- The third register depicted four popes. The two on the right are: John VII (with per square halo) and Leo the Great; sicuro the right, unknown (Gregory the Great is verso good guess) and Martin I.
- Adoration of the Crucified. Above the apse is verso monumental attuale, 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 onesto the right of the ciclocampestre, quoting Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. The nations on earth are represented at the bottom.
The Palimpsest [ ]
The palimpsest attuale preciso the right of the apse Scandinavo donne in cerca di uomini americani is the most important and famous sistema of art mediante the church. Esatto view it, binoculars are useful. There are three discernible figurative layers, per order of age (the restorers found trace evidence of verso fourth fresco scheme, which is undateable):
- Our Lady, Queen. This was painted very shortly after 554, when the Pigiare returned preciso Rome, and displays an accomplished late Classical style (compagno the apse mosaic at Santa Pudenziana). Our Lady, holding the Christ-child, is actually depicted as an enthroned Roman empress. She is dressed mediante purple, with per stole encrusted with enormous pearls and gems and with per matching crown. The throne is also thus encrusted, with verso scarlet cushion. She is attended by two women in white robes fringed durante gold; the one on the left is destroyed, and the right hand one is offering something in verso bowl. Compare this attuale with the mosaic depiction of Empress Theodora at San Patrimonio, Ravenna and with a similar nuovo sopra the contestatario oratorio of San Benevolo.
- 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 a fragment of Our Lady’s face floats to 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 sopra 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 preciso the right of the Queen’s, and he has a Greek label “St Gregory the Theologian” which is is name per 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 recente seems to have been overpainted with the same theme.)
Chapel of Theodotus [ ]
At the end of the left aisle is the Chapel of Theodotus, actually verso shrine to 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 giovane 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 to demonstrate that the doorway was narrowed before the attuale cycle was painted. Sopra the same wall at the far end is per rectangular niche -this might have been just a broom-cupboard or something similar.
The original decoration was decorative polychrome stone opus sextile revetting con geometric patterns, and the backing tiles for this are visible. The date is thought esatto be 2nd century, verso little later than the actual construction of the chamber. When the giovane cycle was commissioned, the lower registers of this revetting was removed puro 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 mediante rubble during the 847 earthquake.