Sarmizegetusa Regia

Variants

Historical records show considerable variation in the spelling of the name of the Dacian capital:

• Zarmigethusa, Sarmisegethusa (Ptolemy, Geography, 2nd century AD)
• Zermizegethusa (Dio Cassius 2nd-3rd century)
• Sarmazege (Anonymous Geographer from Ravenna, around 700 AD)
• Sarmategte (Tabula Peutingeriana, 13th century)
• Zarmizegetusa and Sarmizegetusa (from inscriptions)
• Sargetia (name of the river nearby)

Etymology

The pronunciation in the Dacian language is not known for certain, nor is the meaning of the word. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origin of the name Sarmizegetusa. The most important of these ascribe the following possible meanings to the city's name:

• ‘Citadel built of palisades on a mountain peak’ from zermi (*gher-mi ‘mountain peak, top’, cf. *gher ‘stone; high’) and zeget (from the Indo-European *geg(H)t ‘branch, pillar (for palisade)’ and ending with a determinant which has the meaning of "The Citadel on the Rock," "The High Citadel," "Palisade Citadel (built) on a height (or rock)." Since Sarmizegetusa was not initially a military fortification initially, but a religious and civil settlement, the etymology must be considered with certain reservations. It may be that the name indicated the sacrality of that place, or the fact that it was a royal citadel, at its origin.
• ‘City of the warm river’ from zarmi ‘warm’ (cognate with Sanskrit gharma ‘warm’) and zeget ‘flow’ (cognate with Sanskrit sarj- in sarjana- ‘flow’ and Bactrian harez- in harezâna ‘id.’), the city being named after the nearby river Sargetia
• 'Center where horse-mounted archers meet' from sar 'horse' (Getian and Sarmatian) combined with gethusa 'arrow' (cognate with Sarmatian sageta) and gethate 'center' (cognate Sarmatian cetate)
• ‘Palace illuminating the world of life’ from zaryma ‘palace’ (cf. Sanskrit harmya ‘palace’), zegeth ‘world of life’ (cf. Sanskrit jagat- ‘go’, and jigat- ‘mobility; world of life’) and usa ‘illuminating, enlightening; burning’)
• 'The capital of the Sarmatians and Gets' from the Latin terms: sarmis et getusa. 'SARMIS.E[T].GETUSA REGIA' is an alternate spelling of the full Latin name of the location. Getae and Dacians were interchangeable terms. The -A after GETUS is part of the genitive case in Latin, indicating ownership. This is plausible as the Dacians were allied with the Sarmatians (e.g., Roxolani) during the Dacian Wars in the early first century CE.
• 'The home of the Getic nation'. Vasile Pârvan proposed reading it as Sarmiz-egetusa in the sense of "Egetusa of Sarmos" or "Zarmos,", noting that Zarmos/Zermos was a known Thracian name cited by the Austrian researcher Wilhelm Tomaschek in his ethnological study Die alten Thraker (The Ancient Thracians). Pârvan's opinion was shared by the Bulgarian scientist and Thracologist Dimitar Dechev, who brought up for comparison the names of people from Lycia: Zermounsis, Ro-zarmas, Ia-zarmas, Troko-zarmas and the Thracian variant based on Zermos, Xermo-sígestos or Zermo-sígestos. Tomaschek had proposed in that 19th-century work the reading Zermi-zegétousa, comparing the first part with harmyá from Sanskrit "hearth; home; family" and the Armenian word zarm(i) "family, offspring," the final meaning supposed by Tomaschek being "the house of the (Getic) nation."

Pre-Roman era

Towards the end of his reign, Burebista transferred the Geto-Dacian capital from Argedava to Sarmizegetusa. Serving as the Dacian capital for at least one and a half centuries, Sarmizegethusa reached its zenith under King Decebal. Archaeological findings suggest that the Dacian god Zalmoxis and his chief priest had an important role in Dacian society at this time. They have also shed new light on the political, economic and scientific development of the Dacians and their successful assimilation of technical and scientific knowledge from the Greek and Romans.

The site has yielded two especially notable finds:

• A medical kit, in a brassbound wooden box with an iron handle, containing a scalpel, tweezers, powdered pumice and miniature pots for pharmaceuticals
• A huge vase, 24 in (0.6 m) high and 41 in (1.04 m) across, bearing an inscription in the Roman alphabet: DECEBAL PER SCORILO, i.e. ‘Decebalus, son (cf. Latin puer) of Scorilus’

• gold coins inscribed "KOSON"

The smithies north of the sanctuary also provide evidence of the Dacians' skill in metalworking: findings include tools such as metre-long tongs, hammers and anvils which were used to make some 400 metallic artefacts — scythes, sickles, hoes, rakes, picks, pruning hooks, knives, plowshares, and carpenters' tools — as well as weapons such as daggers, curved Dacian scimitars, spearpoints, and shields.

The capital of Dacia reached its peak under Decebalus, the Dacian king defeated by the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

The defensive system

The Dacian capital’s defensive system includes six Dacian fortresses — Sarmizegetusa, Costești-Blidaru, Piatra Roșie, Costești-Cetățuie, Căpâlna and Bănița. All six have been named UNESCO World heritage sites.

Roman era

After the defeat of the Dacians, the conquerors established a military garrison there and began to tear down the citadel. Sarmizegetusa's walls were partly dismantled at the end of the First Dacian War in AD 102, when Dacia was invaded by the Emperor Trajan of the Roman Empire and rebuilt as Roman fortifications. The latter were subsequently destroyed, possibly by the Dacians, and then rebuilt again following the successful siege of the site in AD 105–6.

Later, the Romans built a new capital, Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, at a distance of 40 km from Sarmizegetusa Regia. Emperor Hadrian wanted the new capital built by Trajan to be perceived as a successor to the Dacian one, which is why he added the name Sarmizegetusa to it. Today, the village of Sarmizegetusa, Hunedoara is located on the site of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa.