Cumidava


Cumidava was originally a Dacian settlement, and later a Roman military camp on the site of the modern city of Râșnov in Romania.

Etymology

After the Roman conquest of Dacia, the Dacian name Comidava was modified by the Latin writers to Cumidava.
The name Comidava is a compound of dava 'town' and "comi". Scholars' opinions about the meaning of the Dacian word "Comi/Cumi" include:
  • 'Desire, love'—a word explained by the ancient Iranian Kamya, with an obscure pronunciation of the "a". The term "Comi" is also contained in the name of the Dacian prince and priest Como-sicus
  • 'Lovely'
Another town named Comidava / Cumidava was situated in the Remesiana's territory

History

Early references

Early references to Cumidava are made by the geographer Ptolemy in his Geographia, in the form Komidava.
An inscription on stone dedicated to Julia Avita Mamaea, the mother of the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, allows the localization of the Dacian settlement Cumidava in the area of present-day Râșnov.
The archaeological research at Râșnov was initiated in 1856 by Johann Michael Ackner and continued in 1939 by Macrea Mihail who also recorded the presence of Dacian pottery during the digs at the Rasnov Roman camp
The inscription found in 1939:
After Roman conquest, a part of the kingdom of Dacia was included in the Roman Empire. Septimius Severus pushed Dacia's eastern frontier approximately east of the Olt River, constructing a series of 14 camps, over a distance of cca., beginning at Flămânda on the Danube and stretching northward to Cumidava.
Cumidava had a military road link with Angustia, the farthest east of the Roman campus in Dacia.

From a Dacian town to a Roman military castrum

The Roman military castrum Cumidava was identified at 4 km northwest of the city Râșnov, at the common border with the city of Vulcan.

Sinaia lead plates

Cumidava is mentioned also on the controversial Sinaia lead plates in the form Comidava, which is used as example to debunk the myth about them. According to the director of the Romanian Institute of Archaeology, Alexandru Vulpe, the tablets include only what was known before 1900, for example, the form Comidava from Ptolemy, although now it's known that the correct spelling is Cumidava, as found in 1942 in an inscription.