POTAISSA
(Turda) Cluj, Romania.
An important Roman town that developed near the legionary
camp on the main strategic and commercial thoroughfare
of Dacia. Its ruins lie under the present town.
The name is of Dacian origin and appears in the ancient sources (Ptol. 3.8.4;
Tab. Peut.;
Rav.Cosm. 4.7; Ulp.
De censie Dig. L 15.1.8.9).
The Roman settlement, attested epigraphically from
the time of Trajan (
CIL III, 1627), for a long time was
a vicus. Its development was due to the installation here
in 168-69 of Legio V Macedonica. Under Septimius Severus (193-211) the town became a municipium and then a colony, and its inhabitants were given the ius Italicum. Although known somewhat through systematic excavations, the remains have been greatly reduced by modern
building. The center of the ancient town was near the
present bridge over the Ariel, and remnants of it spread
over an area of several square kilometers, within which
several structures, canals, etc., have been discovered.
To the SW of Turda on Cetăţ hill is the legionary
camp. Built of stone, it is an irregular square in shape
and covers an area of 22.98 ha. It is currently under
study.
On the slopes of Zînelor hill are workshops of potters
and stone carvers, and in the S part of the modern town,
a necropolis with sarcophagi.
The epigraphic material, sculpture, and other objects
discovered at Potaissa are in the History Museum in
Turda and in the History Museum of Transylvania in
Cluj.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. I. Russu, “Descoperiri arheologice la
Potaissa,”
Anuarul Institutului de Studii Clasice 3 (1936-40) 319-40; I. H. Crisan, “Santierul arheologic Turda,”
Materiale şi cercetări arheologice 7 (1960) 431-37; D.
Tudor,
Oraşe, tîrguri şi sate din Dacia romană (1968) 209-21.
L. MARINESCU
