Germisara
Health resort, camp, civil settlement, and necropolis, situated a few km apart. The name, of Thraco-Dacian origin, is mentioned in ancient sources (Ptol. 3.8.4; Tab. Peut.; and by Rav.Cosm. 4.7) and attests to the use of the hot springs even before the Roman conquest.
The camp, not yet systematically investigated, is situated between Cigmău and Geoagiu. The ancient bath is 5 km N of the camp, at the modern health resort. Germisara was probably a pagus included in the territory of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa.
Important archaeological discoveries include a basin (7.59 m in diameter) dug into a rock and filled with thermal waters through a terracotta pipe; many inscriptions, sculptures, and coins. Remains of walls and buildings have also been found.
Many of the inscriptions, dedicated to the healing gods or to the nymphs, were ordered by prominent patients. Among them were the governors of Dacia Superior: M. Statius Priscus (ClL III, 7822) and P. Furius Saturninus. A dedication in hexameters to the nymphs (CIL III, 1395) has been found. The funeral monuments, carved in stone supplied by the neighboring quarry, offer a variety of representative figures. An aedicula wall represents a child with two penholders and a satchel for school supplies.
BIBLIOGRAPHYN. Gostar, “Inscripţii şi monumente din Germisara,” Contributii la cunoaşterea regiunii Hunedoara (1956) 57-99; D. Tudor, Oraşe, tîrguri şi sate în Dacia romană (1968); V. Wollmann, “Monumente sculpturale din Germisara,” Sargetia 5 (1968) 109-219.
L. MARINESCU