Porolissum was an ancient Roman city in Dacia. Established as a military camp in 106 during Trajan's Dacian Wars, the city quickly grew through trade with the native Dacians and became the capital of the province Dacia Porolissensis in 124. The site is one of the largest and best-preserved archaeological sites in modern-day Romania. For other senses of this name, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Dacia, in ancient geography the land of the Daci, named by the ancient Greeks Getae, was a large district of Central Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathians, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisa, on the east by the Tyras or Nistru, now... For other uses, see number 106. ... Marble statue of Trajan at Xanten (Colonia Ulpia Traiana) Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus (September 18, 53 – August 9, 117), Roman Emperor (98-117), commonly called Trajan, was the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire. ... Roman Monument for the Victory at the Adamclisi The Dacian Wars (101-102, 106-107) were two short wars between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Emperor Trajans rule. ... Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after AD 120. ... Events Roman emperor Hadrian begins to rebuild the Olympeion in Athens. ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

History

In 106, at the beginning of his second war against the Dacians, emperor Trajan established a military stronghold at the site to defend the main passageway through the Carpathian mountains. The fort, initially built of wood on stone foundations, was garrisoned with 5.000 auxiliary troops transferred from Spain, Gaul and Britain. Even though the name Porolissum appears to be Dacian in origin, archaeologists have so far uncovered no evidence of a Dacian settlement preceding the Roman fort. Roman Emperor is the term historians use to refer to rulers of the Roman Empire, after the epoch conventionally named the Roman Republic. ... Satellite image of the Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains are the eastern wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe, curving 1500 km (~900 miles) along the borders of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and northern Hungary. ... Auxiliary may mean: a backup system an auxiliary verb In sailing, the term is used for the motor, if a sailboat has one, or can be used to describe a motorized sailboat, as in an auxiliary sailboat. Auxiliary police Armed Forces auxiliary This is a disambiguation page, a list of... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin Gallia, Greek Galatia) was the region of Western Europe occupied by present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

In the following decades, the fort was enlarged and rebuilt in stone (possibly under the reign of Marcus Aurelius), and a civilian settlement developed around the military center. When Hadrian created the new province Dacia Porolissensis (named for the now sizable city) in 124, Porolissum became the administrative center of the province. Under emperor Septimius Severus, the city was granted municipium, allowing its leaders and merchants to act independently. Although the Romans withdrew from Dacia in 271 under Aurelian and the city was abandoned by its founders, archaeological evidence shows that it remained inhabited for several centuries afterwards. Bust of Aurelius in the Louvre of Paris. ... A bust of Hadrian. ... Events Roman emperor Hadrian begins to rebuild the Olympeion in Athens. ... Lucius Septimius Severus, (April 11, 146-February 4, 211) was Roman emperor from April 9, 193 to 211. ... A municipium was the second highest class of a Roman city, and was inferior in status to the colonia. ... Events Goths forced to withdraw across the Danube Roman Emperor Aurelian withdraws troops to the Danube frontier, abandoning Dacia. ... Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (September 9, 214–275), known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor (270–275), was the second of several highly successful soldier-emperors who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth. ...

Even though the city was founded as a military center in the middle of a war, the garrison of Porolissum seems to have lived in peaceful coexistence with their Dacian neighbours - several Dacian villages that were apparently founded after the city of Porolissum have been uncovered by archaeologists on the surrounding hills. There are also some inscriptions mentioning city officials with Romano-Dacian names, indicating close cooperation on a political level.

Excavations

Romanian archaeologists started excavation work at the site in the early 1970s. The excavations, which are still ongoing, have uncovered remnants of both the military installations and the civilian city, among them the public baths, a temple to Liber Pater, an amphitheatre and an insula consisting of four buildings. One of the gates of the fort's stone walls has been rebuilt. Current excavation work is focussed on uncovering the city's forum. The Akshardham Hindu temple, Delhi, India The word temple has different meanings in the fields of architecture, religion, geography, anatomy, and education. ... Bacchus by Caravaggio Dionysus, the name of a god, is occasionally confused with one of several historical figures named Dionysius. ... The name amphitheatre (alternatively amphitheater) is given to a public building of the Classical period (being particularly associated with ancient Rome) which was used for spectator sports, games and displays. ... In Roman architecture, insulae were large apartment buildings where the lower and middle classes of Romans (the plebs) dwelled. ... The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum, although the Romans referred to it more often as the Forum Magnum or just the Forum) was the central area around which ancient Rome developed, in which commerce, business, prostitution, cult and the administration of justice took place. ...

References

• Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites - Entry for Porolissum, retrieved March 29, 2006
• Porolissum.org - an Overview of the archaeological excavations, retrieved March 29, 2006