Diocletian's Palace

Diocletian's Palace is a building in Split, Croatia that was built by the emperor Diocletian the 3rd century AD. At the time it was built, there was no such city of Split, and the original town was built around the palace. The Latin name of the city, Spalatum, was derived from the original name Aspalathos, a white thorn common in the area. Contrary to the popular belief, it has nothing to do with the latin word for palace, palatium.

Diocletian had this massive palace built to spend the last years of his life after abdicating on May 1, 305 AD. The bay is located on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast into the Adriatic, four miles from the site of Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The terrain on which the palace was built slopes gently seaward. It is typical karst terrain, consisting of low limestone ridges running east to west with marl in the clefts between them.

Picture: South East corner of Diocletian's Palace. The tall tower is actually the bell tower of the St. Domnius (Sveti Duje) cathedral, which was built inside the former Emperor's mausoleum a thousand years after the palace.