SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA (I-II centuries), was the capital and the most important military, religious and political centre of the DACIANS (the ancestors of today's Romanians) before the wars with the Roman Empire.
     Erected on top of a 1200 m high mountain, the fortress, comprising six citadels, was the core of a strategic defensive system in the Orăștie Mountains (in present-day Romania).
  SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA, should not be confused with ULPIA TRAIANA SARMIZEGETUSA, the Roman capital of DACIA built by Roman Emperor Trajan some 40 km away, which was not the DACIAN CAPITAL, and was initially mistaken for the DACIAN CAPITAL.
  Serving as the DACIAN CAPITAL for at least one and a half centuries, SARMIZEGETUSA reached its zenith under KING DECEBAL. Archeological findings suggest that the Dacian god ZALMOXIS and his chief priest had an important role in Dacian society at this time.
      Nevertheless, the flowering of Dacian civilization apparently underway during the reign of DECEBAL came to an abrupt end when TRAJAN's legions destroyed the city and deported its population (Wikipedia).