I mean the strange monograms on the capitals of the pillars. Those at St. Vitalis are obviously all copied in idea from the monograms upon the capitals in the church of Sta. Sophia, and one at least is an exact reproduction. The Ravenna monograms have caused a great deal of discussion, and the meaning of them is by no means clear. Every kind of interpretation has been put upon them, but the usually received opinion seems to be that the monogram with the cross, occurring often on the capitals (Plate XXXVI.), represents the word Ecclesius, the other (see woodcut) Julianus. I cannot follow the former, and unless there was a Julianus connected with Sta. Sofia the latter reading is incorrect, as this monogram appears in Sta. Sofia also.

With regard to the prominence of the chancel, although there are many circular churches in Italy, not one of them has any chancel beyond the smallest apse, whereas all the eastern churches have well developed chancels.

From all which considerations I come to the conclusion that the church of St. Vitalis, commenced by the Bishop Ecclesius and completed by Maximianus, was built after the fashion of an eastern church, both in design and in detail, and that it was built by workmen who had seen the designs of, or who had been employed on, the churches of Sta. Sophia and of Salonica.

On the contrary, the two churches of St. Apollinaris were built in the ordinary form of an Italian church at that date, and any Byzantine ornaments that are found in them are due to the fact that they were built under the same Julianus Argentarius who superintended the building of the church of St. Vitalis, and to the general communication between Ravenna and the East, which was much more intimate than between Rome and Ravenna. The ecclesiastical names and ornaments were brought from Constantinople and not Rome.

One of the principal monasteries in Ravenna was named Sta. Maria ad Blachernas, of which our historian, Agnellus, was abbot.

And for ornaments there is still preserved in the cathedral at Ravenna the episcopal chair of the Bishop Maximianus of ivory, upon which there may be seen

426 On the Byzantine Origin of the Church of St. Vitalis at Ravenna.

a

a Byzantine monogram. There is no doubt that this chair (Plate XXXVII) is Byzantine, because, in addition to the monogram, the figures are giving the blessing in the Greek and not the Latin form. This is interesting, because in a Latin representation of this chair the figures are shown as giving the blessing in the Latin form.

I have not said anything about the mosaics, because I do not think that they touch the matter in any way. The mosaics are of course Byzantine, and exceedingly interesting, particularly the groups of Justinian and Theodora. There are two mosaics of Justinian in Ravenna, one in St. Vitalis and the other in S. Apollinari Nuovo, and I should think there is little doubt these must be portraits. The portrait in mosaic of Justinian is characteristically ugly, and not unlike his figure as it appears upon his coins.

I must say a word
In it is the repre-
The Emperor and

Time does not allow me to describe the other mosaics, but more about the great group at the eastern end of St. Vitalis. sentation of St. Ecclesius carrying the church in his arms. Empress both are represented as bearing bowls, which have given rise to a great deal of discussion. It has been suggested that the Emperor and Empress were present at the dedication of the church, and that these mosaics represent them bringing their offerings, but I believe this is altogether unfounded; there is no evidence that the Emperor and Empress ever went to Italy. I should think that the figures more probably represent the Emperor and Empress bringing offerings at the celebration of the Holy Communion. In fact, the group the Emperor Justinian with his nobles and men-at-arms is most probably the representation of a Byzantine Emperor at one of the entrances. The Empress Theodora is outside the church, probably going up into her seat in the women's gallery.

of

In the church of St. Apollinaris ad Classem is a singular group representing the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus giving privileges to the Bishop Reparatus, the dresses in which may be usefully compared with those in St. Vitalis.

I need hardly say that this paper by no means exhausts the subjects of interest in St. Vitalis. My object has been, and I hope I have succeeded in so doing, to throw some additional light upon its Byzantine origin.

a A description of this chair is given in Westwood's Catalogue of the Fictile Ivories in the South Kensington Museum, p. 357. An unsatisfactory engraving of it may be found in Du Sommerard's Arts du Moyen Age, Album, 1re Série, pl. xi., and also in the appendix to the Liber Pontificalis of Agnellus. Our engraving, together with the others from Ravenna, is reproduced from photographs by Signor Luigi Ricci of Ravenna, who has printed a list of nearly 500 photographs of buildings and antiquities in that city.