Daphne was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

fortification inaugurated, most probably in 327, on the left bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, across Transmarisca, in the delta of the Arges river. In 367, emperor

Valens Valens (; ; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the Byzantine Empire, eastern half of the Roman Em ...

crossed the Danube at Daphne using a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

. Chronicler

George Kedrenos George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos (, fl. 11th century) was a Byzantine Greek historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the time from the biblical account of cre ...

, recounting the fight between the Varangians of Sveinald (Sviatoslav) and Emperor Ioan Tzimiskes in 971, mentioned the existence of wheat and millet sowings in the regions on the left bank of the Danube, which proves that this area was inhabited by a sedentary population. Encircled in Durostor (today Silistra), the Varangian armies supplied themselves at night with these grains and fodder transported from the opposite bank of the Danube. The same chronicler wrote that: "there came to him (before the emperor) from Constantia and other fortresses built beyond the Istru, messengers asking forgiveness for the evil deeds committed, surrendering together with those fortresses; receiving them gently, the emperor sent men to take possession of the cities and sufficient armies to guard them.” Constantiana Dafne

It was mentioned by

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

and

Procopius of Caesarea Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the pr ...

. The most probable position is at Grădiștea at south west of Ulmeni. Still some historians believe that the Daphne was the new name of the

Sucidava Sucidava (Sykibid, Skedevà after Procopius of Caesarea,Olga Karagiorgou Σucidava after Vasile Pârvan, where Σ is pronounced "sh") was a Dacian and Daco-Roman city situated in Corabia, Romania, on the north bank of the Danube. It dev ...

- Celei.

References

{{coord missing, Romania 327 establishments Buildings and structures completed in the 4th century Byzantine military architecture Roman auxiliary forts in Romania 4th-century fortifications 320s establishments in the Roman Empire History of Muntenia