Ravenna: A Lecture by Dr. William Neidinger

As the Roman Empire unraveled in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, Ravenna became the effective capital of the western part of the Empire. Europe was overrun by Germans, Italy settled by the Ostrogoths, and the Italian peninsula laid waste by the Byzantine-Ostrogothic Wars. But Ravenna blossomed during these turbulent times and came to boast of some of the finest mosaics of late antiquity.