ST. PUDENZIANA

The mosaic of the apse, dating back to the end of the fourth century, is one of the eldest in the Christian Rome.

Jesus appears in the center with around 10 apostles, the two that are missing have probably been deleted from the interventions of the XVI century.

The two women, who hold out to Jesus a crown, may be the two daughters of the Roman senator Pudente, St. Pudenziana and St. Prassede, but according to another version they represent the Church and the Synagogue.

In the open book that Jesus is holding you can read "DOMINUS CONSERVATOR ECCLESIAE PUDENTIANAE."

The city seen in the background is plausibly Jerusalem with the jeweled cross that Emperor Theodosius II erected there in 416.
In the cloudy sky appear winged the four living creatures of Revelation: the angel, the lion, the bull and the eagle.

This mosaic has a great evocative power, but at the same time is not easy to interpret.
The realism of the faces, as opposed to the abstract representations of the subsequent Byzantine art, shows the influence of the Roman figurative art.

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