Welcome to Civitas Tropaensium!

When thinking about the day ahead I thought the highlight would be finally reaching Constanta, after I drop by a nearby monument I was told to check out. Sure, let's do it!

If I had only realized last night how close I was to the ruins of this ancient city, I would have cycled that extra mile #acrossRomania and made my camp inside the city walls.
Welcome to Civitas Tropaensium! This castrum (military camp) became a city within a century.

The settlement was founded by emperor Traian and initially inhabited by Roman veterans of the Dacian Wars which ended in 106 AD.
Fun-fact: Before the battle of Tapae (101 AD) the Dacian tribe, the Buri, sent Traian a message saying that he should withdraw from Dacia and restore peaceful relations. The message was in Latin, inscribed on the smooth top of a very large mushroom 😂

Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius rebuilt the city in the 4th century and it became an important religious center with several basilicas in the city. Here is what remained of The Simple Basilica. Walking between those colonnades felt out of this world.

Civitas Tropaensium was at its highest in the 6th century when it was a bishopric, but later in that century it was sacked by the Avar tribes and stopped being an important city of Dobruja region. Today, it's abandoned, there are no admission fees.

Another thing that excited me as much as the colonnades in the basilica is the sanitary channel which ran across the city and collected all the wastewater, mixing it with running water and taking it out of the city. #acrossRomania

Bonus: Barcelona was initially a Roman castrum.Read more