§ 4 Monograms and Inscriptions
The poet Paulus speaks of the iconostasis as bearing the names of the emperor and empress, combined in a monogram—“one letter that means many words.”
Such ciphers or monograms had been in use for some centuries, and at the end of the fifth century they were used as signatures in discs left in the capitals. They appear at Ravenna in the time of Theodoric; and, in Constantinople, S. Sophia, S. Sergius, and S. Irene display similar ciphers of Justinian. At S. Sophia almost every capital is charged with two monograms which are carved on the bosses on opposite sides of the capitals. The background is entirely hollowed away, and the monograms show sharp and clear in the nest-like cup which is held by the serrated edges of the acanthus leafage. There are four or five main varieties of which Salzenberg somewhat inaccurately figures two without offering any explanation. The first type appears on two or three of the coins of Justinian, of which we have figured an example at large on the title-page, and in these instances they have been deciphered by Sabatier as the monogram of that emperor. A ceramic inscription given in the Revue Archéologique for 1876, repeats the same form. We had made out that the second variety was probably the word Basileos, when, at Constantinople, we were referred to the paper by Canon Curtis and M. Aristarches.413 In this article the monograms are classified according to their main types and the whole series is figured. Although the figures are small, this is a thoroughly good piece of work, in the result obtaining many pairs reading Justinian, Basileos, other pairs with Theodora Augusta, and one with a date.
The capitals of the sixteen great columns of the nave, the capitals of the lower side aisles—with the exception of those on the eight square columns,—and the thirty-six columns on the floor above, which screen the side gynaecea from the nave, bear monograms. We were fortunately able to examine and draw all of them, but give in Fig. 75 only those on the back and front of the sixteen great columns of the nave. They occur in the order in which they are placed on the illustration from the first column on the left (north) side on entering at the west, to the corresponding one on the south side.414 Many of those monograms, especially those of the galleries, bear evidence of having been restored. We may recollect that the capitals were said to have been restored by Romanus (p. 123). It is possible that Fossati tampered with them; the Italian MS. of 1611 in the British Museum states that “the Turks have destroyed some figures which were anciently carved (intagliarsi) on the capitals.”
There are fifty-six examples on the capitals which Curtis and Aristarches give as being monograms of Justinian; in all these the letter Ν forms the main lines, to which additions are made, so that the letters ΙΟΥϹΤΙΝΙΑΝΟΥ can be traced out. Some of these have crosses in addition.
The next monogram is that read ΒΑϹΙΛΕΩϹ. It occurs in all on fifty-five columns, the examples of it in our illustration are B.1, E.2, H.1, P.1, C.2, P.1, G.2, J.2, L.2, N.2, Q.2, the remnant of K.1, shows that this was similar. This monogram is found also on the capitals of S. Sergius and Bacchus, and on three beautiful Basket Capitals at S. Mark’s.415
Several of the fifty-six, classed together as Justinian, furnish varieties from the clearest typical form. In some a letter appears which may be read either as Ε or Β, also an Ω and a sign of contraction: see M.1 and O.1; possibly this is a combination of Justinian and Basileos or only a variant spelling: this form occurs in the church of S. Sergius as well as at S. Sophia.
On twelve capitals is carved the monogram ΘΕΟΔΩΡΑϹ. This is either designed on the cross form as B.2 F.1, another in the side aisles, and three in the gynaeceum above, or else as in E.2 it approximates to Basileos. Two of this latter type also occur in S. Sergius, which shows how early Justinian associated his wife with him in his architectural labours.
Finally from S. Sophia, and from there only, we have twelve examples of ΑΥΓΟΥϹΤΑϹ. Typical ones are shown in G.1, and A.1-A.2; possibly some of these, as A.1, may have been read Augustus, if any care was taken in their distribution. The letters on the last capital Q.1 have been read by Curtis and Aristarches as ϜΜΒΒ. They take Ϝ to be a capital form of the obsolete letter which is used for 6 or 6,000, Μ is as usual 40, and Β is 2. Hence they get 6042 for the year of the world. The lower Β is then explained as the year of an Indiction, reading it as ΙΒ, or 12. One Indiction period of fifteen years would have ended in 522 A.D., and the twelfth year from that would be 534 A.D. equalling 6042 A.M. Therefore this gives a date, two years after the church was begun, when they suggest that this capital was put in its place. This ingenious explanation requires too much adjustment for it to be conclusive, and the Ϝ form is at least unusual. This monogram looks very white, as if it had been made up in plaster; if we were assured as to how much is ancient we might perhaps, if it proved different from the others, find here the inserted monogram of a later emperor who made repairs.
Salzenberg gives some monogram signatures from the closures under the great west window, which are carefully carved and entirely different from rough masons’ marks, although some of the forms occur amongst those. We were unable to examine them, and taking Salzenberg’s representation, we can only suggest that they may be the signatures of master-workers; one appears to be Phocas.
M. Choisy416 has investigated the masons’ marks of S. Sophia; besides the ordinary signs, he makes out a system of numbering in the pavement slabs of the galleries.
Strzygowski417 pursues the subject of Byzantine marks in general, much further. He points out the same signs on the columns of S. Vitale, of Pomposa, and of Parenzo, and in the cistern Bin-Bir-direk at Constantinople. From this we gather that not only “the columns of Ravenna, but also the similar architectural features of Constantinople, Salonica, Parenzo, in fact along the whole coast of the Mediterranean” were taken from the quarries of Proconnesus, and in the lettering on the different members we can recognise the working signs of the quarrymen or masons belonging to the guild, which sprang into existence there at the founding of New Rome, and which even as early as the end of the fourth century was exporting to the islands of the Ægean.
A few other inscriptions on the marble may be briefly noticed. On the inner border of the marble parapet of the north gallery is scratched, “Place of the most noble Patrician Lady Theodora,” ending with an abbreviation that may mean S. Sophia,418 and again on a panel of the parapet of the north gallery at the west end is seen, “Timothy, keeper of the vessels.” Coteler in his Monumenta Ecclesiae Graecae finds mention of one Timothy, who was skeuophylax of the Great Church at the time of the Monothelite heresies about 622.419
On a column in the southern gynaeceum occurs the word Teodorus, but the fact that it is spelt with the Latin T and D proves it to have been written during the Western supremacy, 1204-1261.
In the south gallery is a slab forming a part of the paving; “marks in the face of which seem to suggest that a railing inclosed the space within which a sarcophagus used to stand, supported by pillars.” This is inscribed with the name of the blind Doge who led the Venetians against Constantinople in 1204, and died the following year, “Henricus Dandolo.”
Note
The following additional inscription from the mosaics is given in Clarke’s Travels (1812). It was taken, he says, in one place, “from the ceiling of the dome,” but in another place he seems to associate it with the eastward semidomes:—
ΟϹΚΑΙΧΡΥϹΟΥ
ΠΕΝΤΗΚΟΝΤΑ
ΤΑΛΑΝΤΑΘΕΟΚ
..Ν...ΟΙϹΝΕ
.ΕΚΕΙ.....
Footnotes
1 Ἀνάπλους Βοσπόρου, ed. C. Wescher, 1874, p. 5.
2 Notitia Dignitatum, eds. Pancirolus, Venice, 1602, and Seeck Berlin, 1876. The date given by Seeck for the Notitia is 411-413 A.D.
3 Ἑλληνικὸς Φιλολογικὸς Σύλλογος; παράρτημα, 1885.
4 Ed. Bonn, i., p. 494.
5 Lydus speaks of a fire spreading from the “Forum of Zeuxippus” to that of Constantine (p. 265). The baths of Zeuxippus are placed at the north end of the Hippodrome by Labarte and Mordtmann.
6 Christodorus, a fifth-century poet.—F. Baumgarten, 1891.
7 Hist. ed. Bonn, p. 97.
8 Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 1875, vol. iv., p. 467.
9 Mordtmann, Esquisse topo. de Constantinople, p. 48 and map.
10 The Museum of Classic. Antiq. 1857, p. 305. The Capitol was beyond Forum Cons. Lydus speaks of “the porticoes that pass through the city and lead to the Forum of Constantine, and the broad space is screened symmetrically with great and beautiful columns. [Some of] these porticoes are said to have been built by men from Naples and Puteoli who came to Byzantium to please Constantine.” (Ed. Bonn, p. 266.)
11 Imperium Orientale, Paris, 1711.
12 Bury, A History of the later Roman Empire (395 A.D. to 800 A.D.), vol. i., p. 57. Mr. Bury, in an excellent review of Paspates’ book in The Scottish Review, Ap. 1894, gives up the position assigned to the Augusteum by that author.
13 D. Byéljajev, Byzantina, St. Petersburg, 1891, reviewed in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1892, p. 344.
14 MSS., plans, and descriptions, in the Library of R. Inst. Brit. Architects.
15 Paspates, The Great Palace, p. 20. Mr. Metcalfe’s translation is intended throughout.
16 Lib. lxxiv., ch. 10.
17 Mordtmann, Esquisse, pp. 4 and 5.
18 Esquisse Top. p. 3.
19 Zosimus (p. 139) and Lydus (p. 265) say that the Emperor Julian built a Senate. So also according to Sozomen (ii. 3) and the Paschal Chron. did Constantine.
20 Hist. eccles. lib. vi., ch. xviii.
21 Ecc. Hist. lib. i., xvii.
22 Du Cange, Descriptio S. Sophiae, ed. Bonn, p. 62.
23 Eusebius, De Vita Cons. lib. iv., cap. lviii-lix.
24 De Vita Cons. lib. iii., cap. xlviii.-xlix.
25 Eccl. Hist. ii., xvi.
26 Du Cange, p. 63. He quotes the fifth-century author Idatius.
27 Ed. Bonn, i., p. 523, and i., p. 530.
28 Socrates, Hist. Eccl. vi., 18.
29 Du Cange, § 3.
30 Pasch. Chron. ed. Bonn, i., p. 572.
31 Eccl. Hist. ix., 1.
32 See Tozer’s note, Finlay, vol. i., 45.
33 Justinian’s church was opened at Christmas.
34 Art. “Orientirung” in Real Encyklopädie der Christlichen Alterthümer, 1886, based on Mothes’ schedule in Die Basilikenformen, 1865. We hope to show on another occasion that the present church at Bethlehem which points to the east was entirely rebuilt by Justinian. There is no proof that S. George Salonica is older than fifth cent.
35 Homilies xxvi. and lx.
36 De Sepulcris Imperatorum, Migne S. G., vol. 157, p. 726.
37 Migne, p. 674.
38 Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. iii., p. 120.
39 Revue Archéologique, vol. iv., p. 659, and Kugler, Geschichte der Baukunst, vol. i., p. 372.
40 For similar early circular baptisteries see Martigny, Dict. Christ. Antiq.
41 See Salz., plate xx., figs. 4, 5.
42 Ibid. p. 19.
43 Chron. Pasch. ed. Bonn, p. 622.
44 Zonaras also gives the true date; according to the Byzantine era the year of the world 6040. In Cedrenus it appears as 6008, a copyist’s error in writing ηʼ for μʼ.
45 Ed. Bonn, p. 338.
46 Migne, S.L. vol. li., p. 943.
47 Ed. Bonn, p. 378.
48 Theo. p. 359.
49 Geschichte der Byzantinischen Litteratur, 1893, p. 42. Ramsay says it could not have been completed until 560. See Historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 205.
50 λιθολόγος—really one who picks out and lays stones.
51 ἁψίς, “a binding together,” used for either an arch or a semidome.
52 λωρός, “a thong” or a belt.
53 The author seems here to mistake the piers for the temporary support of the arch while it was being built.
54 Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 359.
55 Chron. Pasch. ed. Bonn, and Zonaras.
56 Chron. ed. Bonn, p. 369.
57 Krumbacher, p. 49.
58 Agathias, lib. v. ed. Bonn, p. 296.
59 τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρτώματος οἰκοδόμιαν.
60 Krumbacher, p. 53.
61 Hist. Eccles. iv., chap. 31.
62 The dimensions appear so inaccurate that we do not attempt to explain them.
63 Salz. Alt. Baud.
64 καὶ κέντρον ἕλειν καὶ σχῆμα χαράξαι.
65 ἄντυξ, the circular rim of a shield. Used here for the bema-arch.
66 Column does not stand directly over column.
67 σφαίρης ἡμιτόμοιο, the ἡμισφαίριον of Agathias and Evagrius. This word is used by Eusebius for the dome of the Holy Sepulchre.
68 ἔγραφε leaves no doubt that a mosaic cross on the interior is intended, and not, as Salzenberg suggests, a cross on the outside. The full expression for representations in mosaic was καταγράφειν ψηφῖδι: as in Joannes Lydus († 550), De Magistratibus ii. 20, in his description of the palace built by the Praetorian Prefect.
69 Near Antioch.
70 A town of Lycia.
71 ἄνθος, a bud, sprout or flower; hence brightness and bloom generally.
72 θύρετρος is elsewhere a door. But “twin doors” has no meaning here. See plan.
73 January; the consuls then entered on their year of office, and wore chitons of gold thread. See Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 22.
74 This custom at Antioch is mentioned as early as the time of S. John Chrysostom in a sermon on the Baptism of Christ.
75 ψηφῖδες—pebbles. The usual word for mosaic tesserae.
76 In Macedonia. The mines are mentioned by Herodotus.
77 The promontory on the south of Attica. The mines were at Laurium.
78 πολυγλώσσοιο ὁμίλου, the choir.
79 νῶτον, a back, and hence, any wide, flat surface.
80 μύρμηξ, the ant; here the silkworm.
81 οὐρίαχος. Used in Homer of the butt end of a spear; hence long narrow glass lamps. See our Fig. 17.
82 ἐπακτρίς, a small row-boat.
83 See Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 70.
84 Called ὀπισθάμβωνος εὐχή, the “back” of the ambo.
85 Ed. Bonn, p. 74. See also our page 79.
86 See Nicetas also on our p. 75.
87 La Messe., Art. “Ambon,” vol. iii., p. 9.
88 Hopf, Chroniques Gréco-Romanes, p. 96.
89 See our p. 75.
90 Cantacuzenus, Hist. lib. i., chap. 41, ed. Bonn, p. 196.
91 A shortened form of κεκράκται.
92 ἡ μεγάλη εἴσοδος, when the Bread and Wine are brought from the table of the prothesis and placed upon the Holy Table, while the Cherubic Hymn is sung in honour of “the King of all, invisibly attended by the spears of the Angelic Hosts.” See Dr. Freshfield’s article in the Archaeologia, vol. xliv., p. 386; he translates a parallel account from Codinus.
93 A Russian pilgrim describing the coronation of Manuel in the fourteenth century says, “The imperial procession advanced so slowly that it took three hours to walk from the royal door to the thrones.” Soc. de l’Orient Latin, séries géog. vol. v., p. 143.
94 De Officiis Palatii, chap. xvii., ed. Bonn, p. 87.
95 In Nicephori Bryennii... Pauli Silentiarii comment.
96 Hist. Byz. duplici commentario illustrata.
97 Introduction to the History of the Eastern Church.
98 Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 49.
99 Ed. Bonn, p. 259.
100 Cons. Porphyr. in Labarte, Pal. Impérial, p. 92.
101 See our p. 75.
102 See Anon. p. 138 below.
103 The Euchologium, ed. 1647, p. 499, speaks of taking the garments of those about to become conventuals and placing them on or in the “little sea” (thalassidion) of the Holy Table. Here Goarus interprets it as “the hollow recess of the Holy Table,” which seems to have been beneath the table, and used for washing the vessels, like the piscina in the later Latin church.
104 “ἔλεκτρον or ἀλλότυπον united with glass and fine stones; such is the material of which the Holy Table of S. Sophia is made.” Glossary of Suidas quoted by Labarte in Recherches sur la Peinture en Email, p. 89.
105 Porphyrogenitus describes the table in the chapel built by Basil the Macedonian as “a mixture of all precious materials placed in order and bound together by fire into a many-coloured mass of surpassing beauty, which is the wonder of all nations.” We also read of “Holy Tables of silver, having gold and precious stones and pearls poured over them, forming a compact union together.”
106 Hopf, Chroniques Gréco-Romanes.
107 Nic. Chron. Hist., ed. Bonn, p. 758.
108 Vera Historia Unionis, Hague, 1660.
109 A MS. Greek service-book made for Basil II. (976-1025) now in the Vatican Library. A folio was printed from it at Urbino in 1727.
110 Migne, S. L. vol. 106, p. 610.
111 Migne, S. L. vol. 106, p. 603.
112 Pachymeres, de Mich. Pal. ed. Bonn, vol. ii., p. 385.
113 Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 57.
114 Texier, Arch. Byz., p. 134.
115 De Fleury, La Messe, vol. ii. and plate cii.
116 Du Cange, § 58.
117 Bingham, Antiq. Christ. Church, vol. iii., p. 123, note.
118 Ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 433.
119 Migne, S. G. Tom. 147, p. 414.
120 Ed. Bonn., pp. 450 and 697.
121 Figured in Ongania’s Il Tesoro di San Marco.
122 Bayet, L’Art Byzantin.
123 De Fleury, La Messe.
124 Hopf, Chroniques Gréco-Romanes.
125 Compare our p. 126.
126 Archaeologia, vol. xxxiv.
127 Paulinus, describing the church at Nola, writes: “Cum duabus dextra laevaque conchulis intra spatiosum sui ambitum apsis sinuata laxetur, una earum immolanti hostias jubilationis antistiti patet, altera post sacerdotem capaci sinu receptat orantes.” Migne, S.L., vol. 61, p. 337.
128 Suicerus, Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus verb. Diaconicum.
129 See p. 96.
130 Cer. pp. 636 and 565.
131 Du Cange, § 76.
132 Cer. p. 27. A Holy Well is frequently found in the Prothesis.
133 Quellen für Byzantischer Kunstgeschichte.
134 Cer. pp. 17 and 167.
135 Cer. pp. 157 and 160.
136 See account of Coronation in previous chapter and of Adoration of Cross below.
137 On Mount Athos; “the Kanonarches, or master of the choir, prompts the cantors, who sing without books.” A. Riley’s Mount Athos.
138 The Great Palace, p. 96.
139 Compare S. Germanus; La Messe, iii., p. 91.
140 Theoph. Contin., ed. Bonn, p. 333.
141 Mr. Conway in Art Journal, 1891.
142 Great Palace, pp. 120, 129.
143 Vol. iii., p. 321.
144 Fossati: also Paspates’ Byzantinae Meletai, p. 343.
145 Relation d’un Voyage de Constantinople, p. 160. This idea he may have obtained from Rosweyd’s note to Paulinus (1569), saying fountains in front of churches were succeeded by lustral vases placed at the vestibule of the temple. “The rim of such a one seems to be figured in Gruter, p. 1046, with an inscription which was selected from the Anthology, as is shown by Rigaltius. This line was [also] written on the sepulchre of St. Diomede.”
146 Paciaurdi 1758, De sacris Balneis, tab. vi.
147 Ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 262.
148 E. Muntz, Tapisserie.
149 Ed. Bonn, p. 402 and p. 894.
150 Cer. I., p. 591.
151 Soc. Orient. Latin, séries Géographique, vol. v. 1889, p. 143.
152 See E. Muntz, Tapisserie, and M. F. Michel, Recherches sur... des étoffes de Soie.
153 Jahrbuch des Vereins von alterthumsfreunden in Rheinlande, 1892, p. 224.
154 Across the Jordan.
155 See Paspates and Salz.
156 Ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 182.
157 Vol. i., p. 801.
158 Sigillographie de’ l’Empire Byzantin. The seal of the church itself represents Justinian and the Virgin or Theodora supporting the building. Cp. Lenormant, Revue Numismatique, 1864, p. 268, pl. xii.
159 Explicatio Officiorum sanctae ac magnae Ecclesiae, Auctore incerto a Bernardo Medonio edita, 1655. A Tupikon or Ritual Book of S. Sophia has been recently found at Patmos: Byz. Zeit., 1893.
160 Cantacuzenus, Bonn, ii., p. 15.
161 Cedrenus, vol ii., p. 609.
162 Pal. Pil. Text. Soc.
163 In the Ceremonies, book ii., we read that the three crosses kept in the palace were anointed by the protopapas with balsam, before being shown. Ed. Bonn, p. 549.
164 Ed. Bonn, p. 125.
165 κατηχούμενα, a “place for instruction,” used both of upper and lower aisles.
166 The college with a provost (didaskalos) and twelve fellows was between S. Sophia and the Chalkoprateia (see Bury, ii., p. 433), and therefore according to Mordtmann north of S. Sophia. Descending steps are only found in the north porch, and this is conclusive against Labarte and Paspates, who saw in the Didaskalion a mere passage attached to the south side of the church. Paschalia are the tables of Easter.
167 At this time more than one “life-giving cross” was kept at the palace and occasionally taken to S. Sophia. Cerem. 549.
168 Ed. Bonn, p. 14.
169 Drapeyron, L’Empereur Heraclius, 279.
170 Fortunatus celebrated its acceptance by a hymn.
171 J. of Ephesus, ed. R. P. Smith, 140.
172 Figured in Molinier’s L’Emaillerie, Paris, 1891.
173 Figured in Schlumberger’s Nicephorus Phocas.
174 See Ongania, Il Tesoro, Fig. 33 and p. 102.
175 Riant, Ex. Sac. C.P., vol. ii., p. 213.
176 Paspates, Byzantinae Meletae, p. 285.
177 Des Dépouilles Religieuses enlevées à Constantinople au xiii siècle par les Latins, 1875, and the fuller work, Exuviae Sacrae Constantinopolitanae, 1877.
178 Soc. Orient Latin. Séries Géog., vol. v.
179 Alluded to on a single page of MS. in the British Museum (Cott. Claud. iv.)
180 In the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, see Ceremonies, vol. ii., ch. xv.
181 The French translation has Diakonikon: Riant, in Exuv. Sacrae, C.P. says “smaller sanctuary:” the Anon. says skeuophylakium.
182 This must be the same as Robert de Clari’s “buhotiaous” fastened to the ring of the great door of S. Sophia.
183 I.e., the iconoclasts, of whom a number of stories are told by the Russian pilgrims.
184 See this story in Golden Legend, “Exaltation of the Cross.”
185 Lazarus was a martyr in the cause of image-worship. See Bayet, L’art Byzantin.
186 Cedrenus, ii., p. 609. Irene gave a cross “distinguished for its pearls”: Theo. Cont., p. 703.
187 Ongania, Il Tesoro di San Marco, pp. 57, 59. Rohault de Fleury, La Messe.
188 Exuviae Sacrae Constantinopolitanae.
189 See our p. 49.
190 Theoph. Contin., ed. Bonn, p. 211.
191 Ibid., Life of Basil, ch. 79.
192 La Messe, vol. vi., p. 78.
193 See fig. in Byz. Zeitschrift, 1893, p. 142.
194 In the figure 18 the attachment for the chain is shown at A, the chain of monograms is taken from Rossi, B shows the provision for the chains in the last example (Fig. 17), where there is a slight mistake, the alternate piercings in the rim being crosses as here shown.
195 Adapted from a photographic view in A. Riley’s Mountain of the Monks.
196 Du Cange.
197 Lib. iii. This was at Milan.
198 For this and other lamps see especially La Messe and Il Tesoro.
199 A. Riley, Mountain of the Monks.
200 P. 154.
201 Constantinopolis und aer Bosporus, vol. i., pp. 36-44.
202 The images were restored in S. Sophia on the 19th of February. Pagi. Critica in Universos Annales Baronii, vol. iii., p. 587.
203 Goar’s Euchologium, 1647, p. 560.
204 Cons. Porph. Life of Basil, ch. 79.
205 Leo Diaconus, ed. Bonn, p. 176.
206 Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 35.
207 Paspates, Byzantinae Meletae.
208 Pachymeres, ed. Bonn, i., p. 172.
209 Hist. Byzan., ed. Bonn, p. 273.
210 Ed. Bonn, lib. iv., p. 29.
211 Nicephorus Gregoras, p. 749.
212 Cantacuz., ed. Bonn, p. 30.
213 Compare Tozer’s Turkey, i. 97. He says Constantinople is still constantly called “the City” all over the Levant.
214 Gyllius reports a similar story.
215 Wright’s Early Travels in Palestine.
216 “Constantine, the last emperor of the Greeks.”
217 Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6,417.
218 Salzenberg, Altchristliche Baudenkmale.
219 Relation d’un Voyage de Constantinople, 1680.
220 MS. Harl., 3,408.
221 From Originum Rerumque Constantinopolitarium, variis auctoribus, manipulus, F. Franciscus Combefis, Paris, 1664. The same anonymous description is also given by Banduri, Imperium Orientale, ed. 1711, vol. i.
222 Evidently meant for lower aisles.
223 If this interpretation can be accepted for στοαί.
224 Bricks stamped with long inscriptions of this kind were frequently used: one from Sirmium is mentioned in Byzantinische Zeitschrift for 1894, p. 222: “O Lord Christ, help this city, keep off the Avars and guard Romania and him who writes this, Amen.”
225 This may mean the thickness of the marble wall lining in some places gilt—if it has a meaning.
226 σειζαὶ, a network, studded with jewels, suspended from processional crosses, and from the sides of crowns, see Fig. 15.
227 Reading ἐπὶ for ἀντί.
228 βοτρυιδόν, “like bunches of grapes.”
229 φίνες, Graecised form of the Latin fines.
230 Quoted in Ibn Batuta, Orient. Trans. Socy.
231 Du Cange, notes on Bondelmontius.
232 Glycas, Annalium, Pars V., ed. Bonn, p. 498.
233 Du Cange, op. cit.
234 Hopf, Chroniques Gréco-Romanes, Berlin, 1873, p. 67.
235 Altchristliche Baudenkmale von Constantinopel, published by the Prussian Government, Berlin 1854, with metrical version of the Silentiary’s poem by Dr. Körtum.
236 Salzenberg here suggests that these formerly supported equestrian statues. See his plates ix.-xii. and compare our fig. 29.
237 Salz. xx., figs. 9 and 10.
238 All dimensions in this chapter are in Prussian feet, 100 of which = 103 English.
239 See Salz., plate vi.
240 Salz., plate vii.
241 Salz., plates vii., viii., and illustration of stairs in text.
242 Salz., plate vi.
243 Ibid., plate xx.
244 Only a short time was allowed to Salzenberg for its examination. He was convinced it was not a baptistery, but gives no reasons.
245 Salz., plate xviii., figs. 9, 13.
246 Salz., plate vi.
247 Salz., plate vii.
248 Salz., plate vi.
249 Salz., plates vi., x.
250 It is probable, writes Salzenberg, that originally the buttress masses reached only up to the roof of the gynaeceum, level with the springing of the great arches; as Cedrenus describes how Justinian, at the restoration after the fall of the dome, made outside the building, in the neighbourhood of the main piers, above the roof of the gynaeceum four staircases, “cochleas” which reached up to the dome “to strengthen the vaulting.” Theophanes also speaks of new piers which Justinian erected to strengthen the dome. The circumstances mentioned by Procopius seem to indicate that the abutments of the great arches were not sufficient. See our chap. x., § 1, for another interpretation.
251 These Salzenberg thought later additions, “for the stone projections are not bonded to the piers, and the Silentiary says columns stood in these positions.” We do not so interpret the lines of the poem, and, although Choisy here follows Salzenberg, it is impossible to see, if there were additions subsequent to the completion of the building, how it is that the perfectly symmetrical disposition of the marble panelling shows no disturbance, and the beautiful carved cornice which mitres round these projections has had no additions made to it (our Fig. 47). The straight joints, which Choisy in another place specially notes as a method of Byzantine building, were here most wisely applied; for on one side the great pier was of stone, and on the other the buttress pier is of brick.
252 Salzenberg conjectures from Agathias that these arches were a later addition made when the dome was restored by Justinian. But without them, as he remarks, there would not have been originally a square base for the circle of the dome. See explanation of original form, p. 210.
253 Salzenberg assumes from Paulus that “the dome was surmounted by a cross”: the cross was of mosaic inside.
254 See Salz., plate x. The right-hand side is a section through one of the domical vaults, and the left through the barrel-vault which connects two domical vaults. The plans, plates vi. and vii., and the section plate xi., show how close some of the columns stand to the piers, to which they are joined by small barrel-vaults, intersecting the domical vaulting.
255 A mistake for vertical circles; the large number of cisterns where the vaults are uncovered make this certain. See our p. 221.
256 Salz., plate xxiv.
257 Salz., plate xxiii.
258 See figure in Salzenberg’s text.
259 Salz., plate xi.
260 Preparation for the gold.
261 Salzenberg’s plate xv., fig. 6. The inclination of the sides of that shown is much exaggerated, if in any case it exists.
262 Salz., plate xvi., fig. 1, 5.
263 Plate xvi., figs. 5, 6.
264 Salz., plate xvii., figs. 12 and 13. Fig. 14 gives the base, fig. 2 a complete column.
265 Salz., plate xv., figs. 7, 8.
266 See Salz., plate xv., figs. 1, 4, 5 for lower cornice; plate xvi., 2 and 3 for upper, figs. 3, 4 for dome cornice, fig. 9 aisle cornice. This last, says Salzenberg, “is mended in many places with gypsum, and comes from an earlier building.” We do not know what earlier building could have furnished a quarter of the quantity used in S. Sophia. Is it possible that the whole of it is of gypsum? (See our chapter xii.) The marble skirtings are shown on plates xv. and xvi.
267 In a note Salzenberg draws attention to Paulus speaking of eight windows in this wall, and conjectures that instead of the five upper windows there was one large opening here.
268 Salz., plate xx., fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a capital that was found on one of the four parapet posts, and removed at the “restoration”; fig. 7 was not found in S. Sophia; fig. 8 was an isolated capital in north aisle; figs. 9-11 show upper mouldings to the piers of the propylaeum.
269 Salz., plate xx., fig. 12 shows the underside of the beam in the middle of the west gynaeceum; fig. 15 is the side, and fig. 16 the underside of one in the south gynaeceum; figs. 13 and 14, one in the north gynaeceum.
270 Salz., plate xiv.
271 Plate xvii., figs. 1-7.
272 See Salz., plate xvii. Fig. 3 is the upper capital, fig. 4 the lower, figs. 5 and 6 the base, and fig. 7 the under side of the architrave. Figs. 8, 9, 10 are details of large west window.
273 Salz., plate xviii.
274 Plate xviii., figs. 10-14.
275 See plates vi. and xi.
276 Salz., plate iii., fig. 7.
277 Salz., plate xix.
278 See Salz., plate ix.
279 Salz., plate xvi., fig. 4.
280 Salz., plate xvi.
281 Salz., plates xxi., xxii. Plate xxii., fig. 1 shows the upper frieze and the panels beneath.
282 Salz., plate xxi., fig. 18, and our fig. 9.
283 Bury, vol. ii., 202.
284 J. of Ephesus wrote circa 590, R. Payne Smith’s translation.
285 See also Rambaud, Revue des Deux Mondes, Aug. 1871.
286 See plan and view in Strzygowski und Forchheimer, Die Wasserbehälter von Konstantinopel.
287 Imperium Orientale, p. 664.
288 See Ancien Plan de Constantinople imprimé entre 1566 et 1574, avec Notes explicatives par Caedicius, 1890.
289 Ed. 1562, p. 91.
290 Hakluyt Society, 1859, p. 34.
291 Migne, S.G. vol. 133, p. 695.
292 Texier figured in the Revue Archéologique, 1845, a small fountain found near the hippodrome to which it probably formerly belonged.
293 Nicetas, ed. Bonn, p. 857.
294 An organ is shown on the sculptured base of the obelisk of Theodosius.
295 MS. Mus. Brit., Sloane 2742, xvi. c.
296 Procopius.
297 Hakluyt Soc., p. 36.
298 Nuremberg Chronicle.
299 Constantinopolis Christiana, lib. i., ch. xxiv.
300 La Syrie Centrale, p. 75.
301 Ed. Bonn, p. 307 et seq.
302 Nicetas, p. 733.
303 Quoted by Buzantios.
304 Ceremonies, appendix ad lib. i., p. 502.
305 Ed. Bonn, v., p. 266.
306 Hakluyt Soc. series.
307 Anna Comnena also speaks of the houses of the Great Church.
308 See Curtis, Broken Bits of Byzantium, part 2.
309 Paspates, p. 40.
310 See Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., part 2.
311 It may be mentioned that an Italian cantharus, or font, of the twelfth century, in the possession of Mr. Brindley, has the Latinised form of the same word in an inscription around its rim which reads
Artificum summus cui nullus in orbe secundus Hunc luterem clarum sollerer sculpsit aquae....
312 Quoted by Paspates, Byzan. Mel. Note on p. 340.
313 Lanciani, Pagan and Christ. Rome.
314 Labarte, Pal. Imp.
315 Pachymeres de Michael Palaeol., ed. Migne, p. 703. See also Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 22.
316 Inscriptiones Antiquae totius orbis Romani.
317 Grelot is vague in regard to it. Banduri understood him to mean that the inscription was on the inner water vessels. The Greek patriarch Constantios accepts it as having belonged to the Phiale. Buzantios wildly says baptistery.
318 An inscrip. in Baptistery Florence, reads—
EN GIRO TORTE SOL CICLOS ET ROTOR IGNE.
319 See p. 84 and Kraus for other similar inscriptions.
320 The first, he says, “stands by the entrance to an old Bagno,” it was 4′ 3½″ in diameter. “The second stands in the midst of the cistern in the square court of the supposed St. John’s Church.” This was 2′ 6″ in diameter.
321 Migne, Pat. Cur. Com. Series Graeca, vol. i.
322 Euchologium, ed. 1647, p. 463.
323 Ed. 1647, p. 560.
324 Relation Nouvelle d’un Voyage de Constantinople.
325 In Fig. 29 we have followed his drawings disregarding his estimate of height.
326 Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., Part II.
327
........
........
...
328 See P. D. Kouppas, The Building of Byzantine Churches. Ἑλλην. Φιλολ. Συλλ. παραρ. vol. 20-22, p. 38.
329 For gold tesserae of second cent. see Bull. Soc. des Ant., 1893, p. 76.
330 Eastern Palestine Memoirs, 1889, p. 172.
331 See Fig. 30.
332 From the Hellenic Society’s supplement to their journal.
333 See also Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1894.
334 The inscription states that the work was done while Paul was archbishop. And—
ΜΗΝΙΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΩΙΝΔΙΚΤΙΟΝΙΤΕΤΑΡΤΗΕΤΟΥϹ ΑΠΟΚΤΙϹΕΩϹΚΟϹΜΟΥϲ̣
The vital numerals were defaced, but there seemed no doubt that the last fragment was a part of S (6000) and as the writer states that there was only room for one more letter, SΔ or 6004 (495) is the only year that will fit the fourth indiction. “The architect Bubroff is about to show that the church was built in the fifth century.”
335 A book on mechanics (περὶ παραδόξων μηχανημάτων) has been ascribed to Anthemius.
336 Procopius in Pal. Pilg. Text., p. 48.
337 Lib. xiii., tit. iv.
338 Edit. by Waddington, p. 18.
339 Giacomo Boni, Il Duomo di Parenzo, in Archivio Storico dell’Arte, 1894, p. 5.
340 Migne, S.G., vol. xxxvii., p. 1090.
341 There is no doubt about these arches being truly pointed. They were drawn so by Dr. Covel about 1675, they appear so in the careful engraving in Miss Pardoe’s Bosphorus, and these are fully confirmed by Strzygowski and Forchheimer, Die Wasserbehälter von Konstantinopel, pp. 12 and 71. The use of the pointed arch in the east is probably an unbroken tradition from early days in Egypt.
342 Die Wasserbehälter, p. 130, &c.
343 1799, p. 236.
344 Journal of Roy. Inst. Brit. Archts., Jan. 1893.
345 See also p. 247, 1892, for the conditions of stability of dome of S. Sophia.
346 Ἑλλην. Φιλολ. Συλλ. παραρ. vol. xx., 1892.
347 P. 485.
348 Die Byzantinischen Wasserbehälter, p. 22.
349 In another place Covel gives the following. Lukium—unslaked lime, burnt brick (both in a fine powder), cotton wool very fine pulled and strewed on, linseed oil. Cistern plaister—Lime, burnt brick, cotton or flax, water [use] almost dry, smooth it and saturate with oil.
350 Blasii Caryophili opusculum de antiquis marmoribus, 1743.
351 Trattato delle pietre antiche, 1833.
352 Ancient Art.
[353] Chronologie von Egypten, p. 365.
354 Revue des deux Mondes, 1841.
355 In MS. notes lent by Mr. Brindley.
356 Histor. Geography of Asia Minor, p. 433.
357 See Boni, who corrects Corsi, in La Basilica di San Marco.
358 Ἑλλην. Φιλ. Συλλ. παραρ. 1885, p. 10.
359 Mittheilungen, etc., Arch. Inst. Athens, 1889, xiv. 286.
360 Mr. Brindley has shown us a photograph of a half worked Byzantine column with a flat necking, still attached in a horizontal position to the rock on its underside while the upper part is rounded.
361 Η. Κωνσταντινουπολις, p. 500.
362 Survey of Western Palestine, vol. iii., p. 357.
363 Walsh, A Residence at Constantinople, “Errata” to p. 80.
364 Ἑλλην. Φιλ. Συλλ. παραρ., vol xvi., 1885, p. 34.
365 See Bayet, L’Art Byzantin.
366 A.M. 5508 of Byzantine chronology coincides with A.D. 1 up to September 1st. Indictions were cycles of fifteen years commencing in 312 A.D. Both the years of the world and the Indictions began on September 1st.
367 Ἑλλην. Φιλολ. Συλλ. παραρ., vol. xvi., p. 30.
368 Essai sur la Chronologie Byzantine.
369 Finlay, vol. i., p. 165.
370 Mordtmann, p. 36.
371 Shown in Salzenberg’s plate.
[372] Η. Κωνσταντινουπολις, vol. i. p. 500
373 Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., part ii.
374 Le Bosphore et Constantinople, 1873.
375 See below, p. 287.
376 See Salz., plate xxiii. Fig. 2 is one of the tympana, the centre one has figures: fig. 3 transverse arches; fig. 5 soffite of a window.
377 Salzenberg’s plate xxiv. gives details of the lower aisles.
378 Fig. 2 is the barrel vault near the window; fig. 3 arches and vault adjoining; fig. 6 the intrados of the arches opening to the nave; fig. 7 a pattern of the west gynaeceum.
379 Plate xxvi., fig. 6.
380 See fig. 3 for this cornice, the band beneath, and the edges of the great arches.
381 Fig. 7 gives the borders of the windows in semidomes.
382 Salz., plate xxvii.
383 Salz. xxxii., fig. 4.
384 Salz., plate xxviii.
385 Salz., plate xxix.
386 Reading ΚΥΡΙΕ.
387 Salz., plate xxx.
388 The figure of Jeremiah at S. Clemente, Rome, bears the same inscription.
389 Salz., plate xxv., fig. 3.
390 Salz., plate xxii.
391 Salz., plate xxxi.
392 Salz., plate xxxi.
393 Salz., plate xxxi., fig. 7.
394 Ibid. fig 8.
395 Arts Industriels.
396 Hist. of Painting, vol. i., p. 234.
397 Recherches.
398 Bury, vol. ii. 432.
399 R. Walsh, Essays on Ancient Coins, &c., 1828, gives the Greek.
400 American Journ. Archæol., iv. 143.
401 Theoph. Cont. ed. Bonn, p. 99.
402 A composition of this kind at Parenzo appears to go up to the sixth or seventh century.
403 See Diehl in Byz. Zeits., 1893.
404 Il Tesoro.
405 Pératé, Archéol. Chrétienne, with figure, p. 265.
406 Relievi storico artistici sulla architettura Bizantina.
408 Il Duomo di Parenzo, p. 26.
409 Middleton, Anc. Rome, i. 31.
410 See Labarte, Arts Indust., vol. iii., p. 331.
411 Boni, Il Duomo di Parenzo, pp. 4, 5.
412 Stones of Venice, I., xxiii., 13.
413 Ἑλλην. Φιλ. Συλλ. παραρ., vol. xvi., 1885, p. 13.
414 In our illustration the same capital is distinguished by a letter, the two sides by 1 and 2, the monograms reading in the direction of the reference to their position. Those of “N. Aisle” for instance read from left side of page.
[415] Two varieties of monograms on capitals at S. Mark’s have been the subject of much study which Cattaneo sums up in Boïto’s text of the great monograph on S. Mark’s, but they have never been deciphered. One (see Photos, vol. ii., p. 127) is a perfect example of Justinian; three which show in capitals of the upper stage south side are perfect examples of Basileos—if corresponding monograms probably on the hidden sides of these capitals are examined, they too may be found to contain the Justinian monogram. For monograms at S. Sergius see Byz. Zeit. for 1894.
416 In L’Art de Bâtir and Revue Archéologique, 1876.
417 Die Wasserbehälter von Konstantinopel, p. 245.
418 Curtis, Broken Bits of Byzantium, pt. ii.
419 Ἑλλ. Φιλ. Συλλ. παραρ., vol. xvi. p. 29.