A FOUNTAIN ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF SPALATO.
Salona is situated among the foot-hills of the Cabani Mountains on the shores of an inland sea which is shut off from the Adriatic by the island of Bua. That information-breathing emperor and historian, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, said that Salona was at one time half as large as Constantinople. But no matter whether it were large or small it is worthy of a brief description for, if I may make use of a rather inelegant expression in order to better convey to the reader some idea of its antiquity, “Salona was Salona when Spalato was a pup.”
Founded by Illyrian fugitives from the capital, Delminium, after the latter’s destruction by the Romans during the second Dalmatian war, Salona was taken in 117 b. c. by Cæcilius Metellus and made a Roman colony. The city was long and narrow and divided into halves by a sort of diaphragm wall, in the middle point of which was an arched portal called Cæsar’s Gate. Through the central arch of this gate the Roman chariots passed and, although the arches themselves have tumbled you may, as in Pompeii, still see the grooves and ruts in the stone pavement worn deep by the passage of many wheels. A smaller arch on either side allowed for the accommodation of pedestrians. The large Christian basilica, partly excavated in 1880, was demolished in 639 during the final destruction of the city by the Avars. A circular baptistry, with its columned portico facing the south and which marked the entrance, stood within the walls in the eastern part of the city. In the centre of this building, under the dome and sunk in the floor, was a marble fount for baptism by immersion, and from its level arose a complete circle of marble steps; at the top, an aisle with columns on either side passed around the interior of the building.
THE RUINS OF THE BASILICA, SALONA.
At the western end of the city can be seen the ruins of the large amphitheatre, and it is probable that this was the only building which survived the devastating fire of the Avars. At different points along the circuit of the walls, which had been battered down time and again and repaired as often, stood no less than eighty-eight towers, having been constructed to reinforce the stone-work. The remains of forty-three of these towers are plainly visible. By scraping away the dust with the toe of your shoe, ornate examples of mosaic decorations can still be distinguished on the floors over which the buildings stood, and some of the Roman sweat-baths have been preserved almost intact; the ancient methods of producing their heated vapours may be solved easily. At one point within the walls was discovered a trench holding fourteen sarcophagi lying end to end in a long row. Of these several have been transferred to the museums. When found, all had been opened and it was impossible to distinguish to whom they belonged, because only two bore inscriptions, one Christian and one Pagan.
On a slight hill back of the ruined city stands the little stone house of the care-taker, embellished with cut-stone work from the buildings of old Salona. In the garden, at the rear, a Roman pergola has been restored in its entirety and over it climbs a rose-vine covered with blooming red ramblers—an attractive modern adaptation of an ancient Roman decorative feature.
Immediately after the fall of Salona in 639 the inhabitants sought refuge on some of the neighbouring islands; then, under the leadership of Severus, they descended upon Spalato and encamped within the walls of Diocletian’s palace, finally erecting buildings and more substantial dwellings, which accounts for the material change of the interior aspect of the palace. For the very good reason that nine and one-half acres was rather a small area to accommodate any great number of people, the town of Spalato soon spread outside of its original walls. It was visited by the great Venetian expedition under Pietro Orseola II in 998, and was compelled to take the oath of allegiance. Internal religious controversies occurred from this time on, until the murderous Tartars, in pursuit of King Bela in 1241, sacked the town and put to death all whom they found in their path. But Spalato arose bravely from the blight of her misfortunes, and in 1327 revolted against Venice, was absorbed by Hungary and, thirty years later, revolted against the latter.
Notwithstanding the changes it has undergone, Diocletian’s palace has been handed down to us, and still holds its place as the most magnificent specimen of the domestic architecture of the Romans. And, strangely enough, its Temple of Jupiter has, for fourteen centuries, served as the Spalatine house of worship of the Christian religion, that religion which the builder of this same temple tried so hard to obliterate.
