Resemiotization of eastern adriatic antiquities uses and abuses of the ancient past

The article explores reverberations of meanings attributed to antiquities in Pula/Pola, Zadar/Zara and Split/Spalato through the lens of the strategy of territorialization, i.e. uses and abuses of the ancient monuments in the political context. Through a wide chronological and geographical framework, the text compares and contrasts for the first time instances such as Renaissance reconstructions of the ancient arch in Zadar, citations of the Pula Arch of Sergii in the context of Habsburg and Valois triumphal entries, 18th-19th-century appropriation of the Eastern Adriatic through archeological knowledge as attempted by Cassas and Lavallée and the iconic value of Eastern Adriatic antiquities as a backdrop for public monuments between the late 19th and mid-20th century.