Diana Fortress

Diana Fort (Serbian: Тврђава Диана, romanized: Tvrđava Diana) is a Roman fort located near the hamlet of Karataš, 8 km northwest of Kladovo, in eastern Serbia in the Karataš archaeological site. It is located on cliffs of the Đerdap, above the Danube, on a strategic location overlooking the Danube frontier. It has been extensively excavated, is one of the best explored forts of the Moesian Limes, and can be visited today.

It was built in the Tiberian-Claudian age as part of the Roman Moesian Limes frontier system of linked forts along the Danube. After its destruction during Domitian's Dacian War, it was rebuilt in 100 AD during preparation for Trajan's Dacian Wars with a larger area of 1.7 ha (compared to the earlier 1.04 ha) and with the main buildings in stone. It then became also known as Statio Cataractarum Dianae (Diana Cataracts Station) as it protected the entrance to the canal dug in preparation for the wars to avoid cataracts in the main river course. The canal was more than 3 km long and 40 m wide, an achievement celebrated on the Imperial Tablet found near the fort.

The fort measured 172 x 100 m and had semicircular towers. 150 m west of it was a civilian settlement, and on the eastern side an ancient cemetery; an aqueduct has also been discovered.

Modifications were made at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century when additional towers were added towards the river for extra defence towards the Danube shores. In the mid 4th century the fort was damaged by the invading Huns and in 530 AD rebuilt by Emperor Justinian.

Text adapted from “Diana Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Diana Fortress ranks #3,464 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #22 of the 34 mapped in Serbia. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Serbia compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗