This chapter documents the precipitous collapse of the fortunes of the papacy, and the Roman Church more generally, following the murder of John VIII in 882. A series of short-lived pontiffs must devote their energy to attempts to protect the city of Rome from physical assault, but the loss of any semblance of security in the surrounding hinterland leads to an economic collapse reflected in the archaeological record, the apparent absence of new building projects or significant gifts of precious objects, and also the discontinuation of the series of papal biographies (Liber pontificalis). The one exception is the Life of Stephen V (885–891), and this reveals the complete impoverishment of the papal treasury. The pope is reduced to making gifts of books, and this leads to a substantial discussion of what is known about book culture in Rome in the ninth century.

The Introduction sets out the methodological approach of the book, and the major themes to be addressed. It is a ‘history in art’, a notion that provides for a primary focus on the evidence adduced from material culture (archaeology, standing remains and their decoration, surviving objects including manuscripts) integrated with information derived from written sources (in this instance primarily the series of papal biographies known as the Liber pontificalis, supplemented by other documents such as the Ordines Romani and the chronicles of Frankish and Italian historians). The two other overarching themes are the gradual decline of the Roman economy, and the resulting impoverishment of the Roman Church over the course of the ninth century and its effects on papal patronage, and the continuing adherence of Roman artistic production to the broader context of Mediterranean Christian visual culture. A historiographical survey/analysis is also included.

This chapter brings together the arguments for the identification of a water feature within the Lateran scavi as the Nymphaeum of Pope Hilarus.The feature has been extensively surveyed and laser scanned as part of the Lateran Project in an attempt to underestand how the different elements might have functioned together. The long-term association of the area, formerly part of bath complex built in the Severan period, with elaborate water features is considered;the latest structural elements recovered post-date the nymphaeum and come from a fountain constructed sometime in the 12th/13th century.

This paper concentrates on the representation of the Constantinian Basilica in the Liber pontificalis and determines its role in the text and in the representation of the pope.The sections considered range from the foundation of the Basilica in Life 34 (Pope Silvester I) to the significance of the Basilica for Pope Stephen V in Life 112.One oddity about the Liber pontificalis is that it never refers to the Constantinian basilica as dedicated to St John. That information is supplied in liturgical books such as the Sacramentaries and Lectionaries extant in Frankish manuscripts. This prompts a reflection on the Constantinian Basilicaߣs liturgical role within Rome that casts further light on the possible implications and peculiarities of the Basilicaߣs representation in the Liber ponificalis itself.