Hellenistic and Roman Croatia
In The Odyssey, Homer chooses the island of Mljet (South Dalmatia) for Odysseus' rest. The navigator hero stays there with Calypso to forget Ithaca. From myth to reality, while the Illyrians populated the interior of the island land, the port of Polače, nestled at the bottom of a sheltered bay, served as an anchorage for Roman sailors, who founded a village there in the first century, with a palace. Sections of the walls made of beautiful opus reticulatum still stand.
The island of Vis (central Dalmatia), known to the Greeks as Isa, with its port of the same name, was already a strategic point in the 4th century BC. A bronze head of Artemis, preserved in the Archaeological Museum, is an example of this refined Hellenistic art. But during the first Illyrian war, in 229 BC, Demetrios of Pharos delivered the island to the Romans who established their first protectorate there. The adventurer of the seas was born on a neighboring island, the current Hvar. These primo-inhabitants, well organized, have left a lasting influence in writing, coinage, trade, viticulture and olive growing. Between Stari Grad and Vrboska, the peaceful countryside has never ceased to bear fruit. Since its first Greek settlement, the plain has kept the same land use. The geometrical plots delimited by dry stone walls, the small constructions, garden sheds, that the farmers have carefully restored: nothing has changed. The rainwater collection system with cisterns and small gutters still works. The site named Fertile Ager is declared a natural reserve and classified by Unesco since 2008.
An enduring agricultural know-how, an administrative organization in progress
In Dalmatia as in Istria, the Greeks and then the Romans introduced oenology and oyster farming to these sunny lands. Today, enterprising farmers are using the ancient methods to produce sweet wines and flavored oils. For example, the wine of Pharos, which is produced in Bastijana (Jelsa/Hvar) or this Croatian red grape variety, based on plavac, which rests for one to two years in an underwater cellar, 18 to 25 m deep. The benefits of immersing the wine in constant temperature during fermentation were already known in ancient times. At the winery Edivo Wine located in Drače (Pelješac), they organize sea trips to approach the amphorae, stored in the wreck of an ancient ship.
On the island of Korčula (Lumbarda Bay), a Greek text was discovered on an engraved stone fragment, which is believed to date back to the 4th or 2nd century B.C.
This law decree(psephisma), one of the oldest ever found in Croatia, governed the property regime of the settlers. It is kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. Close to the capital, Pannonia, in the north of Croatia, saw the birth of thermal cities, such as Aquae Iasae today included in the complex of wellbeing Varaždinske Toplice, and other agglomerations of which only a few vestiges remain (Siscia/Sisak, Marsonia/Slavonski Brod, Mursa/Osijek, Cibalae/Vinkovci), the necropolis of Certissia in Štrbinci near Ðakovo.
Finding an ancient bronze at the bottom of the sea, the dream of every diver
But the most incredible thing was the fortuitous discovery of René Wouters. This Belgian tourist, amateur diver, was, on July 21, 1996, off the islet Vele Orjule (Mali Losinj) under 40 m of depth. Wanting to stabilize himself to take a picture, he realized that the rock on which he was leaning... was a man, a sculpture covered with mollusks and corals, lying on his side, partly buried under the sand. Three years later, the statue was finally brought back to dry land. It was indeed the Apoxyomena, not a Roman replica, like the one in the Vatican Museum, but a Greek original dating from the 6th or 4th century BC. After restoration, we notice that it looks like the Apoxyomenos of Ephesus. Almost complete, it lacks only the little finger of the left hand and in an exceptional state of conservation, it is represented standing on its antique plinth. The Italian art historian Paolo Moreno attributes it to Daedalus of Sicyone. A museum, inaugurated in 2017, is entirely dedicated to him in Mali Losinj. It is necessary to see this colossus of 1,94 m, weighing 184 kg, magnificent naked athlete to his toilet. He wore a strigile, a kind of scraper with which the athletes removed sand and sweat from their skin. We don't know for the moment how he ended up there. Was the statue on a ship that was wrecked? Anchor bolts, which were used on Roman ships, were found near the statue. In any case, this impressive discovery allows us today to admire one of the rare large ancient bronzes so well preserved.
From the 2nd century onwards, imperial Rome stabilized around the Mediterranean
Little by little, the consular authorities cut the provinces (Histria, Dalmatia, Pannonia). The cities were organized according to a formal urban plan, with an architecture/sculpture typical of the Hellenistic civilization, consolidating their imperialism with the progress of agriculture (irrigation in particular), the minting of coins, the respect of cults, the cultural development. In Istria, the first Romanized region, many examples of the Greco-Roman style have been found. For example, on the island of Veli Brijuni (Bay of Verige), the rural villa on the seashore with a small port and outbuildings or, near the present-day locality of Tar-Vabriga, on a coastal promontory, the villa Loron, established from the beginning of the 1st century on the territory of the colony of Parentium (Poreč). On an archaeological site near Omišalj (island of Krk), there is a whole city (Fulfinum) which will be later increased by the extra-mural paleochristian complex (Mirime).
The Roman monuments of Pula, Zadar or Split are at the heart of the summer festivities
On a completely different scale, Pula, the Colonia Iulia Pollentia Herculanea, already established itself as the capital, the overactive urban center. In the middle of the first century, great works began in the chief town of Istria. Monumental gates, real triumphal arches to the glory of the emperor Augustus, fortress, forum, temple, theater, so many monumental historical buildings that have crossed two millennia. But the most famous monument is of course theamphitheater. Classified as the sixth largest in the Roman Empire, it could hold up to 24,000 spectators. Today, it still plays its role of reception of the public. A much visited historical monument, a theater, both a popular arena and a cultural Mecca. Favorite events for locals, in May, the sounds and lights of the Visualia multimedia show, in early June, the Days of Antiquity, in summer, the European film festival, concerts by international stars, etc.
Other smaller ancient sites dot the coastline and the Dalmatian region, such as the augusteum in Narona (Vid, near Metković), the recently restored military camp in Burnum/Ivoševci, near Kistanje, and the ruins of the aqueduct in the Krka National Park.
The past of the ancient Zadar, named Iader, first appears on the forum, a formidable agora and central point, where people still meet today. Then you enter the church of St. Donatus, with its wonderful acoustics. It was built in the 9th century with Roman shafts, columns and capitals found on site. The Archaeological Museum of Zadar, a must-see, has a new scenography. The five great imperial statues are admirably highlighted. Less imposing, but just as precious, is the Museum of Ancient Glass, the only one of its kind, opened in 2009 in Zadar. You can observe the work of the craftsmen, who restore before our eyes all the art of the glassmakers of antiquity.
Diocletian's Palace, unique in its kind
In 303 AD, the Roman emperor Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (Diocletian) retired to central Dalmatia, his home province. He felt weakened by illness. He thought it wiser to leave the affairs of the decadent Empire. He wants to return to his native land. He wants to see Solina again, the city where he was born. There, the convalescent regained his health and lived for another nine years. For his retirement, he will have this rural city built, but it is especially for his palace in Split, facing the Adriatic, that he is remembered. To those who implored him to take back the reins of the house that was burning in Rome, the transformed man assured them that he found more pleasure in cultivating his own garden than in "ruling the whole earth. These words are reported by Lactantius, the famous rhetorician and chronicler of the time. This is how the despot Diocletian, the ruthless imperialist, ended up as an accomplished philosopher in his twilight years. This renunciation of power will go down in history as the first abdication of all time, the one that is cited as an example to the rulers of the world.
The construction of Diocletian's palace within the city walls, with its quadrilateral plan, holds a special place among the monuments of this period. Both a military camp and an imperial residence with outbuildings and powerful foundations, this monumental complex, one of the best preserved in the Roman Empire, has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1979. Nowadays, this historic centre is very lively, with Split citizens coming to the fish market and shopping in the workshop shops. The pedestrian streets are full of visitors eager to see shows under the peristyle, art galleries, craftsmen and terrace bars and restaurants. Proud gladiators are always present, ready for a souvenir photo, and a theatre group brings the daily life of the great Spalatum to life.
During the Late Antiquity, the magnificence of Byzantium shines in the Adriatic
With the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine in 313, the persecution of the first Christians ended, which favored the birth of a new form of religious art. The paleochristian period nourishes itself of the Hellenistic culture while raising new more hieratic aesthetic canons. Croatia is rich of several architectural examples, in Salone (near Split), two parallel basilicas set up at the hinge of IVth andVth century, in Nin (near Zadar), a rural double church, equipped with a baptistry, and later in Istria. In the 6th century, Byzantium controlled the entire Adriatic, thanks to a massive fortification system on the eastern shore of the coast, in order to secure maritime traffic. Thus the strategic castrum of Veli Brijun, in the archipelago off Pula. But the great pride of Croatia, the Euphrasian Basilica complex, is in Poreč. With its central apse, octagonal baptistery, rectangular atrium, sumptuous mosaics, it is the only early Christian episcopal complex so well preserved, also classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1997). But at the end of the VIth century, the decline of the Eastern Roman Empire touches all its territories. The current Croatia is included from now on in the ostrogoth kingdom.
