Tulcea

Sister cities

• Fratta Polesine
• Aalborg
• Werkendam
• Rovigo
• Larnaca Municipality
• Ilion
• Aalborg Municipality
• Shumen
• Amasya
• Izmail
• Aprilia

History

Tulcea was founded in the 7th century BC under the name of Aegyssus, mentioned by Procopius. Ovid recorded a local tradition that ascribed its name to a mythical founder, Aegisos the Caspian. Aegyssus was built on a high hill, a strategic location for guarding the Danube particularly under the Romans. The amphorae discovered from 1st century BC to 1st century AD suggest the town was an important trading centre of the period. After the Getic raids from 1215 AD the Romans conquered the town and soon after built a new city. After Trajan's Dacian Wars at the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the city was included in the Moesian Limes defensive frontier system as a military fort and port for a detachment of the Classis Flavia Moesica. The baths were built at the end of the 1st century AD and used until the beginning of the 5th century after several reconstruction phases, in the third of which a large palaestra was added on the north side. In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the cohors II Flavia Brittonum (from Britain) was garrisoned here, and in the next century the vexillatio Aegyssensis of Legio I Iovia. During the 4th-5th centuries, the city still preserved its military statute (headquarters of cuneus equitum armigerorum, praefectus ripae legionis primae ariae cohortium quinque pedaturae inferioris). It was destroyed during the Hun's invasions in the 5th century and rebuilt under Justinian I along with the monumental reconstruction of the Danubian limes. The town was abandoned by the first half of the 7th century after the Avars-Slavs' attacks and the downfall of Danubian limes. The town is mentioned in Notitia Episcopatuum and De Thematibus on the list of the bishoprics of Dobrudja. Inhabitation was restored in the second half of the 10th century, as the…

Most-observed species

• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  535
• European Bee-eater

  Merops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  375
• European Roller

  Coracias garrulus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  372
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  362
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  358
• Little Egret/Western Reef-Heron

  Egretta garzetta (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  356
• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  330
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  324

Most recent

• M 4.3 — 2017-08-16
  1 km ENE of Ci?mele, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2013-09-30
  2 km SW of Schela, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2013-09-29
  2 km ESE of Schela, Romania
• M 2.5 — 2007-11-10
  6 km ENE of Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania
• M 4.1 — 2007-10-30
  5 km SE of N?moloasa-Sat, Romania
• M 3 — 2006-03-25
  4 km NW of Smârdan, Romania