Roman province Dalmatia under the rule of the East Goths

Abstract

The arrival of the east Goths in the region or the Roman province Dalmatia most likely happened after the murder of Odoacar in Italy (493). The Roman province Dalmatia, together with the province Savia was a single municipality ruled by comes Dalmatiarum et Saviae with the capital in Salona. Apart from the municipal of the Province there were the following officials in Salona: consularis - Roman civic official, comes patrimonii - financial clerk and the supervisor of the king's property and princeps (oficii?) - the main clerk for the Roman inhabitants. Cassiodor mentions a separate comes for the island of Krk and Cres - comes insulae Curritanae et Celsinae. There are signs that the authority of this official spread to more than just these two islands, i.e„ that he ruled over a bigger part of the Classical Liburnia. This area might have had a certain autonomy within the unitary administration in Salona. There are two opposing opinions concerning the length of the east Gothic rule in the area or the Roman province Dalmatia. Most investigators agree (on the basis of Procopius's news) that, by the desertion of Bumum (537), the east Gothic rule over the whole of the province stopped. The other researchers, especially S. Antoljak and J. Medini, think that a greater part of the classical Liburnia remained under the east Gothic rule up to Narses's campaign from Dalmatia to Italy, namely up to 552. The author analyzes the statements of these two researchers and compares them to Procopius's news on which they are based and then shows that the hypotheses are not properly supported. In other words, the east Gothic rule over the whole to the province of Dalmatia probably stopped by 537.