Visit Potaissa Roman Fort, Turda, Romania

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Potaissa (Patavissa) was a Dacian settlement, and during Roman rule a vicus (village), then a municipium and colony (on the territory of the present-day city of Turda, Cluj County), at the foot of the "Fortress Hill" on which the important Roman fort Potaissa was located . The archaeological site containing the remains of the city of Potaissa is classified as a historical monument, with the code CJ-IsA-07210. It was elevated to the rank of municipium by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193–211) and to that of colony, probably by the Roman emperor Caracalla (211–217), and enjoyed the Italic law (jus Italicum), which entailed exemption from land tax. It experienced great development starting from 167–168 , when the Va Macedonica legion was established here . At the point " Piatra Tăiată " was located in the Roman period the main quarry of the city and the Roman fort Potaissa. In the 19th century, when traces of Roman exploitation were still visible, detailed observations were made on the techniques of detaching limestone blocks and advancing into the massif. A 1.5 m high column with a diameter of 0.34 m was transported from the quarry to the church in the neighboring village of Cheia. Tiles, keys, opaites, ceramic fragments and several coins (a tetradrachm, a denarius from the time of the Roman emperor Domitian, a denarius from the time of Macrinus and two other coins) were discovered in the quarry and its surroundings. The discoveries indicate the existence of a settlement also in the vicinity of the Roman limestone quarry.

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