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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtisimo, post: 2935113, member: 83845&quot;]<p style="text-align: center"><b><u>Now that you have seen the coins who wants to see Diocletian’s palace?</u></b></p><p><br /></p><p>When Diocletian abdicated he didn’t run off to a cabin in the woods or a modest condo on the beach. Instead he spent years ahead of his retirement building a grand and imposing palace right on the waterfront near his hometown.&nbsp; By some accounts he became ill and weak before his abdication and decided to step aside instead of risk conflict with an impatient Galerius.&nbsp; Whether that’s the case or not he had certainly been planning for retirement for quite some time and it apparently suited him just fine.&nbsp; When he was begged to take back the government of the empire after the tetrarchy began to dissolve he is said to have replied;</p><p><br /></p><p>“If you could show the cabbage that I planted with my own hands to your emperor, he definitely wouldn’t dare suggest that I replace the peace and happiness of this place with the storms of a never satisfied greed.”</p><p><br /></p><p>But unfortunately even the great Diocletian could not hold out in peace and tranquility forever in the midst of all the political turmoil.&nbsp; He lived to see his daughter banished after the death of Galerius and the memory of his old friend Maximian damned by Constantine.&nbsp; He died in his palace at some point between AD 311 and AD 317.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713537[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Here you can see an artist’s reconstruction of the palace that is displayed near the main peristyle.&nbsp; Diocletian’s quarters would have been the rectangular portion running the length of the waterfront.&nbsp; The two square buildings would have been for his personal guard and household administration.&nbsp; The buildings between were a temple to Jupiter and Diocletian’s Mausoleum.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713538[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]713539[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>At top you can see a reconstruction drawing originally made in the 18th century displayed in the Split City Museum showing what the peristyle might have looked like.&nbsp; Below is the peristyle as it appears today.&nbsp; Notice how the column closer to Diocletian’s residence are made from Egyptian stone that is the color of imperial purple.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713540[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]713541[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>At top you can see the domed roof of the entry hall into the living quarters of the palace.&nbsp; The top of the dome is gone and you can just see the top of the bell tower (13th century) that was built on to the mausoleum long after it was converted to a church in the 7th century (perhaps I am getting too artsy with my photos).&nbsp; At bottom you can catch a glimpse of Diocletian’s private life… this was his dining room table!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713542[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]713544[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Above you can see the inside of the mausoleum that has since been converted to a Catholic Cathedral at left.&nbsp; The angle-like figures are actually cupids carrying portraits of Diocletian and his wife up to divinity.&nbsp; It seems that he may have intended that HE would eventually be worshiped here after his death.&nbsp; At right is the underground burial chamber were he would have been interred though his remains are no longer there.</p><p><br /></p><p>At bottom is the very interesting entryway to the cathedral.&nbsp; Our guide told us that the tomb of one of the children of Bela IV of Hungary is above the doorway here.&nbsp; The story is that when Bela IV was defeated by the Mongols at the battle of Mohi he fled to Dalmatia.&nbsp; On his way from Klis to Split one of his children died unbaptized.&nbsp; Since the church would not allow someone who was not baptized to be buried in the church a compromise was reached and a burial above the doorway was decided.&nbsp; I found this fascinating but if the story is true I have not been able to verify it with subsequent research yet.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713550[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This amazingly cool Egyptian sphinx of Thutmose III from ca. 1450 BC was among the many that Diocletian had brought here to decorate his palace.&nbsp; This in the only one that survives intact.&nbsp; It’s amazing to think that this artifact was about as old to Diocletian as his palace is to us.&nbsp; All the others were ritually smashed by early Christians who saw them as pagan symbols.&nbsp; You can still see pieces of the other sphinxes built into medieval buildings in the old town of Split.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713553[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I am all kinds of blocking what is officially the narrowest street in the world (whose name translates to “Let Me Pass”) next to the temple of Jupiter.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]713554[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It’s not as well known that Diocletian was not the last imperial inhabitant of the palace.&nbsp; Julius Nepos was deposed as emperor in the west and fled to Dalmatia where he set up court in Split.&nbsp; He was murdered right here in the palace in AD 480 and was either the last or next to last western emperor.</p><p><br /></p><p>After this the palace seems to have been used as a factory for various goods and then almost completely abandoned.&nbsp; Then in the 7th century the Avars and Slavs overran the area and forced the inhabitants of nearby Salona to evacuate to the islands.&nbsp; After a peace agreement brokered by the Byzantine emperor the citizens eventually moved into relative security within the walls of the old abandoned palace.&nbsp; From this point Diocletian’s palace would grow into the city of Split which, today, is the second largest city in Croatia.</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><span style="color: #ff0000">Please post any comments or coins you think relevant!</span></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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