Getae and Dacians? Are they the same? Or is this unknowable?

[diegis]

Or maybe there's nothing to this, and they are actually just two names for precisely the same people?
Or maybe this is unknowable?
I'm leaning toward the latter.

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There can hardly be any correlation between the Massagetae and the Dacians. The Massagetae/Alans controlled the steppe and built a huge empire (coveted by Cyrus) which lasted for six hundred years. The Dacii were a small tribe (in the greater scheme). Perhaps a forebearer of terrors to come, the lead Alan groups-- the Roxolani and Taifali-- arrived in Dacia after the Romans trounced it. Combined with the Goths, the Taifali and Roxolani, "devistated" Dacia. I cannot see how the Dacian culture could have been influential after the second century.

Procopius was referring not to the Black Huns but the White Huns (Ephthalites) when he called them "Massagetae." They were living in the old domains of the original Saka/Massagetae near Bactria and Sogdiana.

Well, dont have too much time now, i will reply just to few questions. First, Roxolani was around Dacia before Daco-Roman wars, they was used by king Decebal as auxiliar heavy cavalry in first war with Traian, but in the second they lose the will to fight. And when Gots ( in my opinion a combination of several peoples including Dacians ) start to attack Roman borders, they do that along Dacians attacks ( the so called Free Dacians, and Dacians tribes as Costobocii and Carpii - the ones with the name related with Carpatian mountains name ), as i said in time of Constantin the Great he even take the name "Dacicus Maximus" after repeled a Dacian attack in south of Danube. As well, Dacians was not quite a small tribe ( remember what said Herodotus about the numbers of Thracians ), but they was the only one "barbarians" who make an empire in Europe ( under Burebista ), who controled a teritory from up to southern Baltic Sea teritory in north to Haemus ( Balkan ) mountains in south, and from close to Crimeea in east ( where they partialy exterminate, partialy subdue the Bastarnae, as archeology shows , and push deep in stepes the sarmatians, who was later used as auxiliars ) up to Danube springs in west where archeological finds was done in today Slovakia, and lately i saw Austria too is considered their border back then, but according with Jordanes they "burned" too the Germans teritories where in Jordanes times was Franks, so i think somewhere as today Bavaria or/and Thuringia, Caesar saying too that Germans are neighbours with Dacians in Hercinic Forrest. This empire was powerful enough to defeat Romans ( Caius Hybrida ), to ocupy all the greek cities from Black Sea, to practicly take out from area any significant Celtic presence, and plunder at will Macedonia. More then that, they interfere in Rome internal affairs, negociating with Pompeius against Caesar, in the time when Vercingetorix for ex. was executed at Tullianum prison. As well, to defeat Decebal, Traian used, at the peak of the Empire power, the biggest army ever used against a foreign enemy, during 2 wars, each of them of around 1 year, and without conquering all Dacian teritories. Dacians haved fortresses with original, special walls ( called "murus dacicus" by romans ), paved roads and aqueducts, and was one of the very few nations during ancient times who used war machines, for ex. Even the fact that Traian took the troops from Germania and Britania, leaving those borders practicly unprotected, show who was the greatest menance for the Roman Empire.
About Dacian culture beeing "destroyed", well, this is wrong too, most of all folklore and mythology of today Romanians is considered by ethnologist as coming from Dacians.
As well, the name Getians, used by ancient greeks, refer first time to Dacians, and most all the scholars consider they was one and the same peoples. However, the fact is that at a point, some other peoples was called like that, probably based on vague similarities ( archer cavalry for ex. ), but when we refer strictly as europeans area, the term Get/Getae is used for the same peoples also know as Dacians.