Castra Apulum
About
Legio XIII Gemina stayed behind in the newly conquered province after Trajan's Second Dacian War, founding its fortress at Apulum (modern Alba Iulia) in 106-108 CE and becoming the senior garrison of the new province. It remained Dacia's principal legion through 117 CE, even as sub-units were pulled for Trajan's simultaneous Parthian campaign (115-117).
What happened here
A legionary fortress holds five thousand men and is laid out to the same plan everywhere, so a transferred soldier knows his way around on the first day. Two main streets cross at the headquarters building, where the standards and the pay chest are kept in a sunken strongroom under guard. Around it: the commander's house with a courtyard garden, granaries raised on stone piers, a hospital, workshops, and long barrack blocks divided into rooms for eight men who cook and mess together. Training is daily, and building work is constant — soldiers make their own bricks, tiles and boots. A civilian town grows against the walls, with bars, traders and the unofficial families of men who are not legally allowed to marry.
In ancient writing
- Ptolemy, Geography 3 (Dacia)
Ptolemy's gazetteer of Dacia lists Apulum among the province's towns with coordinates — a bare place-name entry.
Sources
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 →