The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine Building

BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS

§ 1. BRONZE WORK.

One of the most interesting facts in connection with the building is the lavish use of bronze in construction and decoration. There is every reason to suppose that the bronze casing of the Royal Doorway entering the church from the narthex, was applied long subsequent to the building of the church. We give in Fig. 65 a sketch of the bronze cornice of this door, with its hooks for the door hangings; the left hand shows the form towards the narthex, the right hand the interior. The deep-splayed casing of the cornice resembling a sarcophagus may have suggested the story quoted by Buzantios,[361] that the body of S. Irene reposed above this doorway. By comparing it with the adjoining marble doorways, it is apparent that the bronze must be laid over similar marble forms, and that this deep-splayed casing simply covers a marble cornice hacked back to one slanting face. Salzenberg gives a detail of the panel at the centre, and the inscription has already been quoted. Such inscriptions were general at the entering in of ancient churches. For instance, a small church[362] in Palestine has the legend, “This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter in thereat,” and a similar inscription is on the lintel of the early church at Corfu.[363] An isolated lintel at Constantinople has “Open me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and praise the Lord.” Paulinus says that at the door of his church at Nola was written, “Peace be to thee with peaceful heart and pure, who comest within the secret place of Christ.”

In a paper on the inscriptions at S. Sophia, by C. G. Curtis and S. Aristarchês in the Transactions of the Philological Society[364] of Constantinople the authors point out that S. Sophia was greatly injured by earthquake on the 25th of October, 975, and restored six years afterwards, and say that the form of the letters of the inscription suggests that it was written at this time. Possibly an earthquake gave a very sufficient reason for such a casing, by fracturing the great marble lintel, but there appears to have been a whole series of additions and alterations at this end of the church before this period, and it might very well have been done at the same time as the mosaic above it.

All the doors opening into or from the narthex, with one exception, are cased in bronze on a wood foundation about five inches thick, formed into panels. They are all hung in two leaves, and the back edges against the frame are rounded continuing top and bottom as pivots on which they revolve. The nine doors entering the church are comparatively plain, each leaf being divided into three panels.

The central doors entering the narthex are two panels high, each of which bore a large cross; these were applied separately, the upper one under a round arch on pilasters, and the lower beneath a gable also supported by pilasters. The lower cross is planted on a rock, from which flow the four rivers, symbol of the Gospel preached to the ends of the earth. Part of a verse in the mosaic of the apse at Nola as given by Paulinus makes this symbolism clear.

The margins, framing the panel of this pair of doors, are decorated with elliptical hollows and pairs of small rosettes alternately (see Fig. 66).

The two doors right and left of this central door are less in size; here each leaf is again divided into two panels. The top one has a relief of a chalice from which rises the stem of a cross with crisp acanthus foliage on either side. The lower panel has a large plain cross. These reliefs are all applied to the panels, the crosses being made up of four arms, which are separately inserted into a central boss. The horizontal arms, and in many instances the whole crosses, have been removed by the Mahommedans. The styles and rails of these doors are inlaid with strap-like forms and gammidae in silver, and engraved with a representation of a setting of gems (see Fig. 67). These inlaid straps, with seal-like ends, exactly repeat the forms found on door-hangings. See Fig. 13. At S. Sophia the forms have certainly been taken from similar veils. The large simplicity of the design of these beautiful bronze doors suggests that they may be of Justinian’s time.

The doors still further from the centre, right and left, that is to say the two end doors of the five entering the narthex, have each leaf divided into three panels. The top and bottom panels are charged with crosses; and the centre one, which is smallest, bears an annular boss; the styles are studded with discs. The south door of narthex, and also the end doors in the west wall of the nave are similar to these; the others in this wall, including the great central door from the narthex, have the big panel in the centre and two smaller ones with circular boss top and bottom (see Fig. 68).

The outer doors of the porch at the south end of narthex are still more remarkable. The panel margins are made up of cast bronze decorated with meanders, frets, and leaf mouldings, very delicately modelled in high relief. These are evidently of antique workmanship, possibly they may be as late as the fourth century, but they can hardly have been wrought later. The ancient doors have been enlarged by adding outer margins, consisting of later relief work, and flat metal studded with little leaf ornaments which form the heads of pins. The panels have been filled with plates of bronze, which bear an inscription ingeniously made up of monograms, arranged on crosses in circles; these are deeply engraved into the metal plates and filled with silver. It is interesting to find here an example of the damascened work of which some of the doors in Italy brought from Constantinople are such remarkable specimens.[365] The letters are beautifully designed, and in all cases the horizontal arm of the cross is above the centre of the circle in which it occurs.

Good engravings of these doors are given by Salzenberg, who however incorrectly transcribes and arranges the inscription on the panels. Of this we here give a corrected version, Fig. 69. (The top line in the figure is actually above the right-hand monograms.)

The inscription has been deciphered in the previously mentioned Transactions of the Greek Syllogos at Constantinople.

The sixth and eighth monograms show evidence of having been altered. The silver has been removed from the earlier form, and the grooves having been filled up with bronze fresh letters were inlaid: the lines stopped out however show a different colour from the original ground, and so the palimpsest can be read. The revision was made “after the birth of Michael the first son of Theophilus in 839 and his coronation in the year 840.[366] Before this time the monogram of John the patriarch, which may still be traced, occupied the position of Michael’s monogram: and instead of 6349 Indiction 4, the date was 6347 Indiction 2, thus giving the year beginning September 838, when John the Sixth was Patriarch of Constantinople.”[367] The inscription “Michael Conquerors” (which is formed by piercing a bronze plate, not by damascening, as shown by Salzenberg) occupies the top of the right-hand leaf of the door: that on the left corresponding to it is lost. MM. Curtis and Aristarches have restored this as above. The existing words, it is evident, must have been added after Michael’s birth and with the alteration of the monograms probably form a memorial of his coronation. Murray’s Handbook 1893 suggests that the word Nikêtôn refers to the restoration of images; but the revision of the inscription was made during the lifetime of Theophilus, who was the last of the iconoclastic emperors. According to Muralt[368] Theophilus died Jan. 20 A.M. 6350 (842). Just before, feeling himself to be dying, he made the empress swear not to re-establish images, and not to depose the patriarch John. Three weeks however after the emperor’s death, Methodius was named patriarch. “The victory of the image-worshippers was celebrated by the installation of the long-banished pictures in S. Sophia on the 19th of February 842, just thirty days after the death of Theophilus.”[369] It is almost certain that the conjectural restoration is correct for Theophilus and Michael are thus associated in a mural inscription[370] and Niketes was a common title from Constantine downwards. On the panels are certain pin-holes[371] placed symmetrically between the monograms; these must have been for the attachment of reliefs.

The Anonymous author speaks of doors of “elektron” and of silver dipped in gold, but we cannot rely on this any more than on his 365 doors of ivory.

Electrum is incorrectly translated as amber in the last edition of Murray’s Guide (1893). Labarte pointed out that enamel forms the right equivalent, and for this interpretation he has ample authority. Theophilus, the Byzantine writer on the arts, continually uses the word for glass enamels, either set as separate jewels, or fused as translucent enamels to a metal base. A note in the English edition of this writer explains that this use of the word was probably extended from amber to cover other transparent bodies of similar appearance. From the lavish way in which enamel was used about the tenth century it is possible that some of the doors such as those in the iconostasis might have been enamelled.

As to the “dipping” of silver or bronze with gold the Silentiary tells us that Justinian “overlaid with gold” the bronze zones of the columns; and the annulets of the porphyry columns at the east entrance still show gilding. Buzantios[372] quotes from a MS. chemical treatise in the Paris library which mentions “dipping bronze like the doors of S. Sophia,” and Fossati says the head of the Royal Door was gilt.

Theophilus explains in detail how bronze or silver might be gilt by fire-gilding, the process here called dipping. The copper in the bronze had to be pure and free from lead. The gold was ground very fine and cooked with mercury. This amalgam was then applied to the surface with a copper bit, like that plumbers use in soldering, and polished with a wire brush.

We have given sketches of the bronze collars which surround the columns, at the junction of capital and shaft, and just above the bases. The porphyry columns in the two western exedras have many intermediate annulets at unequal heights; these in some cases were doubtless intended to bind up longitudinal fractures in the shafts, which show in many places; but in other instances they appear to cover the junction of separate drums of porphyry. These are all shown in Grelot’s interior view. The principal collars are certainly of the time of Justinian; those under the capitals have square metal bosses or boxes covering the point where they meet and are pinned together. These “seals” of the great order bear the monograms of Justinian and Theodora.

The annulets at the base are made continuous at the joint, and have the appearance of being brazed: those of the main order are now kept brightly polished. One of the base annulets in the north gallery is signed by a monogram as the work “of Stephen.”[373]

Besides the hooks, in the form of upturned fingers, for the hangings at the bronze door, similar hooks occur in the marble lintels of the doors in the narthex and the exonarthex.

§ 2. MOSAIC.

The mosaics of figures exposed at the time of Fossati’s repairs are many of them figured by Salzenberg, although his harshly coloured diagrams can but very inadequately represent the beauty of the originals. We give here his descriptive text in a slightly condensed form as a basis for our own remarks. Dethier[374] asserts that only a part of the mosaics discovered were published by Salzenberg, and that Fossati preserved others inedited in his portfolios.[375]

The mosaics are formed of glass of various colours cut into small pieces and applied to the vaults with a cement. The gold mosaic was made by laying leaf gold on the glass, which was then covered by a thin film of glass to protect the surface. Silver mosaic was made in the same way. The gold was used, in spite of its apparent abundance, with great economy. For instance, in vertical spaces high up and only visible from almost immediately beneath, the tesserae are arranged in horizontal rows at a distance of two or three tesserae from each other with their upper edges projecting. The projecting edge of the lower row hides the bare space between it and the row above. There is thus a saving of more than half the material, and great play of light is obtained. The tympana of the aisles are covered in this way. The coloured tesserae are set in the usual way, as the difficulties involved by the other method in the curves of the ornament would outweigh the saving of material.

Besides gold and silver, red, blue, and green are the principal colours; though others are used in the heads of the figures. The vaulting throughout was covered with a background of gold, on which are conventional patterns that follow the forms of the construction. Some of the spaces have representations of figures.

In the bands of ornament are gamma-crosses [swastikas], hearts, leaves, and crosses, placed in circles, squares, and other figures. There are no sharp arrises to the vaults, but patterned bands are placed on the rounded edges.

The vault of the narthex has its wide transverse bands adorned with gamma-crosses. In the domed portions between the transverse arches are diagonal bands which culminate in a circle inclosing a cross.[376]

The vaults of the gynaeceum, perhaps because they were visible from the nave, are more elaborate than those of the aisles below.[377] Salzenberg’s Plate xxv. shows the western dome on the south side, on which is represented the descent of the Holy Spirit: the arches have the same ornament as those below.[378]

Details of the dome are given in Salzenberg’s Plate xxvi. The edges of the ribs and window openings are covered with bands of ornament. The faces of the ribs have alternate squares and crosses, which decrease in size as they get higher. The central space has lost its figure subject, but it is surrounded by a wide border.[379] The sides of the window openings are lined with silver mosaic. The lower part of the dome is not decorated, as the projecting cornice hides it from below.[380]

The edges of the exedra-conchs have bands similar to those on the great arches, and the same pattern occurs again on the edges of the eastern barrel vault, and the bema apse.[381] The rest of the decoration of the surface of the apses has disappeared.

Over the centre door from the narthex to the nave is represented Christ on a throne, holding a Gospel open at the words, “I am the Light of the world: Peace be with you.” A monarch is prostrate before him, and in medallions on either side are Mary the Intercessor, and Michael the Protector.[382]

The nimbus of Christ has three rays, and His hand blesses in the Greek manner, by which the fingers represent the initial and final letters of Jesus Christus. The undergarment has broad gold stripes worked on it, and the lights are given in silver; it seems to be of silk, the upper garment appears to be of a white woollen stuff.

The great western arch has a medallion of the Virgin at the crown, and full lengths of Peter and Paul at the sides, Peter on the south; however, only a few remnants of these figures are now left. The border which surrounds the medallion of the Virgin has colours of the rainbow, the circle of her halo is red; the flesh colour is fair, and the eyes are blue. The veil is blue, with a gold cross, and the cloak is also blue. Under the veil is a kind of band round the head, like that which the Spanish Jews of Constantinople wear; it is of a blue green colour with dark stripes; the hair is not visible. Her nimbus has three silver rays on a gold ground; her hands rest on the shoulders of the Child, whose right hand blesses, while the left holds the book of the Gospel.

Peter’s face is dark, the nimbus is blue, the garment is bluish green, and the gold rod, surmounted by a cross, has red and blue bands. He thus has the same insignia as the St. Peter on the Ciborium Curtain, and it is this which, in the mosaic, identifies the figure as Peter, for there is no inscription. Porphyrogenitus, in his life of Basil, mentions that when the western arch was restored the pictures of the Virgin, and the Apostles Peter and Paul were placed there by that emperor. The figure of Paul has an upper garment of green with silver lights, and the undergarment is a greenish yellow. The whole figure is about seventeen feet high, but the head is wanting.[383]

On the large semicircular walls beneath the northern and southern dome-arches are a number of figures in mosaic. The seven arched recesses were filled with representations of martyrs and bishops; above, between the windows, were six smaller figures of prophets, and a larger figure at each end. At the height of the upper row of windows were probably the archangels, but of these only the feet remain.

The figures that now exist are the following. In the recesses on the south side, the second from the east is Anthimos, Bishop of Nicomedia, martyred in 311: in the third is Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, martyred in 379.[384]

The fourth recess from the east has Gregory Theologos, Patriarch of Constantinople from 378 to 383. The next figure is Dionysius the Areopagite; who was converted by St. Paul, and became, tradition says, Bishop of Athens. In the sixth recess is Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who died in 330. This figure is partly destroyed. The seventh, is Gregory, Bishop of Armenia, who died in 325.[385]

The figure of Isaiah, which is to the east of the row of windows, had been covered up (when Salzenberg made his drawings), but it was described by Fossati as having an undergarment of green with silver lights, and over it a cloak of a white woollen stuff. The right hand pointed towards the bema, and in the left was an open scroll with the inscription, “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Under the figure was a monogram.[386] Higher up again on the same wall was the inscription:—

ΑΙΓ....ΤΗϹΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ ϹΟΦΙΑϹ
ΗΡΑ....ΤΟΥΚΕΑΚΗΡΑΤΩΝ....

The recesses of the north wall have no mosaics [see below, p. 287.]

At the height of the windows, the first figure beginning from the east is Jeremiah.[387] The undergarment has stripes of blue and red, and the upper represents a russet-coloured woollen stuff. The right hand blesses, the left has an open roll [with the inscription shown in the plate, “This is our God; no other shall be compared to Him.”].[388]

The figure between the first and second window is probably Jonas, as ΑϹ still remains on the right side of the head, and there is only room for three letters on the other side. The undergarment is a greenish blue with silver lights, and has broad red stripes. The nimbus is blue.

Over the head of this figure is found the remnant of an inscription ΝΤΙΔΟϹ. This may have belonged to one of the figures above, of which a sandaled foot and edge of a garment alone remain. The foot does not stand upon green earth, like the prophets below, and therefore probably belonged to an angel. Only a part remains of the third prophet from the east, which was inscribed Habakkuk.[389]

The mosaics on the soffite of the eastern arch were covered before drawings were made. At the crown is a medallion with a white ground. In this is a low throne of gold, with two green cushions upon it; over them is thrown a blue cloth with a white hem, and upon that is placed a golden book. Above is also a gold cross with three arms; the middle one is the longest, and at its intersection with the upright member is a circle. On the south face of this eastern arch is the figure of John the Baptist, with long hair, and a brown shaggy garment; his right hand blesses, and his left holds a cross with three arms. Opposite, on the north side is the Virgin, with uplifted hands in the attitude of prayer. She has a white undergarment, bound with a golden girdle, a red upper garment, and a veil of a green-blue, with a gold hem. Under her is John Palaeologus, who restored this part, and to whose time these figures and designs certainly belong. The emperor wears a crown, with strings of pearls on either side. He has a closely fitting undergarment of gold, decorated with pearls and embroidery. A magnificent cloak hangs down from the left shoulder, and round the neck and breast is a kind of broad gorget richly embroidered. In his right hand is a sceptre, and in his left a roll.

The archangel on the south side of the bema vault[390] has a globe in the left hand, and a staff in the right. He is clad in white, with imperial red shoes. The arch of the apse bears an inscription, which ends with the letters ϹΕΙΕ ΠΑΛΙΝ.

On the conch of the apse is the Mother of God upon a throne, holding the Child between her knees; her upper garment, which is blue, conceals the whole figure, except that at the breast, under the arm, and above the feet, the white and gold garment beneath is visible. The Child has his right hand uplifted and his left against his breast. He wears a white garment, with a gold girdle. His hair falls down freely, and the nimbus has three streams of light. The throne is gold with red ornaments, but is without a back, and the footstool is of green silk.

In the dome pendentives are Cherubim with six wings. Each head is four feet two inches high. The upper feathers of the wings are a light green, and the under feathers brown.[391] The great centre-piece of the dome, which, according to Du Cange, represented Christ as Judge of the World seated upon a rainbow, no longer exists.

Only one of the domes of the gynaeceum preserves its mosaic ornament of figures. This[392] represents the descent of the Holy Spirit. Only a part remains of the throne in the centre; on it is a green cushion, and a blue cloth with gold patterns. Groups of spectators fill the pendentives of the vault.

Above the doorway which leads from the western gynaeceum to the chambers over the south porch, are remains of figures, which can no longer be identified.[393] In the ceiling of the chamber over the stairway is a design of green tendrils on a gold ground.[394]

The small dome in the chamber which opens out of the western buttress of the south side on the first-floor level has four angels with uplifted hands, supporting a medallion in the centre. This design is similar to that in the side chapel at S. Prassede at Rome.

“The figure representations belong to the time of Justinian, though the Silentiary, otherwise so accurate, does not describe them.”

First Scheme.—A reading of Salzenberg’s notes on the figure mosaics will show how little ground there was for his impression that these belonged to the time of Justinian, which the last sentence expresses. Several of these mosaics are dated as being parts of restorations. Thus he shows that Basil I. placed figures on the arch of the great western hemicycle, and that those of the great eastern arch are the work of Palaeologus.

The subject has been much obscured by insecure assumptions and inexact assertions. Labarte, who was one of the first to doubt that Justinian was intended by the figure of the kneeling emperor before Christ over the Royal Door, thought that the Silentiary described figure-mosaics as covering the interior.[395] Gerspach in La Mosaïque calls the emperor ‘Justinian’ and appears to mistake the Pentecost cupola for the great dome. In regard to the date of the lunette containing the emperor, Labarte suggested that it was a work of the seventh century, and that the emperor was Heraclius.[396] Woltmann and Woermann placed it still later and write, “There is no kind of resemblance between the beardless portrait of Justinian at Ravenna and this bearded, gray-headed man. It is more likely to be Basil I. the restorer of the western apse, and this opinion is supported by the miniatures of his time.” The pilgrim Anthony seems to refer to it as Leo the Wise, but the Russians ascribe so many works to this emperor without reason that this is inconclusive. The forms of the letters in the inscriptions, however, show that the mosaic is late. Bayet,[397] who has considered the mosaics afresh, and thinks the silence of Paulus is conclusive as to the absence of figure-mosaics when the poem was written, about 562, himself seems to misread some parts of the poet’s description; thus he thinks patterns in mosaic are intended in lines 607-612. The animals of the atrium may possibly have been of glass mosaic: but we think it more likely that inlaid marble like the dolphins of the interior (Fig. 49) is intended. The baskets of fruit, branches with birds, and the golden vine in the church, spoken of in lines 668, &c. seem to refer to the carved and gilt surfaces of the spandrils of the arcade, not to the mosaic, as Bayet supposes.

The figure scheme, so far as it can be traced, closely agrees with the Byzantine Manual of Painting: and the subjects and treatments can be associated with work in other churches of the ninth and tenth centuries which have in several cases almost identical designs. Altogether it may be doubted if a single figure belongs to a time anterior to the iconoclastic period of the eighth century.

We believe the original scheme of decoration is best accounted for without figures, and even if this were not so, we can hardly believe that in the Patriarchal Church at the door of the Palace figures would have lasted through the reigns of the iconoclastic emperors and patriarchs, as they may well have done in remoter churches where the clergy were on the other side. Leo issued his first decree against images in 726. Its purport was not, as is often stated, that pictures should be hung higher in the churches in order that people should not adore them by kissing: “it commanded that they should be totally abolished.”[398]

It is well known that a figure of Christ over the entrance to the palace was destroyed by Leo the Isaurian. Dr. Walsh, who was chaplain to our embassy at the Porte about 1820, writes, “There stood till very lately in Constantinople an inscription over the gate of the palace called Chalces. Under a large cross sculptured over the entrance to the palace were the following words:—

“‘The emperor cannot endure that Christ should be represented (graphes) a mute and lifeless image graven on earthly materials. But Leo and his young son Constantine have at their gates engraved the thrice-blessed representation of the cross, the glory of believing monarchs.’”[399]

In 768 Nicetas, the patriarch under Constantine, Leo’s son, is said to have destroyed “the images of gold mosaic and wax encaustic” in all the churches of Constantinople.[400] And in the life of Theophilus we read, “throughout every church the figures of the saints were destroyed, and the forms of beasts and birds were painted in their places.”[401]

It is quite certain from Procopius and the poem of the Silentiary that the vaults of Justinian’s church were covered with mosaic. They both describe the brilliance of the gold glittering surface, but do not mention any figures. In such detailed descriptions this silence goes far to show that there was originally no storied scheme of imagery, like that which the Poet so fully traced out on the curtains and iconostasis. It seems equally certain that where, describing the dome on the strong arches, overhanging the interior like the firmament which rests on air, he says, “at the highest point was depicted (epigraphe) the cross, Protector of the City,” we are to understand that a great cross in mosaic expanded its arms on the zenith of the dome, and that the background was strewn with stars. Now this is a well-known scheme, and it is found at an earlier date in the chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna, and later it is mentioned by Porphyrogenitus in a description of a domed apartment in the palace. The stars on the dome are more than once referred to in the poem (page 36), and it is probable that the surfaces between the ribs as well as the central circle had gold stars set in azure, the ribs being of gold; nothing less would seem to justify “the firmament of the roof its rounded expanse sprinkled with the stars of heaven.”

It is evident that, however easily figures and pictures might be added here and there at various dates, the church, being once incrusted with mosaic, would at no subsequent time have had the enormous areas of tesserae removed to be again renewed.

It follows that the ground, and any patterns evenly distributed in every part of the vaults, are assuredly of the first work. First among such designs is a jewelled cross thirteen feet high, which is blazoned on both ground floor and gallery vaults, and which must have been repeated some twelve times twelve. We give an outline of one of the smallest vault compartments in the church, the irregular space to the east directly south of the bema: here three of the crosses can still be seen through Fossati’s colouring, their interlocking arms spreading over the whole field. This form of cross, with lobed ends, is found set in a circle of stars, in the mosaic apsoid of S. Apollinaris in Classe. (Fig. 70.)

A similar argument applies to other forms which occur with equal frequency. A square panel of ornament which alternates with the crosses, certain diapers, the bands up the edges of the aisle vaults, and the small circles each containing the six-armed cross or monogram at the centre of these compartments, would all seem to be parts of the original work, and these simple elements we believe formed the first scheme of decoration. Texier figures a mosaic from Salonica made up of crosses. The splendid simplicity of such a scheme seems entirely in harmony with S. Sophia, for even figures would disturb the beauty of the expanse which at each movement glitters like a web of golden mail swayed by a breeze.

Later Mosaics.—For the mosaics displaying figures we refer back to Salzenberg’s description. Much further information might have been gathered if he had given copies of the inscriptions which exist, in however incomplete a state. His section (Plate x.) shows that a long inscription surrounded the arch of the apse, but in his text he only gives the last few letters ϹΕΙΕ ΠΑΛΙΝ; this possibly belonged to the words ἀνεστήσειε πάλιν, “Set up again,” and the whole may have contained the name of the emperor under whom this restoration was effected. (See below, p. 287.)

On the great lunette of the wall of the south side also, where the tiers of saints and prophets seem a part of a scheme representing the Church triumphant, or a Benedicite, two monograms occur (see Salzenberg’s Plate ix.); only the first, which reads ΚΥΡΙΕ, is figured in the text; it is evidently a part of the well-known invocation, ‘Lord, help,’ which requires the name of an emperor or artist to complete it.

An inscription between these monograms is partly given in the text; and supposing it to be correctly rendered the whole probably read “Lord, help” (name who painted this wall) “of the Immortal Wisdom” (with the figures) “of the saints”.

The entire later scheme of the mosaics must have corresponded closely to that in the New Church in the palace built by Basil, which is described by Porphyrogenitus. Here, at the centre of the dome, was the human form of Christ embracing the whole world in His regard; below were ranges of angels. In the apse was the figure of the Virgin with arms uplifted in prayer, “a choir of apostles, martyrs, prophets and patriarchs filled the other spaces of the whole church.” This in turn resembles very closely the iconography at S. Luke’s.

The following instances may be given of the agreement of the mosaics at S. Sophia with the instructions of the Painter’s Manual. For example, it directs that over the door of entrance from the narthex Christ be represented throned, holding the Gospel open at the words, “I am the Door: by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” At each side the Virgin and the Prodromos are to be represented. The figure to Christ’s left at S. Sophia, called Michael by Salzenberg, Grelot tells us was the Prodromos and he probably followed the traditional ascription, although the type seems to agree better with an archangel.

Again, “Inside the Sanctuary at the centre of the vaults draw the Virgin seated on a throne holding Christ as a little child.”[402] This exactly describes the apsoid mosaic at S. Sophia. The cupola of the gynaeceum, representing the descent of the Holy Spirit, is also in close agreement with the directions given in the Manual:—“The Holy Spirit is seen in the form of a dove, twelve tongues of fire go out from it and rest on the apostles.” This subject is treated at S. Luke’s in a manner almost identical to that at S. Sophia, and it is also found in a dome at S. Mark’s.

Diehl in his examination of the mosaics at S. Luke’s has pointed out that the central circle of the Pentecost cupola at S. Sophia as shown by Salzenberg in Plate xxxi. is quite insufficient to have contained the figure of Christ as shown in the restoration given on Plate xxvi., and that consequently the Holy Spirit as a Dove really occupied this position as at S. Luke’s. In Fig. 71 we give an amended restoration of this centre; it will be seen from Salzenberg’s text that he had no evidence for a figure. The two angels above the sanctuary are described by Salzenberg as bearing lances or banner poles; these were doubtless surmounted by Flabella bearing the words

ΑΓΙΟϹ
ΑΓΙΟϹ
ΑΓΙΟϹ

as at S. Luke’s and Nicaea.[403] There is a very similar angel holding a flabellum of this kind in the tenth century Menologium; and the words Holy, Holy, Holy, are directed to be put on flabella in the manual.

Again the Manual says, “At the summit of these vaults (opening from the dome) draw the holy Veil to the east and opposite to it the holy Cup.” Now in Grelot’s view of the interior, made when many of the mosaics were still visible, he shows a large square mosaic at the crown of the bema vault directly over the altar, which he says was “the picture of Christ’s face upon a napkin called Veronica.”

The representation of the throne at the centre of the soffite of the eastern arch (see p. 277) is one of the most beautiful symbolisms of Byzantine art. At Nicaea the same design occurs in a similar position on the triumphal arch, and it is inscribed ΕΤΟΙΜΑϹΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΡΟΝΟΥ. This “Preparation of the throne” referred to the second coming of Christ. Our figure represents a throne of this kind which we offer as an illustration of that at S. Sophia; it is based on a throne inscribed Η ΕΤΗΜΑϹΙΑ which appears on the cover of a Byzantine Gospel book at S. Mark’s.[404] The small dome of the little chapel on the first floor, Salzenberg says, resembles a dome at S. Prassede. The latter is a work of the ninth century.[405]