Once tourists arrive in the city of Măcin, the signs to the Arrubium fortress cannot fail to attract their attention. The easiest way of access is from the center of the town to the outskirts of the city, on Democratiei Street.
Therefore, the ruins of the Arrubium fortress can still be seen in the northwestern part of the city. Although the name is of Celtic origin, no evidence of Celtic presence in this area has been found.
The Roman fort Arrubium, whose ruins are located on the territory of the city of Măcin, is documented for the first time around 100 CE, in two military diplomas.
Later, the existence of the Roman camp was also presented in four other historical documents: Tabula Peutingeriana, a map drawn up by an anonymous author, most likely in the period 260 – 271 CE; Itinerarium Antonini, written in the years 212 – 218 AD, the form that has reached us dating from the time of the emperor Diocletian (284 – 305), in which the Roman fortresses on the right bank of the Istru (Danube), from Turtucaia to the discharge into the Sea, are indicated Black; Notitia Dignitatum, from the first quarter of the 5th century, which contains a list of military and civil functions from the east and west of the Roman Empire; and Cosmographia, a description of the world made in the 7th century by a geographer from Ravenna.
Located on a high promontory on the banks of the Danube, on the outskirts of the city of Măcin, the Roman fort Arrubium was the place where a series of military detachments and cavalry units were stationed. A milestone from the time of the Roman emperor Diocletian proves the restoration of the road that connected the fortress to other centers in the province. The citadel ceased its urban function in the 7th century, and in the 10th – 11th centuries, an early medieval settlement was established on the promontory.
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