 the so-called Daco-Roman continuity theory was
propagated in schools and churches. Therefore, the idea of the Romanized Dacians soon
became a permanent view of Romanian history, and was further explored and details were
added. In Dionise Fontinos Istorie daciei (Dacian history), which was published in 1818,
11 There has been great difficulty and dispute over the claim of any Dacian words in Romanian.
Nevertheless, it seems like a small handful of words have prevailed.
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concluded that the Romans and Dacians crossbreeding, [had] created a distinct, mixed
people. 13 Naum Ramniceanu followed up with Despre originea romnilor (Romanians origin)
from 1820, where he concluded: after the Dacians learned the Roman language, not only
did they get along well together, but they also intermarried, Romans marrying the Dacians
daughters and marrying their own daughters to the Dacians [] the Dacians became
Romanized and the Romans Dacianized. 14
The Roots of Nationalism Produces its Offspring
As already stated, Romanians are a mix between Dacians and Romans who settled there at
the heights of the Roman Empire. In the 19 th century the Daco-Roman continuity theory
became widely known and accepted in Moldova and Walachia, and therefore it produced a
mythical relationship between the Romanians there and those in Transylvania. However, in
Transylvania the theory was by the 18 th century scarcely known, and did not achieve the
acceptance, or popularity, as in the other Romanian principalities. All other Transylvanian
men of learning held to Cantemirs line, asserting that the Romanians were of pure Roman
blood. 15 Therefore, a unified view of national history or a united Romanian awakening was
not immediately achieved across the border of Moldova and Walachia.
Slowly, some Romanians in Transylvania demanded autonomy from the Habsburg
Empire and in 1791 ideas from the Daco-Roman theory were used to justify stronger
Romanians rights. This appeal was named Supplex Libellus Valachorum and was given to
Leopold II in Vienna. The authors of this appeal were a group of intellectuals of Romanian
12 Georgescu 1984: 7113 Ibid. p. 11614 Ibid.15
Ibid.
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clerical heritage. In the memorandum the Romanians were demanding equal rights with
other nations in Transylvania, and that they should have a seat in the legislative body and be
granted official position in accordance with their proportion in Transylvania. It further stated
that the Romanians were the first settlers in Transylvania:
The Rumanian nation is by far the most ancient of all nations of our epoch, since it is certain andproved by historical evidence, by never interrupted tradition, by the similarity of the language,traditions and customs, that it originates from the Roman colonists brought here at the beginning of
the 2nd
century A.D. by the emperor Trajan16
The Romanians in Transylvania found it necessary to justify their claims by referring to their
existence longer than their German and Hungarian counter part. Their historical existence
became a political weapon for social and political equality.
Petru Maior (1756-1812), a Uniate priest of the Transylvanian School, pointed out
that the Romanians had invited the Hungarians to come to Transylvania so they could be
helped to protect their country against foreign invaders. Maiors nationalism necessarily led
him to extremes and, like other representatives of the Transylvanian School he was
intolerant of all those in disagreement with the glorious description of the Romanian people
[] Maior, however, studied several historical records in search of references to Romans or
Romanian. Finding none, he claimed that certain other peoples referred to were actually
Romanian [.] many of his assertions are defended even now, and his Istoria is still
considered by some as an important historical treatise. 17 The Transylvanian School argued
that if the Romanian language can by connected up to the Roman Empire it would then
settle their origin. Thus, it would make them the oldest nation in Transylvania.
16 Supplex 1791; cited in: Lte, Louis L. (ed.) (1980) Transylvania and the theory of Daco-Roman-
Rumanian continuity . New Work: Carpathian Observer, Committee of Transylvania, Inc (available at:
http://www.net.hu/corvinus/lib/index.htm)
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Cantacuzinos idea of a union of Moldova and Walachia was repeatedly revised in the
beginning of the 19 th century, and gradually started to include Transylvania as well. It moved
in the direction of modern nationalism, and developed into an emotional and ethical
ideology based on the principles of a united people and independence. Crisan Krsi was
the first one, in 1807, to suggest the name Dacia for a united Romanian state. Meanwhile,
Rmniceanu was the first to suggest the re-establishments of the old Dacian borders, which
would have constituted a bigger Romanian than we see today. Baudia Deleano also flirted
with the idea, in 1804, of a union of these regions, but thought it beneficiary that this should
be done under the Habsburg Empire.
Nevertheless, no rights were to be achieved for the Romanians in Transylvania after
the delivery of the Supplex . Rumanian nationalism in Transylvania in the nineteenth century
achieved nothing like the political successes of Moldova and Wallachia. It was caught
between Magyar nationalist sentiment and the changeable but generally anti-Romanian
policies of the court in Vienna. Until almost 1848 its program was limited to repeating
demands from the Supplex , which Austria and Hungary had been rejecting since 1791. 18
However, after 1848-1849 secular intellectuals began to play an increasingly larger role in the
Romanian national movement. 19
Critique and Conclusion
The Daco-Roman continuity theory has been subject for a lot of critique from its earliest
beginning. Of course, this type of mythical history writing has its flaws, and some of this
17 Illys 1988: 5318 Georgescu 1984: 15419 Treptow, Kurt W., ed. (1996). A history of Romania . Jassy: The Center for Romanian Studies, The
Romanian Cultural Foundation, p. 253.
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critique has been reasonable. Notable, most of this critique has come from Hungarian
nationalist, which demands the return of Transylvania to Hungary. The continuity theory
further clashes with the established Hungarian theory that the Magyars came to an
abandoned Transylvania. Nevertheless, there is little doubt that some Romanians always
have lived in Transylvania since the fall of Dacia and the Roman retreat. Georgescu points
out that those left behind was assimilated with other people, or that the Daco-Romans
integrated others, and especially Slavs. It is impossible, which some Hungarian nationalist
historians do, that Transylvania was completely abandonded after the Roman retreat. Some
had to be left behind! This is also not impossible since Romanian language has thousands of
integrated Slavic words. This, however, is an aberration from the official mythical
historiography Romanian nationalists stand for. That these so-called Daco-Romans were
settled in Transylvania, and did not escape completely into the mountains is, therefore,
credible. There are also traces of proof that the Daco-Romans then had to mix with
shepherds, which traveled across the Carpathians around year thousand. These shepherds or
traveling people has been recorded as Vlachs or Arumanians, and are still found as south as
Macedonia and Albania today. Their language has similarities to Romanian. A few researches
points out that there are some basic words similar in Romanian and Albanian 20. Therefore
one can conclude that a complete continuity of the Daco-Romans never took place,
however, some kind of semi-continuity can be claimed.
The myth is still well alive today in Romania, and was especially used as a
propaganda tool during Ceausescus regime. As an example, there was a celebration in 1980
for the 2050 th anniversary for the beginning of Romanian national history, a year which has
20 However, this might as well have to do with the contact Albanian has had with Italy, as well as the fact
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been criticized for to be somehow coincidental and with national-political sentiments. The
continuity theory can be said to be an excellent example of mythological history writing
through that it projects a Romanian national identity back to the antic and the Great
Migrations. The function of the theory is to crate an argument that Transylvania is an
ancient Romanian area and therefore Romania has historical right to it. 21 Both the
Hungarians and the Romanians in Transylvania are fighting a never-ending battle to prove
who was first there. As far as both the Romanians and the Hungarians are concerned
Transylvania [] has been invested with a mythical role as having been the region which
ensured the survival of the nation and its separate existence over centuries [] Transylvania
is the ark of the covenant and for national ideologists, the ideal homeland of the nation is
unacceptable without the province being part of the state territory. Thus in practical terms,
neither Romanian nor Hungarian nationalists can accept that Transylvania should be a part
of the other states territory and both accept a nationalist imperative that it should belong to
them 22. As Alina Mangiu-Pippidi points out in the paper on Legacy of Ethnic Conflict:
Transylvania that one cant take away a nations national history in difficult times. If the
current performance of a nation is god, the past matters less in its self-esteem: the reverse is
true if the nation or national group is experiencing difficult times, as [] Romanians (the
worst economic situation of all Central European countries), or Romanian Hungarians (their
number decreased after 1989. 23 Nevertheless, if the Daco-Roman theory was to be proved
wrong, it will not change the impact it has had on Romanian national awakening and
that the Roman-Empire stretched all around Balkan and has influenced several languages. It is alsotherefore, one can still finds traces Vlachs and Arumanians scattered around the Balkan Peninsula.21 Gerner 1997: 368, my translation.22 Schopflin, Georg and Hugh Puolton (1990). Romanians Ethnic Hungarians . The Minority Rights Group,report nr. 37, new ed. from 1978, p. 823
Mangui-Pippidi 2000: 20
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identity. Either way, the Hungarians and Romanians have at least co-existed for 800-1000
years in Transylvania. The continuity theory has had important meaning for Romanians
ethnic and later national identity. Even if the theory never established any greater national
movement itself, it at least started one. And one should not believe the importance of the
theory would fade away anytime soon.
Unquoted Sources/Further Reading:
Cadzow , John F., Andrew Luany, Lois J. Elteto, ed. (1983) Transylvania: the roots of ethnic conflict . Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press. *
Lendvai , Paul (2003) The Hungarians, 1000 Years of Victory in Defeat . London: C. Hurst
& Co.
Stavrianos , L.S. (1958, 2000) The Balkans since 1453. London: C. Hurst & Co.
Sugar , Peter F., Pter Hank, Tibor Frank (1990) A History of Hungary . Indiana
University Press
Svanberg , Ingvar & Ingmar Shrman, ed. (1996) Balkan, folk och lnder i krig och fred
[Balkan, people and countries in war and peace] . Stockholm: Arena
* Available at: http:www.net.hu/corvinus/lib/index.htm
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