Abstract

Analysis of the mosaics in S. Vitale at Ravenna reveals two phases in the panels of Justinian and Theodora, which the histories of Procopius help to explain. The first phase, dating from 544–45 and originally including the bishop of Ravenna Victor, probably shows the emperor and empress with their commander in Italy Belisarius, his wife Antonina, their daughter Joannina, and Theodora's grandson and Joannina's fiancé, Anastasius. In the second phase, Victor's successor Maximian replaced Victor's head with his own in 548 and added a new figure, probably the general John the Nephew of Vitalian.

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