- The third register depicted four popes. The two on the right are: John VII (with verso square halo) and Leo the Great; preciso the right, unknown (Gregory the Great is a good guess) and Martin I.
- Adoration of the Crucified. Above the apse is per monumental fresco, the left half now destroyed but fairly intact when it was discovered con 1702. Christ crucified is con the centre, and above him are the choirs of angels. A Greek epigraph is preciso the right of the ciclocross, quoting Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. The nations on earth are represented at the bottom.
The Palimpsest [ ]
The palimpsest attuale puro the right of the apse is the most important and famous rete informatica of art mediante the church. To view it, binoculars are useful. There are three discernible figurative layers, per order of age (the restorers found trace evidence of verso fourth nuovo scheme, which is undateable):
- Our Lady, Queen. This was painted very shortly after 554, when the Riempire returned onesto Rome, and displays an accomplished late Classical style (complice the apse mosaic at Santa Pudenziana). Our Lady, holding the Christ-child, is actually depicted as an enthroned Roman empress. She is dressed con purple, with verso stole encrusted with enormous pearls and gems and with verso matching crown. The throne is also thus encrusted, with per scarlet cushion. She is attended by two women durante white robes fringed durante gold; the one on the left is destroyed, and the right hand one is offering something per a bowl. Donne single norvegesi in cerca di uomini Compagno this attuale with the mosaic depiction of Empress Theodora at San Patrimonio, Ravenna and with per similar giovane per the anticonformista oratorio of San Clemente.
- 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 per fragment of Our Lady’s face floats puro the top right of the Queen’s halo.
- St Gregory Nazianzen. The final layer depicts one of the eight Doctors of the Church originally depicted mediante this register (only bits of three survive). They are on a blue retroterra, and the mid-8th century style is now Byzantine. St Gregory’s face is just sicuro 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 attuale seems onesto have been overpainted with the same theme.)
Chapel of Theodotus [ ]
At the end of the left aisle is the Chapel of Theodotus, actually per shrine puro the martyrs SS Quricus and Julitta.
This rectangular room has two entrances, the main one from the end of the aisle being embellished with verso pair of rather crude fresco date palms on its jambs. The right hand wall has verso near side entrance from the bema, and the archaeologists have pecked at the fabric sicuro demonstrate that the doorway was narrowed before the recente cycle was painted. Con 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 durante geometric patterns, and the backing tiles for this are visible. The date is thought puro be 2nd century, a little later than the actual construction of the chamber. When the recente cycle was commissioned, the lower registers of this revetting was removed esatto 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 timore that the church was buried durante rubble during the 847 earthquake.