Citadels Sarmizegetusa is a symbolic name. It is written in the golden book of the Romanian people's history. First of all Sarmizegetusa was the name of the Dacian political, economical and spiritual center, during the great kings Burebista and Decebal. Later, after the Romans conquered Dacia, they built another capital also called Sarmizegetusa. The same name for a powerful Dacian Citadel and for a flourishing roman city. They are very closed one another, 30 km by plane, 60 km by foot, both are situated in the Hunedoara District.

The Dacian center was destroyed during the second war between the Dacians and the Romans (105-106), so until 1950, we knew very few things about it. TheTara Hategului region was in a totally different situation ; because its so numerous historical remains many people think that this was the place where the brave Dacian leaders lived...

The professor Dimitrie Teodorescu made the first archeological researches at Grădistea Muncelului in 1924. The problems he had to deal with were to complex, that he had to move his activity after only one year, to the Costesti Citadel. The one who continued and developed the researches in this area was the professor Constantin Daicoviciu.

Between Deva and Alba Iulia, on national road 7, one can find the city Orăștie. From here, a forestry train reaches the station Cetate and then a small road leads to Sarmizegetusa Regia ( the Dacian one). The sacred enclosure lays at approx. 100 m from the Eastern Gate. In a glade one can see the remainders of Dacian sanctuaries.

The professor Dimitrie Teodorescu presumed, in 1924, that the temple could represent a way of following the heavenly phenomena, namely the Moon's Revolution. Constantin Daicoviciu intuited the Sanctuary's importance, saying that it was closely connected with the calendar. He said: "In my opinion we are indeed talking about a Dacian Sanctuary - Calendar. In a former study I spoke about the way in which the calendar was made, and in what way was it connected with the Dacian's religion. I think that these conclusions should be only a starting point for some future researches."

The Goth writer Iordanes (in the VIth century) mentioned that the Dacians were very intelligent and they entirely listened to Deceneu; this one initiated them in almost all the philosophical domains, because he was a great master in this matter. He taught them to behave morally, to use the logic; [ ...] showing them the zodiac he thought them about planets' movements and the other astronomical secrets, including those of the stars, the cardinal points. Between battles, these brave warriors used to study the sky, the nature, all the natural phenomena. The Dacian Sanctuary is the prove of their big volume of know ledges.

An old Hindu text describes an altar for sacrifices: "the fire's altar represents the year [ ...] . The stones which surround it are the nights, and they are 360 because an year has 360 nights; the bricks are the days [ ...] which also are 360 because a year has 360 days." Another similar monument it's the "Sky's Temple" (Tien Tan) from Peking. It has four central columns with dragons representing the four seasons and two concentric circles with 12 columns each. The first circle represents the months of the year, the other the days with 12 divisions made of two hours, meaning there were 24 hours a day.

In France, at Coligny a similar discovery was made. Here was found a bronze calendar of 1,48 m height and 0,80 m large. It had five years written on it. Three of them were made of 12 months and two of them of 13 months. Near each month's name one could read the words: ATENOUX (full Moon), NOUX (worm days), GIAMON (cold days) and SAMON (Worm days). The way in which these words are arranged suggest the dividing of the year in 4 seasons. We are dealing with a solar calendar, divided in months, which still remains full of mysteries.

George Charriere, speaking about the Dacian sanctuary, considers that each beam of the circular enclosure (there are 68) would represent a semester (180 days) and that the gate's pillars (horse-shoe shaped) would represent the time of a year. According to this conception, every 34 years the real time flow was adjusted by adding the difference between the Dacian year and the real year.

Platoon speaks about the fact that the body and the soul were simultaneously treated when the man was ill, this idea being attributed to Zalmoxis, the God of The Earth, of the plants and of the fertility. Discoride, in the Ist century A.C., wrote some botanical works which included 42 names of healing plans used by the Dacians.

In Sarmizegetusa was found a medical bag which consisted of one scalpel, a tweezers, , small vessels in which the healing substances were kept ,a platelet of volcanic ash(this last one had the property of healing the wounds). A message from the Roman Dacia During the archeological researches, at Ulpia Traiana, was discovered a great construction, maybe the greatest Roman Temple in Europe, excepting the ones from Italy. It has over 60 m length and it's larger than 40 m. It was dedicated (at least it seems so ) to the oriental divinity Malagbel.

English version by Nora Rusu.