Roman Byzantine Gothic Walls Romania Plain

Limes Transalutanus is the modern name given to a fortified frontier system of 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 ...

, built on the western edge of Teleorman's forests as part of the Dacian Limes 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 ...

, modern-day

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The Limes Transalutanus, of 235 km length, was needed to shorten the line of communication to the strategic fort at Angustia by almost 30 per cent compared to the earlier route via 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 ...

. In first half of the 3rd century AD

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 ...

advanced the province's eastern frontier by some east of the existing Limes Alutanus although the road and many of the forts on the Limes date from the end of

Trajan's Dacian Wars Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor, Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danube, Danubian Rom ...

(c.106 AD).C. C. Petolescu, Auxilia dacica. Contribuție la istoria militară a Daciei Roma- ne (Bucharest 2002) p55 Between 244–247, after the

Carpian The Carpi or Carpiani were a tribe that resided in the eastern parts of modern Romania in the historical region of Moldavia from no later than c. AD 140 and until at least AD 318. The ethnic affiliation of the Carpi remains disputed, as there i ...

and

Getae The Getae or Getai ( or , also Getans) were a large nation who inhabited the regions to either side of the Lower Danube in what is today northern Bulgaria and southern Romania, throughout much of Classical Antiquity. The main source of informa ...

(or

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

) attacks, Philip the Arab abandoned the limes for some time. The Romans returned to the limes but closed the road to the

Rucăr Rucăr is a commune located in the north-eastern part of Argeș County, Romania, situated in the Carpathian Mountains. The commune is composed of two villages, Rucăr and Sătic, and its population as of 2021 was 5,259. Historically important for ...

Bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the component of a Cereal, cereal grain consisting of the hard layersthe combined aleurone and Fruit anatomy#Pericarp layers, pericarpsurrounding the endosperm. Maize, Corn (maize) bran also includes the p ...

pass starting from the modern village of Băiculeşti. The frontier system was composed of a road linking military forts and towers and in the southern, less mountainous, part a 3 m high

vallum Vallum is either the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart ( Agger) with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch (fossa). The name is derived from '' vallus'' (a ...

10–12 m wide reinforced with wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

s on stone walls and also a ditch. In this southern part the ''limes'' was parallel to

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 ...

at a distance varying from 5 to 30 km east of the river. Later, another ''limes'' was built in the area, known as

Brazda lui Novac Brazda lui Novac ("Novac's Furrow") is a Roman frontier system () in present-day Romania, known also as Constantine's Wall. It is believed by some historians to border Ripa Gothica. The of Brazda lui Novac starts from Drobeta, nowadays it is v ...

Forts

Known forts on the Limes Transalutanus include (from the north): *

Cumidava (castra) Cumidava was a castra, fort in the Roman province of Dacia Apulensis. It is located at northwest of the city Râșnov, Romania near the city of Vulcan, Brașov, Vulcan. The site is located on the middle terrace of Bârsa River (Olt), Bârsa Rive ...

Castra of Drumul Carului The castra of Drumul Carului was a fort in the Roman province of Dacia near Moieciu, Romania. It was part of the Roman frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus and was in a strategic position south of the Bran Pass. The small fort (''castell ...

Jidava (castra) Jidava (or ''Jidova'') was a fort (also called Campulung Muscel fort) in the Roman province of Dacia 4 km southwest of the town of Campulung, Romania. It was built around 190–211 AD as part of the frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus lo ...

also called Campulung Muscel *

Castra of Albota The Castra of Albota was a ''castrum'' (Roman fort) in the province of Dacia. It was built after 161 AD as part of the Limes Transalutanus. See also *List of castra Castra (Latin, singular castrum) were military forts of various sizes use ...

Săpata Săpata is a commune in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Bănărești, Dealu Bradului, Drăghicești, Găinușa, Lipia, Mârțești (the commune centre), Popești and Turcești. It is the site of two ancient Ro ...

Castra of Fâlfani The castra of Fâlfani was a fort built in the 2nd century AD in the Roman province of Dacia. It was part of the Roman frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus. It was abandoned in the 3rd century. Its ruins are located on a hill in ...

Gresia Roman fort Gresia Roman fort is located in the present Gresia (commune Stejaru, Romania). It was in the Roman province of Dacia and dates from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It was part of the frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus. References See a ...

Castra of Băneasa It was a fort in the Roman province of Dacia and part of the Roman frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus. See also *List of castra Castra (Latin, singular castrum) were military forts of various sizes used by the Roman army throughout t ...

Castra of Poiana The castra of Poiana was a fort in the Roman province of Dacia near the present town of Poiana (previously Flamanda) . It was built in the 2nd century AD and abandoned in the next century. It was a part of the Limes Transalutanus frontier sy ...

References

External links

Dorin Bondoc (Repertoriul fortificaţiilor de pe ripa nordică a limesului Dunării de Jos în epoca romană)
{{coord missing, Romania Roman Dacia Roman fortifications in Romania History of Muntenia Limes Transalutanus