Arad is the capital city of Arad County, which is located on the Mureș River at the edge of Crișana and the Banat. The evidence of Pre-Indo-European civilization occurs with the establishment of the first settlement on the northern bank of the Mureş River in the 5th millennium BC, and the extension of the human settlements on the left bank of the Mureş River occurs in the 4th millennium BC. The first Dacian settlements appeared in the 1st millennium BC. In the 5th century, a group of Scythians settled in the region but were assimilated by the Dacians.

The city's multicultural heritage is owed to the fact that it has been part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, the Ottoman Temeşvar Eyalet, the Principality of Transylvania, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and since 1920 Romania.