Diocletian Palace Split
If you rent an apartment, a room or a holiday house in Split, you can not miss Diocletian's Palace. It stretches for over 39,000 square meters in a rectangular shape, 220 x 180 meters large. This beauty is under protection of UNESCO since 1979 and one of the best preserved Roman buildings in the whole world. Split had grown in the arms of Diocletian's palace and the palace and the city became one, together embraced by the stone and the sea, the wonderful place where life flourishes and blossom out of the dry Mediterranean maquis.
The story of Diocletian began 245 years ago when Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus was born in a peasant family near Solin (Salonae). Salona was the seat of the Illyrian southern province back in those times and the military state under the rule of the Roman Empire. Diocletian has grown into a skilled warrior, charismatic and wise men, and, even as a young man, became famous in military campaigns. Due to it he become general and commander of the Emperor's Horse Guards, and Consul later. After the violent death of Emperor Numerianus, Diocletian sits on the throne in the year 245 BC. Many historians assume that Diocletian was involved in the murder of Numerianus who was found dead in his tent, and for whose death his successor Aper was charged and executed. However, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor and he had showed extraordinary wisdom in the conduct of the empire. He was always in search for wise solutions in managing this huge empire. He divided it into two parts and shared his authority with Maximinian to help securing its greatness. Later, they both took another Caesar and thus the kingdom was divided into four parts, which is the first known example of tetrarchy. Diocletian ruled eastern part of the empire, which includes the central and southern Dalmatia.
In twenty years of his rule, Diocletian conducted a number of reforms, but remained deeply religious declaring himself as Jupiter's reincarnation on earth. Christians never forgot the bloody persecution. In addition, Diocletian built much: from spas in Rome to the roads in Dalmatia. He started to build the famous palace in 300 BC which looked like a military camp. Diocletian abdicated in 305 and retreated to his palace, where he lived until his death in 316. It was found that Diocletian poisoned himself, probably because of the constant pressure of pretenders to the Roman throne and due to the disease which he could not affect as to everything else in life.
Diocletian's palace is part of the historical part of the city today. From the 7th century onwards, building up and changing. Walls are preserved, except the west, Diocletian's mausoleum with busts of the emperor and his wife Prisca, Temple of Jupiter, cellars, parts of the sewer system and other fragments of the once luxurious palaces, remained for the next generations. Diocletian's tireless spirit stayed alive as well, perhaps it is the same spirit that puts Split among the funniest and most rhapsodic cities on the Adriatic. Visit and feel it, relax and sing. `The song is our last oasis', lyrics are by Diocletian's enthronement, so let Split and Diocletian's Palace to be your oasis, an oasis full of rest, relaxation and joy of living.
The story of Diocletian began 245 years ago when Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus was born in a peasant family near Solin (Salonae). Salona was the seat of the Illyrian southern province back in those times and the military state under the rule of the Roman Empire. Diocletian has grown into a skilled warrior, charismatic and wise men, and, even as a young man, became famous in military campaigns. Due to it he become general and commander of the Emperor's Horse Guards, and Consul later. After the violent death of Emperor Numerianus, Diocletian sits on the throne in the year 245 BC. Many historians assume that Diocletian was involved in the murder of Numerianus who was found dead in his tent, and for whose death his successor Aper was charged and executed. However, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor and he had showed extraordinary wisdom in the conduct of the empire. He was always in search for wise solutions in managing this huge empire. He divided it into two parts and shared his authority with Maximinian to help securing its greatness. Later, they both took another Caesar and thus the kingdom was divided into four parts, which is the first known example of tetrarchy. Diocletian ruled eastern part of the empire, which includes the central and southern Dalmatia.
In twenty years of his rule, Diocletian conducted a number of reforms, but remained deeply religious declaring himself as Jupiter's reincarnation on earth. Christians never forgot the bloody persecution. In addition, Diocletian built much: from spas in Rome to the roads in Dalmatia. He started to build the famous palace in 300 BC which looked like a military camp. Diocletian abdicated in 305 and retreated to his palace, where he lived until his death in 316. It was found that Diocletian poisoned himself, probably because of the constant pressure of pretenders to the Roman throne and due to the disease which he could not affect as to everything else in life.
Diocletian's palace is part of the historical part of the city today. From the 7th century onwards, building up and changing. Walls are preserved, except the west, Diocletian's mausoleum with busts of the emperor and his wife Prisca, Temple of Jupiter, cellars, parts of the sewer system and other fragments of the once luxurious palaces, remained for the next generations. Diocletian's tireless spirit stayed alive as well, perhaps it is the same spirit that puts Split among the funniest and most rhapsodic cities on the Adriatic. Visit and feel it, relax and sing. `The song is our last oasis', lyrics are by Diocletian's enthronement, so let Split and Diocletian's Palace to be your oasis, an oasis full of rest, relaxation and joy of living.
