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Title & Date: Hagia Sophia, 532–537

Period: Early Byzantine

Artists: Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus

Context & Vocabulary: Commissioned by Emperor Justinian in Constantinople, this central-plan masterpiece uses pendentives to suspend a vast dome over a square base, creating a soaring clerestory that floods the nave with light to symbolize divine wisdom

Title & Date: Church of San Vitale, c. 547

Period: Early Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: An octagonal central plan church in Ravenna, Italy, featuring an ambulatory wrapping around the central dome and a lavishly decorated apse covered in shimmering gold mosaics that assert imperial and divine authority.

Title & Date: Christ between Two Angels, Saint Vitalis, and Bishop Ecclesius (San Vitale), c. 547 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: An apse mosaic showing a youthful Christ seated on a celestial orb presenting a martyr's crown flanked by angels and church patrons.

Title & Date: Emperor Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and Attendants (San Vitale), c. 547 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: An apse mosaic showing Justinian bearing a paten for the Eucharist, using flat, floating figures that reject Roman verism and intuitive perspective to emphasize eternal authority.

Title & Date: Archangel Michael (Diptych Panel), early 6th century (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: An ivory panel showing an angel before a classical archway whose dynamic drapery echoes Roman traditions while his floating feet signal Byzantine spiritualization.

Title & Date: Crucifixion (Church of the Dormition, Daphni), 1090–1100 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Middle Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: A devotional mosaic capturing emotional grief and physical suffering on the cross to connect viewers to the mystery of the Eucharist.

Title & Date: Vladimir Virgin, late 11th–12th centuries (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Middle Byzantine

Context & Vocabulary: A tender icon painting of Mary pressing her cheek to the Christ Child, serving as a sacred devotional image that survived iconoclasm to influence Eastern Christian art.

Title & Date: Christian House Church at Dura-Europos, c. 240–256 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A remodeled domestic residence featuring a dedicated baptistery where early Christians gathered covertly for worship prior to legal recognition under Roman imperial rule.

Title & Date: Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, early 4th century (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A subterranean burial vault painted with Jonah narratives, arms-raised orant figures, and Christ as the Good Shepherd using symbolic storytelling over naturalistic intuitive perspective.

Title & Date: The Good Shepherd, 3rd century (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A marble statuette adapting pagan Greco-Roman pastoral motifs to covertly symbolize Christ's protection over his flock before Christianity gained official state support.

Title & Date: Old St. Peter’s, c. 320–327 (Commissioned by Emperor Constantine)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A monumental Basilica Plan church featuring a central nave, clerestory lighting, and a focal apse over St. Peter's tomb, adapting Roman civic architecture for the Eucharist.

Title & Date: Santa Sabina, 422–432 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A classic Basilica Plan church whose marble colonnade draws focus down the nave to the apse, with clerestory windows flooding the space with spiritual light.

Title & Date: Santa Costanza, c. 350 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: A domed Central Plan imperial mausoleum surrounded by a circular ambulatory, adapting Roman circular architecture to influence future baptisteries and churches.

Title & Date: Harvesting of Grapes (Santa Costanza), c. 350 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: An ambulatory vault mosaic depicting cupid-like figures pressing grapes, blending pagan dionysian harvest motifs with Christian symbolism for the Eucharist.

Title & Date: Christ as the Good Shepherd (Mausoleum of Galla Placidia), c. 425 (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Christian

Context & Vocabulary: An entrance mosaic showing Christ in an imperial purple tunic and gold halo among his sheep, reflecting the shift toward royal Christian imagery after imperial adoption.

Title & Date: The Orator (Aulus Metellus), early 1st century BCE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Etruscan / Republican Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A life-sized bronze portrait statue depicting an Etruscan magistrate wearing Roman toga and boots with his right arm raised to address a crowd, blending Etruscan bronze-casting traditions with Roman verism and civic leadership.

Title & Date: Head of an Old Man (Scoppito Head), 1st century BCE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Republican Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A marble portrait bust demonstrating extreme verism, using deep wrinkles and sunken cheeks to emphasize age, experience, and civic devotion over idealized Greek beauty.

Title & Date: Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century CE copy of c. 20 BCE bronze (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A marble statue depicting Augustus as an ageless commander using contrapposto and classical idealization to project imperial authority, divine ancestry, and state propaganda.

Title & Date: Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace), 13–9 BCE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: An open-air marble altar featuring relief friezes of imperial family processions and allegorical figures celebrating peace, civic piety, and dynastic prosperity under Augustus.

Title & Date: Garden Scene, Villa of Livia at Prima Porta, c. 30–20 BCE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Early Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A continuous Second Style wall painting using atmospheric perspective to create an illusionistic, lush garden with detailed flora and fauna, expanding interior space through naturalistic depth.

Title & Date: Portrait of a Husband and Wife, Pompeii, 4th Style, c. 70–79 CE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A Fourth Style fresco showing a couple holding a rotulus scroll and stylus to project literacy, wealth, and civic standing through Roman verism and personalized portraiture.

Title & Date: Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater), Rome, 70–80 CE (Commissioned by Vespasian)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A massive public arena constructed using concrete, stacked rounded arches, and barrel vaults, layered with exterior Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian order engagement to seat 50,000 spectators.

Title & Date: Column of Trajan, Rome, 112 CE (Architect: Apollodorus of Damascus)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A soaring marble victory column wrapped in a continuous spiral relief band depicting Trajan's military campaigns against the Dacians, showcasing historical narrative and engineering precision.

Title & Date: Pantheon, Rome, 118–125 CE (Commissioned by Hadrian)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A revolutionary temple featuring a traditional columned porch opening into a vast rotunda topped by a hemispherical concrete dome with a central oculus that floods the interior space with light.

Title & Date: Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, c. 175 CE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A gilded bronze statue depicting the emperor on horseback extending an arm in clemency, using scale and posture to convey effortless control and civic leadership.

Title & Date: The Tetrarchs, c. 300 CE (Artist: Unknown)

Period: Late Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A porphyry sculpture showing four co-rulers embracing in rigid, blocky forms, rejecting classical verism to symbolize political unity and shared power under the Tetrarchy.

Title & Date: Arch of Constantine, Rome, 312–315 CE (Commissioned by Constantine)

Period: Late Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A three-passageway triumphal arch covered in spolia recycled from earlier emperors' monuments, linking Constantine's reign to past golden ages while marking the shift toward Late Antique abstraction.

Title & Date: Arch of Constantine, Rome, 312–315 CE (Commissioned by Constantine)

Period: Late Imperial Rome

Context & Vocabulary: A monumental triumphal arch featuring spolia (recycled reliefs) from earlier golden-age emperors to legitimize Constantine's rule, showing a shift toward stylized, flat Late Antique figures that reject classical verism.

Ancient Rome Art

• Characteristics: Realistic, civic-focused, large-scale political propaganda.

• Greek Influence: Adopted Greek styles/orders, adapted them using concrete for interior spaces.

• Imperial Propaganda: Used monuments like the Triumphal Arch to project state authority.

• Portrait Progression: Verism (Republic age/wrinkles) → Classical Ideal (Augustan youth) → Abstract/blocky (Tetrarchy).

• Architecture/Concrete: Rounded arch, barrel vault, groin vault, and oculus created unencumbered interior spaces.

• Late Empire: Tetrarchy brought rigid, identical styling; Constantine legalized Christianity (313 CE) and moved the capital east.

Christian Art

• Characteristics: Symbolic, narrative, spiritual; rejected realism and intuitive perspective.

• Repurposing Traditions: Reinterpreted pagan imagery (Good Shepherd) and Roman civic buildings for worship.

• Edict of Milan Impact: Shifted art from secret catacomb frescoes with orant figures to public imperial structures.

• Architecture Types:

  • Basilica Plan: Long nave, side aisles, clerestory light, terminal apse for Eucharist.

  • Central Plan: Circular domed layout surrounded by an ambulatory

Byzantine Art

• Characteristics: Gold mosaics, flat depth, weightless figures, heavenly focus.

• Imperial Patronage: Justinian funded churches (Hagia Sophia, San Vitale) to show divine right.

• Human Emotion: Post-iconoclasm art added tender emotion (Vladimir Virgin) to connect with viewers.

• Icons & Devotional Use: An icon is a painted wood panel serving as a prayer window to the divine.

• Iconoclasm: Imperial destruction of sacred images (726–843 CE) over idolatry fears