Roman sites in Croatia
Diocletian's Palace
Considered to be one of the most imposing Roman ruins, Diocletian’s palace is certainly the main attraction of the city of Split. The ruins of palace, built between the late 3rd and the early 4th centuries A.D., can be found throughout the city. Today the remains of the palace are part of the historic core of Split, which in 1979 was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. While it is referred to as a 'palace' be ...
Founded: 4th century AD |
Location:
Split, Croatia
Roman Forum
Roman Forum of Zadar is the largest on the eastern side of the Adriatic sea, founded by the first Roman Emperor Augustus, as shown by two stone inscriptions about its completion dating from the 3rd century. Ancient Zadar (or Iadera as the Romans would say) was a Roman colony from 48BC until the disintegration of the Roman empire in the 5th century. After a violent earthquake in the 6th century, the buildings surroundin ...
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Zadar, Croatia
Pula Arena
The Pula Arena is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and with all three Roman architectural orders entirely preserved. It is among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the World. A rare example among the 200 surviving Roman amphitheatres, it is also the best preserved ancient monument in Croatia. The Arena was built between 27 BC and 68 AD, as the city of Pula became a regional centre of ...
Founded: 27 BC - 68 AD |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Arch of the Sergii
Arch of the Sergii is an Ancient Roman triumphal arch located in Pula, Croatia. The arch commemorates three brothers of the Sergii family, specifically Lucius Sergius Lepidus, a tribune serving in the twenty-ninth legion that participated in the Battle of Actium and disbanded in 27 BC . This suggests an approximate date of construction to 29-27 BC. The arch stood behind the original naval gate of the early Roman colony. T ...
Founded: 29-27 BC |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Pula Roman Theatre
The smaller Roman Theatre of Pula from the 1st century AD was erected on the slope underneath the Venetian fortress. The area was divided into the stage and the proscene where the acting took place, the orchestra and the viewing area or the cavea. The theatre lied on the hill slope, which was the characteristic of Greek theatres. Only the stage foundations and a part of the semi-circular viewing area of the Small Roman Th ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Temple of Augustus
The Temple of Augustus is a well-preserved Roman temple in the city of Pula. Dedicated to the first Roman emperor, Augustus, it was probably built during the emperor"s lifetime at some point between 27 BC and his death in AD 14. It was built on a podium with a tetrastyle prostyle porch of Corinthian columns and measures about 8 by 17.3 m, and 14 m high. The richly decorated frieze is similar to that of a somewhat lar ...
Founded: 27 BCE - 14 AD |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Temple of Neptune
The Temple of Neptune was erected on the Poreč forum in the 1st century. It is thought to be the biggest in Istria, although only a portion of its walls and the foundations have been preserved. During the Antiquity, Poreč as well as all Roman towns, had a forum, the main town square known today as Marafor, and a Capitoline temple facing it. It was believed that the temple was dedicated to God Mars in light of interpret ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Poreč, Croatia
Hercules Gate
Hercules Gate is the oldest standing Roman monument in Pula, dating from the 1st century BC.
Founded: 100-0 BCE |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Salona Amphitheatre
At the northwest end of Salona’s town limits, subsequently fortified, there is an amphitheatre, which forms part of the town defence system. Its remains are comparatively well-preserved, showing the benefits of the well known reconstruction made by the Danish archaeologist Ejnar Dyggve. Dyggve considers that the amphitheatre was designed by Roman architects who performed similar tasks elsewhere too, and that it was b ...
Founded: 2nd century AD |
Location:
Solin, Croatia
Salona
Salona was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The first mention of the name Salon originates about 7th century BC as an Illyrian settlement. It is the largest archaeological park in Croatia, whose size is attested by the monumental ramparts with towers and gates, a forum with temples, an amphitheater and cemeteries with Salonian martyrs (Manastirine, Kapljuč, Marusinac). Salona was a town ...
Founded: 7th century BCE |
Location:
Solin, Croatia
Roman Temple of Nin
Remains of the Roman temple from the 1st century AD in the time of the Roman emperor Vespasian. It was the largest Roman temple on the east side of the Adriatic sea with the dimensions of 33 meters in length and 23.5m in width. It is located in the very center of Nin.
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Nin, Croatia
Veliki Brijun Roman Villa
On the western coast of Brijuni, along Verige Bay, stands a magnificent Roman villa rustica. Its construction began in the 1st century BC, and it achieved its greatest splendor in the 1st century AD. Certain parts of the villa were used until the 6th century. It consisted of several buildings for various purposes situated at carefully chosen sites in different parts of the bay. On the southern side of the bay stood a su ...
Founded: 100-0 BCE |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Vizula
Vižula is an archaeological site near Medulin, confirmed to be populated from the Neolithic to the Early Middle Ages. Remains of a Neolithic settlement were found including wicker cottages glued together by soil and mud, as well as parts of the ceramics and some dishes. However, the most significant is the Roman villa, which has undergone systematic research, dating back to the 1st and the 2nd centuries. It was found tha ...
Founded: 0-100 AD |
Location:
Medulin, Croatia
Burnum
Burnum was a Roman Legion camp and town. It is located 2.5 km north of Kistanje. The remains include a praetorium, the foundations of several rooms, the amphitheatre and the aqueduct. It is assumed that Burnum originates from the year 33 BC, but it is more likely that it was established a few decades later. Several Roman legions were located there in succession, and the first one was Legio XX Valeria Victrix from the beg ...
Founded: 1st century BCE |
Location:
Kistanje, Croatia
Brijuni Kastrum
The richest site by its strata on the Brijuni stretches on an area somewhat greater than 1 hectare. Finds from the period of the Roman Republic and Empire, Late Antiquity, Eastern Goths, Byzantium, Carolingian period and Venice testify to the long time settlement. The first villa in Dobrika Bay was built in the 1st century BC. During Augustus" rule, partly on the site of the first villa, a new villa rustica was er ...
Founded: 100-0 BCE |
Location:
Pula, Croatia
Aqueduct of Diocletian
The Aqueduct of Diocletian is an ancient Roman aqueduct near Split, constructed during the Roman Empire to supply water to the palace of the emperor Diocletian. The Aqueduct of Diocletian was constructed between the end of 3rd and beginning of the 4th century AD, at the same time as the palace. The aqueduct took water from the river Jadro, 9 kilometres northeast of Diocletian"s Palace, today Split"s city centr ...
Founded: 4th century AD |
Location:
Split, Croatia
Aquae Iasae
Aquae Iasae was the Roman settlement and Roman bath in the area of present city Varaždinske Toplice. In the 3rd century BC, in this area lived the Illyrian tribe Jasi, whose name the Romans referred to later in calling this place Aquae Iasae, 'Waters of the Jasi'. The village Jasa, thanks to its springs of water, grew into a significant medical, ceremonial, cultural and economic center of Pannonia Superior. Bu ...
Founded: 0-300 AD |
Location:
Varaždinske Toplice, Croatia
Fulfinum
In the cove Sepen, just a few kilometres by air to the south of Omišalj, there is an inexhaustible site of archaeological heritage. The first traces of settling in the area date back into the 1st century when the Roman town Fulfinum emerged. Its emergence is related to the construction of the city for the retired Roman soldiers during the Flavian dynasty. A good geographical position caused the development of seafaring a ...
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Omišalj, Croatia
Nesactium
Nesactium was an ancient fortified town and hill fort of the Histri tribe. In pre-Roman times, Nesactium, ruled by its legendary king Epulon, was the capital of the tribal population of the peninsula called Histri, who were also connected to the prehistoric Castellieri culture. Some theories state a later Celtic influence, but who they were and where they came from has never been discovered for certain. It is believed tha ...
Founded: 9th century BCE |
Location:
Ližnjan, Croatia
Lorun
Lorun is an Antiquity archaeological site located next to the planned built tourist resort of Červar Porta. The remains of a Roman country villa, an estate consisting of the ceramics workshop, an oil mill and a water cistern were found, while the oldest villa doors coincide with the year 46 BC, the time of the establishment of the Poreč colony under the Caesar. Sisenna Statilie Tauro, a Roman consul for as many as 16 ye ...
Founded: 46 BCE |
Location:
Červar-porat, Croatia