Salona () was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia.
Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in the invasions of the Avars and Slavs in the seventh century AD.
Many Roman characteristics can be seen such as walls, a forum, a theatre, an amphitheatre, public baths and an aqueduct.
History
Salona grew in the area of the Greek cities of Tragurian and Epetian on the river Jadro in the 3rd century BC. It was the birthplace of Roman Emperor Diocletian. In the first millennium BC, the Greeks set up a marketplace. Salona had also been in the territory of the Illyrian Delmatae, before the conquest of the Romans. Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, because it sided with the future Roman Dictator Gaius Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompey. Martia Iulia Valeria Salona Felix (the full name of the ancient city) was founded probably after the Roman civil wars under Julius Caesar. The early Roman city encompassed the area around the Forum and Theatre, with an entrance, the Porta Caesarea, on the north-east side. The walls were fortified with towers during the reign of Augustus. The early trapezoidal shape of the city was transformed by the eastern and western expansion of the city.
The city quickly acquired Roman characteristics: walls, a forum, a theatre, an amphitheatre which are 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. Several fine marbles 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 gold and silver mines in the Dinaric Alps through Via Argentaria.
When the Roman Emperor Diocletian retired, he erected a monumental villa (palace) in a suburban location (6 km away). This massive structure, known as Diocletian's Palace, after Salona's fall became the core of the city of Split (Spalatum). Diocletian's tomb was reportedly also somewhere near Salona.
Salona's continuing prosperity resulted in the 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. The Salonitan bishop held the position of metropolitan bishop of Dalmatia. After the fall, bishopric and other remains were transferred to Split (see Archbishopric of Spalathon). The borders and influence of Salonitan Archdiocese included almost all of today's Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina south of river Sava and west of river Drina.
Salona was the only Eastern Adriatic port-city listed in Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices, and out of all listed port-cities it had most maritime connections (those being with Alexandria, Ephesus, Nikomedia, Seleucia Pieria, and Carthago). The connection with Ravenna was also prominent. The connections were not only about exchange of goods and monuments, prominent individuals also traveled, remained to live and die at Salona (especially from Syria). Seemingly it was a big port as for the Battle of Sena Gallica (551), Byzantine general Jon sailed from it with 38 ships (compared to Ravenna's 12).
Salona is the largest archaeological park in Croatia. According to Constantine VII's De Administrando Imperio (10th century), Salona was "half as large as Constantinople". Initially believed that grew to over 60,000 inhabitants, recent excavations found it was for one third larger than originally thought by the archaeologists.