Main Points

• Justinian immediately built San Vitale in Ravenna upon regaining Italy from the Goths

  The church shows both his intense piety and his interest in establishing the emperor's authority

  Thus through the churches mosaic images he places himself as the successor of the patriarchs of Judeo-Christian tradition

• San Vitale exterior
• The Sacrifice of Abel and Melchizedik
• detail of mosaic technique
• Various Hebrew Patriarchs
• detail of Moses
• Jesus as ruler of the world
• Justinian and his court
• Theodora and her court