112 Marazzi
excepting the second half of the 5th century.34 In Ravenna it would have been
much easier for the king to transform propaganda into reality and to present
the city as a mirror to his own prestige.
Some years ago Ian Wood remarked that “there is next to nothing that can
be identified as being specifically Gothic in the architecture and architectural
decoration of Theoderic’s Ravenna”.35 The single reasonable exception is the
decorative frieze that runs around the top of the mausoleum, the ornament
of which can unquestionably be paralleled to Germanic metalwork. From
this point of view, it would seem that the scanty evidence still legible from
Theoderic’s building activity in Ravenna describes a mimesis with both his
predecessors on the western imperial throne and with his contemporaries
holding power in Constantinople. The complex of the Arian cathedral and its
baptistery must have looked very similar to that of the Orthodox community,
both in terms of its architecture and its iconography. Even more interesting is
what can be said about the original iconography of the palace church dedi-
cated to Jesus Christ (dedicated to Saint Martin after the fall of the Ostrogoths
and then renamed Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in the early Middle Ages). The build-
ing suggests a careful imitation of previous examples of imperial patronage
found in Ravenna (mainly the churches of the Holy Cross and of San Giovanni
Evangelista built by Galla Placidia and her son Valentinian III), with emphasis
on the relationship between the ruler and the celestial powers and on the ruler’s
role as acting intermediary between heaven and earth.36 The use of sculpted
materials ordered from Constantinople for its decoration testifies to the blend-
ing of old imperial western iconography with a studied interest in the archi-
tectural tastes displayed in what was the contemporary solium imperii. With
this in mind, it should be remembered that the construction of the church of
San Vitale (and likewise the famous mosaic panels portraying Justinian and
Theodora), typically associated with the decades after the Byzantine recovery
of Italy, in fact commenced under bishops Ecclesius and Victor between the
third and the fourth decade of the 6th century.37
In other words, it can be assumed without fear of straying too far from real-
ity that Ravenna served not as the capital of ‘barbarians’, but rather the site
where an Ostrogothic king had been able to attain the supreme power, dignity,
and splendour that had once belonged to Roman emperors. Whether or not
34 Gelichi, “Ravenna, ascesa e declino”, pp. 109–34; Augenti, Palatia; Cirelli, Ravenna, pp.
51–140; David, La basilica di Santa Croce.
35 Wood, “Theoderic’s Monuments”, p. 250.
36 Wood, “Theoderic’s Monuments”, pp. 255–60.
37 Cirelli, Ravenna, pp. 98–100.