The Imperial Palace Glittering with Light: The Material and Immaterial in the Sacrum Palatium

In literary descriptions, the imperial palace was described as an image of bright light that seemingly dematerialized before the viewer as if a fantastic vision. This was not an imaginary fiction. Rather, what made the palace a shining vision of light that appeared almost unreal in its luminosity was based upon the reality of the material of its architecture. The shining light emanating from the imperial palace was not only a literary topos and, later, an accepted convention, but a real effect produced by the sunrays reflecting off the polished surfaces of the palace’s metal roof tiles and the precious materials decorating the interior.