Cumidava (also Comidava, Komidava, ) was originally a

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 ...

n settlement, and later 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 ...

military camp on the site of the modern city of

Râșnov Râșnov (; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Ruusenåå''; Latin: ''Rosnovia'') is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 15,920 as of 2021. It is located at about southwest of the city of Brașov and about the s ...

(15 km from

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

) in Romania.

Etymology

After the Roman conquest of Dacia, the Dacian name Comidava was modified by the Latin writers to Cumidava. (It is common in the Late Latin inscriptions to express the letter "o" by "u", e.g. patrunus instead of patronus 'protector', and Latin rumpia instead of Greek ρομφαια (

Rhomphaia The rhomphaia () was a close-combat bladed weapon used by the Thracians as early as 350-400 BC. Rhomphaias were weapons with a straight or slightly curved single-edged blade. Although the rhomphaia was similar to the falx, most archaeological evid ...

) 'Thracian claymore / sword'.) Cetatea rasnov cumidava

The name Comidava is a compound of dava 'town' and "comi". Scholars' opinions about the meaning of the Dacian word "Comi/Cumi" include: * 'Desire, love'—a word explained by the ancient Iranian Kamya, with an obscure pronunciation of the "a". The term "Comi" is also contained in the name of the Dacian prince and priest Como-sicus * 'Lovely' (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

Drăgănești) Another town named Comidava / Cumidava was situated in the

Remesiana Remesiana (Byzantine Greek: Ρεμεσιανισία) was an ancient Roman city and former bishopric, which remains an Eastern Orthodox and also a Latin Catholic titular see, located around and under the modern city of Bela Palanka in Serbia. R ...

's territory

History

Early references

Teritoriul onomastic al elementului dava - Sorin Olteanu

Early references to Cumidava are made by the geographer

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

in his ''

Geographia The ''Geography'' (, , "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, compiling the geographical knowledge of the 2nd-century Roman Empire. Originally wri ...

'', in the form Komidava (). An inscription on stone dedicated to

Julia Avita Mamaea Julia Avita Mamaea or Julia Mamaea (14 or 29 August around 182 – March 21/22 235) was a Syrian noble woman and member of the Severan dynasty. She was the mother of Roman emperor Alexander Severus and remained one of his chief advisors thr ...

, the mother of the Roman Emperor

Alexander Severus Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. Alexander took power in 222, when he succeeded his slain co ...

(dated 222-235 AD), allows the localization of the Dacian settlement Cumidava in the area of present-day

.L'Année épigraphique: revue des publications épigraphiques relatives a l'antiquité romaine, Académie des inscriptions & belles-lettres (France) Presses Universitaires de France., 1968, The archaeological research at Râșnov was initiated in 1856 by

Johann Michael Ackner Johann Michael Ackner (January 25, 1782 – August 12, 1862) was a Transylvanian archaeologist and nature researcher. Biography A Saxon born in Schäßburg (Sighişoara), a town in the Habsburg controlled Principality of Transylvania (now p ...

and continued in 1939 by Macrea Mihail who also recorded the presence of Dacian pottery during the digs at the Rasnov Roman camp The inscription found in 1939: After Roman conquest, a part of the kingdom of

was included in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

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 ...

(Roman emperor from 193 to 211 AD) pushed Dacia's eastern frontier approximately east 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 ...

(

Limes Transalutanus Limes Transalutanus is the modern name given to a fortified frontier system of the Roman Empire, built on the western edge of Teleorman County, Teleorman's forests as part of the Dacian Limes in the Roman province of Roman Dacia, Dacia, moder ...

), constructing a series of 14 camps, over a distance of cca. , beginning at

Flămânda Prundu is a commune located in Giurgiu County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Prundu and Puieni. Some 300 m from the Danube, there was also a hamlet called ''Flămânda'', inhabited by some 30 Boyash and 5-6 Romanian familie ...

on 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 ...

and stretching northward to Cumidava (now Râșnov). Cumidava had a military road link with ''Angustia'' (now

Brețcu Brețcu ( ; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a commune in Covasna County, Transylvania, Romania composed of three villages: Brețcu, Mărtănuș (''Kézdimartonos''), and Oituz (''Ojtoztelep''). The village has been recorded under different name ...

), the farthest east of the Roman campus in Dacia.The Dacian Stones Speak by Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, Publisher: University of North Carolina Press, , 2000,

From a Dacian town to a Roman military castrum

The Roman military

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

Cumidava was identified at 4 km northwest of the city

, at the common border with the city of Vulcan.

Sinaia lead plates

Cumidava is mentioned also on the controversial

Sinaia lead plates The Sinaia lead plates () are a set of lead plates written in an unknown language or constructed language. They are alleged to be a chronicle of the Dacians, but are considered by some scholars to be modern forgeries. The plates were written in th ...

in the form ''Comidava'', which is used as example to debunk the myth about them. According to the director of the Romanian Institute of Archaeology,

Alexandru Vulpe Alexandru Vulpe (June 16, 1931 – February 9, 2016) was a Romanian historian and archaeologist, member of the Romanian Academy and director of the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology. Life Vulpe was born in 1931 in Bucharest, the son of a ...

, the tablets include only what was known before 1900, for example, the form ''Comidava'' from Ptolemy, although now it's known that the correct spelling is ''Cumidava'', as found in 1942 in an inscription.Din tainele istoriei - Misterul tablitelor de plumb
''Formula As'', n. 649; 2005

Notes

References

* * *

External links

History of Rasnov/Cumidava
{{Dacia topics Dacian towns Roman sites in Romania Historic monuments in Brașov County