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On the Babadag Lake bank, 2.5 km from the town, on a high promontory, the archaeological excavations revealed a settlement fortified with precinct earthwork wall and groove dated in the first epoch of Iron. The study of the unearthed materials and stratigraphic observations permitted the definition of the Babadag type culture which is characteristic to the Istro-Pontic space. Three evolutionary phases have been identified: Babadag I (XI B.C.), Babadag II (X - IX B.C.) and Babadag III (VIII - VII B.C.).

In the same archaeological station, traces of inhabitancy from different periods: Gaetic (IV - III B.C.), Roman-Byzantine and a necropolis from the Early Middle Age (IX - X A.D.) were found.

Still on the Babadag Lake bank, 5 km north from the town, at the point named Topraichioi situated on the right side of the way to Tulcea, a Roman-Byzantine fortification built at the time of Valens - Valentinianus I emperors was identified. The fortification functioned until the middle V A.D. when it was destroyed by Hunnish invasions.

At about 500 m north-west from the crossing point between the national road Tulcea - Constanta and the railway, a tumular necropolis from Early Roman period was discovered.

At the exit from Babadag, both sides of the road to Slava Rusă, a rural settlement from the same period was found.


Etymologically, "Babadag", name got in the Middle Age, means "the father's mountain".

The legend attributes to Baba Saltîk-Dede the settlement foundation. He was the leader of a group of 10000 - 12000 Seljuk Turks, who asked the permission to settle down in this area to the Byzantine emperor Mihail VIII Paleologue. The emperor gave his approval in order to reinforce the borders from Danube's mouths, in 1262-1263.

The first historical mention of Babadag was made by the Arabian traveler Ibn Battuta and dates from 1330-1331. He mentioned the town as the last locality inhabited by Tartars. The information is chronologically confirmed by the discovery from Uzumbair, 15 km north from the locality, of one of the biggest Tartars coins treasure consisting in over 23000 silver coins, 195 Byzantine gold coins, ingots and silver breads.

In XV A.D., when Dobrudja was integrated into the Ottoman Empire, Babadag had, beside the military role, an important economic function. It was centre for marine sell depositing and its bazaar was frequented by the merchants from Chios and Ragusa.

The period between XVII A.D. and the last quarter of XVIII A.D. represents the apogee of this town development. In 1677, the residence of Silistra's Pasha moved in Babadag and the town became the main Dobrudja's administrative centre and the Turkish army headquarters - the main concentration point of the Ottoman army for the expeditions orientated to Poland and Russia.

Destructions suffered in the Russian - Turkish war in 1768 - 1774 constituted the beginning of the locality's decline.

In 1780 the Polish commercial attaché W. Chrzanowski mentioned that Babadag was ruined. In 1828 the traveller Hector de Bear found the town uninhabited.

Set free by the Independence war in 1877 - 1878, the settlement was integrated to Romania.

The most important vestiges visible today belong to the period XVII - XIX A.D. A tower with rectangular shape built in quarry stone and mortar is left from the medieval fortress built by the defense minister Kodja-Kenan at the Sultan Murad IV command. Ali Gazi-Pasha Mosque, with its rectangular plan, monumental porch and minaret 21 m high, elevated at the beginning of XVII A.D., is the oldest Romanian monument of Moslem Art. Together with Ali Gazi-Pasha grave, having a hexagonal shape, it was recently restored with Turkish government financial support. In front of the grave, the traces of an inn which functioned from the first quarter of XVII to the end of XVIII are present. Other objectives can be added: the grave of Sarî-Saltuk Baba, the legendary dervish which colonized Seljuk Turks in this area, Panaghia House - where the Moslem seminar functioned - built in XIX and the water pump "Yemeklik cesmesi" built by the vizier Iusuf Pasha in XVIII.