Salona was the largest and most important city of Dalmatia in late antiquity. In the 7th century, Slavs and Avars arrived to the outskirts of the city, but neither conquered nor destroyed it, although older historiography and reports from different sources may claim otherwise. Nonetheless, Salona was still collapsing from the inside, leaving behind a power void in the region. Split and Zadar soon filled the void, Split being the ecclesiastical centre and the rulers of Zadar having temporal power. The cities were part of the same state for a while, first the Byzantine and then the Hungarian-Croatian. V enetians, who wanted to rule over Dalmatia, caused a stir in the region. Its unity was destroyed with the establishment of the archdiocese of Zadar. Split and Zadar found themselves each on their own side of the border between two medieval states.
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