Rotunda
293-305 A.D.
Spalato, Croatia
Diocletian's palace was a most influential building. The carving of the entablature has little sense of Classical Greek design. Here is the precedent that culminates in the carvings in Hagia Sophia more than two centuries later. Image: An edited combination of two images from The Palace of Diocletian at Split.
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| When this shot (Wiki) with flash from below is shown negative, it is more like natural light from above. Notice the upper gallery capitals have big volutes (Ionic + 1 row of acanthus). The entablature set-up seen here becomes the new standard model at Constantinople by the 5th century. Later, in the eastern empire, second level and gallery capitals became Ionic capitals. Even this early, the center pair of volutes is shrinking. Notice the dentils: they are much smaller and the gap between them is the same as the width. Apart from the capitals, effect is more Byzantine than the Roman of Augustus and Trajan. | ||
