Episcopal centre part of the ancient Roman town Salona (Solin,Croatia)
Short description of the Episcopal centre of the Salona:
The centre of the Early Christian Salona is located in the eastern part of the town ( 'Urbs Nova Orientalis), in the immediate vicinity of the Christian oratory (Oratorium A), where the first Salonitan Christian secretly gathered for prayer and worship. It was the oldest church of Salona, called 'domus ecclesiae', and was used from the middle of the 3rd century, from the time of Salonitan Bishop Venantius. The oratory was situated in the baths of a private house, whose largest room was converted and adapted for the Christian liturgy. The room was divided by a partition into two parts: the 'presbytery' with a semicircular bench for the clergy and the space for the congregation. To the south of the 'Oratorium A' there was another oratory, Oratorium B.
After the Edict of Milan on Religious Tolerance 313 A.D. an episcopal centre was built on this location consisting of twin basilicas, a baptisery, and a bishop's palace. In the time of the Bishops Symferius and Esychius in the early 5th century two monumental longitudinal basilicas, the so-called 'basilicae geminae', were eracted. The northern basilica ( 'Basilica urbana' ), dedicated to Christ, is the largest three-naved basilica was dedicated to Domnio and other Salonitan martyrs. Both basilicas had a common covered atrium, the 'narthex', on the west side. In the 6th century a monumental basilica with a Greek cross layout was built in the place of the southern longitudinal basilica by Bishop Honorius II.
In the 5th century a rectangular baptistery with a hexagonal baptismal font ( 'piscina' ) was built to the north of the twin basilicas. A 'catechumeneum', a room for religious education, was located to the west of the baptistery. The floor was decorated with a mosaic depicting two deer drinking water from a 'kantharos' and the Psalm verses: SICUT CERVUS DESIDERAT AD FONTES AQUARUM ITA DESIDERAT ANIMA MEA AD TE DEUS. (As a hart longs / for flowing streams, / so longs my soul / for thee, O God.). Auxiliary rooms: a waiting room and a dressing room were placed to the east of the baptistery. In the course of the reconstruction and restoration of the Episcopal Centre the baptistery was given an octagonal form with a cross-shaped baptismal font.
The bishop's palace, the episcopium, was situated north of the 'basilica urbana' and comprised a larg number of rooms, preserved in their foundations. Some rooms were designed to be used for practical, i.e. husbandry purposes. The main door leading to the palace was in Peter's Street, named after numerous architectural fragments bearing the incised monogram of Bishop Peter.
For more information visit: