1471
Sarmizegetusa was the Dacian capital, destroyed by the emperor Trajan, who founded a city of the same name nearby.
Amazing discoveries were made by Romanian archaeologists in Sarmizegetuz, or Ulpia Trajan, the largest ancient Roman metropolis on the territory of modern Romania. The city, founded by the emperor Trajan after military campaigns against the Dacians, was full of sanctuaries dedicated to a wide variety of deities. And in particular from Palmyra, which is located on the territory of modern Syria. About this write Adevarul.
Archeological excavations have been carried out here for over a hundred years, Ulpia Traiana is the first colony founded by the Romans on the territory of today's Romania. Built in the early 20nd century AD after the Daco-Roman Wars, the city flourished in the following century, with a population of over 000, becoming a cosmopolitan center.
Most of the townspeople were families of Roman veterans brought here from various provinces of the Roman Empire, and the local economy was based on the exploitation of Dacian resources: gold, iron, salt, building stone, pastures and large forests. Dacian influence in this central Roman city of the province was minimal.
Archaeologists say that colonization was rapid. Although Ulpia Traiana bore the name of the ancient Dacian capital of Sarmizegetusa, there are almost no traces of Dacian culture left here. But it turned out that it was a real ancient Roman metropolis that traded with the entire civilized world of that time: Syria, Thrace, Greece and, of course, Rome.
Ulpia of Trajan Sarmisegetusa was also an important religious center, as evidenced by the numerous ancient temples discovered here. The most significant of them was the Capitol, built in the middle of the II century on the site of an older sanctuary and dedicated to the god Jupiter. A huge five-meter statue of Jupiter stood here, which was later destroyed by fire.
Archaeological discoveries testify to the diverse religious life of the city. The first discoveries of this kind date back to 1880, when a villager found the ruins in his field.
In the 2nd century, the province of Dacia had relations with Palmyra, an ancient city located in the territory of modern Syria, which was also under the rule of Rome. According to the National History Museum of Romania, three temples dedicated to the gods of Palmyra have been discovered over time, one of which is also being explored this summer.
Among the deities from Syria worshiped by the townspeople in Romania were Bel (supreme deity), Yarchibol, Aglibol, and Malakbel. According to archaeologists, Sarmizegetusa was a Roman city in terms of architecture and institutions, but its culture and beliefs made it cosmopolitan, and finds show the spread of Eastern, African and Western cults.
Mithras, the god of light, was also worshiped here, as evidenced by the ruins of the sanctuary and a marble relief found in 1882. And also to the god Silvanus, the protector of forests and fields. Silvanus was extremely popular in Dacia.
From the 270rd century onwards, the ancient city began to decline, although the province north of the Danube was still called Dacia Felix. Around XNUMX, the Romans withdrew their troops and administration from Dacia, fearing an attack by nomadic tribes.
