Salvadori, SharonPaxton, NicoleNasobina, Aleksandra2024-12-232024-12-232024Nasobina, Aleksandra. "Where Theodora Episcopa Rests: A Gendered Analysis of the Chapel of San Zeno at Santa Prassede in Rome". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2024.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14490/844Thesis (B.A. in Art History)--John Cabot University, Fall 2024.The chapel of San Zeno is one of the best-studied ninth-century monuments in Rome due to its remarkable state of preservation and gleaming mosaic program. Despite this, the present study attempts to fill a surprising gap in its centuries-long historiography. Although scholars generally acknowledge that the chapel serves as a mausoleum for Paschal I’s mother, Theodora, it has yet to be analyzed as her commemorative monument. The scholarly oversight may partially be due to the seemingly atypical nature of her representation in the northern niche of the chapel, where she is presented alongside Santa Prassede, Santa Pudenziana, and the Virgin Mary. A blue square nimbus surrounds her head, her hair is covered by a white headdress, and, most unusually, an inscription identifies her as Theodora Episcopa. As this titulus translates to a feminized version of the word “Bishop,” her portrayal ostensibly defies early medieval gender norms. This thesis re-centers the chapel’s narrative on Theodora Episcopa rather than focusing on the iconographic and geographical sources of the chapel’s imagery, as has often been the case. The iconography of the chapel’s mosaics will instead be analyzed through a gendered lens. The unique title Episcopa will be examined in the context of the titulature of imperial and highranking religious women. This methodology proposes a new link between Theodora Episcopa, Helena Augusta, and Galla Placidia Augusta to be made. This connection, in turn, generates novel insights into the relationship between mother and son, Theodora Episcopa and the Episcopus Paschal – that allow a gendered reassessment of the Virgin and Child imagery throughout the chapel and its basilica.98 pagesenAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/S. Prassede (Church : Rome, Italy)Thesis