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This article examines information on early medieval Zadar contained in a Latin hagiographical text, the Passion of Cetheus of Pescara, which claims that the Italian saint's body was interred at Zadar and worshipped as "the martyr Peregrinus" around 592 A.D. Reconsideration of the Passion of Cetheus in the light of new evidence, including a neglected twelfthcentury manuscript of the text, reveals its historical and topographical accuracy with respect to Pescara and the Lombard invasions of Italy, and demands a reevaluation of the Passion's epilogue concerning Zadar. It is argued that the Zadar epilogue provides the key to dating the Passion's composition to the first half of the seventh century, for it reflects papal interest and imperial control over the province of Dalmatia when Zadar became its capital city after the abandonment of Salona due to Avar and Slav invasions 614-640 AD. The twelfth-century manuscript also contains more detail in the Zadar epilogue that is here transcribed, translated into English and considered alongside the fragmentary historical record for Zadar in this period, including recent archaeological excavations in Zadar and elsewhere in Dalmatia. Considered together the evidence highlights Dalmatia's close connections with Byzantine Italy and its key role in maintaining imperial control of the Adriatic Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]