Art And Architecture 375
façade of the main entrance into the palace, the Chalke.69 This is more likely
the correct reading of the mosaic; as Cassiodorus wrote, the entrance façade of
the palace was key to understanding the importance and prestige of the ruler:
“these things are shown to ambassadors who are impressed and astonished,
and from the facade which is seen first, the master is believed to be what is
attested by his dwelling place.”70
The interpretation of this building as the Chalke may also be supported by a
passage in which Agnellus mentions this building in the context of describing
images of Theoderic that he had seen:
Pavia, where Theodoric built a palace, and I have seen an image of him
sitting on a horse well executed in mosaic in the vault of the apse.
There was a similar image of him in the palace that he built in this city
[Ravenna], in the apse of the dining hall that is called By the Sea, above
the gate and at the front of the main door that is called Ad Calchi, where
the main gate of the palace was, in the place which is called Sicrestum,
where the church of the Savior is seen to be. In the pinnacle of this place
was an image of Theodoric, wonderfully executed in mosaic, holding a
lance in his right hand, a shield in his left, wearing a breastplate. Facing
the shield stood Rome, executed in mosaic with spear and helmet;
and there holding a spear was Ravenna, figured in mosaic, with right foot
on the sea, left on land hastening toward the king.71Many have seen the passage as referring to two images of Theoderic at Ravenna:
one similar to that seen by Agnellus in Pavia depicting Theoderic on horse-
back, which would have been in the apse of the triclinium called “By the Sea”;
the other would have been on the gable or pediment of the main gate of the
palace called the Chalke, in which Theoderic was shown between personifica-
tions of Rome and Ravenna. Deliyannis argues that only one image was shown,
Theoderic on horseback, between the personifications, with the mosaic being
located on the pinnacle of the apse of the Triclinium “By the Sea”, which the
text indicates was located on a second floor above the Chalke entrance gate.72
The passage seems to be confused and may be corrupt—the location of the
69 Piccinini, “Immagini”, p. 44; Longhi, “Regalità”, p. 29; idem, “Statua”, p. 189; Wood,
“Theoderic’s Buildings”, p. 254.
70 Variae 7.5, ed. Mommsen, p. 204; ed. Fridh, p. 264. Procopius makes a similar remark
about the Chalke in Constantinople: De aedificiis 1.10.11, tr. H.B. Dewing, vol. 7, p. 84.
71 Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis 94, ed. Deliyannis, pp. 258–9; tr. Deliyannis, pp. 205–6.
72 Agnellus, Book of Pontiffs, tr. Deliyannis, commentary on pp. 73–4.