JOHN OSBORNE is a Distinguished Research Professor and Dean Emeritus in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University, Ottawa. He is a cultural historian of early medieval Italy with a focus on the material culture of Rome and Venice. His publications include studies of medieval use of the Roman catacombs, murals in churches such as San Clemente and Santa Maria Antiqua, cultural contacts between Rome and Constantinople, and the medieval understanding of Rome's heritage of ancient buildings and statuary.

• 1. Rome in 700: 'Constantinople on the Tiber'; 2. John VII servus sanctae Mariae; 3. Clerics, monks, and saints; 4. 'The City of the Church'; 5. The Chapel of Theodotus in Santa Maria Antiqua; 6. Pope Zacharias and the Lateran Palace; 7. Rome and the Franks; 8. Paul I; 9. Hadrian I dux Dei; 10. Leo III and Charlemagne; Afterword

'The new volume is an enterprising, wide-ranging synthesis unlike anything the author has attempted before … It is a panoramic résumé of Rome's cultural and institutional evolution over the course of the eighth century, that pivotal period when the city passed from imperial to papal control, presented through the lens of 'art.'' Hendrik Dey, Bryn Mawr Classical Review