This thesis focuses on the influence of Rome – both as a place and as a concept – on the public arts of early Anglo-Saxon England. It considers the visual culture of Late Antique and Early Christian Rome (and the Classical world from which these emerged) alongside Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture, to draw out the connections between them, the nature of the contacts that shaped the arts, and the social, political and religious ideas underlying such inspiration and changes. It thus adopts a fresh perspective from which to view Anglo-Saxon art and architecture, moving away from the earlier focus on classification and style, and setting this against the backdrop of medieval England’s connection with Rome at all levels of society. Issues of patronage are placed at the forefront of this research, and particular attention is paid to the multiplicity of possible and intentional interpretations for individual monuments, their location, and effect on patrons, artists and audiences. Evidence from the catacomb art in Rome, and the graffiti found therein, is used in relation to Anglo-Saxon England, thus providing a different approach to the transmission of influences.