Drobeta Turnu Severin

Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Romanian pronunciation: [droˈbeta ˈturnu seveˈrin]; Latin: Drobeta; Hungarian: Szörényvár, Szörénytornya; Bulgarian: Северин; Serbian: Дробета-Турн Северин/Drobeta-Turn Severin) is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the left bank of the Danube, below the Iron Gates. The city administers three villages: Dudașu Schelei, Gura Văii, and Schela Cladovei. The city's population is 92,617 (2011), up from 18,628 in 1900. The city was called Drobeta by the Romans. The tower which supplied the Turnu part of the city's name stood on a small hill surrounded by a deep moat. Near Turnu Severin are the remains of the celebrated Trajan's Bridge, the largest in the Empire. Here, the Danube is about 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) broad. Built in only three years (103–105 AD) by the famous architect Apollodorus of Damascus, the bridge was considered the most daring work in the Roman world. The bridge was built on 20 pillars of stone blocks, was 1135 m long, 14.55 m wide and 18.60 m high. Each bridge head had its own portal monument, whose remains can still be seen on both sides of the Danube. Oaks from 200 hectares of forest were used for the wooden parts of the construction. The bridge was composed of twenty arches supported by stone pillars. Only two of them are still visible at low tide.

 Ruins of Trajan's Bridge

Drobeta became, from a strategic perspective, a town at the crossing of land and water roads which led to the north and south of the Danube. It became the first urban center in the region and the third of Dacia after Sarmizegetusa and Apullum. During the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117–138 AD), the settlement was declared a city in 121 AD. At this point the population had reached 14,000. During the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211 AD), the city was raised to the rank of a colony (193 AD), which gave its residents equal rights with citizens of Rome. As a colony, Drobeta was a thriving city with temples, a basilica, a theater, a forum, a port and guilds of craftsmen. In the middle of the 3rd century, Drobeta covered an area of 60 hectares and had a population of almost 40,000 inhabitants. After the retreat of the Roman administration from Dacia in the 4th century, the city was preserved under Roman occupation as a bridge head on the north bank of the Danube until the 6th century. Destroyed by Huns in the 5th century, it was rebuilt by Justinian I (527-565).