Salona is an ancient Roman city located in present-day Solin, near Split, Croatia. The city was founded in the 3rd century BC and was destroyed by the Avar and Slav invasions in the 7th century AD. Salona was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and had over 60,000 inhabitants.
The ruins of the city include a forum, a theater, an amphitheater, public baths, and an aqueduct. Many sarcophagi have also been found around the city, as burials inside were prohibited at the time.
The amphitheater in Salona was built around the 2nd century AD and could accommodate up to approximately 20,000 people. Close to it on the south, there was a cemetery for the fallen gladiators; their epitaphs revealed many details about them, such as their names, homeland, and even their performance and fighting style in the arena.
Salona was the birthplace of emperor Diocletian, who built a huge villa to live in during his retirement, 6 kilometers away from Salona on the coastline, the Diocletian’s Palace. The place became the core of the city of Split and remained as such as the city expanded outside of it.
