From Martyrs' Cults to Confessors' Cults in Late Antique Milan: The Mosaics of San Vittore in Ciel d’Oro

The mosaic decoration of the chapel of San Vittore in Ciel d’Oro in Milan portrays images of early Christian martyrs together with the fourth-century bishops who promoted their cults. By considering the mosaics in the context of the history of devotion to martyrs and confessors in Milan, it is possible to shed light on a long-standing dispute about the date of this decorative program. Further, when taken together with other evidence for the development of the cult of saints in Milan, these mosaics present important evidence for the process by which in the later fifth century the cult of the confessors emerged as a distinct and independent branch of the cult of saints.