Mosaic on the triumphal arch of the church of S. Lorenzo fuori le mura on the via Tiburtina, Rome, with Christ flanked by the Apostles *Peter and *Paul (S00036 and S00008), who are in turn flanked by *Laurence/Laurentius (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037), presenting to Christ Pope Pelagius II holding a model of the basilica, and *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) presenting *Hippolytus (martyr of Rome, S00509). 579/590.
E05292
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)
Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)
Literary - Poems
The scene shows a bearded Christ, with nimbus enclosing a cross, purple robes, and sandals, seated on an orb, holding a staff ending with a cross in his left hand, and stretching his right hand in a gesture of blessing. He is flanked by two men in white garments with plain nimbi. The person shown to the left of Christ is holding a similar staff with a cross, has a greyish-white beard and hair, and is labelled SCS PETRVS/'Saint Peter'. The person to the right is identically dressed but has no cross, and has a black beard. He is labelled SCS PAVLVS/'Saint Paul'.
The three central figures are surrounded by four others. To the right of Paul, we see two men dressed in white, with nimbi. One of them, a beardless young man, is holding an open book with the following inscription: adesit anima mea/'my soul followeth'. He is labelled SCS STEPHANVS/'Saint Stephen'. Next to him there is a depiction of a bearded man bearing a golden crown with colourful jewels. He is labelled SCS YPPOLITVS/'Saint Hippolytus'.
To the left of Peter, there is an image of a young man with short beard and hair, and a nimbus, significantly taller than the other figures, wearing golden robes, and holding both an open book and a cross in his left hand. In the book we read: Dispersit, dedit pauperibus/'He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor'. This figure is labelled SCS LAVRENTIVS/'Saint Laurence'. Immediately to the left of him we see a man dressed in white, with a stole or an omphorion decorated with crosses, and shoes different from the sandals worn by the others. He is stretching his hands towards Christ, offering him a small model of the basilica. He is labelled PELAGIVS EPISC/'Bishop Pelagius'.
At both ends of the scene are images of two walled cities. The one at the left-hand end has a cross hung in its gateway, flanked by two hanging jewels (?). Within the gateway there is an inscription: +HIERVSALEM/'Jerusalem'. The one at the right-hand end is very similar in appearance, but is described as +BETHLEEM/'Bethlehem'.
On the triumphal arch we read: + marty[rium flammis ♠ o]lim levvita subisti ♠ iure tuis templis ♠ lux ben[erand]a redit / 'Martyrdom with flames you a deacon once endured. Rightly does venerable light return to your temple'.
Cult building - independent (church)
Use of ImagesCommissioning/producing an image
Public display of an image
Descriptions of images of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Construction of cult buildings
Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
MiraclesSaint aiding or preventing the construction of a cult building
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Source
The mosaic is on the triumphal arch of the basilica of Saint Laurence/San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, on the via Tiburtina, close to the cemetery of Cyriaca. The church was built by pope Pelagius II (579-590), as recorded in this mosaic. The present-day church was heavily remodelled by Pope Honorius III (1216-1227) who demolished the old apse and added a new nave, reversing the orientation of the church. As a result the mosaic now faces the apse instead of being displayed in front of it.The mosaic has been the subject of many editions and we can here give just a brief outline of their history. For a detailed list, see the edition by Antonio Ferrua in the seventh volume of the Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae.
The poem on the arch shown below the scene was copied by late antique and medieval travellers to Rome, and it features in manuscripts with collections of inscriptions: the Sylloge Turonensis and the Sylloge Laureshamensis, which associate it with another poem (E05305). The first edition based on all the accessible manuscripts was published by Giovanni Battista de Rossi in the old series of the Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae. Print editions from single manuscripts had, however, been available much earlier, beginning with the publication of the Palatine manuscript of the Sylloge Laureshamensis in 1602 by Iohannes Gruter.
As the mosaic is still preserved in situ, there have also been many editions by early modern and modern archaeologists and epigraphers exploring the church, see our bibliography below.
Discussion
The mosaic shows the offering of the basilica to Christ by its founder, Pope Pelagius II, through the intercession of the martyr Laurentius, buried in the nearby cemetery. The foundation of this basilica is described in the Liber Pontificalis, which says that 'over the body of St Laurence he [i.e. Pelagius] built a basilica from the ground up and decorated the martyr’s tomb with silver panels.' (E01401). As was usual in mosaics of this kind, although the basilica was dedicated to the martyr, and eventually named after him, the mosaic shows Christ as the recipient of the gift, and not the saint himself. As in other late antique representations of the saint, Laurence is shown in golden clothing.The scene on the right hand-side shows the offering of his crown of martyrdom to Christ by Hippolytus, martyr of Rome under Alexander Severus and also buried on the via Tiburtina. The offering is seemingly made with the help of Stephen the First Martyr.
The quotation in the book held by Laurentius comes from Psalm 62/63: adhaesit anima mea post te, me suscepit dextera tua / 'My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me'. The quotation in the book held by Stephen derives from Psalm 111/112: dispersit dedit pauperibus / 'He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor', a reference to the deaon Laurentius' care for the indigent of Rome. [These texts in their present form date from the probably twelfth-century phase of the mosaic - see next paragraph and the attached image.]
Note added in 10/1/2025, based on Romano 2006, 298-301: Close examination of the mosaic during restoration work in 2001 confirmed previous suppositions that little original sixth-century work survives: much of the central part of the mosaic ('Area B' on the attached image, marked with small crosses) is laid at a higher level than the original work ('Area A', cross-hatched), and uses different tesserae - all of stone, while the sixth-century work contains many tesserae of glass. Stylistically this later work has been attributed to the twelfth century. Other parts (particularly towards the bottom, and at both edges) are the result of nineteenth-century work, replacing earlier painted in-filling. It is, however, probable that all this later work closely follows the original iconography of the mosaic, and, indeed, enough original figurative work and lettering survives to prove that the inscription under the figures and other key elements - the presence of Laurence in a gold robe on the left, and of Stephen and Hippolytus on the right - are all original features. [We are very grateful to Maria Lidova for drawing our attention to Romano's full discussion of this issue.]
Bibliography
The inscriptions and the church have a very rich literature. Here we gave just a basic selection, focused primarily on the text of the inscriptions:Edition:
Just the couplet on the arch:
1a) From Sylloge Turonensis (codices Goettweihensis 64 and Closterneoburgensis 723):
Diehl, E., Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres, vol. 1 (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1925), no. 1771.
De Rossi, G. B., Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores 2.1 (Rome: Ex Officina Libraria Pontificia, 1857-1888), 63, no. 9.
1b) From: Sylloge Laureshamensis (codex Vaticanus Palatinus latinus 833 f. 66)
De Rossi, G. B., Inscriptiones christianae Urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores 2.1 (Rome: Ex Officina Libraria Pontificia, 1857-1888) 106, no. 47.
See also: De Santis, P., Sanctorum Monumenta: "Aree sacre" del suburbio di Roma nella documentazione epigrafica (IV-VII secolo) (Bari: Edipuglia, 2010), no. 90.
The entire poem:
Ciampini, G. G., De sacris aedificiis à Constantino magno constructis, synopsis historica (Rome: , 1693), 113.
Fleetwood, W., Inscriptionum antiquarum sylloge in duas partes distributa (London: Impensis Guil. Graves, 1691), 435.
Severano, G., Memorie sacre delle sette chiese di Roma (Rome: Per Giacomo Mascardi, 1630), 651.
Gruter, J., Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis Romani, in corpus absolutissimum redactae (Heidelberg: Ex officina Commeliniana, 1602), 1173, no. 1.
3) For the monument and the mosaic:
Epigraphic Database Bari, nos. EDB34634-34637
http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/EDB34634
http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/EDB34635
http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/EDB34636
http://www.edb.uniba.it/epigraph/EDB34637
Ciampini, C. G., Vetera Monumenta, vol. 2 (Rome: Ex typographia Joannis Jacobi Komarek, 1690), 101, Tab. XXVIII.
de Rossi, G.B., Ferrua, A. (eds.), Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores, n.s., vol. 7: Coemeteria via Tiburtinae (Vatican: Pont. Institutum Archaeologiae Christianae, 1980), no. 17671.
de Rossi, G-B., Musaici cristiani e saggi dei parimenti delle chiese di Roma anteriori al secolo xv., tavole cromo-litografiche con cenni storici et critici, con tr. francese (Rome: , 1872-99), Tav. XVI.
Garrucci, R., Storia della arte cristiana nei primi otto secoli della chiesa (Prato: G. Guasti, 1872-1871), Tav. 271 and p. 84.
Mai, A., Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanis codicibus edita, vol. 5 (Rome: Typis Vaticanis, 1831), 135 (ed. L. G. Marini).
Nibby, A., Analisi della carta dei dintorni di Roma, vol. 2 (Roma: Tip. delle Belle arti, 1837), 266.
Romano, S., La pittura medievale a Roma, 312-1431, Corpus e Atlante, Corpus Vol. IV (Riforma e tradizione, 1050-1198) (Roma: Jaco Books, 2006), 298-301. [Citation added 10/1/2025]
For the basilica of San Lorenzo, see:
Da Bra, G., San Lorenzo fuori le mura (Rome: Tipografia Pio X, 1952).
Krautheimer, R., Corpus basilicarum christianarum Romae. S.Lorenzo fuori le mura (Città del Vaticano: Pontificio istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1962).
Images
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S. Lorenzo fuori le mura, triumphal arch
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S. Lorenzo fuori le mura: Phases of the mosaic work. Area A (cross-hatched) = original 6th-c. work. From Romano 2006, 298-301.
Paweł Nowakowski
06/04/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain | S00509 | Hippolytus, martyr of Rome | Yppolitus | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E05292 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05292