Salona

For other uses, see Salona (disambiguation).

Salona
History
Σάλωνα
The ruins of Salona
Shown within Croatia
Alternate name	Salon
Location	Near Solin, Croatia
Region	Dalmatia
Coordinates	43°32′18″N 16°28′28″E / 43.538438°N 16.474342°E / 43.538438; 16.474342Coordinates: 43°32′18″N 16°28′28″E / 43.538438°N 16.474342°E / 43.538438; 16.474342
Type	Settlement
Abandoned	7th century
Cultures	Greek, Roman
Site notes
Condition	In ruins

Salona - amphitheatre

Salona (Ancient Greek: Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and capital of Roman province on the Dalmatian coast located in modern-day Croatia. The name Salona preserves the language of the early inhabitants of this area whom the Romans called Dalmatae, and considered to be part of a larger group called Illyrians.^[1] Salona (or Salon) is situated near today's town of Solin, about 5 km from Split.

In the first millennium BCE,^[2] the Greeks had set up an emporion (marketplace) there.^[3] After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia.^[4] Colonia Martia Iulia Salona (the full name of the ancient city) was founded probably after the roman civil wars by Caesar's deduction. Early roman city encompassed what Enjar Dyggve called Urbs vetus, namely the area around Forum and Theater. The entrance to Urbs vetus (Porta Caesarea) was placed on the north-east side of the walls which was fortified with towers during the reign of Augustus.^[5] The early trapezoid shape of the city was transformed by eastern and western expansion of the city, which Dyggve called Urbs orientalis and Urbs occidentalis. The city quickly acquired Roman characteristics: walls; a forum; a theater; an amphitheater — the most conspicuous above-ground remains today; public baths; and an aqueduct. Many inscriptions in both Latin and Greek have been found both inside the walls and in the cemeteries outside, since Romans forbade burials inside the city boundaries. A number of fine marble sarcophagi from those cemeteries are now in the Archaeological Museum of Split. All this archaeological evidence attests to the city's prosperity and integration into the Roman Empire.

Salona had a mint that was connected with the mint in Sirmium and silver mines in the Dinaric Alps through Via Argentaria. When the Roman Emperor Diocletian retired, he erected a monumental palace nearby. This massive structure, known as Diocletian's Palace, became the core of the modern city of Split.

Salona's continuing prosperity resulted in extensive church building in the fourth and fifth centuries, including an episcopal basilica and a neighboring church and baptistery inside the walls, and several shrines honoring martyrs outside. These have made it a major site for studying the development of Christian sacred architecture.^[6]

Salona was largely destroyed in the invasions of the Avars and Slavs in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. Refugees from Salona settled inside the remains of Diocletian's Palace.^[7]

The City Walls

The construction of the Salonitan city walls took several centuries. Earliest part of the city, Urbs vetus, was surrounded by walls as early as the second century BCE. During the Pax Romana city expanded outside the core Urbs vetus. The expansion was both east of the core town and west of it. Western expansion created so-called Urbs occidentalis, while suburb eastern of Urbs vetus became Urbs orientalis. During the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius around 170 A.D., under constant threat of Germanic tribes, Urbs occidentalis and Urbs orientalis were being bounded by walls and fortified with at least 90 towers. Some parts of existing buildings were used as an elongation to the walls thus making them their integral part. Total circumference of the elliptical shape of the walls was approximately 4.080 meters, with varying width from 1,9 to 2,5 meters. During the reign of Emperor Theodosius II in the early fifth century all the towers were reconstructed, as witnessed by an inscription on the walls. Furthermore, in the first half of the sixth century, in order to improve city's security and defense system, triangular shaped endings were added to some square-shaped towers. Such examples are visible today on the northern side of the Urbs orientalis. Best preserved part of the oldest part of the city (Urbs vetus) is eastern wall and Porta Caesarea with two octagonal towers and tree passages; one for cart traffic and two for pedestrians on each side of the wider passage. Central passage was probably equipped with a movable grid, as indicated by grooves on side pylons. Porta Caesarea was constructed using large regular stones primarily for fortification purposes. After eastern and western expansion had occurred, the gate lost their primary purpose and became carrying construction of the aqueduct. According to Kähler reconstruction, the gate had two floors, of which the top one was very elaborately decorated with half columns, composite capitals, and window openings. Within the gate there was small courtyard for defense purposes.

The City Thermae

The thermae were typical buildings of Roman civilization and indispensable part of Roman urban life. Although the city of Salona at the time had multiple baths, best preserved and largest one are those in the eastern part of the city called Great City Thermae, built in the second or beginning of third century A.D. This building is rectangular in shape with three symmetrically arranged apses in the north and one in the west. To the north there was an adjoining elongated spacious room, housing a semicircular pool, the piscina, filled with cold water, the frigidarium. To the left there were two dressing rooms, with benches for sitting and openings in the wall for clothes. The room to the west was also used as a massage room, the unctorium. The room ending with an apse served both as a lounge and an exercise room. To the right there were hot baths and sauna: caldarium, tepidarium and sudatorium.

The Five Bridges

In the Urbs orientalis, the east suburb of Salona, five arches spanned over westernmost backwater of the Jadro river (the ancient Salon river). The top side of the bridge was used as a carrier for the extension of decumanus maximus which branched to two roads. One of which led to north-east city gate Porta Andetria, while the other one led across the bridge in the direction of Epetium, today city of Stobreč.

The Amphitheatre

At the westernmost point of Salona, in the Urbs occidentalis, in the second half of the second century A.D. under the influence of Flavian architectural style a monumental building was erected. It is one of the most recognizable buildings of Roman architecture. The remains of Roman amphitheater indicate that gladiator fights were held in the city of Salona just as in any part of Roman empire, until the fifth century when they were finally banned. The building was ellipsoidal in shape, with three floors on the south side and one floor on the north side, which was conveniently laid down on a natural hillside. Despite its relatively small size (125 by 100 meters outer shell and 65 by 40 meters the arena), Salonitan amphitheater could have been occupied by 15.000 up to 18.000 spectators. The auditorium was divided into three tires, the lower two with seats and the upper one for standing. In Diocletian's time the top tier was covered with a porch. By means of poles attached to the outer shell of the building the whole arena could be covered with canvas, giving protection from the sun and rain. On the south side there was a state box for the Province governor and opposite it seats of honor for the city magistrates. In the centre of arena there was an opening which led into an underground corridor whose purpose was disposal of dead gladiators' bodies. On the south side of the amphitheater, beneath the auditorium, there were two vaulted rooms, where gladiators worshiped Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and destiny. During Diocletian's persecutions of Christians, the amphitheater was used as a site of executions. Only parts of substructures of this monumental building, as well as some fragments of architectural decoration and stone sculpture have been preserved. The amphitheater was most severely damaged during the wars against the Turks in the 17th century when Venetians had it demolished for strategic reasons.

References

↑ John J. Wilkes. Dalmatia. 1969
↑ Solin early history
↑ Excavations at Salona, Yugoslavia, 1969-1972: conducted for the Department of Classics, Douglass College, Rutg, by Christoph W. Clairmont, 1975, ISBN 0-8155-5040-5, page 4, "If we are correct in our interpretation of the earliest finds from Salona, the emporion, even if very small, was a settlement in a strategic position"
↑ John Everett-Heath. "Dalmatia." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Encyclopedia.com
↑ Jasna Jeličić-Radonić and Ana Sedlar. "Topografija antičke Salone (I) Salonitanska Urbs vetus." Tusculum 2.
↑ Ejnar Dyggve. History of Salonitan Christianity. 1951. (Summary of most important buildings and possible interpretations); see now A. M. Yasin. "Reassessing Salona's Churches: Martyrium Evolution in Question," Journal of Early Christian Studies 20:1 (2012): 59–112 and recent excavations
↑ Charles George Herbermann, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference (1913) see also Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. 1967, De administrando imperio; Greek text edited by Gy. Moravcsik; English translation by R. J. H. Jenkins.rev.ed. : Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1967, 1985 and Thomae Archidiaconi. 2006. Spalatensis Historia Salonitanorum atque Spalatinorum pontificum – Archdeacon Thomas of Split: History of the Bishops of Salona and Split. Damir Karbić, Mirjana Matijević Sokol, Olga Perić and James Ross Sweeney,eds. Budapest: CEU Press.