Chrysotriklinos

The Chrysotriklinos (Greek: Χρυσοτρίκλινος, "golden reception hall", cf. triclinium), Latinized as Chrysotriclinus or Chrysotriclinium, was the main reception and ceremonial hall of the Great Palace of Constantinople from its construction, in the late 6th century, until the 10th century. Its appearance is known only through literary descriptions, chiefly the 10th-century De Ceremoniis, a collection of imperial ceremonies, but, as the chief symbol of imperial power, it inspired the construction of Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in Aachen.

The hall is usually attributed to Emperor Justin II (r. 565–578), with his successor, Tiberius II (r. 578–582) finishing it and carrying out its decoration. However, Byzantine sources present conflicting accounts: the Suda encyclopedia attributes the building to Justin I (r. 518–527), and the Patria of Constantinople to the Emperor Marcian (r. 450–457), although the latter is usually rejected as unreliable. The historian Joannes Zonaras records that Justin II in fact reconstructed an earlier building, which has been suggested as the Heptaconch Hall of Justinian I (r. 527–565).

Following the Byzantine Iconoclasm, it was embellished again under the emperors Michael III (r. 842–867) and Basil I (r. 866–886). Unlike the earlier, single-purpose buildings of the Daphne wing of the Great Palace, it combined the functions of throne room for reception and audiences with those of a banquet hall. Since the later imperial chambers were also attached to it, the hall acquired a central position in the everyday palace ceremonial, especially in the 9th and 10th centuries, to the point that Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 945–959) calls it simply "the palace". In particular, according to the De Ceremoniis, the Chrysotriklinos served for the reception of foreign embassies, the ceremonial conferring of dignities, as an assembly point for religious festivals and a banquet hall for special feasts, like Easter.

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