Visiting Justinian in Verona

This week I was able to stop through Verona on our way from Ravenna to Genoa. While it was not the most direct route, we were able both to make a whole series of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” jokes and visit a tiny bit of the Corinthia. One of the two inscriptions mentioning Justinian and Viktorinos from the Isthmus of Corinth is in the Museo Lapidario Maffeiano in Verona. Regular readers of this blog know that I have worked on two articles dealing with these texts and considering what they tell us about the 6th century Isthmus. The text is remarkable because it is among the only texts specifically referring to Justinian from Greece and among the first to mention the Theotokos as protector, a role that would become very common in the 6th and later Byzantine centuries.

The most remarkable building in Verona, of course is the well-preserved Roman amphitheatre: