Located within the Roman Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli is one of the oldest extant mosaics of the third century Roman martyr, St. Sebastian. As the legend goes, St. Sebastian was a member of the Roman guard under the Emperor Diocletian and, his Christian faith being discovered, he was condemned to death, being 'executed' by archers who would pierce him through with arrows. It is said that his executioners mistakenly left him for dead and when those who came to retrieve his body found him yet alive, Sebastian would be nursed back to health. It was only after this, when he continued on with his profession of the Faith, that he was recaptured and ultimately martyred by means of being clubbed to death.
So goes the legend, and how much of this is actual historical fact and how much later legend is difficult to say of course, but what is interesting to me is that this early depiction of St. Sebastian -- dated to approximately the year 683 -- depicts him rather differently than those of later centuries.
The mosaic also gives us no knowledge or even an intimation as to the particular method of his martyrdom -- though that is not particularly unusual in this instance. What it does tell us is that he is a martyr by for he is presented to us holding a crown in his hand -- a symbol of martyrdom.
We also know that this is in fact intended to represent St. Sebastian for to either side we find a golden Latin inscription, identifying him as such: S[AN]C[TU]S SEBASTIANVS.
We also see that Sebastian is depicted as a soldier, dressed in short tunic and wearing a longer outer cloak. So there is plenty that we can understand as aligned, but it is precisely the little variances that make it intriguing to consider.
Overall, the mosaic is simple and yet exceedingly rich and beautiful. In particular I would highlight the rich colours and especially to the distinctive blue background and gold lettering. I would highlight these because these are characteristics that can be found in many other Roman mosaics of similar antiquity. It would seem that while gold backgrounds were the colour of choice for the Eastern Romans (i.e. Byzantines), within Rome proper blue backgrounds and golden lettering reigned supreme.
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