This chapter examines the role that the Roman imperial court played in the genesis of imperial imagery intended for public display. It argues that the realities of court society have implications for hypothetical reconstructions of who commissioned, designed, and approved such images: ostensibly independent sites of decision-making – ‘senate’, ‘inner circle’, ‘moneyers’, ‘emperor’ – were deeply interconnected. Furthermore, the influence and power of different individuals and groups at court ebbed and flowed, and although such changes never guaranteed particular images, they set new limits on what was possible. With controversial images, artists and their patrons could also exploit the fact that viewing is always conditioned by the viewer’s background knowledge and assumptions, so different audiences could be encouraged to see different things in the same image. A detailed case study of public images of the emperor in the presence of members of his guard units is used to illustrate how some images became more (and then less) possible over time, and how different types of viewers were invited to see varying things in the same image.

The Lateran Basilica hosted three pivotal papal liturgies of the Roman ecclesiastical calendar – Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and the Easter Vigil.Due to their importance and infrequency, these feasts are well described in medieval sources.These celebrations, which commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus, featured unique and dramatic observances such as the blessing and distribution of palms, the blessing of new oils, the washing of feet, the lighting of the new paschal candle, the chanting of fitting Biblical texts, and the baptism of infants.The action of the liturgy made use not only of the church, but also of the atrium and the baptistery of the Lateran.Although worship is sometimes characterized as having become ossified in the Middle Ages, the clergy did in fact allow modification and even experimentation in their liturgies.Perhaps the greatest single change came in the rite of reconciliation of penitents on Maundy Thursday, which once had the pope interceding for the people of the city for forgiveness of their sins; this allowed them to rejoin the faithful in taking the Eucharist at Mass.However, starting in the thirteenth century, the pope took the opportunity to excommunicate sinners to exclude them from the Eucharist.

This chapter seeks to advance interpretation of two major building complexes unearthed beneath the Lateran Basilica.The earliest structural evidence exposed is interpreted part of an Augustan age suburban villa, likely a single property positioned between the via Tusculana and via Asinaria. The first, residential part of this complex can only be partially seen below the structures of the Castra Nova Equitum Singularium and the so-called ߢTrapezoidal Buildingߣ. These residential quarters lay to the west in the direction of the main road (via Tusculana) and shared its alignment. The eastern half of the complex was less lavishly appointed; it was structured around a pillared courtyard (lying below the point where the principia of the Castra Nova was subsequently built), oriented along a suburban roadway and probably in close proximity to the pars rustica of the villa. The second part of the paper offers a hypothesis for the Trapezoidal Building itself and argues that it might have served as the valetudinarium (hospital) of the Castra Nova.

Compared to St. Peter’s, the privileged Roman pilgrimage destination since Early Christian times, the story of relic veneration at the Lateran is more ambiguous. There was no saint’s sepulchre as the devotional and liturgical focus of the church, and its principal relics had a strangely "abstract" character. Throughout the Middle Ages, different strategies were used to improve the reception of the Lateran relics, focusing principally on increased visibility. The peak of "making present" relics was reached with the fifteenth century, when a singular "reliquization" of several objects in the old Lateran palace took place, overlapping the abandoned patriarchíum with a new, sacred memorial topography (the palace of Pilate and other Holy Land sites). Many of these new relics were venerated in a particular performative and haptic way by the pilgrims who compared for example, their bodies’ height to the mensura Christi, passed the "doorways of the palace of Pilate" and progressed on their knees up the "Scala Santa", kissing the bloodstains which the Saviour had left on its steps. The chapter places the palace relics into the Lateran’s traditions and analyzes the reception strategies and veneration practices related to them, focusing especially on the role of materiality and physical approach as devotional means.

The Lateran area is a privileged place for the study of the ancient topography of Rome. Several excavations give us a relatively accurate idea of ??the Caelian Hill, although many of them are only partially published. We also have valuable references to the Caelian in the written sources, which need to be interpreted from both a philological and a historical and topographical point of view. This chapter offers an overview of the evidence, proposing revisions and corrections of some relevant issues at the center of discussion in recent years. It also explores the issue of private houses and the first seat of the Bishop of Rome in connection with the Lateran Basilica. The aim is to outline in a more precise way the urban evolution of the Lateran, which is particularly important in the transition from mid-imperial Rome to the late antique and early medieval city.

The “Holy Heads” of Peter and Paul, attested in the 11th century within a secondary altar of the Laurentius-Oratory in the Patriarchium Lateranense and later on inside the main altar of the Sancta Sanctorum, increased their status exponentially after having been transferred by Pope Urban V (1368-70) into the Lateran Basilica. Embedded in two huge, lavishly decorated anthropomorphic reliquaries they were enclosed high up in the new tabernacle above the main altar of the Cathedral of Rome. The new mise-en-scène emphasized their role as symbols of the double apostolicity of Rome and of the Roman Church restored after the return of the Papacy from Avignon. In the late 14th and15th Century the Capita apostolorum became one of the most prestigious relics in Rome in competition with the Veronica at the Vatican. The skulls of Peter and Paul in their precious containers – displayed only few times a year – attracted not only pilgrims, but also thieves. A lost fresco cycle in the transept painted shortly after the attempt to steal some jewels and gems from their reliquaries at Easter 1438 should have deterred potential thieves with its representation of the cruel punishments inflicted on the alleged culprits.

In 2009, 42 fragments of white marble with Cosmatesque decorative inserts were found in the store rooms of the Vatican Museums. Inscriptions on some of these fragments identified their source as the medieval portico of San Giovanni in Laterano, destroyed in 1732. Shortly after the dismantling of the ancient façade, the slabs were reused in the new floor of the Basilica's Portico Sistino. Research conducted on these fragments demonstrated that they were what remained of the frieze on the front of the portico, consisting of an alternation of panels and disks delimited by a band in Cosmatesque work and filled with mosaics, some of which are figurative and with short inscriptions. The fragments were reassembled where possible and restored by the Restoration Laboratories of Marble and Mosaics of the Vatican Museums, while investigations were carried out on the compositional materials from the Diagnostic Laboratory of the Vatican Museums. At the same time, bibliographical and archival research has been carried out which has allowed for a visualisation of the whole scheme.

This chapter examines the impact of the Severan transformation of Rome in Caelian noting its implications for Constatine's later choice of this site for his Lateran Basilica.Septimius Severus dramatically increased the presence of soldiers in Rome and his reign is associated with several major military building projects.The best documented of these is the construction of the Castra Nova for his horse guards (equites singulares), a project that fundamentally reshaped the Caelian. Extensive elements of the fort survive beneath the Basilica of St John Lateran.This chapter explores the evidence for the building and subsequent use of the fort, placing the site in its broader topographical context.Following Constantine's victory at the battle of the Milvian Bridge the equites singulares were destroyed/disbanded and the Castra Nova site was used for the construction of the Lateran Basilica.The paper raises questions about the degree to which the history of the site's use may have impacted on the location and appearence of Constantine's church.

Metro Line C runs from the Pantano terminus through the south-eastern suburbs of Rome. This chapter reflects on the archaeological investigations carried out along via La Spezia and via Sannio, published as a series of preliminary reports.The evidence suggests that the banks of the ancient river course running through this area –tentatively identified with the aqua Crabra or one of its branches – were farmed from the third century BC. The river worked as a catalyst for local exploitation and imposing embankments to control its floods were built in the third century BC. These allow us to indirectly reconstruct the original riverbed. Things started to change in the second half of the first century BC; the land use became diversified and the complexity of the landscape increased. This process continued until the construction of the Aurelian Walls, which effectively created an intra-mural and an extra-mural area. From the last quarter of the third century AD, land-use took on a more homogenous form, mainly characterised by agricultural and funerary use. The construction of the Aurelian Walls modified and, in places, substantially reduced the width of the riverbed.

The transformation of St John Lateran, which started under pope Nicolas IV (1288–92) was the largest building project in high medieval Rome. What motives forced this pope to demolish the apses and to erect new apses, transepts and façades of the Lateran-church and of St Maria Maggiore, whose walls were sanctified by legends? This chapter focuses on the transept of St John Lateran. The form and function of the little transept aisle of Constantinian origin, excavated in the south part, is not very clear and nothing is left of a possible transept of the 12th century. This chapter explores the issue of the northern entrance towards Campus Lateranensis and the city in 1200.

In 1874 cracks were noted in the apse of the Lateran Basilica which threatened the structureߣs stability. Their discovery led to the decision to investigate the condition of the walls and foundations. The works, begun in 1876, focused on the sector to the West of the apse and the Leonine Portico. They brought to light not only the foundations of the Basilica and portico, but also the remains of a preexisting edifice, the so-called ߢTrapezoidal Building/Insulaߣ. As the works progressed, a series of disagreements began to emerge between members of the commission regarding the fate of the apse and its mosaic decoration, executed by Jacopo Torriti in 1291. As director of the works in 1876, Busiri Vici endeavored to find solutions that would reconcile the different parties involved and culminated in the brilliantly envisaged relocation of the apse. These works included a plan for the subterranean portion of the Basilica that considered leaving in plain view the recently discovered ancient structures. This chapter discusses the highly detailed documentation produced by Busiri Vici and explains its importance for the archaeology of the Lateran.

In the Basilica of St John Lateran in the Middle Ages there have been many building projects, some of considerable scale, which are nonetheless not easy to identify. This chapter focusses on two examples, both of which give important insights into the building techniques employed: the lost front porch built by Pope Sergius II (844-847), which surviving illustrations indicate employed Carolingian construction technique typical for Rome, and the transept with the two bell towers attached to the northern side of the Basilica. In this second case the material evidence indicates both date of the building, in all probability from the pontificate of Nicholas IV (1288-1292), and its fine quality, appropriate to the exceptional importance of the project.