Salona

Salona was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia near Split [1]. The ruins of Salona are located in the modern town of Solin, around six kilometres from the major city of Split, in Croatia [1]. Salona grew in the area of the Greek cities of Tragurium and Epetium on the Jadro river in the third century BC [1]. Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, because it sided with the future Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompey [1]. According to De Administrando Imperio and Thomas the Archdeacon's Historia Salonitana, Salona was largely destroyed in the seventh century invasions by the Avars and Slavs [1]. Although the city of Salona had multiple baths, the best-preserved and largest ones are those in the eastern part of the city called the Great Thermae, built in the second or beginning of the third century A.D. This building is rectangular in shape [1]. The presence of a Roman amphitheatre indicates that gladiator fights were held in the city of Salona until the fifth century, when they were finally banned [1].