Băile Herculane (Hungarian: Herkulesfürdő) is a town in Romania (Caraş-Severin county), situated in the valley of the river Cerna, between the Mehedinţi Mountains in the east and the Cerna Mountains in the west, elevation 160 meters; population 6,164 (2000).
The spa town of Băile Herculane has an ancient history. The numerous archaeologic discoveries prove an uninterrupted habitation since the Paleolithic era. The Peştera Hoţilor, the Cave of the Thieves, contains several levels, including one from the Mousterian period, one from the Mesolithic period (Late Epigravettian), and several from the later Neolithic periods.
During the about 165 years of Roman domination in Dacia, the Herculane Spa (which is what the name of the town means) was known all over the Roman Empire. The stone-carved sanctuaries show that representatives of the Roman aristocracy visited, the place becoming a holiday centre of the Empire. Six statues were discovered; they are dedicated to Hercules, whose name was given to this spa. A bronze replica of one of them, moulded in 1874, can be seen in the Herculane Spa as its landmark.
Today, this spa is visited thanks to its natural elements of cure: thermal sulphurous, chlorous, sodium, calcium, magnesic, oligomineral, hypotonic waters and to the high negative ionization of air with favourable effects on the human body.
