Micia Roman Site

The Roman site of Micia lies on the left bank of the Mureș, about 3 km north-west of the village of Vețel, in Vețel commune, Hunedoara County, opposite the Mintia power station. The Micia-Vețel archaeological site is a class A historic monument (code HD-I-s-A-03214) and includes the fort, the civilian settlement, the amphitheatre and the cemetery. Since 2024 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage property "Frontiers of the Roman Empire - Dacia". The fort was built after Trajan's conquest of Dacia in the early second century, first in timber and later in stone, with Legio XIII Gemina among the builders. It remained in use until around 272, when the Romans withdrew from Dacia. It was a quadrilateral of about 360 x 180 m, unusually laid out with its long sides running east-west, and reached about 6.5 ha in its final phase. The garrison included several auxiliary units, among them the Ala I Augusta Ituraeorum Sagittariorum, the Cohors II Flavia Commagenorum and the Numerus Maurorum Micensium. The fort watched over the road into central Transylvania, the Mureș river route and the nearby mining area. Around the fort grew a settlement which, although it had the rank of a rural district (pagus), had an orthogonal street grid, public buildings, baths and a river port on the Mureș with stone-built quays. The amphitheatre, about 100 m south-east of the military baths, has an arena of 31 x 29 m. Numerous inscriptions have been found on the site, including an altar to Silvanus Domesticus, discovered around 1840, which mentions a lessee of the pastures and salt mines. Archaeological research has taken place here since the nineteenth century. Some of the finds from Micia are kept at the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilisation in Deva. The Micia Rediviva Roman re-enactment festival is held on the site every year.