This diptych was created from a drawing reconstructing the ancient Roman Forum of unknown authorship, the image depicted in the drawing is of The Persecution of The Christians, something that happened repeatedly during the first 3 centuries after Christ in Rome. The template of this drawing was cut through combined imagery of The Coliseum and Brueghel’s painting of The Tower of Babel. Brueghel was inspired to create this work from a visit to The Colosseum. Fellini saw the Colosseum as “That horrendous catastrophe in stone, that immense skull consumed by time, stuck in the middle of the city” In some upper sections of the lower layer glimpses can be had of the painting by Raphael “The Vision of the cross” where emperor Constantine is said to have had the vision of the cross prior to the battle of Milvian bridge in AD 312.
This was a pivotal moment in history when the Roman Empire turned toward christianity and led to the establishment of Constantinople and the Eastern church.
