Scientists have revealed the remains of a mysterious temple, located on the ninth terrace of Sarmizegetusa Regia. One of its crumbling walls was covered with paintings.
Archaeological excavations at Sarmizegetusa Regia. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH
Since 2017, archaeologists have investigated the plateau contained in the sacred precinct of Sarmizegetusa Regia, located above the X and XI terraces, where the known temples and sanctuaries of the Dacian capital are located.
During the seven years of research, the specialists outlined the image that the previously less researched terrace had in Antiquity: it was an extremely important place for the Dacians, from a religious point of view.
Traces of an unknown Dacian temple were gradually identified on the ninth terrace. As the site was expanded, new elements appeared to support the idea that an important temple had been erected here in Antiquity, which after being destroyed by fire, a new cult edifice was built on its ruins.
So, on the terrace less explored by archaeologists until 2017, there could be two ancient temples or one destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up.
A path of sandstone and andesite led to the temple
The later phase temple included 60 limestone bases, some of them in situ, arranged in five rows of twelve rows. It would have been built on the site of another, older building, which was destroyed by fire.
The burned remains are found on large surfaces and were used in the structure of the temple erected later. The importance of the “holy” place on the 9th terrace of Sarmizegetusa Regia is also highlighted by the paved alley that led to the temple.
Remains of the ancient alley. Photo: CJ Hunedoara
This represented a branch from the ancient paved road from Sarmizegetusa Regia that descended into the sacred precinct. The alley, well preserved but currently covered with soil, was made of limestone, andesite and sandstone pavements, materials brought from tens of kilometers away.
From the old Dacian temple, the remains of a collapsed wall with a width of about three meters have been preserved. On this wall, the Dacians would have decorated it with paintings.
The area of the former temple. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH
“It is not just any wall, not only because it belongs to a construction in the sacred area of Grădiștea de Munte (Sarmizegetusa Regia), but also because it is a wall that had a painted plaster. It is not a very elaborate painting. There are bands of color, and here and there there are plant elements. But anyway, the discovery of a new segment of wall from the edifice of the first phase forced us to expand the excavation, so as to identify as many parts as possible and to identify as much of the planimetry of the temple as possible from the first phase”. said the archaeologist Răzvan Mateescu, coordinator of the scientific collective of the archaeological site “Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștiei Mountains”.
As a result of the archaeological excavations, extended over five surfaces of the terrace, several segments of this wall were identified and at the same time new elements appeared that provide a detailed picture of the evolution from Antiquity of the constructions on the 9th Terrace of Sarmizegetusa Regia, it shows archaeologist Răzvan Mateescu, from the National History Museum of Transylvania and “Babeş – Bolyai” University from Cluj-Napoca.
According to him, when the research is completed, it will be known more precisely what role the ancient buildings on the 9th Terrace had, of which until now only a part could be explored.
The excavations were attended by specialists from the scientific collective of the archaeological site “Dacian Fortresses from the Orăștiei Mountains”, archaeologists and students from Babeș Bolyai University (Cluj Napoca), the National Museum of Transylvanian History (Cluj Napoca), the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization (Deva ), Mureș County Museum (Târgu Mureș) and Cluj Napoca Technical University.
“Mount Athos” of the Dacians
Apart from the temple (or temples) on Terrace IX, spread over an area of about 350 square meters, in Sarmizegetusa regia, archaeologists have uncovered seven other supposed cult edifices in the last century: (two circular, five quadrangular) , located on the 10th and 11th terraces.
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The painted temple from Sarmizegetusa regia Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (7) JPG
The great circular sanctuary was systematically researched in two stages, between 1921-1924 and in the 1950-1951 campaigns. The other six temples were identified and revealed in the 1950s and 1960s. They are the Small Quadrilateral Temple, the Large Quadrilateral Temple, the Small Round Temple, the Large Andesite Temple on Terrace X, the Large Limestone Temple, and the Small Limestone Temple.
“Only a small part of the structure of the temples remained, they were destroyed during the wars with the Romans. However, the architectural elements that have been preserved speak for themselves about a monumental religious architecture, unique in the Dacian world. Most of the temples were provided with limestone or andesite bases (plinths) that supported wooden columns. The large andesite temple on Terrace X was to have stone columns, but conflicts in the early 2nd century AD prevented its completion. The related column drums remained scattered in various points of the sacred area or were used for the expansion of the fortification. informs the site cetati-dacice.ro, the official portal of the archaeological complex, coordinated by the National History Museum of Transylvania.
The three terraces on which the ruins of the temples were discovered, the most important of the more than 200 terraces of Sarmizegetusa Regia, were protected with strong walls, which were meant to prevent them from sliding.
Other smaller walls, built in the murus Dacicus technique, protected the sacred precinct of the Dacian capital from the hill and sides.
