During Antiquity, the city was known as Scardon and Scardona, a name attested in the writings of Strabo and Procopius (Ancient Greek: Σκάρδων), Pliny the Elder (Latin: Scardona) and Ptolemy (Ancient Greek: Σκaρδῶνα).^[3]

Before the Roman conquest, the settlement was Illyrian, with the particularity of having the locally recurring suffix -ona.^[4] The prevailing theory links the root of the Illyrian toponym to a term meaning "steep", as a derivation of *sko/ard(h)-,^[5][6] and it has been compared with the Scardus mountains in southern Illyria.^[7] After an initial development in Vulgar Latin in the form -una, the Illyrian suffix was reflected in South Slavic as -in.^[8][9] The survival of several of such toponyms in the area (e.g. Solin from Salona, Labin from Albona etc) points to the continuation of Illyrian settlements since ancient times.^[8] Another, more peripheral, theory says the name might be related to that of the Scordisci, a Celtic or Illyrian tribe.^[3][10] Though initially located in present-day Estern Slavonia and Syrmia,^[11] the Scordisci might have been allied with the local tribe of the Dalmatae, as mercenaries, which would explain their presence in Dalmatia.^[12]

After the Roman conquest, Skradin became an administrative and military centre of the region, and was mentioned as a municipium in 530.^[9] It was destroyed during the Migration Period, and had by the 9th century been settled by Croats.^{[citation needed]}

During the 10th century, it was one of the fortified towns in Croatia, as the centre of the Skradin županija.^{[citation needed]}

Skradin under Šubić rule edit

In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, Skradin flourished as the capital of the Šubić bans, Paul I and Mladen II. The Šubić's built the Turina fortress on the hill overlooking the Skradin harbor.^[13] They elevated the settlement below the fortress to a free city, at which point it also became a commune, and was granted its own statute and administration.^[14][15][16] They further enriched the city by constructing several richly-endowed monasteries which housed the Dominicans, Franciscans and other Christian orders.^[17]

Decline and Ottoman conquest edit

Skradin was conquered by the Ottomans in 1522 and remain part of the Ottoman Empire until 1684, with a few interruptions. During the Ottoman–Venetian wars, the town was devastated and subsequently relocated.^[9]

In October 1683, some uskoks from Venetian Dalmatia, mainly Morlachs from Ravni Kotari, rose up against the Sanjak-bey of Klis and took Skradin and several other border towns which had been deserted by their Ottoman Muslim population, who was fearing an attack by the Morlachs.^[18][19] The Venetians finally took Skradin in 1684 and the town recovered under their rule, during the 18th century, becoming the center of a municipality in 1705.^[9]

Later, it was occupied by Napoleon as part of the French Empire, then Austria-Hungary.

In time it lost its importance as the centre of the region, which shifted to Šibenik, and so it stagnated - the Diocese of Skradin was abandoned in 1828.^[20]

The municipality has a total population of 3,825 (2011 census). Its population is divided into the following settlements:^[21]

• Bićine, population 174
• Bratiškovci, population 251
• Bribir, population 103
• Cicvare, population 18
• Dubravice, population 594
• Gorice, population 27
• Gračac, population 179
• Ićevo, population 59
• Krković, population 189
• Lađevci, population 112
• Međare, population 6
• Piramatovci, population 275
• Plastovo, population 204
• Rupe, population 470
• Skradin, population 588
• Skradinsko Polje, population 46
• Sonković, population 336
• Vaćani, population 120
• Velika Glava, population 29
• Žažvić, population 30
• Ždrapanj, population 15

• Filip Dominik Bordini - priest and bishop
• Lujo Marun - priest and archaeologist
• Josip Mrkica - priest and writer
• Rüstem Pasha - Ottoman leader (birthplace uncertain)
• Zdravko Škender - singer

• Official website