Castra Traiana Fort
About
Castra Traiana takes its name directly from its builder: an earthwork fort with double ditches raised between 102 and 105 CE during Trajan's Dacian Wars, part of the Limes Alutanus running up the Olt river valley in what is now Valcea County, Romania. Brick stamps from the Cohors Hispanorum mark its first garrison. Excavations carried out between 1981 and 1994 traced the eastern rampart for a stretch of nearly 70 meters and uncovered a furnace built into the fort for smelting iron ore, evidence the garrison processed its own metal on site. The fort would later be rebuilt in stone during the first half of the 2nd century, but in 117 CE its ramparts were still raw earth and timber, freshly dug during the conquest itself.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →