Diocletian’s Palace

Split (KR)

In the year 305, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletian stood down as the emperor of the Roman Empire of his own free will – unheard of in ancient times – to retire to his recently completed residence on the Adriatic coast, near the fishing village of Asphalatos in present-day Croatia. During his 20-year reign, he implemented some major strategic innovations including economic and military reorganizations and the separation of the Roman Empire into a western and an eastern part, with two equivalent emperors (Augusti) and two successors
(Caesars) sharing power: the so-called tetrarchy. From his byzantine capital Nicomedia (currently Izmit in Turkey) he had been overseeing the construction of his palace: strategically located between the two empires, protected by a mountain range and an ocean, and not far from his presumptive place of birth Salona.