RAVENNA
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RAVENNA
Classe is a work of the same Jiilianus. This church,
which is a basihca of three naves, divided by two lines
of marble columns, has preserved its ancient structure
better. The marble incrustations of the walls were
removed in 1449 by Sigismondo Malatesta. In the
lateral naves there are the sarcophagi of eight arch-
bishops, nearly all of them with metrical inscriptions.
The mosaics of the apse have been restored; they
represent, around a cross on a blue background, the
Transfiguration, the preaching of St. Apollinaris, the
sacrifice of Abel; Abraham, Melchisedec, the Em-
perors Constantine IV, Heracleus, and Tiberius grant-
ing [irivileges to the Archbishop Reparatus (671-77),
and four are the portraits of bishops. Pope Leo 111
ance of the pope, which happened again in 705 in
the case of Pope John VI. When, by order of Leo
the Isaurian the Exarch Paulus wished to destroy
the sacred images about (he year 727, Ravenna re-
volted, and in the fighting that followed the Exarch
himself was killed. Agnello tells of a battle between
the Ravennese and the Greeks at a time that is
not well defined.
In 752 Aistulf, King of the Lombards, took Ravenna; then, however. Pope Stephen II (III) obtained the intervention of Pepin, and the exarchate was united to the dominions of the Holy See. There- after Ravenna and the exarchate were governed in the name of the pope by the archbishop, iissisted by
V-Contury M
restored the church, to which later there was annexed
a Camaldolese momustery.
Ravenna is to-day substantially as it was at the beginning of the Byzantine period: sub.sequent ages have done nothing e.xcept to pavSS by, transforming, not always happily, the work of the fifth and sixth cen- turies. In 539 the city fell into the hands of Bclisa- rius, who, pretending to accept the crown of Italy offered to him by Vitiges, was allowed to enter the town; but when the Goths attempted to retake it (548-550), it was held against them. At the close of the war, Ravenna became the seat of the Byzan- tine governor, and accordingly was better able than Rome to preserve its outward splendour. The Lombards attempted several times to take possession of the city; in 597 Faroald, Duke of Spoleto, suc- ceeded in taking Classe, but was driven from it two years later by the German Droctulf; the same oc- curred to Ariulfo in 592, and in 716 to Faroald II, the latter of whom was compelled to restore Classe by Liutprand, who in turn took possession of it 726. Liutprand succeeded in taking Ravenna it- self in 731, not, however, without the assistance of a party in the town that was averse to Byzantine domination. This aversion had already mani- fested itself in 692, when Constans II wished to take Pope Sergius to Constantinople; the militias of Ravenna and the Pentapolis hastened to the assist-
three tribunes who were elected by the people. Soon,
however, the archbishops came to consider them-
selves feudatories of the empire; and in fact in the
confirmation of their temporal power by Henry II
and Barbarossa no mention is made of the sov-
ereignty of the pope. The archbishops of Ravenna
were the most faithful supporters of the rights and
policy of the emperors in Italy, while the emperors
on different occasions held their courts at Ravenna.
In 1198, however, that city — where the communal
institutions had been greatly developed — placed it-
self at the head of the league of the cities of Romagna
and of the Marches against the imperial power;
and consequently Innocent III was able easily to
enforce the rights of the Holy See over Ravenna,
which were ratified by Otto IV and Frederick It
at periods when those princes needed the good will
of the pope. In the war of 1218 the Guelph Pietro
Traversari, having vanquished the faction of the
Ubertini and Mainardi, declared himself Lord of
Ra\'enna, and was succeeded by his son Paolo in
1226. Paolo fought against Frederick II, who in
1240 took the office of podesta from Paolo's son, also
named Paolo. In 1248, however, the pope took
Ravenna, and the Traversari returned to power;
but in 1275 they were driven from the city by Guido
NovcUo da Polenta, who was made perpetual captain.
His son Lamberto (1297-1316) abolished the demo-
