Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-22
SPALAT0 and DI0CLET[ANYS
f CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Chicago Herald

| Special Correspondence of The ST
| SPALATO. Dalmatia, April 10. 1910.
| Diocletian was one OF the most cruel
and corrupt of all the Roman emperors.
and his perse-
UlOcletlaA cution of the
Cruel and Corrupt. ,nnsssa 1 and
vindictive. Toward the end of his life he
became diseased hypochondriac, and
| sought a retreat from the world on the
eastern coast Of the Adriatic sea, near
the ancient Christian town called Salona.
4 Why he should have selected for his her
| mitage the place where his father was
once a slave has never been explained.
and 1t is not clear whether his father
was low born Or was a captive in war.
| 1T was customary, as you remember for
| the Romans to make their prisoners
slaves. But however that may have
been, the emperor's mother. Diocla. to
| whom he was deyotedly attached. appears
| TO have been a woman of intellect and
force and one-quarter Of the sumptuous
palace which he built here was devoted
! to her use.
Diocletian was born in the village of
| Ducla, on Lake Skutari, about 100 miles
soutn from here, part Of whose waters
are IN montenegro and the rest in AL
bania. Some interesting ruins have been
! eXcaVated there which indicate that It
must have been a place Of Importance at
one time; but very little Is known either
peror.
re came here in the year A. d. 3CJ Sc
lected site four miles from the CITY of
saiola, then the capital and the most
| important place upon the Dalmatan
coast. which had been under the control
! or the Romans for many years. and erect
ed upon the shore OF the bay one of the
largest and most magnificent palaces that
| human hands ever created, and there he
spent his last nine years in self-exile,
! surrounded by splendor and ceremony.
with a retinue Of about 1900 courtiers
| ana servants. Before he died, however.
his successor. the Emperor Constantine.
| accepted the teachings of Jesus, and
honae became the center of the Christian
| world Diocletian worshiped the pagan
| gods until his death, and within his pal
ace erected temples to Jupiter and Es-
| culap.us. the father of medicine. hoping
70 p1opi!late both. and thus be cured of
complication Of diseases which made
| the po1np and ceremony with which he
was surrounded travesty upon the i'm
potence OF enperors.
Robert Adam, an Englishman, made a
|iAo1ooSi iHsSStiSdtioH ABOUT hundred
and fifty years ago,
Uld English and published a bool,
Investigators. Of the p.,a Inc 81 RUNS n;o
cletian at Spalate." which contains all
| that anybody has ever known about
| that magnificent pile. and those who
wish to study th> subject closely can
| doubtless find copies of his volume
in the libraries. although they are very
| rare. Another Englishman named Jack
| son has also written of the place. paying
more attention, however, to its architec-
| ture than to its archaeology, and Prof. D.
L. Jelic, conservator of ancient monu-
ments IN Da'matia. has published an ac-
count in Italian which is particularly i'm
| portant from the archaeological point of
view.
The men and the material creating the
| palace were brought mostly from Italy,
but columns and other ornamental parts
| like much that is found in the palaces
and temples of the Eternal city came from
Egypt and Carthage. from Sicily and
from Greece, so that the choicest bits
We're foreign.
The palace was 69S by 52s feet in size
considerably larger than the Capitol at
Washington, and was quadrangle Of
walls &c feet high, with towers at the
four corners for the purpose of defense
1t Is described as Roman "castrum' and
has been compared to the Escurial which
Philip II of Spain built for his retire
ment near Madrid and the ancient castle
at Avignon, France, in which the Popes
lived for many years. 1t must have cost
many million dollars and was built by the
labor OF slaves. The palace fronted upon
the sea, and Diocletian planned an open
promenade with vine-covered pergolas to
protect him from the sun, where he could
take exercise and watch the movement
upon the waters of the Adriatic. The wall
facing the sea was very ornate and was
decorated with f1fty-twO lofty Doric col
umns. Thirty-eight still remain, but the
arches between them have been filled in
with ordinary houses of succeed brick.
which creates curious effect in contrast
to the original portion OF the palace. The
whole of the south front was devoted to
the imperial apartments and the eastern
end was reserved for Signora Diocla. The
remainder of the interior was occupied
with temples, barracks, baths. Offices and
other apartments. such as a tired emperor
with two thousand servants might require.
There were four gates. The principal
entrance. and that which Diocletian al
ways used, was called Porta Aurea. or
the Golden Gate. and is still in excellent
Silver Gate, has been almost entirely
obIiterated; the west. or Iron Gate, is in
good preservation, although 1t is con-
cealed almost entirely by surrounding
houses
We do not know what happened there
after Diocletian had gone to judgment,
but in G39, when Dalma-
Invasion OF tia was invaded by. the
Al, Avars, a tribe of bar
SA'S tar.ans from the north,
tho nefghboring city of Salona was de-
stroyed and her homeless population took
refuge within the walls Of the palace,
where they were able to defend them
selves. Finding the arrangement of the
rooms unsuitable, they gradually built
flittle town inside. first occupying the
courtyards, and finally walled up the
arches and made available every crevice
and corner that could hold a human
being. A great deal of the marble was
transported to Venice as building ma
terial during the centuries while the
Venetians were in control here. but
enough remains to give a visitor a fair
idea Of the immensely and the magnif-
icence Of the building.
The people who occupied the palace in
the middle ages showed marvellous skill
in fitting their dwellings into the ancient
architecture, but the hand of the Vene-
tian always appears, and the old town. as
they call it, within the walls bears d
Av>nh1 ~1l