Dacian town , Romania. Based on the literary evidence that confirms both the existence and the importance of Capidava and also based on the archaeological pre-Roman evidence, some take into consideration the hypothesis that the Getic fortress might have been razed to the ground through the building of the Roman
castra itself Historians such as Suceveanu, Miclea and Florescu consider that the pre-Roman indigenous Getic settlement of Capidava, located at some distance from the future Roman fortress gave the name Capidava. On the site of modern Capidava village, there is a
La Tène settlement of Geto-Dacian culture, dated to 5th century - 2nd century BC. At 4 km south of Capidava, on the bank of
Zaval Valley, there are strong Geto-Dacian traces, dating back to the second period of
Iron Age. Beside the Geto-Dacian ceramic, fragments of Roman vases are scattered here and there. The early 20th century
Romanian archaeologist and historian
Vasile Pârvan identified the Geto-Dacian Capidava as the center of power for the Getic king
Dapyx, within a
territorium Capidavense.
Cassius Dio's
Historia Romana makes mention of the retreat of Dapyx into his fort after his defeat in 28 BC at the hand of
Marcus Licinius Crassus. Pârvan identified the fort mentioned by Dio with future Roman fort Capidava, stating the locations described in the ancient source fit well with the modern location. Pârvan identified the administrative form of Capidava as an old Dacian
pagus, based on a local inscription. The archaeological material of the 2nd century AD is mixed in character: Geto-Dacian and Roman. The funeral stone of the Cocceius family from Capidava, dated Roman epoch, has a relief of the
Thracian rider. Representation of the ox drawn plow of Getians had been preserved on the so-called "Quadratus grave" discovered at Capidava.
Roman era The
Roman Empire had reached the Danube as early as 14 AD, when the commander
Aelius Catus conducted an expedition beyond the river in order to keep away the restless Dacians and their new allies, the
Sarmatians. But the legions deployed their troops only up to
Durostorum, as northern Dobruja was left to the forces of the kings of the
Sapaei, the allies of the Romans, helped by the forces commanded by a
Praefectus orae maritimae (commander of the seashore). In 46 AD, when the Kingdom of the Sapaei ceased to exist, it is likely that small Roman garrisons were stationed in the old Dacian settlements on the bank of the Danube, including in Capidava. Later
Domitian realised the strategic importance of the land between the Danube and the
Black Sea, as he used this part of Moesia as a starting point of his expeditions over the Danube against the Dacians. The changing fate of these expeditions and the chaotic effect of two successive defeats hindered systematic strengthening and garrisoning the bank of the Danube.
Trajan, as part of his preparations for
Trajan's Dacian Wars, built a
castellum on the cliff at Capidava to control the
ford with a garrison probably of
Cohors I Ubiorum. After the
Roman conquest of Dacia, the strategic importance of Capidava made the Romans establish a military station as well as to settle and develop a civil centre. The settlement was probably a
vicus, if
Veturius Tertius who put an altar at
Galbiori as
magister vici is the same
C. Veturius Tertius known from a funerary inscription discovered at Capidava Nonetheless, Pârvan admitted a "vicus canabarum" beside the old "Dacian" pagus of Capidava. At the time of Hadrian and even earlier at the time of Trajan, Roman farmers already dwelt in isolated settlements, in the so-called
Roman villa and
vicus. Separated from them, South Thracian colonists, Bessians, inhabited also isolated villages. The population of its district (
pagus) consisted of Dacians and
Bessi and of Roman citizens (CIL., iii, 14214, 26). According to Pârvan, by 130-150 AD Capidava was already Romanized. Roman veterans settled in the canabae (civilian settlement attached to military base) or maybe also in the old Getic village that was not far away. Inscriptions with
Dacian names like Tsinna (
Zinnas,
Sinna) and Tsiru dating to 2nd century have been discovered at the site: "Tsiru son of Bassus in ISM V 27". The fort continued to function without many problems, except for the change in the garrison troops, after 243 AD when
Cohors I Ubiorum was replaced by
Cohors I Germanorum civium romanorum until the end of the 3rd century. The fort was destroyed by the Goths in the second half of the 3rd century and then rebuilt under
Aurelian and
Probus. Another two reconstructions of the fort on the same plan took place in the early 5th and the early 6th centuries until around 596 CE when it was destroyed again. After this, only a portion of it, a fortlet, was maintained and occupied until around 620 CE when this too was abandoned. During this late Roman stage the location is noted in
Notitiae Episcopatuum as the see of a bishop and had a small church. destroying the forts at Capidava and
Dervent and burning the settlement in
Dinogetia. In 1046 the Byzantines accepted the settling of Pechenegs under Kegen in
Paristrion as
foederati. They established some form of domination until 1059, when
Isaac I Komnenos reconquered Dobruja. ==Description==