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The oak tree for the Romanian peopleSaturday 5 July 2014
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In different parts of Romania there are legends on the millenary tradition of the relationship between man and nature, between man and oak tree, considered the king of the forest, through its dimensions or lifespan. Everywhere there are secular oak trees reminiscent of certain historical events, personalities, etc.
Decebal’s oak
This oak tree appears on one of the most touching scenes of the famous Trajan’s Column in Rome, an authentic chronicle in images of the wars between the Romans and the Dacians (101-102 and 105-106), inaugurated in AD. 113, more exactly 1900 years ago.
In the last moments of the war, Decebal, the king of Dacia, not to fall alive into the hands of the Romans and be dragged in the triumphal procession in Rome, decides to end his life.
This act of suicide takes place near the trunk of a secular oak tree. His head and right hand are cut by the Roman pursuers and carried back to the emperor Trajan’s camp and afterwards to Rome.
The suicide scene, including the presence of the oak tree, was confirmed by the presence of a funerary stele discovered in Macedonia.
After the conquest of Dacia, it was imposed the Roman administration, the Romanization and finally, the birth of the Romanian people. Actually, the flame of life and the Romanian civilization triumphed.
Prof. Ioan Mitrea
