Argidava (Argidaua, Arcidava, Arcidaua, Argedava, Argedauon, Argedabon, Sargedava, Sargedauon, Zargedava, Zargedauon, Greek: ?ργ?δαυα, Αργεδαυον, Αργεδαβον, Σαργεδαυον) was a Dacian fortress town close to the Danube, inhabited and governed by the Albocense. Located in today's Varadia, Caras-Severin County, Romania.
After the Roman conquest of Dacia, it became both a military and a civilian center, with a castrum (see Arcidava) built in the area. The fort was used to monitor the shores of the Danube.[2]
Ancient sources
Decree of Dionysopolis
The oldest found potential reference to Argidava is in the form Argedauon or Argedabon (Greek: Αργεδαυον, Αργεδαβον), written in stone, in the Decree of Dionysopolis (48 BC). This decree was written by the citizens of Dionysopolis to Akornion, who traveled far away in a diplomatic mission to meet somebody's farther in Argedauon/Argedabon. The decree, a fragmentary marble inscription, is presently located in the National Museum in Sofia.
The inscription also refers to the Dacian king Burebista, and one interpretation is that Akornion was his chief adviser (Greek: πρ?τοσφ?λος, literally "first friend") in Dionysopolis.. Other sources indicate that Akornion was sent as an ambassador of Burebista to Pompey, to discuss an alliance against Julius Caesar.
This leads to the assumption that the mentioned Argedava was Burebista's capital of the Dacian kingdom. This source unfortunately doesn't mention the location of Argedava and historians opinions are split in two groups.
One school of taught, led by historians Constantin Daicoviciu and Hadrian Daicoviciu, assume the inscription talks about Argidava and place the potential capital of Burebista at Varadia. The forms Argidava and Arcidava found in the other sources mentioned below, clearly place a Dacian town with those names at this geographical location. The site is also close to Sarmizegetusa, a later Dacian capital.
Others, led by historian Vasile Pârvan and professor Radu Vulpe place Argedava at Popesti, a district in the town of Mihaile?ti, Giurgiu County, Romania. Arguments include the name connection with the Arges River, geographical position on a potential road to Dionysopolis which Akornion followed, and most importantly the size of the archaeological discovery at Pope?ti that hints to a royal palace. However no other sources seem to name the dava discovered at Pope?ti, so no exact assumptions can be made about its Dacian name.
It is also quite possible for the two different davae to be just homonyms.
Unfortunately, the marble inscription is damaged in many areas, including right before the word Argedauon, and it is possible the original word could have been Sargedauon (Greek: Σαργεδαυον ) or Zargedauon. This form could potentially be link to Zargidaua mentioned by Ptolemy at a different geographical location. Or again, these two could be simple homonyms.
Argidava is mentioned in Ptolemy's Geographia (c. 150 AD) in the form Argidaua (Greek: ?ργ?δαυα) as an important Dacian town, at latitude 46° 30' N and longitude 45° 15' E (note that he used a different meridian and some of his calculations were off).
Arcidaua on Tabula Peutingeriana (top upper left corner)
Argidava is also depicted in the Tabula Peutingeriana (2nd century AD) in the form Arcidaua, on a Roman road network, between Apo Fl. and Centum Putea. The location corresponds to the one mentioned by Ptolemy and the different form is most likely caused by the G/C graphical confusion commonly found in Latin documents.