Costești-Cetățuie Dacian Fortress

The Dacian fortress of Costești-Cetățuie stands on Cetățuia hill in the Apa Grădiștei valley, near the village of Costești in Orăștioara de Sus commune, Hunedoara County. The upper plateau of the hill lies at 514 m. It is one of the six Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999, and the sites on the hill are listed as historic monuments under codes HD-I-s-A-03177 and HD-I-s-A-03178. The fortress was built in the first century BC. Its ancient name is not known. A large civilian settlement lay at the foot of the hill, and the fortress guarded the road to Sarmizegetusa Regia and is regarded as the usual residence of the Dacian kings. It was destroyed by the Romans in AD 106 and never rebuilt. The first line of defence was an earth rampart, 6-8 m wide at the base and now 2-2.5 m high, topped with a timber palisade and with a pincer-shaped entrance. The murus dacicus wall, 3 m thick and at least 3-4 m high, was built only on the gentler slopes, from dressed limestone blocks with an earth and stone fill tied by timber beams set in dovetail sockets. The wall had bastions, and on the upper plateau stood two residential towers protected by a double palisade. Nearby are the fortification on Cetățuia Înaltă and the tower on the Ciocuța height. Blidaru fortress lies about 1.5 km to the south, as the crow flies.