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Pictorial cycles of non-biblical saints: the seventh- and eighth-century mural cycles in Rome and contexts for their use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Lesley Jessop
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 67 , November 1999 , pp. 233 - 279
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1999

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References

1 For a survey of pre-iconoclastic and middle Byzantine cycles see Ševčenko, N., Cycles of the Life of St. Nicholas in Byzantine Art (Columbia University, Ph.D. thesis, 1973), 13–72Google Scholar; for a discussion of biblical and non-biblical cycles from the fourth to seventh centuries see Jessop, L., Pictorial Cycles of Non-biblical saints: the Evidence of the Eighth-century Mural Cycles in Rome (University of Victoria, Ph.D. thesis, 1993), 6–63Google Scholar.

2 See Wilpert, J., Die Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der Kirchlichen Bauten vom IV bis XIII. Jahrhundert II (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1916), 633–4Google Scholar; and IV (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1917), Taf. 127/4 and 128. Probably they are the martyrs John and Paul with a female companion, but several hypotheses exist regarding their identity. See Germano, P.Stanislao, di S., La casa celimontana dei SS. martiri Giovanni e Paoli (Rome, 1894)Google Scholar; De Sanctis, G., I santi Giovanni e Paolo (Rome, 1962)Google Scholar; dei Cavalieri, P. Franchi, ‘Dove furono sepolti i SS. Cipriano, Giustina, Teoctisto? Note agiografiche’, in Studi e Testi 55 (Vatican City, 1935), 335–54Google Scholar.

3 For a discussion of the relationship between Rome and the Byzantine Empire see Llewellyn, P., Rome in the Dark Ages (London, 1971), 141–72Google Scholar.

4 See Ferrari, G., Early Roman Monasteries (Studi di antichitd cristiana XXIII) (Vatican City, 1957), 411–18Google Scholar.

5 The two exceptions are Benedict II (684–5) and Gregory II (715–31).

6 For a brief survey of Rome's art and architecture during this period see Krautheimer, R., Rome: Profile of a City, 312–1308 (Princeton, 1980), 89–108Google Scholar.

7 For example, Pope Sergius I (687–701) introduced the Marian feasts of the Annunciation, Nativity and Duchesne, Dormition. L. (ed.), Liber Pontificalis I (repr. Paris, 1955), 376Google Scholar.

8 For the role of Greek monks in the introduction and promulgation of the cults of eastern saints in Rome see Sansterre, J.M., Les moines grecs et orientaux à Rome aux époques byzantine et carolingienne I (Brussels, 1980), 147–62Google Scholar. For a survey of the cults of eastern saints in Byzantine Rome see Donckel, E., Ausserömische Heilige in Rom, von den Anfängen unter Liberius bis Leo IV (Luxembourg, 1938Google Scholar).

9 Muñioz recorded that part of a narrative cycle, which he believed represented the martyrdom of a saint, and which may have been of eighth-century date, was discovered beneath the twelfth-century campanile on the left (west) side wall of the church of San Giorgio in Velabro. See Muñioz, A., Il restauro della basilica di S. Giorgio al Velabro in Roma (Rome, 1926), 37–8Google Scholar. There is, however, no longer any trace of these paintings in the church and no photographs of the cycle appear to have been taken at the time of Munoz's discovery.

10 The cycle of Saints Quiricus and Julitta has been discussed, somewhat summarily, in the context of the chapel in which it is found. See recent examinations by Belting, H., ‘Eine Privatkapelle im frühmittelalterlichen Rom’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987), 55–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Teteriatnikov, N., ‘For whom is Theodotus praying? An interpretation of the program of the private chapel in S. Maria Antiqua’, Cahiers Archeologiques 41 (1993), 37–6Google Scholar.

11 For recent work on the earliest illustrated saints' lives to survive in libelli see Hahn, C., Narrative and Liturgy in the Earliest Illustrated Lives of Saints (Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. thesis, 1982)Google Scholar; see also her commentary to the facsimile edition of this manuscript: ‘Passio Kiliani, Ps Theotimus, Passio Margarete, Orationes’, Hanover Niedersächsische Ländesbibliothek ms.189 II (Graz, 1988Google Scholar).

12 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 199.

13 Although once vigorously disputed, a date within the pontificate of Zacharias (741–52) is now generally accepted. For a brief summary of the debate, including bibliography, see Nordhagen, P.J., ‘The frescoes of John VII in S. Maria Antiqua in Rome’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 3 (1968), 3–12Google Scholar; Ladner, G.B., Die Papstbildnissne des Altertums und des Mittelalters III (Vatican City, 1984), 23–5Google Scholar.

14 Rushforth, G., ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’, Papers of the British School at Rome 1 (1902), 1–123CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

15 de Grüneisen, W., Hülsen, C., Federici, V. and David, J., Sainte-Marie-Antique (Rome, 1911Google Scholar).

16 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2).

17 Tea, E., Santa Maria Antiqua (Milan, 1937–1945Google Scholar).

18 For a discussion of the architectural phases of the chapel see Krautheimer, R., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae II (Vatican City, 1959), 249–68Google Scholar.

19 For a summary and bibliography of work on altar screens see Epstein, A., ‘The middle Byzantine sanctuary barrier: templon or iconostasis’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association 134 (1981), 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Nees, L., ‘The iconographic program of the decorated chancel barrier in the pre-iconoclastic period’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 46 (1983), 15–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

20 Sainte-Marie-Antique (above, n. 15), 458.

21 ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 14), 91 and 104–6; Tea does not mention this grave in her discussion of the Theodotus Chapel, Santa Maria Antiqua (above, n. 17), 248–9.

22 In 1954 it was removed from the wall for restoration and then returned to its original location. See Vlad, L. Borrelli, ‘Il restauro di una Crocifissione di S. Maria Antiqua’, Bollettino dell'Istituto Centrale del Restauro 19–20 (1955), 123–9Google Scholar.

23 These evangelist symbols no longer survive, but can be seen in Wilpert's reproduction, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 179.

24 See Cagiano de Azevedo, M., ‘Il restauro di una delle pitture di S. Maria Antiqua’, Bollettino d'Arte 34 (1949), 60–2Google Scholar.

25 One word of the inscription is missing from the beginning. It could be EGO, as suggested by Wilpert, J., ‘Appunti sulle pitture della chiesa di S. Maria Antiqua’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 14 (1905), 578–83, esp. pp. 579–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Rushforth, ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 14), 43, has suggested that it may be an adjective such as DEVOTISSIMVS. The use of the ablative for the nominative in PRIMICERIO and DISPENSATORE appears to be an error of case on the part of the artist. A common error is the use of B for V in BIRGO. See Testini, P., Archeologia cristiana nozioni generali dalle origini alia fine del secolo VI (Rome, 1958), 339–40Google Scholar.

26 This is the traditional interpretation of the image, but the upper half of the painting — which would have included the identifying inscriptions — has not survived. For the suggestion that the portrait shows Theodotus's deceased brother and sister-in-law, the parents of the future Pope Hadrian, see A. Rettner, ‘Dreimal Theodotus? Stifterbild und Grabstiftung in der Theodotus-Kapelle von Santa Maria Antiqua in Rom’, in Meier, H., Jäggi, C. and Büttner, P. (eds), Für Irdischen Ruhm und Himmlischen Lohn: Stifter und Auftraggeber in der Mittelalterlichen Kunst (Berlin, 1995), 31–46Google Scholar.

27 Acta SS., June III (Paris and Rome, 1863), 19–20Google Scholar.

28 ‘Passio S. Cyrici’, Vitae et Passiones Sanctorum, Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols 123r–133v. This manuscript is partially reprinted by de Griineisen, where it is referred to as Turin, Bib. Naz. memb. A 436. See Sainte-Marie-Antique (above, n. 15), 124–32. He also included a list of tenth- to fifteenth-century manuscripts containing the Acts of Saints Quiricus and Julitta (p. 122).

29 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fol. 123r.

30 The reconstructions of the inscriptions have been taken from Rushforth, ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 14).

31 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fol. 123v.

32 Rushforth, ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 14), 46. The episode immediately follows Quiricus's arrest in Tarsus. See Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fol. 123v.

33 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fol. 124r.

34 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols 129v–130r.

35 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols 130–131r.

36 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols 128v–129r.

37 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols 128v–129r.

38 This is a very loose translation of the verb conficere (to kill), but one that seems more appropriate in this context.

39 Acta SS., June III (above, n. 27), 19–20.

40 As Rushforth has suggested, the completed inscription could have read: VBI SCS CVIRICVS IN TERRAM ILLISVS EST (where Saint Quiricus is struck against the ground), ‘The church of S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 14), 49.

41 Liber Pontificalis I, 486.

42 For the role of primicerius defensorum see Llewellyn, Rome in the Dark Ages, (above, n. 3), 114–16.

43 For the function of dispensator see Bertolini, O., ‘Per la storia delle diaconie romane nell'alto medio evo sino alia fine del secolo VIII’, Archivio della Societd Romana di Storia Patria 70 (1947), 1–145, esp. pp. 28–38Google Scholar.

44 For the literature on diaconiae see Duchesne, L., ‘Les titres presbytèraux et les diaconies’, Mélanges d'Archeologie et d'Histoire 7 (1887), 217–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lestocquoy, J., ‘Administration de Rome et diaconies du Vile au IXe siècle’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 7 (1930), 261–98Google Scholar; Marrou, H.L., ‘L'origine orientale des diaconies romaines’, Mélanges d'Archeologie et d'Histoire de l'École Française de Rome 57 (1940), 95–142CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bertolini, ‘Per la storia delle diaconie romane’ (above, n. 43); Niederer, F., The Roman Diaconiae (New York University, Ph.D. thesis, 1950Google Scholar).

45 For the office of primicerius sanctae sedis apostolicae, which is the same as that of primicerius notariorum, see Osborne, J., ‘The portrait of Pope Leo IV in San Clemente, Rome: a reexamination of the so-called ‘square nimbus’ in medieval art’, Papers of the British School at Rome 47 (1979), 58–65, esp. pp. 60–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 As stated in an inscription from the diaconia of Sant'Angelo in Pescheria, which he founded, ‘Theodotus holim dvx nvnc primicerivs sanctae sedis apostolicae et pater vivs benerabilis diaconiae a solo edificavit pro intercessione animae sva et remedivm omnivm peccatorvm’. For the full inscription see Lestocquoy, ‘Administration de Rome et diaconies du Vile au IXe siècle’ (above, n. 44), 280–1. The inscription can be interpreted as referring to the years 755 or 770, but, as Bertolini has argued, the earlier date is more likely. See Bertolini, ‘Per la storia delle diaconie romane’ (above, n. 43), 25–8.

47 For burial ‘ad sanctos’ see Duval, Y., Auprès des saints corps et âme. L'inhumation ‘ad sanctos’ dans la chretiente d'Orient et d'Occident du IIIe au VIIe siècle (Paris, 1988Google Scholar).

48 Brown, T., Gentlemen and Officers (London, 1984), 67Google Scholar.

49 Originally written in Italy in the middle of the fifth century, this martyrology was the ultimate source of the ninth-century Roman Martyrology that also lists their names. See Duchesne, L. and De Rossi, G.B. (eds), Martyrologium Hieronymianum, in Acta SS., November II (Brussels, 1894), 69–72Google Scholar; for the dating of the martyrologies see Quentin, H., Les martyrologes historiques du Moyen Age (Paris, 1908), 409–64Google Scholar; for the use of the early martyrologies see de Gaiffier, B., ‘De l'usage et de la lecture du martyrologe’, Analecta Bollandiana 79 (1961), 40–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

50 Migne, J. (ed.), Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina LIX, col. 164Google Scholar.

51 Valentini, R. and Zuchetti, G. (eds), ‘Einsiedeln Itinerary’, in Codice topografico della città di Roma II (Rome, 1942), 155–207, esp. p. 177Google Scholar. The church still stands, just east of the Roman Forum. For the archaeological findings see Corbett, S., ‘The church of SS. Quirico e Giulitta in Rome’, Papers of the British School at Rome 28 (1960), 33–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bosi, M., SS. Quirico e Giulitta (Le chiese di Roma illustrate 60) (Rome, 1960Google Scholar); Krautheimer, R., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae IV (Vatican City, 1970), 37–70Google Scholar.

52 For instance, inscriptions accompany images of Quiricus and Julitta in two separate churches in Cappadocia: at Ortahisar Quiricus is identified as KHPIAKOC, see Thierry, N., ‘Matèriaux nouveaux en Cappadoce 1982’, Byzantion 54 (1984), 315–57, esp. p. 336Google Scholar; while at Taǧar he is identified as KYPHKOC, see de Jerphanion, G., Les eglises rupestres de Cappadoce II (Paris, 1925), 192Google Scholar.

53 For example, the Bibliotheca Sanctorum III (Rome, 1963), cols 1292–1308Google Scholar, lists 27 saints named Ciriaco.

54 Turin, Bib. Naz. Lat. memb. D-V-3, fols. 123r–133v. For its ninth-century date see Mazzatinti, G. and Sorbelli, A., Inventari dei manoscritti delle biblioteche d'ltalia XXVIII (Turin) (Florence, 1922), no. 517Google Scholar.

55 Teteriatnikov, ‘For whom is Theodotus praying?’ (above, n. 10), 37–6.

56 Rettner, ‘Dreimal Theodotus?’ (above, n. 26), 31–46.

57 For a recent discussion of this painting see Osborne, J., ‘Proclamations of power and presence: the setting and function of two eleventh-century murals in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome’, Mediaeval Studies 59 (1997), 155–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 For the life and miracles of Saint Clement see Delehaye, H., Étude sur le legendier romain (Brussels, 1936), 96–116Google Scholar.

59 The text of a tombstone, dated 1059, confirms the use of the narthex for burial. For the text see Junyent, E., Il titolo di San Clemente in Roma (Rome, 1932), 186–7Google Scholar. Another eleventh-century tomb in this narthex is marked by a painting of the ‘Particular Judgement’. See Osborne, J., ‘The ‘Particular Judgement’: an early medieval wall-painting in the lower church of San Clemente, Rome’, Burlington Magazine 123 (1981), 335–41Google Scholar.

60 Mullooly, J., Saint Clement Pope and Martyr and His Basilica in Rome (Rome, 1869Google Scholar; revised edition 1873), 218.

61 In Pope Hadrian I's letter to Charlemagne he wrote ‘Magis enim passiones sanctorum martyrum sacri canones censuentes ut liceat etiam eas legi cum anniversarii dies eorum celebrantur’ — Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae V (Berlin, 1974), 49Google Scholar. In addition, Ordo XII — written in Gaul in the late eighth/early ninth century, by a monk who was aware of Roman practices — states that ‘passiones sanctorum vel gesta ipsorum usque Adriani tempora tantummodo ibi legebantur, ubi ecclesia ipsius sancti vel titulus erat. Ipse vero tempore suo renovere iussit et in ecclesia sancti Petri legendas esse instituit’. Andrieu, M., Les ordines romani du haut moyen-âge II (Louvain, 1948), 465–6Google Scholar. This is confirmed in the second recension of Ordo XIV, ibid., 23–41, esp. p. 41.

62 For the location of the celebration of martyrs' feast-days see A. Chavasse, ‘Les grands cadres de le celebration a Rome ‘in urbe’ et ‘extra muros' jusqu'au VIHe siècle’, Revue Bénédictine 96 (1986), 7–26Google Scholar.

63 This placement of the reading of the acts of the martyrs is suggested by de Gaiffier, B., ‘La lecture des actes des martyrs dans la priere liturgique en Occident’, Analecta Bollandiana 72 (1954), 134–66, esp. p. 144CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

64 Van den Ven, P., La légende de S. Spyridon (Louvain, 1953), 81*–2*, 81–91, esp. pp. 88–90Google Scholar; for an English translation of this passage see Mango, C., The Art of the Byzantine Empire (315–1453). Sources and Documents (repr. Toronto, 1986), 136–7Google Scholar.

65 This was the legend of Saint Spyridon, as told in the poem of Triphyllios. This version no longer survives.

66 Van den Ven, Legende de S. Spyridon (above, n. 64), 89–90.

67 Migne, J. (ed.), Miracula Sancti Demetri, in Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca CXVI, cols 1203–324, esp. col. 1220Google Scholar. See also Lemerle, P. (ed.), Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Demetrius, 2 vols (Paris, 1979–1981Google Scholar).

68 Migne, J. (ed.), ‘Hodegos’, in Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca LXXXIX, cols 35–310, esp. col. 40Google Scholar. For a discussion of this text see Kartsonis, A., Anastasis. The Making of an Image (Princeton, 1986), 40–67Google Scholar.

69 Most probably the paintings were produced in the first half of this time-span, but their damaged state makes it impossible to be certain. For a discussion of their date see Jessop, Pictorial Cycles of Non-biblical Saints (above, n. 1), 97–100. Arguments for a c. 650 date are given by Nordhagen, P.J., ‘The earliest decorations in Santa Maria Antiqua and their date’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiatn Pertinentia 1 (1962), 53–72, esp. p. 63Google Scholar.

70 Part of this screen survives against the southeast pillar of the church and was probably analogous to the screen on the opposite of the bema, which extended all the way across to the sanctuary wall. For an analysis of the architecture in this area of the church see Krautheimer, R., Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae II (Vatican City, 1959), 258–60Google Scholar.

71 Nordhagen, P.J., ‘S. Maria Antiqua: the frescoes of the seventh century’, Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 8 (1978), 89–142, esp. pp. 109–11Google Scholar, pls XXXXXXIV.

72 Nordhagen, ‘S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 71), 112–14, fig. 8 and pl. XXXV.

73 Nordhagen, ‘S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 71), 131–2, pl. LIX.

74 For the cult and Acts of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste see Acta SS., March II (Paris and Rome, 1865), 12–29Google Scholar.

75 Nordhagen, ‘S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 71), pl. LIX.

76 Nordhagen, ‘S. Maria Antiqua’ (above, n. 71), 131.

77 Teteriatnikov, ‘For whom is Theodotus praying?’ (above, n. 10), 31–46, esp. p. 44. See also De Benedictis, E., ‘The Senatorium and Matroneum in the early Roman Church’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 57 (1981), 69–85Google Scholar; Mathews, T., ‘An early Roman chancel arrangement and its liturgical functions’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 38 (1962), 73–95Google Scholar.

78 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 199 (apse: their martyrdom) and Taf. 200/2 (left side wall: their glory).

79 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 199.

80 ‘Buildings, I, vii’, Procopius VII, Dewing, H.B. (trans.) (London and Harvard, 1961), 65–9Google Scholar.

81 Liber Pontificalis I, 338 and 343.

82 As Kitzinger and Belting have already suggested, the paintings probably slightly pre-date the cycle of Saints Quiricus and Julitta in the Theodotus Chapel. See Kitzinger, E., Römische Malerei vom Beginn des 7. bis zur Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1934), 32–3Google Scholar; Belting, H., Studien zur Beneventanischen Malerei (Wiesbaden, 1968), 209Google Scholar.

83 For reports on the excavations see Cavazzi, L., La diaconia di S. Maria in Via Lata e il monastero di S. Ciriaco (Rome, 1908)Google Scholar; Sjöqvist, E., ‘Studi archeologici e topografici intorno alia Piazza del Collegio Romano’, Opuscula Archaeologica 4 (1946), 47–98Google Scholar; Krautheimer, R., Corpus Basilicamm Christianarum Romae III (Vatican City, 1967), 72–81Google Scholar. A useful book that summarizes the scholarship on the church is Bertelli, C. and Paluzzi, C. Galazzi, S. Maria in Via Lata (Le chiese di Roma illustrate 114) (Rome, 1971Google Scholar).

84 The earliest indication of the building's ecclesiastical use is provided by the images of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, which are painted in what is judged to be a seventhcentury style. See Bertelli, C., ‘The Seven Sleepers, a medieval Utopia’, Paragone 291 (1974), 23–35Google Scholar. Krautheimer noted that the conversion of the horrea into an oratory may have taken place as early as the fifth or sixth century, to judge from the type of masonry used to construct the new openings: Corpus Basilicamm Christianarum Romae III (above, n. 83), 81.

85 Liber Pontificalis II, 2 and 19.

86 For an archaeological examination of Room IV see Sjöqvist, ‘Studi archeologici e topografici intorno alia Piazza del Collegio Romano’ (above, n. 83), 59–66; Krautheimer, , Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae III (above, n. 83), 78–9Google Scholar.

87 The date of this passageway is based on the date of portraits of Saints John and Paul, located on either side of the passageway and painted directly onto the Roman brickwork. For their dating see Bertelli and Galazzi Paluzzi, S. Maria in Via Lata (above, n. 83), 23.

88 Its measurements conform virtually exactly with the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus that it replaced (Tosti-Croce, M. Righetti, ‘Gli affreschi di Santa Maria in Via Lata’, Fragmenta Picta (Rome, 1989), tav. 23Google Scholar). The two panels representing the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus measure 1.25 × 1.53 m and 1.24 × 0.96 m; the two panels portraying the Erasmus cycle measure 1.25 × 1.55 m and 1.25 × 0.95 m.

89 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 191/2.

90 This painting no longer survives and was barely visible at the time of Cavazzi's excavations. For a brief description see Cavazzi, S. Maria in Via Lata (above, n. 83), 220.

91 For a more complete chronology of the plaster layers see Bertelli, S. Maria in Via Lata (above n. 83), 17–23 and 33–4.

92 For the cult and Acts of Saint Erasmus see Ada SS., June I (Paris and Rome, 1867), 206–14, esp. pp. 208–11Google Scholar.

93 Acta SS., June I (above, n. 92), nos. 2 and 3, 208.

94 Acta SS., June I (above, n. 92), no. 11, 210.

95 Acta SS., June I (above, n. 92), no. 13, 211.

96 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 191/1.

97 Acta SS., June I (above, n. 92), 211.

98 That the monastery was founded by Greeks was proposed by De Rossi, and is based on a Greek epigraph, now lost, that listed donations to the monastery. For the text of the inscription see Camobreco, F., ‘Il monastero di S. Erasmo sul Celio’, Archivio della Societd Romana di Storia Patria 28 (1905), 265–300Google Scholar, esp. pp. 274–5. Exactly when the monastery was founded is not known, although its existence is documented as early as the mid-seventh century, as the Liber Pontificalis (I, 346) records that Pope Adeodatus (672–6) grew up there.

99 Valentini, and Zuchetti, , Codice Topografico II (above, n. 51), 198Google Scholar.

100 This is recorded in an inscription from the church. See Lestocquoy, ‘Administration de Rome et diaconies du Vile au IXe siecle’ (above, n. 44), 261–98, fig. 2.

101 Wilpert, Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien (above, n. 2), IV, Taf. 192–3.

102 Niederer, Roman Diaconiae (above, n. 44), has suggested that perhaps only certain chapels inside churches were designated for use as diaconiae (p. 179).

103 Osborne, J., ‘Early medieval painting in San Clemente, Rome: the Madonna and Child in the niche’, Gesta 20 (1981), 299–309, fig. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

104 See Sansterre, J.M., Les moines grecs et orientaux à Rome aux époques byzantine et carolingienne I (Brussels, 1980), 147–62Google Scholar.

105 Liber Pontificalis I, 464–5.

106 Percival, H. (ed.), ‘The seven Ecumenical Councils’, A Select Library of Nicene and PostNicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Second Series XIV) (New York, 1900), 560Google Scholar.

107 As Pope Hadrian I (772–95) was probably responsible for building the chapel in which the paintings are located, it seems reasonable to credit him also with the chapel's decoration. Certainly, there is nothing in the style of the paintings to contradict such a dating.

108 For the excavation report see Bartoli, A., Curia Senatus. Lo scavo e il restauro (Rome, 1963Google Scholar).

109 Liber Pontificalis I, 324.

110 Liber Pontificalis I, 376, n. 4.

111 Liber Pontificalis I, 509.

112 ‘Idem egregrius praesul praelatas basilicas, scilicet beati Adriani martyris seu sanctorum Cosme et Damiani, quas noviter restauravit diaconias constituit …’: Liber Pontificalis I, 509.

113 ‘… a fundamentis aedificans, praedictamque basilicam ultro citroque spatiose largans, tresque absidas in ea construens praecipuus antistes, veram Cosmidin amplissima noviter reparavit … et basilicam sancti Adriani a noviter simili modo renovavit aedes’: Liber Pontificalis I, 507–8.

114 Mancini, A., ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano del Foro Romano’, Atti delta Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, Rendiconti 40 (1967–1968), 191–245, fig. 7Google Scholar.

115 Mancini, ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano’ (above, n. 114), 210.

116 Mancini, ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano’ (above, n. 114), 208.

117 Mancini has, however, noted that his dark beard and aquiline nose fit the iconography of Paul the apostle: Mancini, ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano’ (above, n. 114), 210, n. 38.

118 Mancini, ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano’ (above, n. 114), 210. For the little that is known about these saints see Bibliotheca Sanctorum III (Rome, 1963), col. 1308Google Scholar, and Duchesne, L. and De Rossi, G.B. (eds), Martyrolgium Hieronymianum, in Ada SS., November II/l (Brussels, 1894), 155Google Scholar, which records their feast-day on December 19.

119 Liber Pontificalis I, 330. For a discussion of the decoration of the San Venanzio Chapel, which contains images of the martyrs whose relics are stored there, see Mackie, G., The Early Medieval Chapel: Decoration, Form, and Function: a Study of Chapels in Italy and Istria in the Period between 313 and 741 AD (University of Victoria, Ph.D. thesis, 1991), 209–32Google Scholar.

120 Liber Pontificalis I, 512–13.

121 Acta SS., January III (Paris and Rome, 1863), 35–54Google Scholar.

122 Bibliotheca Sanctorum I (Rome, 1961), cols 1057–9Google Scholar.

123 Mancini, ‘La chiesa medioevale di S. Adriano’ (above, n. 114), 206.

124 For an analysis of the information provided by the Miracula, see Mango, C., ‘On the his-tory of the templon and the Martyrion of Saint Artemios at Constantinople’, Zograf 10 (1979), 40–3Google Scholar.

125 Nordhagen, ‘The frescoes of John VII’ (above, n. 13), 55–66.

126 As Kinney proposed, the paintings were possibly produced during the pontificate of Gregory III (731–41). See Kinney, D., S. Maria in Trastevere from its Founding to 1215 (New York University, Ph.D. thesis, 1975), 73–9Google Scholar.

127 Pope, Callixtus's burial in the catacomb of Calepodius is recorded in the Liber Pontificalis I, 92–3Google Scholar. The ‘Notitia Ecclesiarum Urbis Romae’, a seventh-century pilgrims' itinerary, confirms the location, and includes his tomb in its list of pilgrimage sites. See Valentini, and Zucchetti, , Codice Topografico (above, n. 51), II, 93–4Google Scholar.

128 Nestori, A., ‘L'area cimiteriale sopra la tomba di S. Callisto sulla via Aurelia’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 44 (1968), 161–72Google Scholar; Nestori, A., ‘La catacomba di Calepodio al III miglio dell'Aurelia vetus e i sepolcri dei papi Callisto I e Giulio I’, Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 47 (1971), 169–278Google Scholar; Nestori, A., ‘La tomba di S. Callisto sull'Aurelia antica’, Adas del VIII congreso internacional de arqueoloqia cristiana (Vatican City, 1972), 367–72Google Scholar.

129 Liber Pontificalis I, 141–2.

130 He is included in the ‘Depositio martyrum’ of the Chronograph of 254. See Valentini, and Zucchetti, , Codice Topografico (above, n. 51), II, 27Google Scholar.

131 Acta SS., October VI (Paris and Rome, 1868), 401–8, esp. pp. 439–41Google Scholar; Bibliotheca Sanctorum III (above, n. 118), cols 680–91, esp. col. 687.

132 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), fig. 23.

133 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), fig. 28.

134 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), fig. 26.

135 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), fig. 27.

136 This piece is described by Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), 209.

137 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128).

138 Nestori, ‘La catacomba di Calepodio’ (above, n. 128), fig. 5,e.

139 Liber Pontificalis I, 421.

140 ‘Ubi [Gregorius] contulit patenam argenteam et calicem, seu et vestem altaris’, Liber Pontificalis I, 419.