Illyrian Heroes, Roman Emperors and Christian Martyrs (S. 449-450)

The Construction of a Croatian Archaeology between Rome and Vienna, 1815–1918

Daniel Baric

On one of the central squares of Zagreb, just in front of the former University Library, now the Croatian Archives, and hence in a very symbolic place, stands the statue of the archaeologist Frane Bulic (1846–1934). Not far away from the Croatian Archaeological Museum and a range of other cultural institutions, he is supposed to represent a point of reference and a model for Croatian archaeologists.

Frane Bulic was mainly active in Dalmatia, especially in Split, where he was for a long time director of the Archaeological Museum, at a moment when Dalmatia was directly connected with Vienna in the political and the administrative respect, whereas Zagreb and Slavonia were linked to the Hungarian part of the Habsburg Monarchy. That administrative discrepancy between Zagreb and Split meant that it was not self-evident that research undertaken in Split, mainly on late Roman themes, would gain the status of a paradigm in Zagreb, where the Illyrian movement had established itself during the first half of the nineteenth century on the assumption of a continuity between the Illyrians of Antiquity and the Slavs.

During the nineteenth century, a tremendous change in the way of practising archaeology and in general of dealing with Antiquity took place in Croatia, which eventually allowed Frane Bulic to be chosen as a representative of the emergence of a Croatian archaeology. Since he worked in Dalmatia during his whole career, it seems relevant to focus on the developments of archaeology in that region. But instead of following a linear chronology, it appears to be instructive to reflect upon the main themes that were central in the preoccupations of archaeologists and of those interested in Antiquity: that is, the role of Illyrians, Roman emperors and Christian martyrs in the history of ancient times in Dalmatia.

Illyrian Heroes

From the Renaissance onwards, the interest in the populations inhabiting the eastern shores of the Adriatic before the Romans kept growing in intellectual circles in Dalmatia. The texts written with a reference to the Illyrians tried to prove a perfect continuity between ancient populations and new ones. They tended to be the expression of programmatic projections, for instance of a certain Southern Slav Catholic milieu in the seventeenth century (Mauro Orbini).

The programmatic element in the use of that topic was so predominant that no actual historical enquiry on the subject was felt to be necessary. It was enough to develop a glorious genealogy, including such prestigious names as that of Alexander the Great. When Napoleon established the Illyrian Provinces, the use of the adjective “Illyrian” was supposed to meet the satisfaction of the populations living in the encompassed region, that is, as far as Southern Slavs are concerned, Slovenia and southern Croatia, which means all of actual Dalmatia.