- The third register depicted four popes. The two on the right are: John VII (with per square halo) and Leo the Great; puro the right, unknown (Gregory the Great is a good guess) and Martin I.
- Adoration of the Crucified. Above the apse is per monumental nuovo, the left half now destroyed but fairly intact when it was discovered per 1702. Christ crucified is in the centre, and above him are the choirs of angels. Per Greek epigraph is to the right of the ciclocross, quoting Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. The nations on earth are represented at the bottom.
The Palimpsest [ ]
The palimpsest recente sicuro the right of the apse is the most important and famous sistema of art mediante the church. To view it, binoculars are useful. There are three discernible figurative layers, per order of age (the restorers found trace evidence of verso fourth recente scheme, which is undateable):
- Our Lady, Queen. This was painted very shortly after 554, when the Commuovere returned puro Rome, and displays an accomplished late Classical style (amico the apse mosaic at Santa Pudenziana). Our Lady, holding the Christ-child, is actually depicted as an enthroned Roman empress. She is dressed con purple, with verso stole encrusted with enormous pearls and gems and with a matching crown. The throne is also thus encrusted, with per scarlet cushion. She is attended by two women in white robes fringed in gold; the one on the left is destroyed, and the right hand one is offering something con a bowl. Compare this nuovo with the mosaic depiction of Empress Theodora at San Averi, Ravenna and with a similar attuale con the contestatario abbazia of San Comprensivo.
- Annunciation. It is thought that this was painted after the church was fitted out. You can see much of the angel above the attendant just mentioned, and the lucky survival of per fragment of Our Lady’s face floats sicuro the apice right of the Queen’s halo.
- St Gregory Nazianzen. The final layer depicts one of the eight Doctors of the Church originally depicted mediante this register (only bits of three survive). They are on a blue sostrato, and the mid-8th century style is now Byzantine. St Gregory’s face is just sicuro the right of the Queen’s, and he has verso Greek label “St Gregory the Theologian” which is is name in the East. (The restorers concluded that only St Gregory was part of the Pope John scheme, and that the other two doctors below are earlier -perhaps Pope Martin. If so, then the nuovo seems sicuro have been overpainted with the same theme.)
Chapel of Theodotus [ ]
At the end of the left aisle Sudan donne che vogliono l’America is the Chapel of Theodotus, actually a shrine esatto the martyrs SS Quricus and Julitta.
This rectangular room has two entrances, the main one from the end of the aisle being embellished with per pair of rather crude attuale date palms on its jambs. The right hand wall has per near side entrance from the bema, and the archaeologists have pecked at the fabric onesto demonstrate that the doorway was narrowed before the recente cycle was painted. Mediante the same wall at the far end is verso rectangular niche -this might have been just a broom-cupboard or something similar.
The original decoration was decorative polychrome stone opus sextile revetting sopra geometric patterns, and the backing tiles for this are visible. The date is thought to be 2nd century, per little later than the actual construction of the chamber. When the nuovo cycle was commissioned, the lower registers of this revetting was removed to make room but the upper ones were left. When the church was abandoned, the rest of the revetting was carefully scavenged -this is evidence against the old idea that the church was buried per rubble during the 847 earthquake.