MessageToEagle.com – Sarmizegetusa, situated in the village Gradistea Muncelului County, was the capital of pre-Roman Dacia, located in Orastie Mountains, present-day Romania.
It’s a complex of sanctuaries situated on a cliff at an altitude of 1200 m, with leading, large round sanctuary and the so-called “andesite sun” artifact.
The fortress, a strategic center of defense, has a quadrilateral (a four-sided polygon) shape and was built of massive stone blocks with 3m thick and approximately 4-5m high walls. It was constructed on five terraces, on an area of almost 30,000 m².
The sacred zone of Sarmizegetusa includes a number of rectangular temples and the bases of their supporting columns are still visible in regular arrays.
Perhaps the most enigmatic construction at the site is the large circular sanctuary. It consisted of a setting of timber posts surrounded by a timber circle which in turn was surrounded by a low stone kerb.
The layout of the timber settings of Sarmizegetusa fortress bears intriguing resemblance to the stone monument at Stonehenge in England.
Another curious resemblance we find at Sarmizegetusa’s most important artifact “andesite sun”, which was probably used as a sundial and this artifact is very similar to the famous Mayan calendar.
Since it is known that Dacian culture was influenced by contact with Hellenisitic Greece, the sundial may have resulted from the Dacians’ exposure to Hellenistic learning in geometry and astronomy.
Dacian capital was conquered and destroyed by the Romanian army in 106 AD Its ruins were unearthed for the first time in 1923 due to excavations under the leadership of prof. DM Teodorescu of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cluj-Napoca, and then other excavations were continued until 1944.
Sarmizegetusa Regia also had residential area of 3 km, with dwellings and workshops. It was a vast civil settlement in which many homes, workshops, warehouses, barns and water reservoir.
People lived below the citadel itself in settlements built on artificial terraces and a system of ceramic pipes channeled running water into the residences of the nobility.
The archaeological inventory found at the site demonstrates that Dacian society had a relatively high standard of living.
At 100 meters to the east of the complex, there was the city’s and shrines of various shapes and sizes.
The sanctuaries were located on a terrace linked with the gate by a paved road. Today, it’s unknown if Sarmizegetusa had seven or eight quadrilateral sanctuaries because they were destroyed by the Romans.
At the ancient site of Sarmizegetusa we encounter evidence of our ancestors’ knowledge of cosmogonical topography, divine geometry and cosmic harmony and several artifacts offering proof that the Dacians were an advanced society.
The Dacians were skilled metalworkers. Excavations conducted in the area revealed tools such as meter-long tongs, hammers and anvils which were used to make some 400 metallic artifacts — scythes, sickles, hoes, rakes, picks, pruning hooks, knives, plowshares, and carpenters’ tools.
However, among the most important finds unearthed at the site, is a medical kit, in a brassbound wooden box with an iron handle, containing a scalpel, tweezers, powdered pumice and miniature pots for pharmaceuticals, .and a large funerary vessel (0.6 m) high and 41 in (1 m) across, bearing an inscription in the Roman alphabet: DECEBAL PER SCORILO, i.e. ‘Decebalus, son (cf. Latin puer) of Scorilus’.
Decebal (Decebalus) (ruled 87-106) was the last king of Dacia. The Romans defeated the Dacians at Topae, set fire to several towns and moved towards Sarmizegetusa, the capital of the kingdom. The Romans laid siege to the town and cut Sarmizegetusa’s water supply. The Dacians eventually surrendered and Decebalus committed suicide. Dacia became a Roman province.
Dacian Fortress Sarmizegetusa is included on the UNESCO World Heritage list
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source: Academia.edu
I. Grumeza, “Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe”