Vota Pro Salvte Imperatoris in an Inscription at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa

The evidence for the first town founded in Dacia after the Roman conquest is recorded in an important epigraphic document: ‘[Ex] au[ctoritate Imp(eratoris) Cae]saris divi Nerv[ae f(ilii) Nervae] Traiani Augusti condita Colonia Dacica per [D(ecimum) Terenti]um Scaurianum [leg(atum) eius] pr(o) pr(aetore)’. From the reign of Hadrian onwards, the town bears in inscriptions the name of Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa, sometimes given in a simplified form; in the third century A.D., during the reign of Severus Alexander, the title of ‘metropolis’ is added. Sarmizegetusa was the seat of the governor of the province of Dacia, and then of Dacia Superior, and finally became that of the general governor of the three Dacias (legatus Augusti pro praetore trium Daciarum, consularis Daciarum III). Throughout the Roman period, Ulpia Traiana was the political, cultural and religious metropolis of Dacia.