Split

Roman city on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. Remains survive of part of the Roman town, including the nucleus of the old town is built within the Palace of Diocletian, who abdicated the imperial crown in 305 AD (reigned from 285) and lived there until his death in 313. The immense palace has walls 7 feet (2 m) thick and 72 feet (22 m) high on its seaward side and 48 feet (15 m) high on the northern side. Originally it had 16 towers, of which 3 remain, and 4 gates. The walls enclosed colonnaded streets, a vaulted temple, domed Mausoleum, baths, and a residential section. The palace was damaged by the Avars, who in 615 had sacked Salona(e); its inhabitants first fled to the islands but then returned to seek refuge in the palace (c 620), calling the settlement Spalatum. They built their homes within the palace compound, incorporating its walls and pillars. This should be distinguished from Salona, some 6 km inland, which had been the prosperous capital of the Roman imperial province of Dalmatia, and earlier still, capital of native Illyricum.

Properly the great palace built by Diocletian (a native of the area), to which he retired in 305 ad, and which subsequently became nucleus for the medieval and modem city of Split in Yugoslavia. This should be distinguished from Salona (some 6 km inland) which had been the prosperous capital of the Roman imperial province of Dalmatia, and earlier still, capital of native Illyricum. Roman Salona shows some imperial-period ruins including evidence for an aqueduct, theatre, amphitheatre and bath buildings. But Salona was an important church centre in the 4th-6th centuries, and is remarkable for its early Christian basilicas (with mosaic decoration) and cemeteries. Although Christian Salona came under the protection of the Eastern Empire, it was attacked and devastated in about 613 ad by Avars and Slavs, when the surviving population fled to the protection of Diocletian’s Palace at Split. This was a fortress-style structure with great limestone walls some 20 metres high, 16 towers and splendid gates. These walls enclosed colonnaded streets, a vaulted temple, domed mausoleum and a residential section.