362 Johnson
dedicated to the Anastasis like the cathedral of the Orthodox on the other side
of the city, is a small building measuring 18.5 m by 28.3 m (Figure 14.9). These
are the short and wide proportions of basilicas in the eastern Mediterranean
such as those of St John Studios and St Mary Chalkoprateia in Constantinople
from ca. 460, but without the galleries often present in those.39 The apse is
polygonal externally and semicircular on the inside; the walls are constructed
of reused bricks of various sizes and colours set in thin mortar beds, a tech-
nique found in most of Theoderic’s buildings.40 The nave is separated from the
side aisles by arches resting on seven columns per side, topped by capitals and
impost blocks. No decoration is found in the apse or on the interior walls and
it is uncertain if any ever existed.
A portico, perhaps part of a lost atrium, extended westwards from the
south-west corner of the church to the baptistery. The baptistery constructed
of varied reused bricks in the same fashion as the cathedral is an octago-
nal structure as are many early Christian baptisteries, including that of the
39 See T. Mathews, Early Churches of Constantinople, pp. 11–41.
40 Righini, “Materiali”, pp. 210–13.
FIGURE 14.8 Santo Spirito, basilica and baptistery, Ravenna
Photo by Mark Johnson