Location: 5 km (3mi) from Splin Map
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Salona is situated 5 km (3mi) from Splin on the Croatian Adriatic coast. This site is one largest and best preserved roman ruins in Croatia. Salona (in ancient Greek Σαλῶνα, Σαλῶναι, in Latin Salonae) was an ancient city of Illyria that existed during the first millennium BC. The Greeks established a colony there. After its conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Ilírico and then, when it was divided, that of Dalmatia. The emperor Diocletian, who is believed to have been born near that place, erected a monumental palace in the vicinity in which he took refuge in his retirement. The palace, known as the Diocletian's Palace, became the nucleus of the current city of Split. Salona was largely destroyed during the invasions of the Avars and Slavic peoples, the first of them in 614. The nearby population took refuge from these attacks in the palace of Emperor Diocletian, turning it into a city. currently you can visit in the vicinity of the modern city of Solin, Croatia.
As the city walls had to be built quickly, some buildings simply became part of it. The irrigation system built in the 6th century was integrated into the wall as well as the most monumental building of Salona, the amphitheater. The Danish archaeologist and architect Ejnar Dyggve, who spent many years digging Salona, suggests that the amphitheater was built in the second half of the 2nd century BC. It was built for at least 15,000 spectators. Bloody battles between the gladiators and wild animals were fought on its arena. Two sanctuaries were found in the substructure of the building, dedicated to the goddess Nemesis. In Greek and Roman World Nemesis was also considered the goddess of the Agone (competitions of all kinds) and was worshiped in the Roman period in the amphitheater and racecourses. The Christians later turned the sanctuaries into chapels to commemorate Christian martyrs who died in the arena. Below the places of honor, a part of an inscription "RP DONO DEDIT" was found, which means that the Salonites owed the construction of the amphitheater to a wealthy fellow citizen. During the Gothic War (535-554), the amphitheater was turned into a fortress to protect itself from the enemy. The arena has survived the decline of Salona, only the Venetians destroyed the construction in the 18th century, to prevent the Turks to find shelter there. Cemetery for the gladiators was also found near the amphitheater. Some old sarcophagi are still preserved. The remains of the arena, only the lower parts of the massive walls, are well preserved.
In addition to the official Roman religion in the ancient times many different religious communities side by side, followers of various Oriental religions, cult of Isis, Sun God Mithras and Cybele were worshiped in Salona. Additionally an important Jewish community lived in the city. From the 3rd century, the Christian community developed in Salona, which is also related to the Salonite Bishop Venancije (Latin Venantius Martyr), who came from Rome to spread the Christian faith in the province and to the church in Salona to organize. During the reign of Diocletian (284-305), his successor, Bishop Domnius, who came from Syria, lost his life during the persecution of Christians in 304. Along with him, many other Christians were tortured and executed, including Anastasius, the priest Asterius, as well four soldiers from the bodyguard of Diocletian (Antiohan, Gaian, Telij and Paulinian) In 313, Emperor Constantine, with the Milan Agreement, granted all Christians the right to practice their religion freely. One of his successors, Theodosius I, made Christianity the state religion at the end of the 4th century and issued laws against paganism and Christian heresies. These changes had an impact on the development of the city. The center of Salona was moved to the east, where in the 5th century an episcopal center was built, with a double basilica, a baptistery and a bishop's palace. At the beginning of the 5th century, the Saloniter became Bishop Metropolitan of Dalmatia. In Salona in the years 530 and 533 two important church meetings of all Dalmatian bishops were held. After the division of the empire in 395, the province of Dalmatia became the Western Roman Empire, and after its final collapse in 476 Dalmatia belonged to the kingdom of the Odoacer.
Six kilometers north of Split in today's Solin are the remains of the ancient city of Salona, the metropolis of the Roman province of Dalmatia. A favorable geographical position in the middle of the eastern Adriatic coast and location at the bottom of the protected Kaštela Bay, next to the delta of the river Salon (today Jadro), and a good road connection with the interior, via the Klis pass, conditioned the rapid and smooth development of the city.
Salona was originally a coastal stronghold and port of the
Illyrian Delmata in the immediate vicinity of Tragurion and Epetion,
colonies which in the 3rd century BC. Kr. founded by the Issei
Greeks. At that time, in addition to native Illyrians and Greek
settlers, a large number of Italians lived in Salona. During the
Roman conflicts with the Illyrians for supremacy on the eastern
Adriatic coast, in Salona in 119 BC. Kr. the Roman proconsul Lucius
Caecilius Metellus, who was nicknamed Dalmaticus because of his
victories over the Illyrians, stayed there.
After the civil
war between Caesar and Pompey, in 48 BC. Krista Salona received the
status of a Roman colony with the full title of Colonia Martia Ivlia
Salona, and became the center of Illyricum, later the province of
Dalmatia.
After the suppression of the last Illyrian
rebellion (Baton's Uprising, from the 6th to the 9th year), a period
of peace and prosperity begins for Salona, visible through urban
development and strong construction activity.
The old city
core was trapezoidal in shape, surrounded by walls and fortified
with towers, some parts of which date from the 2nd century BC.
Christ. The eastern section of the city walls built of large stone
blocks with gates bordered by octagonal towers from the time of
Augustus (Porta Caesarea) has been preserved to this day. There was
a road from them, one direction of which turned towards the
southeast and south, while the other led north towards the interior.
The rapid development of the city at the time of Augustus and
throughout the first century was accompanied by the construction of
public buildings. In the southeastern part, a forum was built with a
capitol as the center of public, political and religious life. Near
the forum, at the end of the 1st century, a theater was built that
could accommodate around 3,500 spectators. A depiction of the Salon
showing the theater is on Trajan's Column in Rome.
To the
south of the theater was an earlier built temple. Necropolises were
built outside the city walls, along the roads that led outside the
city, according to Roman custom. The most famous is the western
necropolis, called in horto Metrodori, located along the road to
Tragurion and known for the "cyclopean" construction of the fence
walls of the burial plots. From the 1st century BC The city of
Christ is expanding to the west and east, and because of the danger
from Germanic tribes, the extensions are surrounded by walls and
fortified with rectangular towers. The city takes on an elliptical
shape, the axes of which were about 1,600 meters in the east-west
direction and about 700 meters in the north-south direction.
During the construction of ramparts, individual objects become an
integral part of them for faster construction. The above-ground part
of the water supply system, which supplied the city with drinking
water from the Jadra spring already in the 1st century BC, was
incorporated into the ramparts. Christ and the most monumental
Salonitan building, the amphitheater, built in the second half of
the 2nd century in the extreme northwestern part of the city.
This Roman building, in whose arena bloody fights between
gladiators and beasts took place, could accommodate almost 19,000
spectators. In the substructures of the auditorium, two shrines of
the goddess of fate and revenge Nemesis, who was worshiped by
gladiators, were discovered. Christians later turned these
sanctuaries into memorial chapels in memory of the Christian martyrs
killed in the arena.
In the area of the eastern city
extension, parts of residential buildings and the remains of the
city insula were discovered, and southeast of Porta Caesarea, the
ruins of a luxurious villa, probably the praetorium, the palace of
the governor of the province. The floors of the palace are decorated
with multicolored mosaics depicting characters from mythology
(Apollo, Triton, Orpheus).
A large number of private and
public thermal baths were discovered in Salona. The best preserved
are the Great City Baths from the end of the 2nd century in the
eastern part of the city.
A significant period in the
development of the city was the reign of Emperor Diocletian, who
built a magnificent palace not far from Salona, where he retired
after his abdication on May 1, 305, from when the city of Split was
founded.
During his time, many monumental buildings were
built, the forum, temples and baths were restored, and the
amphitheater was added. At that time, Salona and its surroundings
had about 60,000 inhabitants, and the city had a strong cosmopolitan
spirit. In addition to the official Roman religion, various oriental
beliefs existed in Salona, such as the cults of Isis, Cybele, and
especially the widespread worship of the Asia Minor sun deity
Mithras, whose sanctuaries were found in several places within the
city.
Since the middle of the 3rd century, a Christian
community has been developing in Salona, which is linked to the work
of the first Salonitan bishop, Venantius, who came from Rome with
the task of organizing the Church in Salona and spreading
Christianity in the interior of the province. During the reign of
Emperor Diocletian (284-305), his successor, Bishop Domnius,
originally from Syria, died in the persecution of Christians in 304.
Along with him, numerous other Christians from the area of Salona
were tortured and executed, including Anastasius, the priest
Asterius and four soldiers of Diocletian's bodyguard (Antiochianus,
Gaianus, Tellius and Paulinianus).
After the Roman Emperor
Constantine issued the so-called The Edict of Milan, which allows
Christians to practice their religion freely, and one of his
successors, Emperor Theodosius the Great, declared Christianity the
only permitted religion at the end of the 4th century, greatly
changed the urban development of the city. The center of the city
was moved from the forum to the eastern part of the city, where an
episcopal center with double basilicas, a baptistery and a bishop's
palace was built at the beginning of the 5th century.
At the
beginning of the 5th century, the Bishop of Salonita became the
Metropolitan of Dalmatia, and in Salona, in 530 and 533, two
important church councils of all Dalmatian bishops were held.
After the division of the Empire in 395, the province of
Dalmatia belonged to the western part, and after the fall of the
Western Roman Empire in 476, Salona was included in the state of the
Ostrogothic king Odoacer.
The first significant archaeological excavations at the Salone site,
especially the sites of the early Christian basilicas and cemeteries,
were carried out by Don Frane Bulić at the end of the 19th century. He
had the memorial collection and work area of the Archaeological Museum
built on the occasion of the First International Congress of Early
Christian Archeology held in Solin in 1894.
Other scientists such
as Fr. Luja Marun, historian Mirko Cecić and archaeologist Mihovil
Glavinić also contributed to Salona research.