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Manastirine Necropolis
About
An ordinary pagan cemetery grew up on the northern edge of Salona from the 2nd century BCE onward, filling with cremation and inhumation burials for the provincial capital's residents over the following centuries. By 117 CE it functioned as a typical extramural Roman burial ground outside Dalmatia's chief city, undistinguished from dozens of similar cemeteries across the empire. Its later fame as a Christian pilgrimage site, built around the martyred bishop Domnius, only began after his execution in 304 CE. Stone sarcophagi from the Roman-era burials still scatter the site today.
What happened here
The dead are outside the walls because the law requires it, so the approach to every town is lined with them. Tombs face the road in rows, grand ones in front and simpler markers behind, all of them addressed to the passer-by. Burial clubs let ordinary people and slaves pay a monthly subscription for a place in a communal vault and a decent funeral; the alternative is a pit. Families come out on anniversaries and at the February festival, eat at the graveside, and pour wine into a pipe set into the ground. Undertakers, stonecutters and letter-cutters work nearby and compete on price. Ground is bought by the foot, and the frontage on the road costs the most.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →