St. Mark

Mid-12th century
Mosaic
Church of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio ("The Martorana"), Palermo, Sicily

Each of the four evangelists is portrayed at a writing desk in a corner of the dome over the chruch's apse. The desks are all pictured as here, presumably corresponding to the actual writing desks of the 12th century.

Above the book, the inscription gives St. Mark's name in Greek, OAIOC MAPKOC. The banderole around the portrait gives the first verse and part of the second from Mark's gospel: αρχη του ευαγγελιου ιησου χριστου υιου του θεου ωc γεγραπται, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written…."

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.