Monasteries

The ruins of the basilica and cemetery in Manastirine are the most important Salonitanian early Christian complex located outside the city walls. Architectural remains from the earliest history of Salona, dated to the 2nd century BC, were found in the northeastern part of the site. Kr. On the territory of Manastirina, from the 1st century AD. Kr. a Roman pagan necropolis was created, which is confirmed by numerous tombstone inscriptions, as well as the walls of the hort, landscaped and fenced burial plots.

Salonitan bishop and martyr Domnio was buried in this cemetery at the beginning of the 4th century. He came to Salona from Antioch in Syria as a missionary and soon became the bishop of the Salonitan Christian community. During Diocletian's persecution of Christians, he was executed in the arena of the Salonitan amphitheater on April 10, 304, by order of the governor of the province Marcus Aurelius Julus. Domni's body was laid in a brick tomb, on which was placed a marble tombstone (mensa) with his name and the date of burial. Soon, other Salonitan Christians began to bathe around his grave.

In the middle of the 4th century, a simple square building, memorial chapel I, was built over Domni's grave. At the same time, private grave memorial chapels were built, which housed the tombs and sarcophagi of wealthier Christians. Those square buildings with a ring-like apse surrounded Memorial Chapel I. During Germanic invasions at the end of the 4th century, the complex was partially demolished, and a large three-nave basilica with a prominent apse to the east was built over it in the middle of the 5th century. The chapel with the tomb of the Salonitan martyr and bishop Domni remained in the sanctuary of the basilica. It also contained the graves of Domni's successors in the episcopal chair, who were buried there during the 4th and early 5th centuries. Near Domni's grave was the sarcophagus of the martyr deacon Septimius, as well as the relics of St. Petra. Under the strong impression of barbaric destruction on the lintel of the main church door, a prayer for the salvation of the Roman state is carved in capital letters: DEVS NOSTER PROPITIVS ESTO REI PVBLICAE ROMANAE (Our God, be merciful to the Roman state).

In the 6th century, the basilica was remodeled. On the west side, a narthex with a three-part entrance was added, and the interior was equipped with new furniture. In the central nave, in front of the transept, a schola cantorum, a space for choral singers, was built, surrounded by plutei. A new marble altar partition decorated with a shell motif was also installed, which separated the presbytery with the altar and the tomb of the martyr from the rest of the church.

At the beginning of the 7th century, the basilica and the cemetery were looted and partially destroyed. After that, the church was once again completely renovated. At the same time, the area of the presbytery was remodeled for pilgrims who visit the tomb of the martyr Domni.

Different types of graves were discovered at Manastirine, the largest open-air ancient Christian cemetery, under the sun. The deceased were buried in amphorae, wooden and lead coffins, under tegulas, in brick tombs and sarcophagi. The site is dominated by sarcophagi made in local workshops and from local stone originating from quarries on Brač and from Seget near Trogir. Several extremely high-quality and artistically valuable imported marble sarcophagi were also discovered. Among them, two marble sarcophagi from the beginning of the 4th century stand out, which were found in the corridor north of the basilica, and are kept in the lapidary of the Archaeological Museum. One shows characters and scenes from the myth of Hippolytus and Phaedra, and the other shows the Good Shepherd.

At Manastirine, a distinct feature of Christian cemeteries of that time is particularly noticeable: the effort to have the deceased buried ad sanctos, as close as possible to the holy martyrs. The largest concentration of sarcophagi is around the tomb of the martyr Domni. There is also the sarcophagus of Abbess Ivana, who as a girl before the onslaught of Avars and Slavs came from Sirmi to Salona where she died at the age of forty at the beginning of the 7th century.

 

City walls

The ramparts of the city of Salona were built over the course of several centuries. The old part of the city had a trapezoid shape and was still in the 2nd century BC. Kr. surrounded by walls and fortified with towers built of large stone blocks. Their remains are preserved north and south of Porta Caesarea. At the northeast corner of the old walls are the remains of a massive quadrangular tower.

With the subjugation of the Illyrian Delmata and the beginning of the period of peace, Pax romana, from the 1st century AD. Kr. Salona is starting to spread more intensively outside the city walls. During the wars of Emperor Marcus Aurelius with the Quadi and Marcomani on the borders of the Empire, around the year 170, the western and eastern outskirts of the city were surrounded by walls and fortified with towers (more than 90 towers have been discovered so far). For the construction of the ramparts, existing buildings were used, which became their integral part. Thus, the above-ground part of the water supply was incorporated into the western rampart of the eastern city extension, while the amphitheater became part of the defense system. Since then, the walls of the Salona stretched from the amphitheater in the west to the new city gates, the so-called Porta Andetria in the northeast. The salon has an elongated, elliptical shape, with sides about 1,600 m in the east-west direction and 700 m in the north-south direction. The perimeter of the walls was about 4080 meters.

According to the found inscriptions, we learn that some parts of the city ramparts were built by the First Delta cohort and the divisions of the 2nd and 3rd legions. The ramparts were repaired several times in the following periods, depending on the danger of war. The restoration of the towers at the beginning of the 5th century, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, is evidenced by an inscription carved into the city walls. During the Byzantine-Ostrogothic wars, in the first half of the 6th century, with the entry of the Byzantine army into Salon, the walls were repaired, and some square towers were added with triangular finials.

 

Aqueduct

During the time of Emperor Augustus, a water supply system was built to supply Salona with drinking water from the very source of the Jadro river. The length of the aqueduct was about 3850 m. The best-preserved part of the aqueduct route is the section north of the episcopal center to the nymphaeum, which is located on the south side of Porta Caesarea, from where the old part of the city was supplied with water through a network of canals. At the time of the construction of the ramparts, in the year 170, part of the route of the aqueduct east of the episcopal center to Porta Caesarea was incorporated into the city walls. Based on the capacity budget of the water supply channel, water could be supplied to about 40,000 people.

 

Episcopal Center

The center of the Old Christian Salona is located in the northwestern part of the eastern city extension. A representative episcopal center with double basilicas, a baptistery and the bishop's palace was built on this area in the 5th century.

North of the Old Christian center, near the city walls, there is a building that was built at the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century. Ejnar Dyggve called it oratory A, considering it the oldest Salonitan church, which was located in the private house of a rich Salonitan, where Salonitan Christians met in secret before the year 313. Some researchers believe that the oratory was built in the middle of the 3rd century, at the time of Venantius, the first Salonitan bishop and martyr. The building consists of a tiled central hall with a semicircular stone bench for the clergy, which was separated from the area for the faithful by an altar partition. The main entrance to the hall was in the west, from the courtyard with the fountain and the canteen. Recent audit research questions Dyggve's interpretation of the purpose of this building as a domus ecclesiae. To the south of that building, next to the city walls, there are the ruins of a smaller building which is considered to be Oratory B.

The complex of twin, interconnected basilicas consisted of two longitudinal monumental churches that shared a covered vestibule, the narthex, in the west. The northern one (Basilica urbana), dedicated to Christ, and later to the Blessed Virgin Mary, had a congregational function, while the southern one, as a memorial church, was dedicated to local patrons.

The Basilica Urbana, which is also called the Salonitan Cathedral, is the largest Dalmatian basilica. Massive columns made of Brač stone with Corinthian capitals divided its interior into three naves. The presbytery of the basilica included an apse and a square space surrounded by an altar partition made of marble columns decorated with a shell motif. In the sanctuary there was a semicircular bench for the clergy with a lectern for the bishop, and in its center stood an altar with a ciborium. Along the wall of the apse there was also a bench for the lower clergy with a corridor. A famous mosaic inscription about the construction was found in its floor, from which it is known that the construction of the church was started by Bishop Simferije and completed by Bishop Hezichije. The inscription is kept in the lapidary of the Archaeological Museum in Split. Next to the northern corner of the church was the prothesis - a room where sacrificial gifts, bread and wine, were prepared for the mass. Diaconicon, a room where liturgical books, church utensils and priest's vestments were kept, was located at the bottom of the south nave, next to the presbytery. The interior of the basilica was richly decorated with multicolored geometrically shaped mosaics that covered the floors. There were colorful fresco paintings on the walls, while the walls of the apse were lined with marble.

During the remodeling of the episcopal center in the first half of the 6th century, a new monumental church in the shape of a Greek cross was built on the site of the southern, longitudinal basilica. The interior of that basilica was also richly ornamented. The columns and plutei of the altar partition are decorated with carved monograms of Archbishop Honorius II, and the floors are completely decorated with mosaics. The cross basilica was connected with the northern one by a door that led from the northern arm of the cross. Two councils of all the bishops of Dalmatia were held in that newly built basilica, created under the Byzantine influence of Justinian's time, convened in 530 and 533 by Archbishop Honorius II.

To the north of the Salonitan cathedral was a rectangular baptistery with a hexagonal baptismal font lined with marble slabs. To the west of the baptistery there is a catechumen, a hall for religious instruction, and to the east auxiliary rooms: a waiting room and a dressing room. In the 6th century, the entire baptistery complex was remodeled so that a new, octagonal one with a cross well in the middle was built on the site of the former rectangular building. Inside, the baptismal hall was circular in shape, divided by semicircular niches and massive marble columns. The interior of the baptistery was decorated with frescoes and golden mosaics, and the floor was paved with multi-colored marble. The baptism ceremony performed by the bishop was an extremely significant moment in the life of every Christian, as well as his community. This holy act was preceded by religious instruction and preparation for the rite of baptism, which took place in the catechumenium, a square room with a semicircular bench and a floor decorated with mosaics. The figural depiction of two deer drinking water from a bucket accompanied by the words from Psalm 42 is especially noteworthy: SICVT CERVVS DESIDERAT AD FONTES AQVARUM, ITA DESIDERAT ANIMA MEA AD TE DEVS ("As a hind longs for a spring-water, so my soul longs, O God, for You”), as a  symbol of baptism. Unfortunately, this mosaic disappeared in the last century, but its appearance and inscription have been preserved in the drawing. After the rite of baptism, the newly baptized entered the Salonitan first church for the first time from the baptistery through the open vestibule. The lobby was decorated with marble columns with capitals decorated with figures of birds of prey.

To the northeast of the basilica complex are the ruins of the bishop's palace, episkopi. The building consisted of a large number of rooms, which were preserved in the foundations. The residential part was located on the first floor, while some rooms on the ground floor also had an economic purpose. The main entrance was located on the eastern side of the building, in the so-called Petrova Street, which was named after the Salonitan bishop Peter (554 - 562). He had a monumental ciborium set up on high bases with marble columns ending in capitals engraved with his monograms in front of the main entrance.

 

 

Thermal baths

The thermal baths are specifically Roman buildings and an indispensable part of the culture of the Roman city. An intense social and cultural life took place in them.

The remains of a large number of private and public baths were discovered in Salona. Along the western walls of the eastern city extension, the so-called small thermal baths, which were most likely part of the private house of a richer Salonitan. To the east of them, in the place where the Salonitan cathedral was later built, there were also thermal baths, of which a multicolored mosaic depicting the Greek poetess Sappho and the nine muses remains.

The best preserved are the so-called large city baths, built at the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 3rd century in the eastern part of the city. The building is rectangular in shape, with three symmetrically placed apses in the north and one in the west.

The thermal complex was entered from the south side, into an open courtyard surrounded by a porch. To the north was the frigidarium, a larger, elongated room with a semicircular basin filled with cold water. To the left were two dressing rooms, with benches for sitting and openings in the wall for storing clothes. The western room also served as a massage room, unctorium. To the right were pools for hot baths and saunas: caldarium, tepidarium and sudatorium. The room with an apse in the west, which was entered from the central courtyard, was used for living and exercising.

In Salonitan thermal baths, the usual heating method, the hypocaust system, was applied. From the room where the firebox, the preafurnium, was located, warm air flowed between the columns of the hypocaust and heated the space through hollow ceramic pipes. The baths were beautifully decorated, as evidenced by the remains of fresco paintings on the walls and parts of the mosaic covering the floor.

In late antiquity, the so-called large city baths were also used by Salonitan Christians, as evidenced by the two crosses carved on the doorposts along the eastern wall of the caldarium.

Five bridges

In the area of the eastern suburb of Salona, outside the walls of the old part of the city, flowed the westernmost branch of the river Jadro, the ancient Salona. Through it in the 1st century BC. Kr. built bridge, with five arches raised on massive pylons. It was built of quality hewn stone blocks arranged in regular rows and connected with plaster. The bridge was located on an important regional road, which is a continuation of the main city communication, decumanus maximus, the old city. That road passed through the eastern city gate, the so-called Porta Caesarea, and just before the bridge it split in two directions. One branch led to the northeast, that is, to the so-called Porta Andetria and further inland, and another across the bridge to Epeti (Stobreč) and then south along the Adriatic coast. Along that road and its branches have been since the 1st century BC. Kr. resulting necropolises, which are gradually abandoned as the city expands to the east.

In the period of Late Antiquity, a building whose exact purpose cannot be determined was erected north of the bridge. Perhaps it is a workshop for making and dyeing cloth or a workshop for the production of olive oil. To the west of the bridge there is a road paved with irregular stones and the remains of residential buildings.

City gate - Porta Caesarea

The original core of the city of Salona was surrounded by walls and fortified with towers. At the time of Emperor Augustus, a monumental eastern city gate called Porta Caesarea was built. They were built from large regular blocks of native bluestone in the opus quadratum technique. On the outside, the gate was bordered by two octagonal towers. In addition to having a fortification function, the gate was also the origin of the roads that connected Salona with the most distant parts of the Empire. Porta Caesarea had a three-part entrance; the middle one was for vehicular traffic, and the two side ones, narrower, for pedestrians. Deep car tracks, spurillae, are still visible in the road pavement.

The door had two floors. The upper one, richly decorated with fluted half-columns with composite capitals and divided by window openings, served as a defensive promenade. The lower floor, with a three-part entrance, was more simply decorated. Inside the Porta Caesarea there was a small courtyard, the propugnaculum, whose function was related to the defense of the city.

With the gradual expansion of the city, Porta Caesarea lost its purpose as the main entrance to the city and became a kind of triumphal arch. During the reign of Emperor Constantius, in the 4th century, the gate was renovated and decorated with new decorative elements, including a part of the arch with a relief depicting the personification of the city, Tyche of Salonita. She is depicted as a young woman with untied hair and a crown in the shape of the city walls. In his right hand he holds a flag on which are carved the initials of the name of the city: MARTIA IVLIA VALERIA SALONA FELIX, and with his left he leans on a modius from which ears of corn stick out.

The gate was also partly in the function of an aqueduct. A water supply channel stretched over the western side, which filled the nymphaeum located on their southern side with water. From there, the old part of the city was supplied with water through a network of canals.

Nymphaeum had the shape of a large Latin letter E. Only the lower part of the building, which consisted of three rows of large worked limestone stone blocks, was completely preserved. From the upper part, only the core of the plaster wall without cladding was preserved. On one and the other side of the central rectangular part there is a square niche. The southern part of the building was destroyed. Of the nymphaeum pool, only its northern wall was partially preserved, and its bottom was paved with large stone slabs of irregular shape, on which the lower structure of the nymphaeum stood. Around the outside of the wall of the pool ran a deep groove through which the water flowed into the drain to the west of the nymphaeum.

Ilinac –  Insula

Private Salonitan houses have been very poorly researched to date. On the site of Ilinac, right next to the eastern walls of the old part of the city, the remains of an insula were found. It is a common type of urban residential district, which consisted of multi-story buildings surrounded by streets with shops on the ground floor. In Salona, two city streets were discovered that enclosed an insula of several buildings. In the northern part, there is a series of ground-floor rooms, which probably housed shops (tabernae). The Inzula was built on this site in the 3rd century and was in operation until the collapse of Salona.

 

Praetorium - governor's palace

Southeast of Porta Caesarea, the remains of a luxurious villa were found, which is considered to be the palace of the Roman governor of the province of Dalmatia. The house consisted of several rooms and a yard. The floors were decorated with  marble inlays and multicolored mosaics with depictions of characters from mythology: Apollo, Orpheus and the sea demigod Triton. The mosaic carpet with the image of the mythical singer Orpheus belongs to a slightly older period, while the mosaics with the image of Apollo and Triton belong to the floor of a younger phase and could be dated to the very end of the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd century. Today, the mosaic carpets are not in their original place, but were transferred to the Museum, where they are exhibited. The mosaic depicting Orpheus is one of the exceptional mosaic creations. Orpheus is depicted inside the central medallion as a young man with a lyre in his hands surrounded by numerous birds and forest animals. The figure of Triton emerging from the sea occupies the space of the central octagon. Algae, crabs and octopuses are tangled in his hair. On the third, oldest mosaic carpet inside the central medallion is a bust of Apollo; his head is crowned with laurel and he has a lyre on his chest. The mosaics that decorated the floors of the palace are the product of the local mosaic workshop in Salonica.

The villa was probably remodeled once again in the 3rd or 4th century.

 

Forum 

The forum, the center of public and political life of the ancient Salona, is located in the southeastern part of the old city core. It was located on a natural elevation, laid out in the north-south direction, next to one of the main city communications, the cardo maximus. The space of the forum had the shape of an elongated rectangle (45 x 70 m). During the time of Emperor Augustus, the religious center of the city, the capitol, was built on its northern side, with temples dedicated to the capitol triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva). The capitol complex consisted of three separate architectural elements. On each side of the central building there was a temple with the facade facing the forum. The town hall, curia, was built in the 1st century and had two rectangular rooms with an apse to the east. North of the forum, the remains of the city baths from the early imperial period were discovered, the interior of which was richly decorated with mosaics and multi-colored marble. The city basilica, which in ancient times had the function of a courtroom, has not been found.

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the area of the forum was expanded, new porches were built and the capitol temples were renovated; the manor house was also repaired, the interior of which was decorated with new frescoes and stucco.

In the 4th century, Salona became a Christian city, and the forum gradually lost its role as the city center. This is evidenced by the remains of the torcular found in the area north of the capitol.

 

Theater

The high level of cultural life in the city is evidenced by the ruins of the theater, which was built on the western side of the forum in the middle of the 1st century. The natural slope of the terrain was partly used for its construction. Due to its dimensions (65 x 58 m), the Salonitan theater belongs to the medium-sized theaters in the Roman world. The auditorium, cavea, had a semicircular shape, with two rows of seats, and could accommodate about 3,000 spectators. In front of the auditorium was a semicircular orchestra with seats for senior officials and city dignitaries. The outer shell of the building was divided by a series of openings, which were shaped by massive, arched pylons. On its northern side, three pylons formed a double monumental entrance. The theater building could be entered through two side entrances, parodoi, into the orchestra area, and from there into the lower rows of the auditorium. The theatrical performance took place on a raised podium, pulpitum, in front of the stage building, whose facade, scaenae frons, was richly detailed with decorative architectural elements. In the middle of the facade there was a deep semicircular niche with the main door, the porta regia, which led to the stage. In Diocletian's time, the theater was remodeled. The facade of the stage building is lavishly decorated, and a porch intended for the audience was added on the south side of the theater.

 

Temple

South of the theater was a temple dedicated to Dionysus or Liber. It consisted of a square cella and a deeper vestibule, pronaos, and on the facade there were four massive fluted columns with Corinthian capitals. It was erected on a high podium with an access staircase, which was later removed during the construction of the theater.

In the last construction phase, in the time of Diocletian, porches were built on the sides of the temple.

 

A dropper

On this site are the ruins of the oldest Salonitan burial basilica, called the Basilica of the Five Martyrs. It was built in the middle of the 4th century over the graves of the priest Asterius and four soldiers of the emperor's guard: Antiochianus, Gaianus, Paulinianus and Telius, who were killed in the arena of the Salonitan amphitheater during Diocletian's last persecutions of Christians in April 304. Their bodies were buried in a smaller pagan cemetery, which was then part of a larger one, the so-called northern Salonitan necropolis. After the burial of the Christian martyrs, the cemetery took on a Christian character.

The cemetery church was built as a three-nave basilica with a prominent apse in the east. Over the centuries, it has been rebuilt and extended several times. The facade of the church is angled, and the main entrance was on the west side. The roof structure was supported by masonry pylons, which also divided the central nave from the side naves. The sanctuary with the altar and the tomb of the martyr Asterius was separated from the rest of the church by an altar partition, in front of which was the pulpit, the ambon. Next to it was another martyr's grave, with the remains of four praetorians, covered by a massive stone slab. The floor of the basilica was covered on the western side with stone slabs, and on the eastern side with multicolored mosaics decorated with geometric and floral ornaments. Many contained inscriptions, and one mentions the martyr Asterius. Later, two auxiliary rooms were added to the apse of the basilica, the prothesis, for preparing sacrificial offerings, and the diaconicon, for priests participating in the liturgy.

The church was rebuilt in the 6th century. The original altar partition was replaced by a new one, with pilasters decorated with an incised cross and ivy tendrils. A memorial chapel and a farm building for the production of oil and wine were added to the west side of the church.

 

Cemetery of 16 sarcophagi

North of the Salonitan walls, and east of Kapljuč, there is a smaller locality known as the cemetery of 16 sarcophagi. In 1871, 16 sarcophagi were found there, arranged in a row, which belonged to pagans and Christians. Tombstone inscriptions have been preserved on half of the sarcophagus. All the sarcophagi were broken and looted at the time of the Salona's downfall. The sarcophagi were placed along a part of the road that went around the northern walls of the Salona connecting the western city gate, which was located south of the amphitheater, and the suburban gate, which was located north of the Porta Caesarea.

 

Amphitheater

In the northwestern corner of the ancient Salona are the ruins of the amphitheater, a monumental building built in the second half of the 2nd century. After the construction of the walls, the amphitheater was incorporated into the city's defense system. It was built on flat ground, except for the northern side, where the lower belt of the auditorium was laid on a natural slope. The outer shell of the amphitheater was supported by massive pylons decorated with half-columns. The building is ellipsoidal in shape, measuring 125 x 100 m, and the arena, the area where gladiator fights were held, measuring 65 x 40 m, was bordered by a paved and covered corridor. An inscription was placed above its northern part, from which, although not completely preserved, we learn that the amphitheater was built with the financial help of a rich donor, most likely a Salonitan.

About 17 thousand visitors could watch the fights in the arena. The auditorium was divided into three zones, the lower two of which were designed for sitting, and the third for standing. Communications in the auditorium were based on a system of radial and concentric passages. In Diocletian's time, the highest belt was covered with a porch. Using stakes attached to the outer shell of the building, the entire space could be covered with canvas, for protection from the sun and rain.

On the south side of the auditorium there was an honorary box for the governor of the province, and opposite it a box intended for the city magistrates. Ceremonial processions of participants in the battles entered the arena through the main entrances, portae pompae, on the western and eastern sides. There were animal cages next to them. In the center of the arena was the opening (porta Libitinae) of the underground corridor that was used to carry away wounded and dead gladiators. The gladiator cemetery was discovered near the amphitheater, on its northern side.

Inside the substructures of the southern auditorium were two vaulted rooms where gladiators worshiped Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and fate. The first Salonitan martyrs also left their lives in the arena of the Salonitan amphitheater. In their memory, Christians are renovating Nemez's sanctuaries into memorial chapels. In the eastern one, the remains of fresco paintings depicting the Salonitan martyrs were found, above which their names stood. When the frescoes were found, only the name of the priest Asterius was visible. These frescoes served as a template for the creation of the mosaic composition with the figures of the Dalmatian-Istrian martyrs in the oratory of St. Venantius in Rome, which was commissioned by Pope John IV in the middle of the 7th century.

Only parts of the substructure of the amphitheater and some parts of the architectural decoration have been preserved to this day. The amphitheater suffered the greatest damage during the wars with the Turks in the 17th century, when it was demolished for strategic reasons by order of the Venetian authorities.

 

Marusin

The cemetery complex on Marusinac consists of a mausoleum and two basilicas with a cemetery. At the beginning of the 4th century, the martyr Anastasia, who came to Salona from Aquileia, was buried on the site. According to legend, he was arrested and brought to court because he carved a cross on the door of his workshop in Tangier. He was sentenced to death and on August 26, 304, he was thrown into the Salonitan bay with a millstone around his neck. The Roman matron Asclepius ordered her servants to secretly retrieve his body from the sea and place it in a sarcophagus located in the crypt of the apse of the family mausoleum on Marusinac. The mausoleum was built at the beginning of the 4th century as a rectangular building with strong buttresses on the outer shell and an inscribed semicircular apse. The area with the sarcophagus of the martyr Anastasius was separated by a wall from the rest of the area, where Asklepija and her husband were later buried. In the upper part of the building there was a space intended for the private cult of the dead and the cult of martyrs. It was the burial of the martyr Anastasius that inspired the burial of other Christians in this area.

Salonitan bishops and priests were buried on Marusinac in the 5th and 6th centuries. A marble slab with the engraved name of the Alexandrian martyr Menas, which testifies to the existence of his cult, also originates from that locality. In Marusinac, as well as in other Salonitan Christian cemeteries, in addition to the graves of bishops, priests and prominent and wealthy individuals, there are also simpler graves of ordinary citizens.

In the first half of the 5th century, a large three-nave basilica dedicated to the cult of St. was built east of the mausoleum. Anastasia. The sarcophagus with the body of the martyr was located in the sanctuary of the basilica. On the front side there was an opening (fenestella confessionis) which allowed believers to access the relics and touch them. Above the sarcophagus was an altar with a ciborium on four marble columns decorated with a motif of vine leaves in relief. The presbytery is separated from the rest of the church by an altar partition, and the prothesis and diaconicon were located on the sides at the top of the lateral naves. In front of the presbytery was a space for choral singers, the schola cantorum. The interior was dominated by monumental columns that divided the church into three naves. Multicolored, richly ornamented floor mosaics adorned its floors. The basilica and the mausoleum were connected by an atrium surrounded by a portico.

Next to the basilica dedicated to the cult of the martyr Anastasius, the remains of another, northern, basilica were discovered. Ejnar Dyggve reconstructed that basilica as a building without a roof, the so-called Basilica discover. However, there are also opinions that it is a common type of three-nave basilica with a roof. The floors were covered with high-quality multi-colored mosaics combined with marble paving. Numerous sarcophagi and brick tombs were found under the floor of the apse.

The veneration of the martyr Anastasius on Marusinac was also confirmed at the beginning of the 7th century, when in the very twilight of the ancient Salona, in the portico of the northern basilica, "guarding the thresholds of the venerable Anastasius the Saint", "the sinner and unworthy priest" Ivan was buried.

 

City necropolises

Roman customs and laws did not allow the dead to be buried in the city. Therefore, the Romans buried their dead along the roads that led outside the city. The area around the city of Salona was intended for burials in the necropolises that were formed along the roads and paths.

The most famous Salonitan necropolis is the western one. It was created along the road that led from Salona to Traguri, and with the expansion of the city, it gradually receded and spread further west. The easternmost find from this necropolis is the mausoleum of the Lolija family, dated to the beginning of the 1st century. The mausoleum was located in the part of the necropolis that was destroyed at the time when the area of the western suburbs of the city was surrounded by walls. Numerous tombstones from the western necropolis were broken and built into the city walls. Among them, the macaw of Pomponia Vera and the stele of Gaius Uti stand out.

The best-preserved part of the necropolis is located west of the amphitheater. On both sides of the road there were fenced burial plots, horti, in which extended family members were buried over a long period of time. In the center stood the main monument (most likely a macaw) on a raised platform, which belonged to the owner of the plot, and around it were the graves of other family members. In the western necropolis, burials took place from the 1st century to the beginning of the 4th century. The largest number of burials were in urns. Accepting inhumation, from the end of the 2nd century the deceased were buried in wooden chests, amphorae, under tegulas and in brick tombs and sarcophagi.

Along the road that exited the old part of the city through Porta Caesarea and stretched towards Klis and further into the hinterland, the eastern necropolis was formed. In the beginning, this necropolis was also located in the area where the city would later expand, and after the construction of the ramparts, the parts of the necropolis that remained within the fortifications gradually ceased to function, and a process similar to that in the western necropolis can be followed. Within that necropolis in the area of Bilankuša, the graves of soldiers VII. legions.

The southeastern necropolis was formed along the road that crossed over five bridges and stretched towards Epeti and further south. Extremely valuable tombstones were found there, which belonged to prominent members of the city administration. Part of that necropolis remained within the city walls and was probably still in operation for some time after their construction in 170.

The northern necropolis was created along the road that went around the northern ramparts of the old city, stretched parallel to them and spread further north.

Salonitan martyrs were also buried in pagan necropolises. Cemetery basilicas were built over their graves with Christian cemeteries around. The organization of these cemeteries and their appearance, unlike the pagan ones, were conditioned by burials around the graves of martyrs. The most famous Salonitan Christian cemeteries (Kapljuč, Manastirine and Marusinac) were discovered in the area of the northern necropolis. Another Christian cemetery with a basilica was found in the southern necropolis, in the locality of Crikvine.