Sarmizegetuza

the capital of pre-Roman Dacia; located on Grǎdiştea Muncelului Hill, in the mountains of Orǎştie in southwestern Transylvania, Rumania. Sarmizegetuza was a major economic, political, commercial, and religious center of the early Dacian slaveholding state. It was also the residence of the Dacian tribal kings. In 106 it was destroyed by the Romans. Later, 50 km west of Sarmizegetuza, the Romans built the city of Ulpia-Traiana, which was later renamed Sarmizegetuza. In the center of Roman Sarmizegetuza there was a forum, with an adjacent large palace of the Augustales, priests of the cult of the Roman emperors who were granted the title of Augustus. After the Romans left Dacia in 271, Sarmizegetuza was abandoned by its inhabitants.