Arutela was an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

in the Roman province of

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

today near the town

Călimănești Călimănești, often known as Călimănești-Căciulata, is a town in Vâlcea County, southern Romania. It is situated in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Oltenia and the northern part of the county, on the traditional rou ...

. It lies on the left bank of the

Olt River The Olt ( Romanian and Hungarian; ; or ', , ''Alytos'') is a river in Romania. It is long, and its basin area is . It is the longest river flowing exclusively through Romania. Its average discharge at the mouth is . It originates in the Hă ...

. It was part of the Roman frontier system of the

Limes Alutanus The Limes Alutanus was a fortified eastern border of the ancient Roman province of Dacia built by the Roman emperor Hadrian to stop invasions and raids from the east. It was part of the Dacian Limes frontier system. It was built along the Ol ...

History

It was constructed between 137 – 138 AD by ''Surri sagittari'' (Syrian archers) by the order of Titus Flavius Constans, imperial procurator of

Dacia Inferior Roman Dacia ( ; also known as ; or Dacia Felix, ) was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today all in Romania, except the last regio ...

, according to inscriptions on the front of two of the castra's gates. The last coins discovered and dated at Arutela were issued by

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 13 March 222), better known by his posthumous nicknames Elagabalus ( ) and Heliogabalus ( ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short r ...

between the years 220 – 223 AD. Arutela also hosted a Dacian settlement, which enjoyed a prolonged existence under Roman rule.

Archaeology

The first excavations at "Poiana Bivolari" were made in 1888–1889 in order to capture sulfurous thermal water. The excavation uncovered metal objects and Roman coins of

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

, Iulia Doamna and

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...

. Between 1890 and 1892,

Grigore Tocilescu Grigore George Tocilescu (26 October 1850 – 18 September 1909) was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, epigrapher and folkorist, and member of the Romanian Academy. He was a professor of ancient history at the University of Bucharest, author ...

and

Pamfil Polonic Pamfil Polonic (27 August 1858 – 17 April 1945) was a Romanian archaeologist and topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves ...

continued with partial excavations, completely uncovering Roman baths and partial ruins of the castra. These discoveries remain the only epigraphic materials found on the site. Between 1897 and 1902, the Arutela ruins were partially covered by the construction of a railroad between

Râmnicu Vâlcea Râmnicu Vâlcea (formerly ''Râmnic'', ) is a city in Romania. Located in the south-central part of the country, in the historical province of Oltenia, it is the seat of Vâlcea County and its main urban settlement. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

and Râul Vadului, while the baths disappeared completely. In 1967, the National Military Museum reopened the research site until 1970, and opened it once more in 1978. The opening led to the complete exposure of the ruins which were not destroyed by the railroad construction. The archaeological excavations uncovered weapons, coins, pots and inscriptions, on display today at the Bucharest National Military Museum. After the excavations finished, the Arutela castrum became a historical monument of the Vâlcea County Committee of Culture and the Museum of History in

. In 1982–1983, the castrum was renewed in a project by the architect Aurel Teodorescu, following references prepared by Cristian Vlădescu, the coordinator of research previously performed by the Military Museum. The construction work was executed by C. Panco. The first "Praetorian gate" (''porta praetoria'') in Romania was reconstructed on the site.

Images

File:Castrul roman Arutela - vedere dinspre rau.jpg File:Arutela, vede de ansamblu.JPG File:Castru Roman Arutela 02.JPG

Notes

References

Ancient

* *

Modern

* * {{coord, 45.276667, 24.311944, display=title, type:landmark_region:RO-VL Dacian towns Ruins in Romania Roman auxiliary forts in Romania History of Oltenia Limes Alutanus