We started our Roman Adriatic adventure in Split, Croatia. Although we had seen Diocletian’s palace before it was good to see it again now that I had a deeper understanding of Rome. It still blows my mind that you are walking where a Roman emperor trod in sandals.
Diocletian was one of the great Roman emperors. He stabilized the regime when it had grown too big and cumbersome. He is the only emperor to retire. That is saying something since most died by treachery or battle. Just a few minutes out of Split are the ruins of Salona, the birthplace of Diocletian and Roman town. Its not the most impressive ruins but still interesting.
On our way north we spent a night and a day in Pula. It has a large amphitheater and a few sites scattered around town. The outer façade of the arena is in great shape along with some well-preserved towers. It was built around the time of Christ and is the sixth largest Roman amphitheatre. The town was on the via Flavia which connected it to Rome via Aquileia.
The Roman highlight of the trip was the very important city of Aquileia. Aquileia sits at the top of the Adriatic. Due to its location, the main road from Rome to their Eastern provinces passed through this town. Being close to the Italian alps, they would also get some barbarians coming across and were responsible for protecting this area. Our first site was the port. Aquileia is connected to the Adriatic by a small river. Our guide Elbrich relayed the details of an attempted siege of the city. The residents had to quickly reinforce the port area. Their hard work paid off and the siege stalled and the barbarian emperor, Maximinus Thrax, was killed by his own troops.
However the main reason Aquileia hit our radar was the mosaics. Yes we can’t get enough of the artistry and craftsmanship of the Roman mosaic artisans. Something that I hadn’t really thought about until the History of Rome podcast was Christianity. The popular picture of Christians in Rome is dangling from the jaws of a lion. However a guy by the name of Constantine changed all that. The emperor before him was putting Christians to death i.e. Diocletian. Its amazing how one man can change the world. Without Constantine and the Cristian Roman state its possible much of the world could be Muslim today. The reason for all the explanation of Constantine is that he made Christianity the official state religion of the Romans in 313AD. Yes the Romans built churches and installed spectacular mosaic floors in them. The residents of Aquileia wasted no time and built the church in the early 300AD. It’s the largest mosaic I’ve ever seen. It depicts the story of Jonah and the whale. I especially liked the octopus.
Unfortunately for the Romans their success and fortune was eyed jealousy by a variety of barbarian peoples. One such group of people was the Hun. Attila was a fierce leader of these people from central Asia (modern day Kazakhstan). One thing that set Attila apart from other barbarian foes was his mastery of siege warfare. This requires siege equipment like catapults, towers, battering rams, etc. This scared the crap out of the Romans. They didn’t know what they were going to do when Attila approached Rome in 452AD. Instead of sending out an army to meet him, Pope Leo strolled out the front gates and had a chat with Attila. No one knows what Leo said but it got him sainted. I mention this because this is the same year that Attila sacked Aquileia. He knocked down buildings and burnt the church. For some reason the patriarch of Aquileia had decided he didn’t like the original mosaic floor and installed another floor above the original. Lucky for us the new floor burnt and the original was undamaged and survives in all its glory.
Here are some links with more information on this world class site.