The sixth register narrates Gospel stories of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence and the Baptistery. Included are his birth, baptism of Jesus, imprisonment and beheading by Herod.
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After their conversion to Christianity (yes, that is how long ago we are talking), the Roman Florentines selected the patron saint that correlated to their original pagan patron, the god Mars. To make conversion easier, Christians came up with a clever way of associating certain saints with a Roman counterpart. I guess St. John must have seemed pretty rugged, hanging out in the desert with his hairy undergarment, because he got matched up with the God of War. Who wouldn’t have been a little irritable wearing that thing? The new Christians then re-founded their main temple to Mars, what we now call the Baptistery, as a church to St. John