Explore the Carpathian Garden - Romania

The Angustia camp

January 31st, 2011

The Angustia camp is located at north-east of Bretcu village, Covasna county, before the Oituz Step. It is easily recognizable in the field by the very prominent wave of land enclosing a quadrangle. The first excavations were made in the year 1877 inside the camp. In that year it was discovered the “via principalis”- the main building of the camp.

The first systematic researches have been undertaken only between the years 1925 – 1926 of Emil Panaitescu. In this period were discovered the camp baths at 100 meters from the camp. The stamps from the bricks located in the camp and baths belong to the military units CHO(ors) HIS(panorum) and CHO(ors) I BRAC (araugustanorum).

In 1950 a team led by M. Macrea have carried out new excavations. On the large terrace called “Wolf’s City”, were discovered, on a surface area of 2-3 hectares, fragments of bricks, tiles and ceramics, indicating the place of the civil settlement located near the camp.

On the territory of the camp were discovered many coins: an Dacian imitation of silver after a drachma of Alexandru Macedon, a Republican denarius, an imperial denarius from Vespasian and one of Traian’s. In 1547 it was discovered a military diploma made of bronze, dated in June 14, year 92, belonging to a soldier of the Roman fleet from the Danube, Classis Flavia Moesica.

In the output of Oituz Step, on the left side of National Road, it was found a Roman watchtower of a quadrilateral shape. Inside the tower were found bricks with the stamp of the military units Cohors I Hispanorum and Cohors I Bracaraugustanorum.

In May 2010 the Frankfurt Institute of Archaeology and National Museum of Eastern Carpathians have conducted some investigations with modern instruments, scanning the entire perimeter of the camp.

The Roman Camp from Cigmău

January 31st, 2011

The Roman Camp from Cigmău, Hunedoara county, was discovered in September 2007 and is considered by the specialists very important because it was defending the old imperial road that connected the capital of Roman Dacia, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, with Micia ( Veţel ) and Apulum ( Alba Iulia ), but also the gold mining from Apuseni Mountains ( Zlatna and Rosia Montana ).

The Roman-era archaeological site from Cigmău – “The Giant’s City” or “Urieşilor Fortress” – is on a “Turiac” plateau, the first terrace of the Mures River, at about 2 km from Geoagiu to Simeria, in Cigmău village on the right bank of Mures.

Unlike the most Roman military camps, which were rectangular, the Cigmău-Germisara camp, being built on a ridge, follows exactly the shape of the rough terrain. The camp area is about 2.4 ha, with a very large building for the relatively small number of soldiers. In the military camp were quartered 400-500 soldiers, compared with 800 as it had a cohort. The maximum dimensions of the Cigmău camp are 320 meters long and 170 meters wide from north to south. The camp was linked to the civil settlement, to the baths of Geoagiu Spa and the andesite career, through a main road. The camp was crossed by two main roads: one from north to south and one from east to west. These roads were made of gravel mixed with sand and were provided with gutters that collected rainwater from the roof and the road.

The main building of a Roman camp was “Principia”, ie the one that sheltered the command unit. The archaeologists have identified so far three “Horia”, ie, grain warehouses, a “praetoria” – the commander’s house, and a much larger building that seems to be the kitchen of the unit, after the large deposit of ceramics and the burns discovered by archaeologists. Unlike the commander, the soldiers were sleeping in wooden shacks, known by archaeologists after different shades of the earth, where the wood has rotted.

Şprenghi Citadel – the ruins

January 28th, 2011

Photo by 23gxg

The origin of Şprenghi Citadel from Brasov, seems to be from the Roman rule times, when it was assumed that its place there was a camp. Before the second half of the 13th century, on the hill it was building a small fortress, made of earth walls and palisades. The invasion of the Tatars in 1335, which destroyed the fortress, made, after the middle of the 14th century, to appear oval ring of walls, about 1.80 meters thick. Insideit was erected a building for the accommodation in case of danger and it was arranged a water tank. In the 15th century, at the gate it was built a hexagonal tower to increase its defensive capacity.

Conquered by the Turks in 1421, the city gradually lost its importance, reaching the ruins.

In the 19th century, Şprengi Hill was converted into a quarry, today being excavated for the most part. In the 20th century, together with the rocks below them, the remaining vestiges of the city, have disappeared. Today, on this place is a pole with the Romanian flag, in the memory of Romanian soldiers who perished in “death trench” nearby ( 8 October 1916 ).

Cumidava Roman Camp

January 28th, 2011

Cumidava Roman Camp is situated within the agricultural area of Râşnov city, about 4 km from the contemporary Rasnov. The Râşnov archaeological site is located on a middle terrace of Barsa river, approximately 4 km northwest of the city Rasnov.

The alert and the relatively accurate description of the Râşnov Roman fortress was made since 1856 by M. J. Ackner. The first systematic research have been conducted by Michael Macrea only in 1939.

The archaeological researches and the toponym confirms that before building the camp there was a Roman Dacian settlement – Cumidava , of the “cumidavens” Dacians. Inside the camp was discovered an inscription from the time of the Roman Emperor Alexandru Sever (222-235).

In 1939 a group of archaeologists have discovered on the traces of the camp a tombstone dedicated queen Iulia Mamaea. The monument was set in the praetorian camp gate. On the tombstone it could be red the inscription “Cumidava”.

As composition, the Cumidava Roman Camp, had after the last research, an area of 22 ha, 22 outside towers, 9 inside towers, 700 meters of double discontinuous wall, 2 main roads inside the camp (one with stone on the sides) and many quadrilateral paved enclosures.

Potaissa Roman Camp

January 28th, 2011

The most important historical and archaeological monuments of the city of Turda is camp Potaissa Roman Camp of the Macedonian 5th Legion, from the plateau called Castle Hill. The camp was built by the legion in the year 168.

Potaissa was the largest legion camp of long term operation in Dacia. With the long sides (north and south) of 573 meters and the short ones (east and west) of 408 meters, the huge rectangle that is describes, occupies an area of 23.4 hectares and housed 5,000 soldiers. The walls were 1.7 to 2 meters thick, being made of mortar and stone. In front of the walls there is a wide moat of 12 meters wide and 3 meters deep. It had two streets intersecting in a cross ( Via Praetoria and Via Principalis ) and four gates ( Porta Praetoria, Porta Decumana, Porta Principalis Dextra and Porta Principalis Sinistra). The most important building from the camp ( Principia ) was the one of the headquarters (about 1 ha).

In 274 the Macedonian 5th Legion, along with other Roman troops, withdrew from Dacia, the stone walls being used by people to build houses and churches.

The camp continued to be used long time after the Roman withdrawal from the year 274 as witnessed by many artifacts from the 4th-5th and 8th-10th centuries discovered in the camp perimeter.

The ruins of the camp remained standing until late Middle Ages. Then, the shaped stones from the Roman camp were used for the construction of many buildings in the center Turda. In the camp were discovered several old objects (architectural pieces, sculptures, mosaics, inscriptions on stones, coins, small objects), most of them now being found in various collections and museums in the country, including the Turda History Museum, or abroad, mostly in Budapest and Vienna.

By the consolidation-conservation works carried out by the Turda Museum of History and “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, important objectives such as the Northwest Tower, a defense wall-tower, the “decumana” gate and the “Principia” building, are now accessible points.

Buridava Roman Camp

January 28th, 2011

Buridava Roman Camp is located in the suburban area Stolniceni of Ramnicu Valcea city. The camp was built around 103, after the first war between the Dacians and the Romans, on the site of a former military camp of tents. Buridava, according to the writing of the Greek geographer Ptolemeu, it was the capital of Geto-Dacian tribe -Boers; in free translation the name means the city or town of the Boers.

Along with the cities Grădiştea and Tetoiu, it was part of a ingenious defensive system in the South-east residence of the Dacians kings from Sarmizegetusa of the Orăştiei Mountains. But the importance of Buridava was also the defense of the priceless treasures of the place- salt.

By chance, in the year 1960, a teacher from Ocnele Mari, Gheorghe Mosteanu, who had a garden in a place called Cosota, finds by digging some broken clay pots. Seeing something special in them, he takes them to the former museum of Ramnicu Valcea. The museum staff gives them for study to the teacher Dumitru Berciu, which sets the Dacian origin and decides to open an archaeological site. On this occasion it is discovered a cemetery of which are brought to light a series of clay objects such as cups, plates and vases. In one of the graves was found even some circle bands of iron, possible barrel hoops.

For two years, between 103-105, in the Roman Camp have stationed the 2nd Cohort Flavia Bessorum, whose soldiers were recruited from the Bessi tribe, described by Strabon as “the fiercest of the Thracians race”.

The camp was equipped including with thermal baths, discovered in 1950. The Roman Thermal, the only building so far discovered in the Buridava Roman camp, will be restored.

Apulum Roman Camp

January 28th, 2011

Apulum Roman Camp was one of the most important centers of Roman rule on the territory of Dacia. It was built in the former area of the Dacian settlement Apoulon. The building of the camp was determined by the tarrying in this area of the Legion XIII Gemina (106-271), deployed from Vindobona, the current Vienna city. The legion had the role to guard the gold land and the transport road of the gold to Rome. It was placed on the location of the today Alba Iulia city. In 168 it became the residence of the general government of the three Dacia, finally eclipsing the old metropolis Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa. It was also a strong outbreak of Romanization of the south-west Transylvania, and it continued to exist after the Aurelian withdrawal until the building of Bălgrad, Alba Iulia of today.

It is believed that in the past, here there would have been the Dacian city Tharmis. The fortress was conquered by the Romans in the second century AD. On the ruins of the Dacian fort it was built the Roman camp Apulum.

The Romans built here the largest Roman camp in Dacia, on about 27 to 30 ha, with stone walls. During the Emperor Marcus Aurelius it was raised to the rank of municipality. In 180-193 it became a colony.

Apulum was an important economic, administrative, political and military establishment of the Roman Dacia. Since 106, Apulum camp housed the Legion XIII Gemina. Here resided the supreme military commander of Dacia, it functioned the government offices, the prosecution center, the mint, there were numerous associations, there were built palaces, temples, aqueducts, public fountains, porticos and possibly an amphitheater. The archaeological researches have revealed here the richest multi-colored mosaic repertoire of Dacia.

Currently, the camp, partly rebuilt, is included in the “Route of the three fortifications“, a tourist attraction that gives visitors of Alba Iulia city, the possibility of a time travel, of over two millennia of history, between the remains of three fortifications, from three different eras, built successively on the same site, each new city, including an old one: Apulum Roman camp (106 AD) Bălgrad Medieval Citadel (16th-17th centuries) and Alba Carolina Citadel( 18th century)

Sucidava Dacian settlement

January 27th, 2011

Sucidava was a Dacian settlement, then a Roman city located on the left bank of Danube, on the Celei village area, the today Corabia city of Olt county. The Romans transformed Sucidava into an important military center, building a strong city and a stone bridge over the Danube. It was finally destroyed around 600.

In the past, next to Celei village there were two arms of the Danube. Sucidava developed on the left arm, which had a lower flow rate and that today no longer exists. Also, next to the city, on the right bank, is Iskar mouth and Oescus Citadel. In the north, Sucidava was linked by the road from the Olt Valley. Also, through Sucidava passed the road coming from the Portile de Fier(Iron Gates) and went down until the Danube mouth, following its left bank.

The Geto-Dacian settlement intertwined in the Latene era. After the year 102 it was conquered by the Romans, who built a military camp. Between 102- 118/119, it was part of the Lower Moesia, between 119- 167/169 of the Lower Dacia and after 169 it was part of Dacia Malvensis.

In 245, the Carps allied with the Goths, start a very strong attack at the province and therefore Sucidava suffers significant damage. From that point it started a long series of repeated attacks and rebuilding of the fortification. In 323 the Goths cause great damage to Sucidava , which requires radical renovations. This was the moment when the Emperor Constantine the Great orders the construction of a bridge over the Danube. The Avars and the Slavs destroyed definitively Sucidava in the year 600. Over time the ancient name is lost but on the site of the ancient settlements is kept until today the Romanian settlement “Celei”.

The City is distinguish by the “secret fountain”, a masterpiece of engineering, designed to supply with water the camp during the sieges. Also, here is a foot of a Roman bridge built over the Danube during Constantine the Great. Opened in 328 it had a length of 2400 meters, being considered one of the longest bridges of antiquity. Unfortunately, Constantine’s Bridge Had a short existence.

The Roman camp from Răcarii de Jos

January 27th, 2011

The Roman camp from Răcarii de Jos, situated at an altitude of 103 meters, has a length between the walls of 168 x 140 meters. The fort is included in the National Archaeological Repertory as a center of military housing from the Roman Age, the Age of migrations and Hallstatt. The referring to Hallstatt is due to the discovery of some isolated complexes.

The Roman camp from Răcarii de Jos is on the left terrace of the Middle Jiu, 6 km south of Filiaşi town. The first excavations were carried out between 1897- 1898 by Grigore Tocilescu and Pamfil Polonic . Following the excavations there were discovered a rich ceramics material, coins, tiles and bricks, glass objects, bronze, iron and bone, fragments of colossal statues, pieces of military equipment, weapons, brooches, and many others.

In the camp have stationed troops from the Macedonian Legion and from “Numerus Maurorum”. The camp was originally built in the context of the Dacian wars (101-102 and 105-106) by part of the “Macedonian Legio V”, being slightly smaller than the oldest form known in the literature. A larger fort of earth, was set sometime after the year 157, the approximation being made on the basis of the numismatics, this time being occupied by “irregular” Moorish unit.

In the Roman-Byzantine settlement were found (in unknown conditions and locations) surprisingly many late Roman coins, of which not more than three issued by Iustinian, one piece of a Follis, a half of Follis and a optimal of a Follis. The first two pieces are dating from the 522 – 527. These discoveries are very important because they stem from a former Roman camp area from the 2nd-3rd century, around which it was developed a civil settlement and that probably continued its existence over the 4th-6th centuries.

Since 2003 there have been several annual research campaigns made by the team led by dr. Eugen S. Teodor, representing the National Museum of Romanian History and dr.Dorel Bondoc, representing the Museum of Oltenia .

Arutela Roman Camp

January 27th, 2011

Arutela Roman Camp is a historical monument situated between the towns Păuşa and Căciulata at “Poiana Bivolari” point, near the town Călimăneşti, Valcea county, being listed as a historical monument dating from the Roman times, years 137 – 138. The building is located on the left bank of Olt River, near the Cozia Monastery and in the environment of Turnu hydropower complex.

The dating was based on an inscription, discovered in duplicate in front of two gates of the camp, from which it results that the fort was built during the Emperor Hadrian, by a detachment of Syrian archers in the year 138. The last coin discovered at Arutela, was issued between the years 220-223. At Arutela there was also a Dacian settlement, which extended its existence under the Roman dominion.

During the archaeological excavations there have been revealed different objects as weapons, coins, vases and inscriptions, displayed today at the Military Museum in Bucharest . After the excavations, the Arutela fort became a historic monument and pasted in the custody of Vâlcea County Committee of Culture and the History Museum from Ramnicu Valcea. Between 1982 -1983, the fort was rebuilt by the architect Aurel Teodorescu. It was reconstructed for the first time in Romania the praetorian gate (with the two towers that flanks it.

The fortification built of stone slabs has a square shape with sides of 60 meters fitted with semicircular towers at the corners and square towers one side and the other of the Praetorian gate. On the other two sides are seen the service gates. The enclosure wall was built of large stone blocks of rectangular shape.

According to the archaeological evidence and findings in the first half of the 3rd century, an unusual outpouring of Olt River destroyed the western side of the camp, causing the withdrawal of the Roman garrison.

The Angustia camp

The Roman Camp from Cigmău

Şprenghi Citadel – the ruins

Cumidava Roman Camp

Potaissa Roman Camp

Buridava Roman Camp

Apulum Roman Camp

Sucidava Dacian settlement

The Roman camp from Răcarii de Jos

Arutela Roman Camp

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