Setting

The closest airports:

• International Airport Cluj Napoca (RO)
• Budapest International Airport (HU) Ferihegy 2

The Roman Fort of Citera Hill

In the fort of Citera hill with the approximate size of 110 x 90 m was placed a special fighter troop for the open spaces in the low lands. The troop here was made up of Palmyren archers brought from Palmyra (Syria) right from the beginning of the 2nd century A.D. and they continued to stay in Porolissum. Known as Numerus Palmyrenorum Sagittariorum Porolissensium, the unit also had a riding archer squad.

Moigrad Hill

Hill of volcanic origin, a massive mass of rock (andesite, granite etc.) that is still mined today of a quarry on the South-Western side of the hill, Moigrad Hill stands as a magnificent cone with the maximum height of 514 m, and with a level difference of 224 m to the valley of Ortelec, that had created the named pass. The upper plateau of the volcanic cone, in oval shape, has a large diameter of about 400 m and a small one of around 250 m, with a total surface of 7 hectares. Here there were made accidental archaeological discoveries even from 1855 (when it was discovered a Dacian thesaurus in silver ornaments). However the systematic research started in 1940, 1958-1959, but rigorously only from 1984, 1987-1995, 2002. Considered at first a Dacian necropolis of cremation, Moigrad Hill appears increasingly as a sacred space meant for the ritual offerings (1st century B.C.) and then an extended fortified Dacian settlement (1st century A.D.) that was preceded by rare prehistorically occupations and that was later to become a Roman fortification (2nd – 3rd century) and then a medieval settlement (12th – 14th century).

The burial ground (Necropolis)

In the 50’s and then later between 2006 and 2010 there were made archaeological research in the burial ground of the Roman settlement of Porolissum, that is placed at the border of the villages Moigrad and Jac, which unraveled several cremation tombs from 2nd – 3rd century A.D., two funeral stone rooms, a section of the imperial Roman road and part of a medieval burial ground of 12th – 15th century.

The Roman Border (LIMES)

Meseş Mountains are a natural border between the high plateau of Eastern Transylvania and the low lands of Tisa to the West. This mountain chain, of about 80-100 km, used to have several passes from one side to the other, either in the valleys or in the summits. Next to Moigrad one can find the largest and the easiest pass between these two areas, which was used from the ancient times for trading and relocations of troops. The Romans, in their time, blocked the pass with a network of forts that controlled the transit of goods and people. In the main pass and on the lateral, secondary passes, there were made elements of the advanced line of the limes (watch towers, small rooms, and earth and stone dams). Many of the towers on the border of Meses Mountains were ravished by the treasure seekers. There were made archaeological diggings between 1977-1983 to all the towers that were identified in front of Porolissum, and subsequently they were published. The recent research to the dam between Poguior Hill and Dealu Mare identified a burgus on the left shore of the Ortelec Valley, a dam wall long of 2.5 km that was protected with towers, and the pass gate in the wall, between Poguior and Dealu Mare.

At 1.5 – 2 km behind this line, there were erected the military settlements, which were the laying places for the troops (the forts). Subsequently, around the fortified garrisons, civil settlements were developed with internal defense. All this show of military tactic forces, in the general strategy framework had as a goal to control the barbarian world (the Dacians, Vandals, Sarmats) and to install the peace in the Province.

The strategic importance of the area proved so high that within two decades from the conquest (118-119 A.D.) the Northern and North-Western area of Dacia was changed in a separate province - Dacia Porolissensis with a special type of military structure, and most likely, Porolissum became the capital of this administrative unit. Within this fort, where it is difficult to segregate the defense of the border to the defense of the city or the fort, the fort from Pomăt was the largest and most significant of its kind.

It stands as a landmark fort due to its size, outstanding location, the various military units that were settled there, and the extended space for the warehouse together with the production workshops. The name of the place “Pomăt”, is of Southern-Slovenian origin and it means the “remembrance of something in the past”. What is remarkable is that here the Slovenians replaced here the old Latin toponymy, by living around the fort.

The Dacian-Roman archaeological fort of Porolissum covers parts of several village borders like: Jac (Creaca), Brebi (Creaca), Moigrad (Mirşid), Ortelec and Stâna, today the suburbs of Zalau city. The fort was in fact on the territory of Jac village, but since the access path towards it and basically towards the Dacian-Roman fort, was made and is still made through Moigrad, as here there were built modern access roads, and all these caused the identification of Porolissum with Moigrad. The distance from Zalău-Creaca-Jibou to the archaeological fort is about 3.5 km.