History of Turda

conquest of Dacia, and showing the construction of the road from Potaissa to Napoca, by demand of the Emperor Trajan. It indicates the distance of ten thousand feet (P.M.X.) to Potaissa. This is the first epigraphical attestation of the settlements of Potaissa and Napoca in Roman Dacia.

The complete inscription is: "Imp(erator)/ Caesar Nerva/ Traianus Aug(ustus)/ Germ(anicus) Dacicus/ pontif(ex) maxim(us)/ (sic) pot(estate) XII co(n)s(ul) V/ imp(erator) VI p(ater) p(atriae) fecit/ per coh(ortem) I Fl(aviam) Vlp(iam)/ Hisp(anam) mil(liariam) c(ivium) R(omanorum) eq(uitatam)/ a Potaissa Napo/cam / m(ilia) p(assuum) X". It was recorded in the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, vol.III, the 1627, Berlin, 1863.

This milliarium is an attestation of the road known to be built by Cohors I Hispanorum miliaria.

The castrum established was named Potaissa too and became a municipium, then a colonia. Potaissa was the basecamp of the Legio V Macedonica from 166 to 274.

The Potaissa salt mines were worked in the area since prehistoric times.

Middle Ages

After the Hungarian conquest, the Turda salt mines were first mentioned in 1075. They were closed in 1932 but have recently been reopened for tourism.

Saxons settled in the area in the 11th century. The town was destroyed during the Tartar invasion in 1241–1242. Andrew III of Hungary gave royal privileges to the settlement. These privileges were later confirmed by the Angevins of Hungary.

The Hungarian Diet was held here in 1467, by Matthias Corvinus. Later, in the 16th century,