In the 2nd century BC, Ptomeleu, in his work “Geographyca”, wrote about the forty most important localities from Dacia and about Apoulon, in the central part of Transylvania.
The 13th Roman Legion Gemina was based here, establishing a strong fortress and a political, administrative and military center – the capital of the Roman Dacia. The Emperor Septimius Severus made the locality the most important in the hierarchy of the Roman villages, designating it as a town with the name Municipium Septimius Apulense.In 117 AD the town is called “civitas” in the official acts and from 1276 it is named Balgrad (the white town).
On the walls of the Roman fortress, of which today only a gate remains, was built the medieval fortress under which many Roman remains exist which are yet to be fully excaved.
In 1597 the Metropolitan Orthodox Cathedral was rebuilt by Mihai Viteazul who, along with his successors gave lands and money each year until the the beginning of the 18th century.
On 1st November 1595 “to the sound of music and the noise of guns” Mihai Viteazul celebrated a triumphal entry into the Balgrad fortress where he was welcomed by all the people recognizing in him their prince.
On 27 of May 1600, Alba Iulia become the capital of the first political unification of the Romanians. The prince entitled himself “with God’s mercy, I, Mihai, Prince and Leader of the whole Romanian country, of Ardeal and Moldova districts”.