SALONA
(Solin) Croatia, Yugoslavia.
A
suburb of Split in Kaitelanski bay (Manios Kolpos) was
the site of the capital of ancient Illyricum and later the
capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. It is first
mentioned in 119 B.C. (App.
Ill. 11) as an important
port and fortification of the Illyrian tribe of the Delmatae,
when L. Caecilius Metellus with his army wintered there.
The neighboring settlements of Epetion (Stobreč) to the
E and Tragurion (Trogir) to the W were foundations of
the Syracusan colony of Issa (Vis). The area was early
under strong Greek influence. C. Cosconius took it from
the Delmatae in 78-77 B.C. (
Eutrop. 6.4). A nucleus of
traders and settlers from Italy was attracted here early,
and they formed a conventus civium Romanorum. About
47 B.C. Caesar established a colony, Colonia Martia Iulia
Salona (or Salonae), to reward his allies (Caes.
BCiv.
3.9; Dio Cass. 42). The settlers, enrolled in the tribus
Sergia and the tribus Tromentina, were given a large
fertile area on the bay. The traces of this limitatio are
still visible. The economic and strategic importance of
Salona made it the seat of the governor of the province.
One of them, P. Cornelius Dollabella, with the soldiers
of Legio VII and Legio XI began the construction of the
five roads toward the frontiers of the province. Salona,
becoming the focal point for a large area of Illyricum
and beyond, developed into a flourishing city of ca.
60,000 mhabitants in the 2d c. A.D. It continued to prosper under its native son Diocletian, who built his magnificent palace 5 km SW of Salona in what is now the town of Split. Between 449 and 458 the town was attacked by Huns and Goths. In 461 Marcellinus from
Salona proclaimed himself the king of Dalmatia. His
nephew was Iulius Nepos. In the 6th c. the town was
under the protection of the Eastern Empire. The Avars
and Slavs destroyed it ca. 613-614. The citizens took
refuge in Diocletian's palace and on the islands of the
central Adriatic.
The elongated city plan, measuring ca. 1600 by 700 m,
perhaps inspired Lucan's description of the city as “longae Salonae” (
Phars. 4.104). The oldest part of the town
was in the central part of this elongated area, where
stood the E town gate, the so-called Porta Caesarea,
which later growth left in mid town. The new town walls
were built in A.D. 170 by the units of the Roman army
in the period of the Marcomannic wars. In the 6th c.
the walls were reinforced with several towers. The amphitheater, built in the 2d c., served as part of the city defenses in the NW corner of the town. It was built of stone and had a seating capacity of more than 15,000.
Only its foundations are preserved because in the Middle
Ages it became a quarry for the building of Split and
Solin. To the W of the amphitheater there is a necropolis
of the 1st-4th c., the so-called Hortus Metrodori. A long
wall of megalithic blocks extending 1.5 km W is perhaps
the remains of the earlier Graeco-Illyrian settlement
which protected the settlement from the N. The forum
was in the central and oldest part of the colony. It was
connected with the theater, only partly preserved, on the
S side. Not much of the forum can be seen. The foundations of two temples, the curia, and basilica have also
been found. Of several baths the most important was the
one near the forum; but the best preserved are those in
the E part of the town. They were built in the 2d c. A.D.,
and parts of the heating installations are still visible.
The main archaeological and historical glory of Salona
lies in its Early Christian basilicas and cemeteries which
made this town, after Rome and Carthage, the most important center for the study of the beginnings and development of the Christian cult. Between the 4th and 6th c. a grandiose episcopal center developed. In its last phase
it consisted of two basilicas. The N one was a large three-aisled cathedral built in the beginning of the 5th c. by bishop Sympherius and his nephew Esychius, under whom the church of Sabona was made a metropolitan church.
The S basilica is a large cruciform church built by the
bishop Honorius in the 6th c. The basilicas had a common narthex. The interiors of the churches were decorated with splendid mosaics. The rooms of the episcopal house are to the E of the baptistery. Inside the city walls
there are remains of eight other basilicas.
Outside the city walls are three necropoleis. North of
the city walls, and to the E of the amphitheater, is
Kapljuč, a place of Christian cult over which the basilica
was built ca. 350. The Marusinac cemetery is situated
ca. 1.5 km from the city walls N of the amphitheater.
The complex of Manastirine is the largest Christian cemetery from antiquity at Salona. Several memorial chapels were covered by or included in a three-aisled basilica ca. 400. It was destroyed ca. 600 m Avaro-Slavic attacks.
The rich finds from the site of Salona are preserved in
the Archaeological Museum at Split.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Bulić, Yearly reports in
Bull. di Arch.
e storia dalmata 10-40 (1586-1919); W. Gerber et al.,
Forschungen in Salona, I-III (1917-1933); J. Brøndstedt
et al.,
Recherches à Salone, I-III (1928-33); E. Dyggve,
History of Salonitan Christianity (1951); M. Suić, “O
municipalitetu antičke Salone,”
Vjesnik za arheologiju i
historiju dalmatinsku 60 (1958) 11-38.
M. ZANINOVIĆ
