1. Rotunda palace

Excavations of a huge rotunda next to the Myrelaion started before the World War II (D.T. Rice and T. Macridy)¹ and were completed in the 1960s by R. Naumann.² The unearthed (probably) fifth-century centrally-planned building, originally covered with a large dome, has outer diameter 41.80 m which makes it the second largest circular structure of the Roman-Byzantine period (only the Pantheon in Rome surpasses it).³ Inner diameter is 29.60 m and the maximum thickness of the rotunda wall is 6.10 m. The lower part of the building, which has survived up to 3.40 m, is built of cramped limestone blocks. The interior of the circular hall was articulated with large niches: four rectangular niches on the main axes and four semicircular niches on the diagonals. The exterior of the building is flatened on the north and south and there were entrances to the interior through the respective rectangular niches. The north door was the main entrance and was preceded with a (probably) semicircular (sigma) portico of which only two columns and part of a stylobate survived in-situ. The reconstructed diameter of the semicircular colonnaded forecourt, which was located just south of the Mesê street, is about 55 m. Due to the sloping ground there were eight semicircular steps in front of the south entrance. A fragment of wall projects from the south façade of the hall and a column base aligned with this wall was found nearby. These remains are interpreted as part of a north-south colonnade which may have had its counterpart west of the south door of the rotunda. If so, there would be an elaborate entrance way leading to the rotunda from the south. Yet further south of the huge rotunda another centrally-planned building was excavated. This small structure stood on a lower level than the rotunda and had an opus sectile floor.

The original function and identity of the rotunda are disputed. One of the possibilities, taking into account the probable fifth-century date of the complex, is that it was the palace of the Theodosian princess Arcadia.⁴ Moreover, Naumann suggested that the sigma portico of the rotunda could be identified as the Amastrianon which served as a market and place for public executions in the Middle Ages (this identification accepted for example by A. Berger).⁵ According to Byzantine texts, the Amastrianon was an open space limited by a semicircular portico and adjacent to the Mesê approximately in the location of the Myrelaion rotunda and it was defined by a semicircular portico and a straight wall which contained a gate. The Patria (10th century) tell us other interesting details: For example, there were several reliefs and statues in the Amastrianon court, such as Zeus driving a chariot , turtles, a personification of the Lycus River and a relief of a man from Amastris with his servant.⁶ In the 8th century the rotunda behind the portico must have been in ruins (confirmed by the twentieth-century excavations) and it is quite possible that the sigma court may have become a market place by that time.

2. Palace of Romanos I Lakapenos