At the start of the Christian era the Roman Empire extended to the Rhine and the Danube.  The then Romanian territory was inhabited by the Dacians, an Indo-European, Thracian people.  The Romanians were therefore close neighbours of the Romans.  The Romans felt threatened by the regular raids and invasions by the powerful Dacians during the reign of King Decebalus.  Emperor Trajan needed 2 campaigns, the first in 101-102 AD and subsequently in 105-106 AD, to subdue Decebalus and incorporate Dacia as a Roman province.

The bridge that Emperor Trajan had built over the Danube in Drobeta-Tumu Severin is an incredible testament to Roman engineering.  The arched viaduct was 1135m long, 45m high and 15m wide.  The columns of the bridge were spaced at 38m from each other.  It was the largest of its kind ever built.  It was the Romans that destroyed the bridge when they withdrew from Dacia under Emperor Aurelian in 270 AD. 

The epic of the Dacian wars is told in the reliefs of Trajan’s Column in Rome.  On the photograph of a relief the viaduct can be seen as well as Dacian villages set on fire. 

A Roman highway was built through the Carpathian Mountains.  The Tabula Peutingerania, an ancient road map, contains all the highways of the Roman Empire.

It is still possible to trace the route of the Roman highway from Tiartva (Dierna, Orsova) on the Danube via Admedia (the spa Baile Herculane), Ad Pannonios (the barracks in Teregova), Gaganis village (Armenis?) and Masclianis (Slatina-Timis?) through to the garrison town Tivisco (Tibiscum, or Jupa, Caransebes).  Regarding the exact position of Gaganis and Masclianis very few sources have been discovered.  Some sources name Gaganis and others Masclianis as the current Slatina-Timis.  Along the Roman highway, that continues past Alba Iulia and Cluj Napoca reaching Zalau, there were many guard posts and army camps where cohorts, including faster cavalry, were stationed to patrol the area.

The ancient Roman map has been reconstructed as an online route planner  using modern techniques.  Try for example: Atvaca (Atuatica Tunguorum, Tongeren) to Masclianis (Slatina-Timis).  The route will be displayed as found on the Tabula Peutingerania.

Decebalus was defeated in Trajan’s second campaign in his capital city Sarmizegethusa (106 AD).  The Romans founded a new provincial capital for Dacia 70km from Slatina Timis along the road to Hateg.  Archaeological excavations revealed the ruins of an amphitheater that could seat 5000 people.  A forum, temples and an aqueduct were also discovered.  The discoveries belong to the UNESCO world heritage sites. 

In this period Romania was overrun by Latin-speaking colonists.  The retired legionnaires received land in payment and settled in Dacia with their families.  They mixed with the native populations.  Vulgar Latin became the main language and remained so even after the Roman Empire withdrew towards the end of the 3rd Century AD as a result of the growing imposition of the ‘barbarians’.