Dacian Fortresses (Romania) Value
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around the capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, with outstanding Dacian Fortresses (Romania) value. Criterion iii The group of Dacian fortresses in the Mountain region of Orašţie is the best example of the coherent architectural No 906 programme of a political and religious power, capable of breaking up ancient tribal structures and unifying its ethnos around the concept of a state, which was unique for its time. Criterion iv The Dacian fortresses of the Orašţie Mountains are an example that is nowhere else preserved testifying to an Identification original settlement concept based on site planning with objectives that are precise, traditional, and specific to this Nomination The Dacian fortresses of the Orašţie civilization. Criterion v Mountains The Dacian ensemble of the Orašţie Mountains is an exceptional landmark in the collective imagination related to Location 1 Sarmizegetusa: Grădiştea de Munte the Roman and later Latin history of the Romanian people. Village, Orăştioara de Sus Commune, For Romanians the past described in the scenes depicted on Hunedoara Department Trajan's Column is the symbol of their European history. 2 Costeşti-Cetatuie: Costeşti Village, Criterion vi Orastioara de Sus Commune, Hunedoara Department Category of property 3 Costeşti -Blidaru: Costeşti Village, Orăştioara Commune, Hunedoara In terms of the categories of cultural property set out in Department Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a group of sites. 4 Luncani-Piatra Roşie: Luncani Village, Bosorod Commune, Hunedoara Department History and Description 5 Băniţa: Băniţa Village, Băniţa Commune, Petrosane Municipality, History Hunedoara Department The civilization of the Getes (Getae) and Dacians can be 6 Căpâlna: Căpâlna Village, Sasciori distinguished in the Thracian world long before Herodotus Commune, Alba Department first referred to them in the 7th century BC. The Getes inhabited the Danube plain and the Dacians the central and State Party Romania western part of the region between the Carpathians and the Danube. Their close cultural and linguistic links are Date 29 June 1998 emphasized by several ancient authors. Theirs was a typical Iron Age culture, practising agriculture, stock-raising, fishing, and metal-working, as well as trade Justification by State Party with the Greco-Roman world, shown by finds of luxury goods and coinage. When Greek colonies such as Histria, The defensive system of the Dacian fortresses of the Orašţie Tomis, Odessos, etc were established along the northern Mountains represent a masterpiece of human creative genius shores of the Black Sea in the 7th century BC, the Geto- by virtue of the uniqueness and exemplary nature of the Dacian rulers established close links with them and extended phenomenon beyond the Greco-Roman world, the concept of their protection. This cultural interchange had a profound the fortified mountain, the planned structure of the group, the effect on societies in the region. The other major cultural architectural vision on the scale of a vast territory, and the influence, adopted by the warrior aristocracy, came from the ingenious use of the natural environment. The entire site of Scythians who inhabited the regions to the north and east. Grădiştea de Munte- Sarmizegetusa, and in particular the sacred area, is one of the most impressive human During their expansion that began in the 4th century Celtic achievements for the remarkable suggestion of the place of peoples settled in modern Transylvania and established a the gods that is sacred and impenetrable and by the hegemony over the region because of their superior proportions and the spiritual area that is set aside. weaponry. However, their influence waned from the mid 3rd Criterion i century BC onwards. A new Geto-Dacian form of territorial organization appeared in the early 2nd century BC, at the The defensive system of the Dacian fortresses of the Orašţie same time as important technological developments (wheel- Mountains bears unique and exceptional witness to the now made pottery, iron ploughshares, use of stone for building). disappeared Geto-Dacian civilization, one of the last peoples It was based on the dava, the central place of a tribal to be incorporated into the Roman world. The texture and the territory; these contained many sacred sites (temenoi) and planned structures of the group, the special technical other forms of cult centre. solutions adopted for each element, and the perfect integration into the natural environment endow the sites The process whereby the earlier fragmented tribal structure became centralized is not understood, but there is abundant 92 evidence that the Geto-Dacian civilization flourished from There are three components of this site, the capital of Dacia, the 1st century BC onwards, thanks to the intelligence and which covers an area of 17.83ha: the fortress, the sacred area, pragmatism of its rulers and of its priests. A Hellenistic form and the civilian quarter. of kingdom was evolved by Burebişta (82-44 BC), supported The Grădiştea plateau was terraced to accommodate the by a warrior aristocracy and with its heart in the Orašţie settlement. It is dominated by the fortress, which was the Mountains around the sacred mountain Kogaionon where centre of secular and spiritual government. An area of little the sacred city was built, Sarmizegetusa Regia. It became more than 1ha was enclosed by a substantial wall built in master of the entire Black Sea coast, absorbing the Greek stone and timber using the technique of the murus dacicus. colonies. Little remains of the internal divisions, which were After the death of Burebişta his kingdom was divided up into demolished when Sarmizegetusa was captured by the smaller territories, but Sarmizegetusa retained its primacy; it Romans. became in effect the first (and only) true town in Dacia. The The sacred area is situated to the east of the fortress. Access Dacian rulers became increasingly involved in the internal is by means of a paved path on the west and a monumental politics of the Roman Empire, and suffered accordingly from stone stairway on the east. The remains of a number of round punitive expeditions. The lower Danube frontier (limes) was or rectangular shrines survive in the centre of the area. The constantly the scene of cross-border raids and minor former, built of volcanic andesite with wooden columns, had campaigns. This entered a new phase in AD 86, which central sacrificial hearths. The latter were built in andesite or marked the beginning of a series of Roman-Dacian wars. limestone and had stone or wooden columns. In the spring of 101 the Roman Emperor Trajan, having The civilian settlement spread over more than a hundred secured his Rhine frontier, took the offensive against the artificial terraces, only a handful of which have so far been Dacians. Decebalus unified the Dacian kingdoms and excavated. The houses were both round and circular in plan, concentrated his forces in the Orašţie Mountains, where he built in stone and wood. A number of craft workshops (metal submitted to Trajan. An uneasy distribution of territory working, pottery, glass, coining, etc) have been found. A ensued, broken in 105 when Decebalus seized the Roman Roman bath-house was found along one of the access roads governor Longinus. This time he could not hold the Dacians to the settlement, which had three sources of water which together against the powerful Roman army. His capital and supplied cisterns and water channels. his fortresses were overwhelmed and Decebalus himself committed suicide to avoid capture. This campaign is Included in this nominated property is the nearby Dacian graphically depicted in the reliefs running round Trajan's settlement site of Fetele Albe, which was associated with the Column in Rome. main site. It is a terraced site where excavations have revealed a number of stone-built habitations and sanctuaries. Dacia became a Roman Imperial province, and its fortresses The ceramic and metal material found during the excavations were slighted. New Roman towns were created, but none of was of high quality, some of it imported from the Roman them on the site of the Dacian settlements, with the exception Empire, testifying to the advanced cultural and economic of Sarmizegetusa, which was given the resounding Roman level achieved by Dacia in the 1st centuries BC and AD. name Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa. Dacia was to remain part of the Roman - Costeşti -Cetăţuie Empire until 274, when the Emperor Aurelian abandoned it in the face of irresistible pressure from the Goths. A small ellipsoidal plateau on a hill overlooking the left bank of the river Apa Oraşului was terraced to form a strong Description fortress. Its fortifications were laid out in three concentric bands, erected in successive stages of the fortress's life. The The system developed by the Dacians to defend their capital, ramparts are constructed of stone, wood, and rammed earth, Sarmizegetusa Regia, was composed of three distinct a different technique being used for each enceinte. fortified elements. All of them were strategically placed, to control important military and/or communication arteries, The strongly defended entrance was on the south. A number such as mountain passes and river or land trade routes. of towers survive: some of these were bastions, the others used as dwellings. Religious architecture is represented by The oldest is represented by fortified sites on dominant four rectangular sanctuaries on limestone plinths with physical features (peaks or promontories). The defences wooden columns. Two cisterns have also been discovered. consisted of palisaded banks and ditches, in a style to be found elsewhere in antiquity (eg the Celtic oppida). Most of - Costeşti -Blidaru them were important economic and commercial centres, with flourishing settlements both within and outside. Blidaru is the strongest and most spectacular of the fortresses erected to defend the capital at Sarmizegetusa. It is rectilinear The second group is that of fortresses.