Beneath between the windows we see represented four Bishops of Ravenna, S. Ursinus, S. Ursus, S. Severus, and S. Ecclesius.  To the right are the sacrifices of Abel, Melchizedek, and Abraham.  To the left the privileges of the church of Ravenna.  In the midst we see an archbishop and the emperor who hands him a scroll on which is written privilegia.  To the left are three priests bearing fire, incense, and a thurible.  To the right are three other figures supporting the emperor as the three priests support the archbishop.  Doubtless this mosaic records the privileges granted to the church of Ravenna by Constantinople.  The archbishop is probably Reparatus who received so much from the Emperor Constantinus IV.  Two of the figures who attend the emperor represent Heraclius and Tiberius.  This mosaic is the latest in the church, dating from 668.

Over the arch of the tribune is a medallion bust of the Saviour holding a book in His left hand and blessing us with His right.  Upon either side are symbols of the four Evangelists in the clouds of the sky.  Beneath we see on either side the cities of Bethlehem and Hierusalem, from each of which issue six sheep—­perhaps the twelve apostles.  Beneath again are two palm trees and again the archangels Gabriel and Michael and S. Luke and S. Matthew.

These mosaics have often been remade and repaired.  When Crowe and Cavalcaselle examined them before 1860 they found that the whole tunic of the Moses had been repainted and half the face of the Elias had been restored.  They proceed:  “The head of S. Apollinare is in part damaged, the left hand and lower part of the figure destroyed.  The sheep beside S. Apollinare, but particularly those on the right of that figure, are almost completely modern.  A large part of the left side of the apsis is repainted, of the four bishops between the windows of the tribune the head of Ecclesius is preserved, the lower part repainted.  The head of S. Ursinus is a new mosaic, and the lower half of the figure is restored.  In the mosaic of the sacrifice half the head from the eyes upwards and part of the arms of Abel are repainted, the legs have become dropsical under repair.  The figures of Abraham and Isaac are almost completely repainted, and the hands and feet are formless for that reason.  This mosaic is repaired in two different ways with white cubes coloured over and with painted stucco.  In the mosaic representing the tender of privileges the nimbi as already stated are new, but besides, the lower part of all the figures is repainted in stucco and the heads are all more or less repaired.  Of the figures in the arch that of the archangel Gabriel is half ruined and half restored, and part of S. Matthew and S. Luke are new.”

Since Crowe and Cavalcaselle wrote a vast restoration has been undertaken, and this was finished in 1908.  It was very carefully carried out and it is to be believed that the work as we see it is now secure.