Cumidava (castra)

Cumidava
Ruins of the Northeastern gate (2013)
Location within Romania
Known also as	Castra of Râșnov
Founded	2nd century AD
Place in the Roman world
Province	Dacia Superior, Dacia Apulensis
Limes	Transalutanus
Directly connected to	Castra of Drumul Carului, Castra of Brașov-Șprenghi
Structure
— Stone structure —
Construction technique	Opus incertum
— Wood and earth structure —
Size and area	114 m × 110 m ( ha)
Stationed military units
— Cohorts —
VI Nova Cumidavensium Alexandrina[1]
Location
Coordinates	45°37′07″N 25°26′30″E / 45.618707°N 25.441580°E / 45.618707; 25.441580
Altitude	608 m (1,995 ft)
Place name	Grădişte,[2] Erdenburg, Eulenburg, Orlenburg
Town	Râșnov
County	Brașov
Site notes
Discovery year	1856 [2]
Condition	Ruined
Excavation dates	1939, 1969 - 1970
Archaeologists	M. J. Ackner, Mihail Macrea, Constantin Daicoviciu[2]

Cumidava was a fort in the Roman province of Dacia Apulensis. It is located at 4 km (2.5 mi) northwest of the city Râșnov, Romania near the city of Vulcan. The site is located on the middle terrace of Bârsa River.

It was part of the Roman frontier system of the Limes Transalutanus in a strategic position to the north of the Rucăr–Bran Pass.

It was a large fort sufficient for a milliaria or quingenaria equitata cohort.

Several overlapping forts from different phases have been found. The earliest wooden and earth fort from the time of Trajan measured 110x114 m surrounded by a 10 m wide and 2 m high earth mound and defensive ditch of depth 2 m on the NW and SW sides.^[3] The second construction phase was a stone fort of 118 × 124 m with the porta praetoria on the NE side and walls 1.5-1.7 m thick. On the NE and SE sides the wall was laid in the ditch of the wood and earth phase, the ditch behind being filled with the bank of the earth and wood phase. On the NE and SE sides were three defensive ditches of 5×1.75 m, 5.50×1.25 m and 1.65×0.80 m, while on the SW side two trenches (3×1.25 m, 2.80×1 m), and a single trench on the NW side.^[4] This phase dates to the later reign of Hadrian or the beginning of Antoninus Pius.

In 2016, as part of the LIMES National Program, geophysical surveys revealed a smaller fort (castellum) about 40 m east of the large fort and approximately 73×50 m, predating the stone fort. Approximately 78 m NNE of the stone fort a building consisting of two rooms with a semicircular apse oriented to the NW was found.