Capidava: the Roman and Byzantine fortress on the Danube
Capidava is an archaeological site on a rock above the right bank of the Danube, in Constanța County, Dobruja. It began as a Geto-Dacian settlement, became a Roman fort on the Moesian frontier and was reused by the Byzantines. It is a quiet, little-visited place for anyone who enjoys Roman ruins in a river setting, one of the hidden gems of Romania.
Capidava is a Danube fort that was destroyed and rebuilt again and again: by the Goths in the 3rd century, once more around 596, and for good by the Pechenegs in 1036.
The history of Capidava
Capidava began as a Geto-Dacian place. Its name comes from the Getic word dava, meaning “settlement”, and a La Tène settlement of the 5th to 2nd century BC has been found at the site of the modern village. The historian Vasile Pârvan believed that this was the stronghold of the Getic king Dapyx, who, according to Cassius Dio, withdrew into his fort after being defeated by Marcus Licinius Crassus in 28 BC. That identification remains a hypothesis.
The Romans reached the Danube early, and in the years before the Dacian Wars Trajan had a small fort built on the cliff at Capidava to control the river crossing, probably garrisoned by Cohors I Ubiorum. After the conquest of Dacia, the place grew into a military station with a civilian settlement beside it. It lay on the Danube frontier of the province of Moesia Inferior, later Scythia Minor, and formed part of the Moesian Limes. The Tabula Peutingeriana shows it as Calidava on the road between Axiopolis and Carsium. Below the fort lay a port that served the fleet known as Classis Flavia Moesica, and the baths stood outside the walls. According to Pârvan, the settlement was already Romanised by about AD 130–150.
The fort did not stay safe. The Goths destroyed it in the second half of the 3rd century, and it was rebuilt under Aurelian and Probus. It was then rebuilt twice more on the same plan, in the early 5th and the early 6th century, until it was destroyed again around 596. Only a small fortlet in one part of the old fort kept going until about 620, when that too was abandoned. In late Roman times Capidava was the seat of a bishop and had a small church, and the Notitia Dignitatum records a cavalry unit stationed there, the Cuneus equitum Solensium.
After centuries of silence, the Byzantines returned in the 10th century and reused the fortress. It sheltered civilians as well as soldiers: more than 340 sunken-floor houses from that period have been found inside the walls. The life of the settlement ended in the spring of 1036, when a Pecheneg invasion devastated the region and destroyed the fort.
The ruins were known locally long before they were studied; an 18th-century Turkish village nearby was called Kale-koy, “the village of the fortified settlement”. Vasile Pârvan identified the fort before the First World War, and excavations began in 1924 under his assistant Grigore Florescu, who directed the research until 1960. The fort was roughly rectangular, about 105 by 127 metres, with walls more than two metres thick and five to six metres high, and a gate on the south-eastern side. Quarrying for limestone in the 1920s damaged the western corner and part of the south-western side.
Curiosities about Capidava
- The name Capidava keeps the old Getic word dava, “settlement”. It is one of the few Roman-era places in this area with a local name where no major pre-Roman settlement has been found.
- The port at Capidava had a wharf below the water and storage buildings on the upper terrace. It was a station of the Roman fleet Classis Flavia Moesica, whose main base was at Noviodunum.
- A milestone found at Seimenii Mici records a distance of 18,000 feet, about 27 km, from Axiopolis to Capidava, which helped confirm where the ancient place stood.
- More than 340 sunken-floor houses from the Byzantine period have been discovered inside the fort walls, a sign that ordinary families lived within the fortification.
- The 18th-century Turkish village next to the ruins was called Kale-koy, “the village of the fortified settlement”.
- Human remains from the cemetery of Capidava have been studied by geneticists.
Tours near Capidava
Experiences in the area that you can book online with Viator:
GROUP Guided Day Trip to the Danube Delta, Tulcea - Letea
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Guided Birdwatching day trip to the Danube Delta - private program
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Danube Delta Tour from Tulcea to Mila 23, Letea Forest and Sulina
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Danube Delta PRIVATE boat trip to Letea Forest (guided tour)
See details ›Visiting Capidava: what to see
- The fort stands on a rock above the Danube, which gives wide views of the river. Archaeologists have fully examined the main south gate, the late Roman headquarters (principia), barracks, the port and the 6th-century church.
- The early military baths, from the 2nd to 3rd century, lie about 100 m east of the fort.
- Capidava is reached by the county road DJ 223 from Cernavodă or Hârșova. The Anghel Saligny Bridge and the Cernavodă Bridge are about 18 km away.
- Tropaeum Traiani is about 45 km away and Histria about 55 km, so Capidava fits into a day of ancient sites in Dobruja.
- Access arrangements can change, so check the current opening hours before you go.
Opening hours, access and conditions can change. Check before you go.
Map: where Capidava is
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Photos of Capidava
Questions
Where is Capidava?
Capidava is on the right bank of the Danube in the village of the same name, in Constanța County, Dobruja. It is reached by county road DJ 223 from Cernavodă or Hârșova.
What is Capidava?
It is an archaeological site with the ruins of a Roman fort, later reused by the Byzantines. Before the Romans, a Geto-Dacian settlement stood in the area.
Who built the fort at Capidava?
The Romans, beginning under Trajan, when a small fort was built on the cliff to control the river crossing. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the following centuries.
What happened to Capidava in 1036?
A Pecheneg invasion devastated the region and destroyed the Byzantine fort there, which ended the life of the settlement.
What can you see at Capidava?
The ruins of the fort walls, the main south gate, the late Roman headquarters, the 6th-century church and the early Roman baths outside the fort, all on a rock above the Danube.
What is there to see near Capidava?
The Anghel Saligny Bridge and Cernavodă Bridge are about 18 km away, Tropaeum Traiani about 45 km and Histria about 55 km.
Also nearby
Anghel Saligny Bridge
Cernavodă · 1895 Danube railway bridge, once Europe’s longest
18 km away
Cernavodă Bridge
Cernavodă · steel truss bridge carrying road and rail over the Danube
18 km away
Tropaeum Traiani
Adamclisi · Roman victory trophy over the Dacians
45 km away
Histria
Dobruja · Greek colony of the 7th century BC, ruins by a lagoon
55 km away