At the end of the 2nd century B.C., Rome occupies the Histria
The years 178 and 177 BC are precisely mentioned by Titus Livius in hisRoman History(Ab Urbe condita libri). The Roman historian (59 BC-17 AD) describes the memorable battles in which the men of Epulon, king of the Histri, were pitted against the Latin centurions. By the middle of the 1st century BC, under the government of Octavian Augustus, Istria was completely pacified, with respect for native cults and cultural development contributing as much as weapons. Colonization entered a period of stability that favored the development of the Histria region, a satellite of the Empire, a provincia where the Romans had just founded Aquileia, an important city near Trieste.
Nearly six centuries of successful colonization
After the battle of Actium in 31 BC, in the Colonia Iulia Pollentia Herculanea, Polatum (Pula) became the headquarters for military expeditions to the east. The port city also established itself as the capital of Histria. Enriched by the agrarian economy and trade, the city benefited from the right to mint coins used for imperial propaganda, with its political slogans such as Concordia militum or Pax aeterna (Soldiers' Concord or Eternal Peace).
The garrison town was an ideal location for Rome's wealthy aristocratic families and patricians to set up their seaside residences. These included the powerful Sergi family, to whom the Serje triumphal arch pays homage, and the Crassi, Flavi and Costantini families. For these high dignitaries, it was essential to build a city in the image of the Empire - in a word, monumental! In the middle of the 1st century, major works began. The city had the means to draw up its formal, orderly urban plan, and would be enhanced by architecture and sculptures typical of Hellenistic civilization. For the public space, a heavily-worked entrance gate leading to the forum, temples (notably the Temple of Augustus), baths, theaters and an amphitheatre were erected.
The Arena, every year, at the heart of the festivities
Even today, Pula's amphitheatre - ranked as the sixth largest in the Empire - is the most emblematic historical monument in the city, and indeed in Istria. It was built between 27 B.C. and 68 A.D., using the finest limestone quarried nearby (Vinkuran). Enlarged in 79 AD, under Emperor Vespasian, it features an elliptical shape (132.5 m long, 105.1 wide and 32.5 high). It could hold up to 24,000 spectators. Less affected by atmospheric pollution than Rome's Colosseum, its outer shell is very well preserved.
With its current capacity of 5,000, the Arena, as it's known in Pula, still plays its role as a public venue. At once a major archaeological site and an exceptional performance venue, as in Nîmes, it is open all year round for a variety of events - Visualia sound and light shows, the Pula Film Festival, classical and contemporary music concerts featuring international stars, sporting events and more. In summer, gladiator fights are the main attraction for tourists(Spectacvla Antiqva).
The Istrian coast widely colonized
In the Histria province, archaeological excavations have revealed several other sites, especially along the coast. If we look at the map of ancient Istria, we can see that several cities, colonies and large estates(villae) sprang up under the Empire (Tergeste, Umag, Novigrad, Loron, Rovinj, Parentium, Fazana, Vodnjan, Albona, Flanona, Tarsatica). The Romans also developed the inland territory, laying out roads such as the Via Flavia from Trieste to Pula (over 100 km). They built infrastructures, such as the Učka aqueduct, which brought water to Pula and enabled the irrigation of large agrarian areas around it, accelerating agricultural progress.
On the island of Veli Brijuni, in the archipelago of the same name, the villa rustica, built in the 1st century BC, had its colonnade facing out to sea. Its small harbour and outbuildings hugged the bay of Verige, covering an area of almost 5 hectares. Its peaceful beauty and harmony with nature were comparable to the Roman villas of Capri or Pompeii. More modest, but no less active, was the seaside villa of Loron, built on the coast near present-day Tar-Vabriga. Renowned for the production of sturdy amphorae, it exported large quantities to Northern Italy.
An agricultural and manual know-how
In addition to its fish-filled coasts and pleasant coastline, Istria had all the makings of a land of plenty. On this sunny soil, the Romans, following in the footsteps of the Greeks, introduced oyster farming and oenology, two crops that go very well together. The Romans planted hectares of olive trees in southern Istria, around Vodnjan. This perennial, weather-resistant tree can live for thousands of years. In Brijuni National Park, an old olive tree is still standing. It's one of the oldest in Europe. Tenacious and well-protected, it is said to be over 1,600 years old and still yielding olives, from which the park's guardians produce a small quantity of extra-virgin quality oil.
Thanks to olive growing, Pula was long considered one of the richest Romanized towns, associated in its triangular trade with the port of Fažana, some ten kilometers away. Here, too, an amphora factory has been located, one of the largest in the Empire. These containers of various sizes were used to transport foodstuffs (olive oil, wine, cereals, salted fish sauce).
After the abdication of Diocletian, times change
In 303 CE, the Roman emperor Diocletian retired to his home province of Central Dalmatia. Weakened by illness, he thought it wiser to leave the affairs of the decadent Empire. He wanted to return to the land of his birth. He wants to revisit Solina, the Dalmatian town where he was born. For his retirement, he will leave this rural town for a new imperial residence in Split, Diocletian's famous palace facing the Adriatic. To those who implored him to take back the reins of the burning Roman house, the transformed man assured them he found more pleasure in cultivating his own garden than in "ruling the whole earth". These words are reported by Lactantius, theorist and chronicler of the late Empire. This is how the despot Diocletian ended up, in the twilight of his life, as an accomplished philosopher. His renunciation of power goes down in history as the first abdication of all time, and one that is cited as an example to world leaders.
Under Byzantium, new golden age of art in Istria
The Western Roman Empire was in decline. With the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine in 313, decisions were taken in the new capital, Byzantium, renamed Constantinople in 330. The emperor adopted Christianity and launched his reforms. To secure maritime traffic, the builders of civilization erected a massive system of fortifications on the eastern shore of the Istrian coast, such as the strategic castrum of Veli Brijuni, the main island of the archipelago off the coast of Pula. The persecution of the early Christians came to an end, fostering the birth of a new form of religious art.
The Paleochristian period drew on Hellenistic culture, while at the same time developing new, more hieratic aesthetic canons. Croatia has many examples of basilicas, churches and chapels with baptisteries. But the pride of Byzantine Istria is the Euphrasian basilica complex in Poreč, built from the mid-6th century onwards. With its central apse, octagonal baptistery, rectangular atrium and sumptuous mosaics, this early Christian episcopal complex, listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997, is one of the few to have come down to us so well preserved.
But Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths of Italy (493-526), succeeded the Western Roman Empire. All the ancient provinces of Italy and Croatia became part of the Ostrogoth kingdom.
