Editing Theodoric the Great (section)

==Building program==
Theodoric promoted the rebuilding of Roman cities and the preservation of ancient monuments in Italy.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=76}}  In 500, Rome itself was given special attention by Theodoric, who wanted to restore the structures previously damaged by time and the barbarians alike, since as he mused, Rome's great buildings were witness to its grandeur, power, and thereto instructed his architects to restore all that was "ancient".{{sfn|Tung|2001|p=36}} His preservation efforts were designed to elicit awe and admiration in future generations.{{sfn|Tung|2001|pp=36–37}} The fame of Theodoric's building works reached far-away [[Diocese of the East|Syria]].{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=77}} In the aggregate, Theodoric's building program saw more extensive new construction and restoration than that of any of the [[Western Roman Empire|West Roman]] emperors after [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] (395–423).{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=95}}

===Ravenna===
[[File:Theodoric's Palace - Sant'Apollinare Nuovo - Ravenna 2016 (crop).jpg|thumb|right|Mosaic depiction of the front of Theodoric's Palace on the upper part of the south wall of the nave of San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. Theodoric and his court were removed from the image by the Eastern Romans.]]
Theodoric devoted most of his architectural attention to his capital, Ravenna.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=78}} He restored Ravenna's water supply by repairing an [[Roman aqueduct|aqueduct]] originally built by [[Trajan]].{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=78}} According to the chronicles of Cassiodorus, a number of cities were renewed by Theodoric's building enterprises, some of which even surpassed the ancient wonders.{{sfn|Arnold|2014|p=199}} Historian Jonathan J. Arnold quips:
{{blockquote|Northern cities like Ravenna, Verona, Pavia, Milan, Parma, Como, Aquileia, and still others received new or improved walls, palaces, aqueducts, churches, baths, and a host of other impressive and glorious buildings, all reiterating to their respective inhabitants their own importance within a newly revived and reinvigorated Roman Empire and connecting such ideas with the intervention of a caring and devoted ''princeps'', Theodoric.{{sfn|Arnold|2014|p=200}} }}
[[File:Mausoleum of Theoderic.JPG|thumb|The [[Mausoleum of Theodoric]] in Ravenna]]

[[File:Musei civici (Pavia)24.jpg|left|thumb|Epigraph originally placed at the amphitheater built in [[Pavia]] by Theodoric in which the restorations carried out between 528 and 529 by [[Athalaric]] are mentioned, [[Pavia Civic Museums]].]] He constructed a "Great Basilica of [[Hercules]]" next to a colossal statue of the hero himself.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=78}} To promote Arianism, the king commissioned a small Arian cathedral, the ''Hagia Anastasis'', which contains the [[Arian Baptistery]]. {{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=79}} Three more churches built by Theodoric in Ravenna and its suburbs, S. Andrea dei Goti, S. Giorgio and S. Eusebio, were destroyed in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=80}} Theodoric built the [[Palace of Theodoric]] for himself in Ravenna, modeled on the Great Palace of Constantinople.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=82}} It was an expansion of an earlier Roman structure.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=81}} The palace church of Christ the Redeemer survives and is known today as the [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]].{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=85}} It was Theodoric's personal church of worship and was modeled specifically according to his tastes.{{sfn|Arnold|2014|p=109}} An equestrian statue of Theodoric was erected in the square in front of the palace.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=87}} Statues like these were symbols of the ancient world, and Theodoric's equestrian likeness was meant to convey his status as the undisputed ruler of the western empire.{{sfn|Arnold|2014|p=108}}

Theodoric the Great was interred in Ravenna, but his bones were scattered and his mausoleum was converted to a church after [[Belisarius]] conquered the city in 540.{{sfn|Ring|Salkin|La Boda|1996|p=556}} His [[Mausoleum of Theodoric|mausoleum]] is one of the finest monuments in Ravenna. Unlike all the other contemporary buildings in Ravenna, which were made of brick, the Mausoleum of Theodoric was built completely from fine quality stone [[ashlar]]s.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=93, 96}} Possibly as a reference to the Goths' tradition of an origin in Scandinavia, the architect decorated the [[frieze]] with a pattern found in 5th- and 6th-century Scandinavian metal adornments.{{sfn|Näsman|2008|p=31}}{{sfn|Stenroth|2015|p=142}}

===Rome===
The [[Palace of Domitian]] on the [[Palatine Hill]] was reconstructed, using the receipts from a specially levied tax; while the city walls of Rome were rebuilt, a feat celebrated by the [[Senate of Rome]] with a gilded statue of Theodoric.{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=77}} The Senate's Curia, the [[Theatre of Pompey]], the city aqueducts, sewers and a granary were refurbished and repaired and statues were set up in the [[Colosseum|Flavian Amphitheatre]].{{sfn|Johnson|1988|p=77}}