368 Johnson
happened under Honorius.52 This dating is largely based on the date of its opus
sectile floor, though the remains of the floor have not been systematically stud-
ied. Others believe the enlargement of the hall took place under Theoderic.53
The proposed earlier dating ignores the possible evidence of the masonry of
the addition, which in a photograph from the excavations seems composed
of various-sized bricks as found in Theoderican buildings.54 In addition, the
excavator reported that the curving walls of the hall’s apse rested on palafitte,
or wood poles, that were pounded into the muddy terrain to create a platform
for the walls. The only other part of the complex with a similar preparation for
its walls is the triclinium, which all ascribe to Theoderic.55
In a similar vein, there is a debate about the figural floor mosaics found in
the porticos of the courtyard and some rooms. These mosaics are fragmentary
but include hunting and mythological scenes as well as views of the circus and
charioteers (Figure 14.12). One theory argues for a 5th-century date for these
mosaics and a Theoderican date for the geometrical designs in the mosaics
that covered them.56 The figural mosaics, with their bright colours and high
level of execution, have a close affinity to the mosaic of the triclinium built
and decorated under Theoderic. The geometric patterned mosaics that cov-
ered them, however, are actually very similar to the floor mosaics discovered in
the basilica of San Severo in Classe, datable to the late 6th century.57 Therefore,
the figural mosaics, with their bright colours and high level of execution are
better dated to the period of Theoderic.58 These mosaics are the ideological fit
to the antiquarian interests and imperial imitation of Theoderic. Such scenes
were no longer suitable when the Byzantine governor took up residence here
after 540 and so were replaced with the simpler geometric designs.
Work on the palace continued even after the eastern imperial army arrived
in Italy. An oration of Cassiodorus, given in 536 to Matasuentha and Witigis in
celebration of a remodelling of some part of the palace or of an addition to it,
speaks of marble surfaces shining with the same colour as gems, mosaics and
a place where “the waxen pictures are displayed”.59 The “waxen pictures” were
52 Augenti, “Archeologia”, p. 13; Cirelli, Ravenna, p. 83; Russo, “Nuova proposta”, p. 174.
53 Baldini Lippolis, “Articolazione e decorazione”, p. 26.
54 Augenti, “Archeologia”, p. 15, fig. 7.
55 Ghirardini, “Scavi”, p. 785.
56 This is the dating proposed by Berti, Mosaici, pp. 10–86, who emphasized the relative lev-
els in the five strata of floors to arrive at her conclusions.
57 Farioli Campanati, “Mosaici”, 71; Deliyannis, Ravenna, 274–5.
58 Rizzardi and Vernia, “Scene circensi”, pp. 124–5; Baldini Lippolis, “Palazzo”, 1997, pp. 22–5.
59 Cassiodorus, Orationum Reliquiae 2, ed. L. Taube, Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Auctores Antiquissimi, vol. 12, p. 483; Deliyannis, Ravenna, p. 120.