Dinogetia

an ancient settlement on the island of Bisericuta, in one of the old channels of the Danube, located 8 km southeast of the city of Galaji, Rumania.

Investigations of Dinogetia were begun in the mid-19th century; more extensive investigations have been under way since 1947 (by the Rumanian archaeologist G. §tefan and others). Traces of a Getae settlement of approximately the beginning of the first century A.D. have been found on the island. A stone fortress with 14 towers, a praetorium, and stone buildings was erected in the third century A.D. It served as a base for the Romans on the Lower Danube. At the end of the fourth century the fortress was destroyed, but it was later reconstructed and additions were repeatedly built (until the end of the sixth century) by Byzantine emperors. Dinogetia was again destroyed at the end of the sixth century and remained uninhabited until the ninth century. From the ninth to the 12th century a settlement was located on the site of Dinogetia; more than 200 dwellings, workshops, and out-buildings have been excavated, and artifacts of local as well as Old Russian and Byzantine production have been found. At the end of the 12th century the settlement was abandoned, apparently as a result of nomadic raids.