Among the most celebrated monuments of Ravenna, the Baptistery of the Orthodox, also known as the Neonian Baptistery, continues to enchant visitors with its magnificent mosaics. The iconic programme dominating the building's dome grants a position of exceptional prominence to the motif of the Hetoimasia, which appears eight times.
Traditionally, scholars have interpreted this repetition within the context of the baptistery's liturgical function, viewing it as a strategic exaltation of Christ's future coming for the Last Judgment and the importance of “preparation”. However, a closer examination of the unique characteristics and insistent repetition of this decorative strategy suggests it may conceal an additional, more subtle and potent message.
This paper argues that the motif of Hetoimasia transcends eschatological symbolism to become a sophisticated visual rhetoric. By analysing its distinctive presentation and strategic placement, I argue that the mosaic programme highlights the rising ascendancy of Constantinople and its Church within the framework of the Late Roman Empire. Thus, the dome of the Neonian Baptistery emerges not only as a vision of heavenly glory, but also as a nuanced reflection of contemporary ecclesial and imperial dynamics.
Lorenzo Maria Ciolfi holds a Ph.D. from the EHESS (Paris). In 2024, he was awarded a Juan de la Cierva fellowship at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is currently affiliated researcher at the Norwegian Institute in Rome. Trained in philology, palaeography, and Byzantine studies, his research focuses on John III Vatatzes and the emergence of his cult within Byzantine imperial sainthood. Moreover, he works on Greek paremiographic and fable collections of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and their relationship to Renaissance anthologies.
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