Drobeta (castra)

Drobeta
Drobeta fort
Drobeta (castra) is located in Romania
Drobeta (castra)
Location within Romania
Alternative name(s)Drubeta
Founded during the reign ofTrajan
Founded103
Abandonedc. 6th century AD
Attested byTabula Peutingeriana
Notitia Dignitatum
Previous fortificationDacian
Place in the Roman world
ProvinceDacia
Administrative unitDacia Apulensis
Administrative unitDacia Superior
Directly connected to
Structure
— Stone structure —
Size and area137 m × 122 m (1.6 ha)
Stationed military units
Legions
Cohorts
Location
Coordinates44°37′30″N 22°40′05″E / 44.62500°N 22.66806°E / 44.62500; 22.66806
TownDrobeta-Turnu Severin
CountyMehedinți
Country Romania
Reference
RO-RAN109782.06
Site notes
ConditionRuined

The Drobeta (castra) was a fort built by Emperor Trajan in the province of Roman Dacia, near the present Drobeta-Turnu Severin. It was built to protect the northern side of Trajan's Bridge across the Danube which was built quickly in preparation for Trajan's Second Dacian War in 103-105 AD. It was therefore in a key strategic location from where the imperial road north into Dacia started.

Around it developed the Roman city of Drobeta.

The fort has been extensively excavated and is visible today.

It was the first stone fort built by Romans in Dacia and the only one that was used from the 2nd century until the beginning of the 7th century. The orientation of the fort is an exception to Roman military architecture as the Porta Praetoria gate is to the South, possibly because it defended the bridge.

Western Dacia forts, roads and cities
  1. ^ CIL III, 8072
  2. ^ CIL III, 14484
  3. ^ CIL III, 8066a
  4. ^ AE 1936, 9
  5. ^ Radu Florescu, Drobeta: l’accampamento e la città romana, in Traiano ai confini dell’Impero, Ancona 1998, a cura di Grigore Arbore Popescu, p.129;
  6. ^ Rapoarte arheologice: Zona de vest a castrului Drobeta Archived September 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ CIL III, 14216,08