• Detailed analysis of the Ravenna mosaics and their subject matter; new insights and findings
• First book to feature colour illustrations of all the early Christian wall and vault mosaics in Ravenna
• Many new colour photographs added for this second edition

The mosaics of Ravenna are rated among the world’s most important art works. Their quality and blaze of colour have intrigued believers and visitors since their making between the fifth and the seventh century.

This book investigates the meaning of this imagery, its peculiarities, and the messages conveyed to the viewers through the centuries. It explores the function of the mosaics in the different buildings, and their interpretations in the relevant liturgical context by people living in late Antiquity; it provides comparative examples to integrate the mosaics in the frame of late Roman art.

This second edition replaces many of the black & white illustrations of the first edition with new colour images created specially for the new edition; there are also minor revisions to the text.

Clearly written, and based on the latest research, the volume provides valuable new insight into one of the most fascinating sets of images of early Christian times. Delve into the magnificence and variety of these mosaics, whose colour photographs were made expressly for the book . . . they show the mosaics at close range and allow visual experiences that are impossible on site.

Also available in a German-language edition, ISBN 9783795491598