The Biggest Roman Mosaic in Italy

Highlights of the colossal fourth-century mosaic in the Basilica of Aquileia.
Check out my other channels, ‪@toldinstone‬ and ‪@toldinstonefootnotes‬

[@user-bc4kt6nc1p]

Beautiful mosaic. Thanks for sharing this

[@rickb3078]

Been going to Italy for years and years. Didn’t even know about this one. On my to do list for 2024! Thank you for the great content and tips

[@johnspizziri1919]

Many thanks professor!

[@mattr8279]

Thanks for bringing us along to all of these monuments.

[@josephtrahan8045]

Insanely awesome!! Thank you for that history & voice over! I love your content!

[@fran2177]

That was wonderful, very interesting. Thank you friend.

[@juelbriggs447]

Wow, thank you!

[@felipericketts]

Wow! What an amazing and beautiful mosaic! 🙂

[@dayros2023]

Aquileia was one of the biggest cities in Italy before its destruction by the Huns of Attila. Apart from this beautiful church when i visited there was also an interesting museum and many ruins of the ancient city. That area of Italy is really worth a visit, so beautiful.

[@dj-kq4fz]

Thanks, it is beautiful. I can only imagine the symbolic intent went much deeper when it was built.

[@Manu-ih7zf]

Very beautiful. Thank you.

[@cerracarmine]

Visited here Absolutely amazing area

[@larsrons7937]

Marvellous mosaic, impressive. This must be a sight to see in real life.

[@bullfrommull]

Absolutely beautiful.I did notice the colonnades within the church . They are all different. I wonder which temple or forum they came from.

[@clairejohnston2461]

If the figurative art in the mosaics here look more stylized than in earlier mosaics, it’s because the art of late antiquity had become more symbolic and less realistic. An art historian has said, “Art became medieval before it became Christian.” And Christian art was borrowing heavily from pagan art motifs in this era because it had not yet developed its own distinctive vocabulary. Now that the Roman government made Christianity its official religion, a lot of money was available to the church to splurge on major projects like this. And obviously Bishop Theodore rejoiced and wanted to make a big statement to the heathen that his side had won.

[@josephjude1290]

Very beautiful

[@CigarAttache]

Wow! Spectacular!

[@paulkoza8652]

This is fabulous. I will have to add Aquileia on my itinerary for my next trip to Italy. How long did it take to construct both the church and the mosaic?

[@jontalbot1]

Hi Paul let me know when you are going. I would love to see it too but have no one to go with

[@evangelieabs]

thanks ❤

[@MicaFarrierRheayan]

That is freaking gargantuan

[@Pan472]

Garrett, I know that you visited Greece a while ago, but when it comes to the Byzantines, you should visit the city of Mystras. A very well preserved city mainly built after the Fall of Constantinople in 1204.

[@markmuller7962]

Beautiful

[@craigbhill]

Garrett, highly recommended if you haven't been, Ravenna, about an hour by bus south of Bologna but closer to the Adriatic coast. 14 Dark Age buildings of various types, a library, basilica and others with the single most beautiful mosaics I've encountered; in fact I recommend Ravenna over anywhere else in Italy to anyone who has only one day to spend there. It is for me the greatest collection of religious art, and especially Dark Age art, in Italy, includes yhe famous mosaic of Justinian and Theodora. Rooms with mosaics from the floor up including the ceiling such as those with golden five-pointed stars against a dark blue sky, change color as the day moves from dawn to dusk from niches of sunlight hitting specific parts of the ceiling from hour to hour. A full-day time-lapse, focusing on those areas of the ceiling as sunlight hits them, reveals the genius of such Dark Age works of art. Very few tourists go there, perhaps a hundred over the single day I was there in 2016. The more reason to record those amazing scenes close up.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

Yes it's a great place.I visited it as a kid. It's relatively close to Venice as well right ?

[@dayros2023]

Ravenna is a marvel for history lovers, the city centre too is very beautiful and the food is among the best in Italy. However there were quite a lot of tourists when i visited in 2019.

[@jontalbot1]

Didn’t know about this one. Best places I have been to see lots of mosaics is Ravenna and Tunisia

[@xavierpaquin]

Thanks!

[@muscledavis5434]

If the Romans are alive in some form of heaven, they will be proud of you! This channel is a fuckin gem for knowledge about Roman culture and i am 4eally drunk. Edit: much love from Germania mf❤

[@golDroger88]

I have been here. The entire city is beautiful and filled with ruins.

[@magnvss]

Interesting to see what we now call "Celtic Knots" in the designs. So, even if extensively used by Celts afterwards, we seem to see their origins (unless someone could argue that, in reverse, this was a style adopted by Romans by the influence of the conquered Gauls-Celts of different regions.)

[@kaloarepo288]

A basilica is not necessarily a church - it was originally a type of law court -derived from the Greek "basileus" meaning "king."

[@mdsfo]

It's interesting seeing early depictions of Jesus looking like a Roman, short hair, beardless, in a tunic rather than flowing robes. But I must say the artistic quality of this late Roman mosaic doesn't come close to that of earlier centuries. The animals and human depictions were amateurish compared to say, some Pompeiian mosaics.

[@Blackadder75]

Xenophanes meme: “The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black, While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair. Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw, And could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw their gods Like horses, and cattle like cattle; and each they would shape Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of their own.”

[@postholer]

It's not a depiction of Jesus. It's a depiction of a shepherd - fairly common in late antiquity as a depiction of idealised rural life. It might have been associated with the Bible story but first and foremost it's just a shepherd. Fits well with the other depictions of people at work.

[@betty5064]

How on earth do you organise worship without spoiling anything?

[@antofab]

As far as I know Mass is not celebrated every week but only on special occasions in which they cover the floor with a huge carpet...

[@fnurglewitz]

Not anymore, when my mother married in that church they used to put a carpet, nowadays you just don't walk on the mosaic and people stay on the sides of the church

[@loganbutler1016]

Jonah is lying under a gourd plant -- as it says in the bible.

[@postholer]

Hm. The interpretation of the turtle and the rooster is highly speculative and is still discussed. Why a shepherd surrounded by depictions of other wild animals is supposed to be Jesus isn't much clearer either. Those are typical depictions of the idealised land life and very common in late antiquity. Pagan as well as Christian. Just look through sarcophagi of that time. The shepherd might have been associated with Jesus in the Bible story but the interpretation you present is straight out of the Christian tour guide and lacks scientific evidence. First and foremost we see a shepherd surrounded by animals. Don't you think a depiction of Jesus would have been more centered? And doesn't this motive fit very well with the other scenes showing rural life?

[@kidmohair8151]

this is from the time before the christians had yet settled on the form that their religion would take in the future. there were at least 3 major competing strains of expression, and probably many minor ones, with each accusing the others of heresy. and then, there were all the *other* religions...

[@iHusk]

How are we to believe these Romans were so smart and advanced when they couldn't even put the rooster turtle and tower in the floor the right way up? "Oh yes Praise Jesus and his magical upside-down rooster turtle tower. God's favor shall shine on us forever! Upside-down Rooster symbolizes the Father, upside down Turtle represents the Son, and Upsidedown Tower Represents the Holy Spirit and..they're NOT actually upside down, we're the one's who are upside down, and it tells us we... how..uh.. we must turn ourselves...right way up to ..uh... live in their... name,Look it's in the Bible just rea--- uhh..shoot... ,Ok, well just talk to your local benedictine monk I'm sure they have insight. Shoo peasant...." You'd think someone would have made them to it over again. Just lazy. /satire

[@craigbhill]

The upside down quality of that mosaic is caused by the fact the only vantage one can see it puts it in an upside down position. If a ramp were built on the other side of the mosaic, crossing in front of it, a visitor could see it right side up. Without such a ramp, Garrett could not hop onto the mosaics, perhaps crushing some of the tiles, to get a shot of them right side up. It's just bad luck the room is situated thus that the only way one can see it at all is upside down. A pity, tho which is cured by flipping the camera upside down, which may not have been possible for Garrett to manipulate, assuming he was recording on his phone and that he was the videographer.

[@ReplyToMeIfUrRetarded]

Amazing.

[@spankflaps1365]

It’s all magnificent, but why is Jesus 1:56 in drag? 😃