The village of Tilişca, the nominal centre of Tilişca, lies 26 km from Sibiu, to the West of the county, along the district road DJ106E; this road was nicknamed „The King’s Road” and connects Sălişte, Galeş, Tilişca – Rod, Poiana Sibiului, Jina, Şugag, going up to Novaci (Gorj County), along the Transalpina Road. The rural commune is located in the foothills of the Northern side of the Transylvanian Alps, in the alpine zone of the mountaineous range of Cindrel, in the neighborhood of «Mărginimea Sibiului».
In administrative terms, the territory of Tilişca is made up of three distinct natural areas: Tilişca I – including the villages of Tilişca and Rod, lying along the River Sălişte; Tilişca II – a smaller area along the right bank of the Stream Greu, up to where it flows into the Sălişte River; Tilişca III – located on the Southern side of the Cindrel Mountains, bounding to the South on Valea Frumoasă, which is included in the conservation area Natura 2000 Frumoasa.
The centre of Tilica (580 m high) lies at the junction of Lunca and Vale rivers, which – uphill – unite to form the River Sălişte, being surrounded by four hills covered in fir and pine woods: to the North, there lies Căţânaşul and Cetatea, and, to the South, Plaiul and Pleşa. The river valley gradually narrows, offering to the village a restricted space bordered by hills, which rise majestically, towering (more than 100 m higher) over the centre of the village.
This is how the „Father of history”, Herodotus, appreciated our ancestors, when writing that: „The Getae are the bravest and most righteous of the Thracians”. Dacian history is a widely debated topic, although the sources of scientific information are scarce, and ancient written sources have to be supplemented with systematic archaeological research. Indeed, the historical roots of the Romanian nation are thrust into those times, as it has inherited the civilization and culture of the Dacians, through its folklore, fine arts, dances, customs, traditions, basic vocabulary, etc. Today we know for sure that the Danube and the Carpathians have never been barriers in terms of ethnicity, language, economy or culture, instead they were natural borders that united rather than separating.
Tilişca is known as an old Dacian region, through its fortress lying up on the hill of Căţănaş. The ancient road followed the tops of hills, with access from the current village centre at Galeşului, by Zăpodie, alongside the Dacian fortress, climbing and passing Butila summit, over the hill of Dor (in Rod), going then towards the fortress of Căpâlna, crossing the valley of Frumoasa. This road was „trodden” for many centuries by the local shepherds, who were driving their flocks of sheep to the mountains. The ancient road was the same as the road used, in the Middle Ages, by the inhabitants of Rod who went to Tilişca, well into the 20th century. It was abandoned, partly, from 6 October 1935, when King Carol II inaugurated the new road, which the locals called the „King’s Road”.
Burebista, „the first and greatest of the kings of Thrace”, was – probably – master of the Dacian fortress of Tilişca, too, which he rebuilt and reinforced, making it part of the outer system of fortifications in the Orăștie Mountains. Here, and in other places in the area, the legend of the suicide of King Decebalus, followed by the Romans, is still alive. The place where it occurred, somewhere near the mountains, was often associated with the woods of the Mărginime. The image of the Dacian king’s suicide was immortalized on Trajan’s Column, a true history book engraved in stone. The ancient monument evokes the Roman war campaigns against the Dacians, representing the Romanian people’s most authentic and graphically genuine „birth certificate”.
In the verse written by the lyric poet Ovid one can discover this line: „The shepherd is playing his flutes stuck with pitch”, which reminds us that our folklore, especially the doina, has Geto-Dacian roots. It is true that, in Romania, there are rather few places that retain traces of our ancestors, yet Tilişca is proud to be one of these few places where authentic artifacts are preserved speaking about our nation’s beginnings.
FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR DACIAN ANCESTORS!
We mark these traces with respect and reverence, knowing that „there can be no love of one’s homeland without the cult of the past” (M. Eminescu). Following the Dacian banner, you will discover the larger village, where every single piece of land bears the traces of our ancestors, the Dacians. The Roman conquest did not actually mean abandoning these beautiful territories, but rather a new stage of our history.
Wandering these places, you will discover the thrill of returning HOME!
Sincerely yours,
Dumitru Răceu
Mayor of Tilişca