Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings ... more Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings employed arcades with built arches instead of colonnades with monolithic architraves. The only major exception was the capital city of Constantinople where entablatures continued to be newly carved from Proconnesian marble throughout the fifth and sixth centuries. This paper unites the known specimens for the first time, including numerous hitherto unpublished entablature blocks in the collection of the Archaeological Museum Istanbul. A considerable number of externally dated entablatures serve as corner stones of a typology and reveal how the formal repertoire developed over time. The earlier fourth century was characterized by new and varied types of acanthus leaves that emerged at Docimium in Phrygia, the most important marble quarry and workshop on the central Anatolian high plateau. When Theodosius I initiated a new building boom at Constantinople in the late fourth century, the focus shifted to the nearby quarry island of Proconnesus. The ensuing mass production led to simplifications of the formal repertoire and reductions in quality, and the fifth-century developments may be described in terms of decline. The last remnants of the Roman tradition were finally shed and lost around 500 AD. Thus freed of restraining conventions, the sixth century and in particular the prosperous Justinianic period came up with novel forms and established a stylistic repertoire of its own. It harked back at the Roman tradition in ways that confirmed both its death and how it continued to inform the formal development in afterlife.
The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This pape... more The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This paper will study first its architecture and building history and then its ornamental mosaic decoration. Together these suggest the vestibule originally functioned as an anteroom of the patriarchate and only later became the imperial entrance to the Great Church.
The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, ... more The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, and the Church of St Euphemia at the Hippodrome ***
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished f... more The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished fragment of a porphyry column. The fragment can be identified as a part of the
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 125, 2010
The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous rep... more The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous repairs. The last substantial remodelling took place in 1732. An earlier phase is documented in the Khalili Portolan Atlas and dates back to 1686/1687, which provides a terminus post quem for the Atlas that must habe been illustrated within the following ten years, before 1697. Until 1686/1687, the church possessed a polygonal apse with synthronon as well as wall mosaics with festival scenes and Greek inscriptions. The bell tower and south-east chapel survive; a courtyard gateway was demolished in 1958. On the basis of these elements it is possible to reconstruct the original building in the form of a Byzantine cross-in-square or as a church with ambulatory. The edifice may be identical with a Greek Orthodox church of St Mary attested for 1402, because when the Benedictine abbey was founded in 1427 an older Marian patrocinium appears to have been already in existence. The early, pre-1400 dating of the original Byzantine building is evidence of the progressiveness of Palaiologan architecture at Constantinople. The corbel table and ceramic ornamentation of the bell tower and courtyard gateway could have originated in the capital and then been transmitted to the provinces, where they are attested since the 14th century. This gives rise to the possibility that the Tekfur Sarayı and the Lala Sahin Pasa Türbesi in Mustafa Kemalpasa that display similar corbel tables and ceramic ornamentation were also erected before 1400.
The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann repo... more The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann reported the excavation in the same year, but most of the finds were not included in
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the... more In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The pieces had been confiscated together and show the same patina as well as the same style. They probably belonged to the same large building and date from the fifth or sixth century AD. The pilaster capital is made of marble from Docimium, will have been part of a wall revetment and was most likely employed in a secular building. The monumental leaf tips appear to consist of marble from Proconnesus. The combination of columns from Proconnesus with wall revetment from Docimium was common in early Byzantine Constantinople.
Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstü... more Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstücke in der Sammlung des Archäologischen Museums Istanbul aufgenommen. Diese Unternehmung hat das Ziel, Material für eine Typologie byzantinischer Gebälkformen zu erschließen. Gebälke weisen einen komplexen Formenapparat auf und eignen sich deshalb in besonderem Maß zur typologischen Untersuchung. Kaiserzeitliche Gebälke lassen sich aufgrund solcher Untersuchungen relativ genau datieren. Um dies auch für die byzantinische Zeit zu erreichen, muß das Material zunächst gründlicher erfaßt werden, z. B. durch Profi lzeichnungen. Von den byzantinischen Gebälkstücken im Archäologischen Museum Istanbul sind bislang nur etwa die Hälfte veröffentlich und kaum eines gezeichnet worden. Das Potential dieser Arbeit soll im Folgenden anhand der Funden aus Bakırköy/Hebdomon exemplarisch dargestellt werden.
This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western As... more This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western Asia Minor during the early Byzantine period. The preservation was not due to abandonment or neglect but the result of intentional conservation. It qualifies as antiquarianism, appears to have been unrelated to paganism, and was practised by Christians. Comparison with similarly wellpreserved ancient cityscapes at Aphrodisias and Ephesus, also in western Asia Minor, suggests that ancient monuments were preserved because they continued to distinguish old cities even after their former privileges had been abolished by Byzantine administration. Other settlements elsewhere in Asia Minor lacked ancient monuments and displayed no antiquarian tendencies. Conversely, a focus on the preservation of ancient cityscapes may also explain why western Asia Minor as the most urbanised part of the region did not develop a Byzantine architectural style of its own.
The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the s... more The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the subsequent disintegration of the Mediterranean world would seem to have brought about the Dark or Middle Ages. Once, the latter was blamed on Christianity, but more recent scholarship has established that the Roman empire was Christianized first and disintegrated later. Christianization would seem to have come about in a similar way as Romanization, i.e. through a top-down process that emanated from the centre, Rome and later Constantinople, the “New Rome”, and – thanks to the empire’s globalization and connectivity – soon penetrated every nook and cranny in even the most remote provinces. Following the same analogy, Early Christian art was conceived as a Late Antique version of Roman art, i.e. centred on Rome and later on Constantinople, whilst the provinces were considered largely irrelevant. However, more recent evidence for Early Christian art and architecture in Anatolia does not agree with such a scenario. This contribution makes the point that Late Antique churches cannot be conceptualized along the same lines as Roman art and architecture. Early Christian art requires an essentially different approach in so far as it was primarily a provincial phenomenon.
Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with c... more Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with crosses and other Christian symbols. Some have previously been attributed to the liturgical furniture of Byzantine churches, but technical features identify them as screw weights for large oil or wine presses, the so-called lever and screw presses. Screw weights are well known from other regions of the Byzantine Empire, where they normally remained undecorated. This paper presents an exemplary selection of decorated screw weights from Anatolia and gives an overview of their formal repertoire. The riddle of these cross stones is their decoration: why should press weights have been decorated, why with Christian symbols, why in Anatolia and not elsewhere, and why only a few, while most screw weights remained undecorated even in Anatolia? The answer may possibly be sought in Christian ownership, if the cross stones were to indicate that the presses belonged to monasteries or to the church.
Social Change in Town and Country in Eleventh-Century Byzantium, 2020
There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any d... more There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any degree of certainty. Few monuments are known, fewer still are securely dated, and their significance for the socio-economic development is ambivalent. Problems surround most supposedly eleventh-century monuments of Byzantine Anatolia, and to approach them archaeologically is difficult. One major issue is the apparent stagnation of formal development, which makes it virtually impossible to date a monument on stylistic grounds. Most buildings may actually date from the tenth century, and if some belong to the eleventh century, they would look rather old-fashioned. Another, certainly old-fashioned, trait of the period was the employment of traditional forms which had been introduced in the Early Byzantine period. Its heritage remained dominant in Anatolia and was superior to anything contemporary, which may go some way in explaining the conservative attitudes of the period. More importantly, much of eleventh-century Anatolia seems to have been short on prosperity and ambitious building projects, although palynological evidence indicates an intensification of agriculture and an increase of rural population. This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth ... more The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth century onwards, and this chapter attempts to synthesize evidence from various city sites into an overall scenario of when and why ancient urbanism came to an end and what happened thereafter. As the fate of the cities turns out to have been closely related to that of the surrounding countryside, the development of rural settlements is also taken into consideration. The tide turned in the mid-fifth century, which marked the beginning of “late” late antiquity or the early Byzantine period. Urbanism was affected negatively and went into decline while the countryside reached unprecedented levels of prosperity. The surviving cities were newly fortified in the seventh century against Persian and Arab incursions. The new strategic situation concentrated settlement activities on urban sites once more, while the defenceless countryside appears to have suffered badly from the incursions. Later, when peace and prosperity returned to rural Anatolia during the middle Byzantine period, most cities seem to have been finally deserted. By the time the Turks arrived on the scene in the later eleventh century, most of Anatolia was ruralized.
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the m... more There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the monasteries of Anatolia. In large parts of the countryside, the Arab raids may have caused a disruption of the earlier tradition. Most later foundations were located elsewhere, typically on holy mountains and in more remote locations, which suggests less integration with the civilian population. The “‘inscribed cross” or “cross-insquare” church became standard and may originally have been devised for monastic communities without a lay congregation. While some of the early monasteries with large and regular courtyards and grand façades were reminiscent of aristocratic mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
Acta XVI Congressus Internationalis Archaeologiae Christianae. Costantino e i Costantinidi, 2016
The paper is subdivided into the following five sections:
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeologi... more The paper is subdivided into the following five sections: 1. Written sources; 2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects; 3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches; 4. Urban churches; 5. City centres without new church buildings.
Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings ... more Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings employed arcades with built arches instead of colonnades with monolithic architraves. The only major exception was the capital city of Constantinople where entablatures continued to be newly carved from Proconnesian marble throughout the fifth and sixth centuries. This paper unites the known specimens for the first time, including numerous hitherto unpublished entablature blocks in the collection of the Archaeological Museum Istanbul. A considerable number of externally dated entablatures serve as corner stones of a typology and reveal how the formal repertoire developed over time. The earlier fourth century was characterized by new and varied types of acanthus leaves that emerged at Docimium in Phrygia, the most important marble quarry and workshop on the central Anatolian high plateau. When Theodosius I initiated a new building boom at Constantinople in the late fourth century, the focus shifted to the nearby quarry island of Proconnesus. The ensuing mass production led to simplifications of the formal repertoire and reductions in quality, and the fifth-century developments may be described in terms of decline. The last remnants of the Roman tradition were finally shed and lost around 500 AD. Thus freed of restraining conventions, the sixth century and in particular the prosperous Justinianic period came up with novel forms and established a stylistic repertoire of its own. It harked back at the Roman tradition in ways that confirmed both its death and how it continued to inform the formal development in afterlife.
The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This pape... more The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This paper will study first its architecture and building history and then its ornamental mosaic decoration. Together these suggest the vestibule originally functioned as an anteroom of the patriarchate and only later became the imperial entrance to the Great Church.
The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, ... more The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, and the Church of St Euphemia at the Hippodrome ***
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished f... more The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished fragment of a porphyry column. The fragment can be identified as a part of the
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 125, 2010
The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous rep... more The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous repairs. The last substantial remodelling took place in 1732. An earlier phase is documented in the Khalili Portolan Atlas and dates back to 1686/1687, which provides a terminus post quem for the Atlas that must habe been illustrated within the following ten years, before 1697. Until 1686/1687, the church possessed a polygonal apse with synthronon as well as wall mosaics with festival scenes and Greek inscriptions. The bell tower and south-east chapel survive; a courtyard gateway was demolished in 1958. On the basis of these elements it is possible to reconstruct the original building in the form of a Byzantine cross-in-square or as a church with ambulatory. The edifice may be identical with a Greek Orthodox church of St Mary attested for 1402, because when the Benedictine abbey was founded in 1427 an older Marian patrocinium appears to have been already in existence. The early, pre-1400 dating of the original Byzantine building is evidence of the progressiveness of Palaiologan architecture at Constantinople. The corbel table and ceramic ornamentation of the bell tower and courtyard gateway could have originated in the capital and then been transmitted to the provinces, where they are attested since the 14th century. This gives rise to the possibility that the Tekfur Sarayı and the Lala Sahin Pasa Türbesi in Mustafa Kemalpasa that display similar corbel tables and ceramic ornamentation were also erected before 1400.
The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann repo... more The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann reported the excavation in the same year, but most of the finds were not included in
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the... more In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The pieces had been confiscated together and show the same patina as well as the same style. They probably belonged to the same large building and date from the fifth or sixth century AD. The pilaster capital is made of marble from Docimium, will have been part of a wall revetment and was most likely employed in a secular building. The monumental leaf tips appear to consist of marble from Proconnesus. The combination of columns from Proconnesus with wall revetment from Docimium was common in early Byzantine Constantinople.
Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstü... more Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstücke in der Sammlung des Archäologischen Museums Istanbul aufgenommen. Diese Unternehmung hat das Ziel, Material für eine Typologie byzantinischer Gebälkformen zu erschließen. Gebälke weisen einen komplexen Formenapparat auf und eignen sich deshalb in besonderem Maß zur typologischen Untersuchung. Kaiserzeitliche Gebälke lassen sich aufgrund solcher Untersuchungen relativ genau datieren. Um dies auch für die byzantinische Zeit zu erreichen, muß das Material zunächst gründlicher erfaßt werden, z. B. durch Profi lzeichnungen. Von den byzantinischen Gebälkstücken im Archäologischen Museum Istanbul sind bislang nur etwa die Hälfte veröffentlich und kaum eines gezeichnet worden. Das Potential dieser Arbeit soll im Folgenden anhand der Funden aus Bakırköy/Hebdomon exemplarisch dargestellt werden.
This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western As... more This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western Asia Minor during the early Byzantine period. The preservation was not due to abandonment or neglect but the result of intentional conservation. It qualifies as antiquarianism, appears to have been unrelated to paganism, and was practised by Christians. Comparison with similarly wellpreserved ancient cityscapes at Aphrodisias and Ephesus, also in western Asia Minor, suggests that ancient monuments were preserved because they continued to distinguish old cities even after their former privileges had been abolished by Byzantine administration. Other settlements elsewhere in Asia Minor lacked ancient monuments and displayed no antiquarian tendencies. Conversely, a focus on the preservation of ancient cityscapes may also explain why western Asia Minor as the most urbanised part of the region did not develop a Byzantine architectural style of its own.
The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the s... more The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the subsequent disintegration of the Mediterranean world would seem to have brought about the Dark or Middle Ages. Once, the latter was blamed on Christianity, but more recent scholarship has established that the Roman empire was Christianized first and disintegrated later. Christianization would seem to have come about in a similar way as Romanization, i.e. through a top-down process that emanated from the centre, Rome and later Constantinople, the “New Rome”, and – thanks to the empire’s globalization and connectivity – soon penetrated every nook and cranny in even the most remote provinces. Following the same analogy, Early Christian art was conceived as a Late Antique version of Roman art, i.e. centred on Rome and later on Constantinople, whilst the provinces were considered largely irrelevant. However, more recent evidence for Early Christian art and architecture in Anatolia does not agree with such a scenario. This contribution makes the point that Late Antique churches cannot be conceptualized along the same lines as Roman art and architecture. Early Christian art requires an essentially different approach in so far as it was primarily a provincial phenomenon.
Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with c... more Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with crosses and other Christian symbols. Some have previously been attributed to the liturgical furniture of Byzantine churches, but technical features identify them as screw weights for large oil or wine presses, the so-called lever and screw presses. Screw weights are well known from other regions of the Byzantine Empire, where they normally remained undecorated. This paper presents an exemplary selection of decorated screw weights from Anatolia and gives an overview of their formal repertoire. The riddle of these cross stones is their decoration: why should press weights have been decorated, why with Christian symbols, why in Anatolia and not elsewhere, and why only a few, while most screw weights remained undecorated even in Anatolia? The answer may possibly be sought in Christian ownership, if the cross stones were to indicate that the presses belonged to monasteries or to the church.
Social Change in Town and Country in Eleventh-Century Byzantium, 2020
There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any d... more There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any degree of certainty. Few monuments are known, fewer still are securely dated, and their significance for the socio-economic development is ambivalent. Problems surround most supposedly eleventh-century monuments of Byzantine Anatolia, and to approach them archaeologically is difficult. One major issue is the apparent stagnation of formal development, which makes it virtually impossible to date a monument on stylistic grounds. Most buildings may actually date from the tenth century, and if some belong to the eleventh century, they would look rather old-fashioned. Another, certainly old-fashioned, trait of the period was the employment of traditional forms which had been introduced in the Early Byzantine period. Its heritage remained dominant in Anatolia and was superior to anything contemporary, which may go some way in explaining the conservative attitudes of the period. More importantly, much of eleventh-century Anatolia seems to have been short on prosperity and ambitious building projects, although palynological evidence indicates an intensification of agriculture and an increase of rural population. This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth ... more The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth century onwards, and this chapter attempts to synthesize evidence from various city sites into an overall scenario of when and why ancient urbanism came to an end and what happened thereafter. As the fate of the cities turns out to have been closely related to that of the surrounding countryside, the development of rural settlements is also taken into consideration. The tide turned in the mid-fifth century, which marked the beginning of “late” late antiquity or the early Byzantine period. Urbanism was affected negatively and went into decline while the countryside reached unprecedented levels of prosperity. The surviving cities were newly fortified in the seventh century against Persian and Arab incursions. The new strategic situation concentrated settlement activities on urban sites once more, while the defenceless countryside appears to have suffered badly from the incursions. Later, when peace and prosperity returned to rural Anatolia during the middle Byzantine period, most cities seem to have been finally deserted. By the time the Turks arrived on the scene in the later eleventh century, most of Anatolia was ruralized.
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the m... more There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the monasteries of Anatolia. In large parts of the countryside, the Arab raids may have caused a disruption of the earlier tradition. Most later foundations were located elsewhere, typically on holy mountains and in more remote locations, which suggests less integration with the civilian population. The “‘inscribed cross” or “cross-insquare” church became standard and may originally have been devised for monastic communities without a lay congregation. While some of the early monasteries with large and regular courtyards and grand façades were reminiscent of aristocratic mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
Acta XVI Congressus Internationalis Archaeologiae Christianae. Costantino e i Costantinidi, 2016
The paper is subdivided into the following five sections:
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeologi... more The paper is subdivided into the following five sections: 1. Written sources; 2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects; 3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches; 4. Urban churches; 5. City centres without new church buildings.
Aktuelle Forschungen zur Konstruktion, Funktion und Semantik antiker Stadtbefestigungen, 2010
Viele frühbyzantinische Stadtmauern in Anatolien haben repräsentativen Charakter: Insbesondere di... more Viele frühbyzantinische Stadtmauern in Anatolien haben repräsentativen Charakter: Insbesondere die Tore zeichnen sich durch Doppelturmanlagen, dekoratives Mauerwerk, Bauskulptur und figürliche Reliefs aus. Die Mauerringe sind umfangreich, die Mauerstärken dagegen gering. Solche Befestigungen wurden um 400 errichtet und waren Teil einer letzten Blütezeit des anatolischen Städtebaus. Andere Stadtmauern sind weniger ansehnlich und so eng gefasst, dass große Teile des antiken Stadtgebiets abgeschnitten wurden. Diese Befestigungen sind dicker und fester und haben einen ausgeprägten Wehrcharakter. Wahrscheinlich stammen sie aus der Zeit der Araberkriege, denen Anatolien seit dem 7. Jh. ausgesetzt war. Im Vergleich wird deutlich, dass der frühbyzantinische Mauerbau der Zeit um 400 vom Bedürfnis nach Manifestation von Macht und Hierarchie geprägt war. Insbesondere mit Doppelturmanlagen, aber zum Beispiel auch durch die Wiederverwendung antiker Waffenreliefs, knüpfen die frühbyzantinischen Stadtmauern an die glorreiche Tradition des hellenistischen Wehrbaus an, dem das anatolische Städtewesen seine größten und prächtigsten Monumente verdankt.
Post Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium 2. Byzatnium, Pliska and the Balkans, 2007
Some 25 years ago C. Foss published an essay entitled „Archaeology and the ‚Twenty cities’ of Byz... more Some 25 years ago C. Foss published an essay entitled „Archaeology and the ‚Twenty cities’ of Byzantine Asia Minor“. He for the first time referred mainly to archaeological evidence in order to determine the disputed character of the so-called Dark Ages in Byzantine Anatolia. The argument evolved around the question whether the Persian and Arab incursions from the seventh to the ninth century caused a sudden disruption of ancient urbanism and a catastrophic beginning of the Middle Ages. Alternatively towns might have continued to exist and their change from ancient to medieval appearance came about by gradual transformation. Written sources, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence alone have not been conclusive. This is why Foss brought the archaeological evidence in the discussion: As a one-to-one image of the historical situation, archaeological evidence seemed less likely to cause disagreement about its interpretation.
Foss contrasts urban splendour and size as well as diverse public buildings of late antiquity with comparably simple and small kastra and churches of the Middle Ages. He explains the disparity by a disruption of urban life. According to Foss the Dark Ages cut off all ancient traditions and thereby cleared the way for a new start of an independent medieval development. As proof Foss refers to a lacuna in the archaeological record during the Dark Ages and as a reason he gives the barbarian incursions. This catastrophic scenario has been generally accepted. The apparent contrast between late antiquity and the Middle Ages seemed to rule out a continuous, uninterrupted development through transformation.
That contrast however is but the result of a simplistic image of late antiquity as a homogenous period of urban growth and prosperity. Under closer scrutiny the archaeological evidence reveals that the last major urban building campaigns in Anatolia took place around A.D. 400. By the fifth/sixth century a transformation to what is generally associated with a medieval townscape was well under way: prestigious architecture, urban infrastructure, and public buildings were neglected – churches being the only general exception to the rule. Private dwellings irregularly invaded formerly public spaces and some towns can even be shown to have shrunken in size. There was therefore no fundamental difference between urban construction of the fifth/sixth century and that of the Middle Ages. Accordingly there is no reason to assume a priori that urban development was disrupted in the intervening period, and to conclude ex silentio that Anatolia witnessed a de-urbanisation during the Dark Ages.
Furthermore the lack of coins from that period, which Foss has taken to indicate economic discontinuity, is nowadays explained by a change in monetary policy and may not be used as evidence against urban continuity. The same holds true for ceramics from the Dark Ages: A quarter of a century ago Foss had to believe such ceramics did not exist. By now thick strata rich in ceramics that used to be ignored as not datable have been identified with the period in question, for example in Limyra. It seems more than likely that ceramics of the Dark Ages exist elsewhere as well, but have so far not been recognised as such. Accordingly their lack does not lend itself to an argument ex silentio against urban continuity.
All this seems reason enough to try to turn Foss’ argument upside down and for once assume urban continuity during the Dark Ages, wherever the opposite is not proven beyond reasonable doubt. This leads to a revision of the paradigm of contraction from polis to kastron. The alternative scenario can not be ruled out: Towns may have continued to exist outside the fortifications, as had happened earlier on in late antiquity: Chavdar Kirilov in his contribution to this volume makes this point with respect to late antique town walls. Late antique kastra, as opposed to town walls, were not intended to defend civilian settlements. Their purpose was limited to securing strategic positions and maybe the governor’s or the bishop’s residence. In some cases they might also have served as a safe haven for the civilian population, for example in Nikopolis ad Istrum: Here the Byzantines built a new kastron after re-conquering the place from the Huns in the second half of the fifth century. Next to a church, possibly the cathedral, the kastron enclosed much free space, where the civilian population might have assembled in case of an attack, as Andrew Poulter suggests. In contrast the Justinianic citadel of Caričin Grad was obviously too small to host the urban population. It only secured the cathedral and the palace. The surrounding town had its own circuit of walls, and the suburban population fled there to seek shelter from violence.
A wider circuit that included the loosely settled suburbs would have defied the advice of a contemporary manual on strategy, the so called Anonymus Byzantinus: gardens, parks, and lawns inside the walls that resulted in long circuits were – according to the Anonymus – to be admitted only far away from the border, where the enemy could not launch a sudden and surprising attack. Otherwise there would probably not have been enough time to assemble the troops necessary for the defence of extended fortifications. Justinian acted accordingly when he restored the walls of Cappadocian Caesarea in the hinterland of the Persian border. As Procopius informs us, the old fortification had enclosed distant hills in order to prevent them from serving an aggressor as bastions against the town. These hills and much free space within the walls had at no time been populated. Procopius considers such an extended circuit as unreasonably long for both maintenance and defence, and Justinian had it shortened. The same happened in many North African towns that were liable to rapid barbarian attacks from across the border.
In Central and Western Anatolia life was comparably peaceful in late antiquity and no such kastra and reduced circuits were built. After the erection of numerous extended town walls during the last urban building boom around 400, wall building died down almost completely in the fifth/sixth century. Some towns even allowed their newly acquired fortifications to fall into disrepair: The late fourth-century circuit of Sagalassus in Pisidia was given up and used for dumping debris after the earthquake of 518. The walls of Anemurium in Cilicia that had been built around 382 were partly pulled down again to make space for a fifth-century church. In Hierapolis upon Meandrus a bath was built against the outer face of the town wall in the fifth/sixth century. In Lycian Limyra the same happened with a church in the sixth century. In both cases the defensive function of the recently erected fortifications was affected and therefore must have been considered negligible.
All this changed radically in the Dark Ages, when from the seventh century onwards Anatolia came first under Persian and then under Arab attack. The new situation can be compared to what the Balkans, the Near East, and North Africa were facing two centuries earlier, and the same kind of defences were built: The Mediterranean coast now lay open to sudden Arab raids from the sea. These razzias will have left the towns close to the shore with no time to gather troops and men along the walls. Accordingly Limyra had its western circuit of walls renewed and the before-mentioned church was pulled down again, but the eastern circuit seems to have been given up, although people continued to live in that part of the town as well. Other examples are Side, Patara, Miletus, and Ephesus, where new or newly shortened circuits enclosed only half or less of the ancient town. According to Foss they all date to the Dark Ages.
In inland Anatolia the situation was somewhat different and ...
Newly discovered ruins in a rural location near Antioch in Pisidia appear to have formed the rece... more Newly discovered ruins in a rural location near Antioch in Pisidia appear to have formed the reception unit of an elite mansion from the early Byzantine period. Floor mosaics depict three episodes of the Alexander Romance, his Gates, his Descent into the Sea, and his Ascent to Heaven. Iconography and ornamentation reference Sasanian art and explain the peculiar way in which Alexander's Ascent was commonly depicted in Medieval times. The mosaics predate all known illustrations of the three tales by half a millennium and attest to their early currency in he Greek world, ahead of the oldest textual evidence.
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts137, 2022
This paper presents novel observations on various late antique floor mosaics in Constantinople an... more This paper presents novel observations on various late antique floor mosaics in Constantinople and western Asia Minor, both secular and ecclesiastical. In doing so, the paper observes that church floors in Constantinople and western Asia Minor are generally poor in, and often altogether void of, figural representations. This aniconic trait contrasts with secular floors in the same region and with church floors further to the east, in eastern Anatolia and the Levant, many of which are centered on figural scenes or form figure carpets. Thus, the aniconism in question appears to have been particular to churches in Constantinople and the diocese of Asia or the patriarchate of Constantinople. It mirrors similarly aniconic wall mosaics in church apses and was also observed by synagogues in this region, but not in the Levant. Sophisticated layouts and a systematic ornamentation in accordance with the function and meaning of the various church spaces – sanctuaries, naves, aisles, narthices, etc. – show that the aniconism in question was part of an intricate decorational scheme and probably the reflection of a particular religious identity.
According to the written sources, the Iconoclast controversy was all about the veneration of icon... more According to the written sources, the Iconoclast controversy was all about the veneration of icons. It started in the late seventh century, after most iconodule provinces had been lost to Byzantine rule, and lasted until the turn of the millennium or so, when icon veneration became generally established in the remaining parts of the Byzantine Empire. However, as far as material evidence and actual images are concerned, the Iconoclast controversy centred on apse images and other, equally large and monumental representations, none of which were ever venerated. Prior to Iconoclasm, such images had not been customary at Constantinople, where the early Christian tradition had been largely aniconic and focused on the symbol of the cross. Thus, the introduction of monumental Christian imagery to Constantinople appears to have been a major aspect of the Iconoclast controversy. This paper asks why and finds that the images in question, whilst not for veneration and therefore not essential to the theological debate, stood out for imperial propaganda. They led to close visual integration of the emperor and the church that had previously been kept apart, because aniconic traditions used to limit imperial presence inside Constantinopolitan church buildings. It seems, then, that the Iconoclast controversy, although conducted in religious terms, was partly driven by a hidden agenda of imperial appropriation and power play.
This paper asks how and why the cross lost out to the icon. The cross used to be the most importa... more This paper asks how and why the cross lost out to the icon. The cross used to be the most important symbol of all Christendom, until Byzantium replaced it with the icon as primary attribute of Orthodox Christianity . This happened as a result of Byzantine Iconoclasm, when in the eighth and ninth centuries icons were substituted for crosses and vice versa. Afterwards, the winning party, which favoured the icon, put all the blame on the cross and its adherents who allegedly started the dispute by destroying icons and replacing them with crosses. However, this paper finds that at Constantinople and in Asia Minor – i.e. in the capital and the heartland of the Byzantine Empire – early Christian church decoration had always been focused on the symbol of the cross and excluded the kind of figural image that was at issue during Iconoclasm. This poses the problem how Iconoclasm should have been possible without icons and how the cross could have become associated with the destruction of icons, if there were no such images to destroy and replace. The solution is found through a closer look at the sequence of the Iconoclast controversy, which may be blamed on the icon as much as and more so than on the cross. Thus, Iconoclasm appears to have been less about the destruction of icons and more about the import of image veneration to Constantinople and Asia Minor, where such had not been customary in early Christian times. Ultimately, Iconoclasm and the demise of the cross seem to have been due to the seventh-century collapse of the Eastern Roman empire, when most formerly icon-venerating provinces were lost to Byzantine rule. The remaining Byzantine rump state was apparently too small to accommodate the various early Christian traditions – iconic in some provinces and essentially aniconic in others, notably at Constantinople and in Asia Minor. The ensuing, so-called Iconoclast controversy as to which tradition should prevail was eventually lost by the cross, and this can explain how and why Orthodoxy came to be focused on icon veneration instead.
Mélanges Catherine Jolivet-Lévy = Travaux et Mémoires 20/2, 2016
The Louvre apostle ivory, the Trier ivory, the Leo fragment in Berlin, the David casket in the Pa... more The Louvre apostle ivory, the Trier ivory, the Leo fragment in Berlin, the David casket in the Palazzo Venezia at Rome
Byzantine architecture appears to have revived the ancient tradition of lion-headed rainwater spo... more Byzantine architecture appears to have revived the ancient tradition of lion-headed rainwater spouts from the sixth century onwards for the drainage of domed churches. The earliest example, the sixth-century church of St Polyeuktos at Constantinople, includes other animals apart from lions, and this may be a Sasanian influence. The ancient tradition may have reached Byzantium indirectly via Sasanian architecture, and the Byzantine spouts are constructed differently, forming the mouth pieces of long water channels that would have protruded beyond the roofline. A direct copy of the ancient tradition, whereby the lion heads were of a part with the roof line or sima, is attested only once in the case of the tenth-century church of the Theotokos at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas.
This paper deals with two different modes of presentation in Byzantine pictorial art, idealistic ... more This paper deals with two different modes of presentation in Byzantine pictorial art, idealistic and realistic. Part one asks what meaning may be attached to the different modes. It is observed that the idealistic mode has a long tradition in Roman art whilst the realistic mode was introduced fairly late during the early Byzantine period. Part two observes that the realistic mode came to the forefront in the age of Justinian. It was used for contemporary figures and was probably meant to highlight earthly presence and availability. A similar meaning seems to have been intended where saints were depicted in the same way. The realistic fashion may be traced back to the holy men and their earthly sanctity. It was contrasted with the idealistic mode that stayed in use for biblical figures and martyrs, that is to say for the heavenly sphere. Part three points to the same modes and their analogues use during the later Byzantine periods after iconoclasm. It becomes clear that middle and late Byzantine art depicted saints along the same lines as before iconoclasm. Over a century of theological debate on icons seems to have done little more than confirm the pictorial tradition.
The porphyry figures of the Tetrarchs outside the treasury of S. Marco in Venice were long percei... more The porphyry figures of the Tetrarchs outside the treasury of S. Marco in Venice were long perceived as brutally cut up and mutilated emblems of vandalism and looting. However, in line with recent re-appraisals of Venetian attitudes to Byzantine spolia, this contribution offers an alternative explanation for the disrepair of the Tetrarchs and thus exonerates the Venetians. The various alterations of the porphyry figures are traced back to early Byzantine Constantinople and would seem to have taken place for good reasons. The Tetrarchs were likely reconfigured by order of emperor Theodosius I in order to decorate a new square, the later Philadelphion, with an obelisk and with images of himself and his two co-emperors.
Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity, 2023
This paper considers archaeological evidence for various aspects of early Christian church buildi... more This paper considers archaeological evidence for various aspects of early Christian church building and comes to the conclusion that diversity was an essential quality of late antique Christianity. The diversity in question is ill-attested in written sources, but becomes apparent when the material record and everyday life are taken into consideration (cultural/material/pictorial/iconic turn). Church buildings looked and functioned differently in various regions and provinces of the late Roman empire. The diversity does not appear to have been accidental, but was cultivated throughout late antiquity. It was sometimes related to, but did not depend on, differences in liturgical practice, nor was it a matter of knowledge, ability, and workshop tradition alone. Provincial diversity was maintained even when and where the metropolitan alternative was manifestly known and available and although secular art and architecture continued to uniformly emulate the capital cities. A combination of written and material evidence suggests that the diverse formal repertoire of early Christian art and architecture was chosen and decided individually, but tended to form local/provincial/regional clusters. The decision makers seem to have been guided by religious conventions as well as by personal or political allegiances, many of which appear to have been determined locally, each province or region onto itself.
The church of St Benoit is located in Galata, which has been the Latin Catholic quarter of Consta... more The church of St Benoit is located in Galata, which has been the Latin Catholic quarter of Constantinople/Istanbul ever since the city of Genoa established a trading colony there in the 13th century. The church is part of a monastery that today belongs to French Lazarists and serves as school. Earlier occupants include French Jesuits, Italian Capuchins, and Genoese Benedictines. The church burned repeatedly, and the various rebuilding campaigns resulted in a hotchpotch of different period styles, but the bell tower survived unscathed and is the only remaining part of the original building. As we understand it today, the original church was Greek Orthodox and a Byzantine building, but earlier scholarly opinion varied greatly. Some scholars were convinced that the bell tower and therefore the whole church were “obviously” Genoese, whilst others thought that the bell tower was “clearly” Byzantine and that the Genoese Benedictines must have employed Greek workmen to build their church. The different opinions testify to the difficulties of stylistic attribution where different cultures met and mixed, as was the case at late Byzantine Constantinople.
The Erlöserkirche at Bad Homburg was built between 1903 and 1908 at the instigation of Kaiser Wil... more The Erlöserkirche at Bad Homburg was built between 1903 and 1908 at the instigation of Kaiser Wilhelm II. It combines a neo-Romanesque exterior with Norman-Sicilian mosaics inside. Both were "Germanic" to the emperor, and the church embodied his all encompassing claim to the tradition of the medieval Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Alternatively, the contemporary Byzantinist Ernst Gerland pointed to a Byzantine origin of the Norman-Sicilian models (and thus subtly contradicted the "pan-Germanic" myth). This "Byzantine" reading has prevailed ever since, but does not stand up to scrutiny. It only serves to obscure the "pan-Germanic" concept of the church. This contribution restores the "Germanic" understanding and makes the point that the latter must be acknowledged in order to make proper sense of the church's art and architecture, but also in order to face (rather than to downplay and conveniently forget) the racist-chauvinist character of German imperialism.
ВИЗАНТИЙ И В ИЗАНТИЯ: ПРОВИНЦИАЛИЗМ С ТОЛИЦЫ И С ТОЛИЧНОСТЬ ПРОВИНЦИИ, 2020
Здания позднеантичных и раннехристианских церквей отли-чаются значительно большим разнообразием в... more Здания позднеантичных и раннехристианских церквей отли-чаются значительно большим разнообразием в зависимости от провинции и региона, чем более раннее римское или более позд- нее византийское искусство и архитектура. Большинство раннех-ристианских церквей было более привержено местным тради-циям, чем стремлению подражать Риму или Константинополю, «Новому Риму». Эта «центральность» провинций, как кажется, стала сущностной чертой аннехристианского искусства, которая отличает его от более однородного искусства более раннего рим- ского и более позднего византийского периодов. В то время как романизация проложила путь для христианизации, большин-ство раннехристианских церковных построек, отражало скорее локальную идентичность, чем преданность Риму или Константи- нополю. Достигнутое разнообразие было вновь потеряно после падения пан-средиземноморской державы, когда Византийская империя сократилась до территории чуть больше, чем Малая Азия, а иконоборческие споры повлекли за собой стандартиза-цию православного искусства.
Spolia Reincarnated. Afterlives of Objects, Materials, and Spaces in Anatolia from Antiquity to the Ottoman Era, 2018
The term 'varietas' has been used to describe the combination of various different column capital... more The term 'varietas' has been used to describe the combination of various different column capitals, often re-used, in late antique churches at Rome and elsewhere in the West. This variety appeares to be an inventive departure from the ancient canon, according to which any one row of columns employed a single type of capital. It was suggested that 'varietas' had been invented accidentally through the re-use of spolia that were not available in large enough numbers to build the Constantinian basilicas at Rome each with a single type of capital. However, recent archaeological discoveries show that 'varietas' was more common in the East, where secular monuments with newly carved 'varietas' appear to pre-date the Roman churches. The Eastern examples range from column capitals to wall revetment and epistyles, from public buildings to houses, palaces, and churches, from Egypt to Syria, Anatolia, Conostantinople, and the Balkans, from basalt to lime stone and marble. It seems that the Eastern 'varietas' came about for aesthetic reasons alone. The Western 'varietas' may thus be considered less of an accident. The Roman churches may have followed a recent fashion from the East.
Byzantine architecture appears to have revived the ancient tradition of lion-headed rainwater spo... more Byzantine architecture appears to have revived the ancient tradition of lion-headed rainwater spouts from the sixth century onwards for the drainage of domed churches. The earliest example, the sixth- century church of St Polyeuktos at Constantinople, includes other animals apart from lions, and this may be a Sasanian influence. The ancient tradition may have reached Byzantium indirectly via Sasanian architecture, and the Byzantine spouts are constructed differently, forming the mouth pieces of long water channels that would have protruded beyond the roofline. A direct copy of the ancient tradition, whereby the lion heads were of a part with the roof line or sima , is attested only once in the case of the tenth-century church of the Theotokos at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas .
B. Pitarakis - G. Tanman (eds), Life is Short, Art Long. The Art of Healing in Byzantium. New Perspectives, 2018
Healing springs presented a special problem in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. As pagan... more Healing springs presented a special problem in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. As pagan sanctuaries, these springs required a Christian response, but they could not be smashed like idols, dismantled like temples, or cut down like holy trees. How did the Christians deal with the pagan legacy of spring sanctuaries? An answer is provided by two case studies recently investigated through archaeological fieldwork, one at Miletus, on the west coast of Asia Minor, the other at Germia, on the central Anatolian High Plateau. The former was closed in late antiquity, whilst the latter was relocated and prospered throughout the Byzantine period. Their contrasting fates confirm, as is argued in parts one and two of the paper, that the pagan legacy was considered a problem. At first glance, the Christian strategies seem to be informed by the strictest separation of the pagan and Christian. Only when the enigmatic figure of the archangel Michael is taken into consideration in part three of the paper does it become apparent that some Christian healing cults may in fact have emanated directly from or developed in close analogy to their pagan predecessors. Thus, St. Michael seems to have been a particularly popular dedicatee of healing springs in Anatolia, where angels had already been invoked in antiquity, leaving the Christian archangel to appear as a credible agent for the unbroken continuation of healing cults.
Germia was a well-connected Byzantine polis in western-central Anatolia, famous for its healing w... more Germia was a well-connected Byzantine polis in western-central Anatolia, famous for its healing waters and a church of St Michael. After three years of survey the site can now be reconstructed: it included several other churches and monasteries, but little space for ordinary residential buildings. This comes as a surprise, but can be explained by the discovery of two older Roman cities within walking-distance of Germia, where the ordinary people seem to have lived. One of these cities, Mantalos, was home to a local cult of the pagan god Men. This may explain why the Christian healing centre was established at Germia. Later, Mantalos shed its pagan legacy and was apparently renamed Eudoxias after a homonymous member of the Theodosian dynasty. No Roman or Byzantine settlement of the region has a history extending back beyond the Iron Age, when the population retreated to fortified hilltop settlements and many sizable Bronze Age höyüks were deserted. Settlement locations changed often and grew little in central Anatolia, and this may be blamed on the uniform landscape of the high plateau; it lacks the Mediterranean’s diverse geography of ‘definite places’ that would favour one site above others and ensure its continuity and growth.
This papar presents preliminary results of a survey of the Church of St Michael at Germia in cent... more This papar presents preliminary results of a survey of the Church of St Michael at Germia in central Anatlia, of the surrounding pilgrimage site, and of its rural hinterland. The church had at least three different building phases: Originally a three-aisled basilica, it was first errected with columns and brick arches like comparable churches at Constantinople; this phase dates from the early Byzantine period, probably from the fifth century. A later addition included two more ailes and a two-storied narthex with wide stone arches on piers, following central Anatolian building traditions; this work may date from the sixth century. A third phase with vaulting, vault mosaics and a central dome dates from the middle Byzantine period. Apart from the church, a number of other ruins, by all appearances Byzantine, have been discovered at Germia, and geophysical prospection has been carried out at some of them. Byzantine carved marbles originated from several ancient quarries at Germia and in the neighbouring Dindymon Mountains, as has been acertained by archaeometric analyses. A dozen new inscriptions also date from the early Byzantine period. In the surrounding countryside no ruins remain to be investigated, although ceramics, carved marbles and inscriptions provide evidence of various settlements with a tradition reaching back to the Bronze Age.
The Bishop’s Palace in the centre of Miletus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor, dates fro... more The Bishop’s Palace in the centre of Miletus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor, dates from the first half of the fifth century AD. It replaced a Late Roman peristyle house from the third century AD that underwent a renovation in the fourth century. The fifth-century building was closely associated with the oratory of St Michael and can thus be identified as the episcopal palace. The oratory flanked the residence to the south, served as a palace chapel, and was rebuilt in the seventh century. The original oratory appears to date from the fifth century, when the palace was built; it had a single nave that consisted of a former temple cella and was too small for a parish church; it can only have served as a palace chapel. In the early seventh century, the temple cella was replaced by a three-aisled basilica with galleries; an inscription identifies the edifice as an oratory (rather than as a parish church) and relates the rebuilding to the patriarch of Constantinople and the local clergy (rather than to a worldly donor). The oratory, a vestibule in the form of an elongated apsidal hall, a relatively large main hall, and the absence of a central peristyle court distinguish the palace from the peristyle houses of Late Antiquity and link it to the Byzantine Palace at Ephesus. The new features may reflect the establishment of a new elite of clerical office-bearers that replaced the leading families of old.
This paper first chronicles five more years of work at Miletus and then presents the following ne... more This paper first chronicles five more years of work at Miletus and then presents the following new, as yet unpublished findings: An excavation in front of the theatre cave has unearthed the foundations of a significant building that probably dates from the Hellenistic period, as well as several Byzantine ruins (A. Vacek). Investigation of the Byzantine city walls from the Invasion period has led to the discovery of a minor gate, probably a sally port (S. Giese). On Humeitepe, a small Turkish mosque or so-called mescit has been discovered (Ph. Niewöhner). A survey on Humeitepe confirms the ancient settlement history of this urban area through the analysis of small finds (Ch. Berns – S. Huy). New palynological findings improve our understanding of the Byzantine settlement history in the vicinity and the hinterland of the city (A. Izdebski). In addition, the paper also reports extensive site management and conservation work. The former includes new visitor paths, display panels, and guide books. The latter has resulted in a new presentation of the Bishop's Palace as well as structural consolidation of the Baths of Faustina, where they were at risk of collapse (Ph. Niewöhner).
Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas im Kontext spätantiker Memorialkultur, 2019
This paper tries to understand the extraordinary preservation of ancient Miletus throughout the e... more This paper tries to understand the extraordinary preservation of ancient Miletus throughout the early Byzantine period. The preservation was not due to abandonment or neglect but to intentional conservation. This qualifies as Byzantine antiquarianism, appears to have been unrelated to paganism, and was practised by Christians. Comparison with similarly well-preserved ancient cityscapes at Aphrodisias and Ephesus suggests that Byzantine antiquarianism was inspired by the ancient monuments themselves, because they continued to distinguish old cities even after their former privileges had been abolished by Byzantine administration. Other Byzantine settlements elsewhere in Anatolia lacked ancient monuments and displayed no antiquarian tendencies. Conversely, a focus on the preservation of ancient cityscapes may also explain why western Asia Minor as the most urbanised part of the region did not develop a Byzantine architectural style of its own.
«Di Bisanzio dirai ciò che è passato, ciò che passa e che sarà». Scritti in onore di Alessandra Guiglia, 2018
Ein neu entdeckter Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier aus der Gegend der westkleinasiatischen Hafenstadt Mile... more Ein neu entdeckter Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier aus der Gegend der westkleinasiatischen Hafenstadt Milet sei hier als Festgabe dargebracht, um das langjährige Engagement der Jubilarin für die byzantinische Bauskulptur von Konstantinopel und Kleinasien zu würdigen. Der Neufund wird beschrieben, hinsichtlich Typologie, Datierung, Funktion und historischem Kontext eingeordnet und dabei unter anderem von vier Brunnenwasserspeiern unterschieden, die bei dieser Gelegenheit ebenfalls publiziert werden. Als Resultat bleibt festzuhalten, daß der neu gefundene Löwenkopf-Wasserspeier wahrscheinlich von der Traufe einer größeren mittelbyzantinischen Kirche mit neu angefertigter Bauskulptur in der Gegend von Milet stammt. Er ergänzt das fragmentarische Bild einer wenig bekannten Epoche, die trotz städtischem Niedergang eine beachtliche ländliche Siedlungs- und Bautätigkeit entfaltet zu haben scheint.
Recent excavations in an extra-urban necropolis of Miletus on the west coast of Asia Minor have r... more Recent excavations in an extra-urban necropolis of Miletus on the west coast of Asia Minor have revealed a Christian burial complex or ‘area’. It formed a rectangle of roughly 60 × 70 m and was surrounded by porticos that separated the Christian cemetery from other parts of the necropolis. The porticos date from the fifth century, but some burials inside the ‘area’ go back to the Roman Imperial period, when the necropolis was first established. One late Roman tomb seems to have been venerated in late antiquity, as indicated by a hoard of several hundred oil lamps. The hoard was deposited and buried in the sixth century, when a church was built over half of the ‘area’. The late Roman tomb was integrated into the church complex, newly decorated with marble and mosaics, and surrounded by passageways. Pilgrims would have been able to pass by and venerate the tomb in an orderly fashion, without entering the burial chamber and without disturbing the liturgy inside the church. The veneration was probably focused on a local martyr Onesippos, whose name was engraved on the city walls. Similar Christian ‘areas’ with surrounding porticos are known from Rome and elsewhere in the Western Mediterranean. They were typically focused on a venerated burial, and in some cases the later addition of a cemetery church or martyrium is also attested. Some Roman cemeteries and churches date from the Constantinian period and may have set an example that was later followed at Miletus. The same scenario may apply to several ‘areas’ in the Aegean that date from the Theodosian period or thereafter.
The Byzantine settlement history of Miletus, an ancient harbour city on the west coast of Asia Mi... more The Byzantine settlement history of Miletus, an ancient harbour city on the west coast of Asia Minor, was long obscured by a lack of quantitative data. This paper provides such data and fills in some crucial gaps in our knowledge of the urban development and in our understanding of the rural hinterland. The city appears to have lost much of its former population by the 6th century A.D., which was a particularly prosperous time for the surrounding villages. Thereafter, agriculture continued relatively undisturbed throughout the Persian and Arab invasions, the middle Byzantine period – with considerable prosperity at rural sites – and the Turkish conquest. The city, in contrast, was deserted during the middle Byzantine period. Middle Byzantine prosperity turns out to have been a rural phenomenon of the agricultural hinterland, and urbanism was dead long before the arrival of the Turks, who had to rebuild Miletus under the new name of Balat.
A cave underneath the theatre of Miletus in western Turkey contains a spring and can be identifie... more A cave underneath the theatre of Miletus in western Turkey contains a spring and can be identified as an ancient sanctuary. It underwent two main building phases, both of which appear to be linked to building phases of the theatre, one Hellenistic and the other Roman. The cave contained terracotta figures and limbs that might have been votive offerings. 44 late antique oil lamps may also have been votives; they were buried inside the spring when the spring was filled in at the turn of the fifth century A.D. or soon thereafter. The infill also contained marble heads from the stage building of the theatre that had previously been mutilated, probably by Christians and possibly in order to mar their beauty. The infill hid the spring as well as burying the lamps and marbles. This appears to have had the twofold function of closing the sanctuary – probably in response to the anti-pagan laws of the Theodosian emperors – and of protecting the sacred spring, the votive offerings, as well as the marble heads from further abuse and destruction. In addition, findings from around the cave also shed light on the history of the seaward defences that may date back to Archaic times and, in the Byzantine period, were renovated to include a sophisticated gate with zwinger.
The Episcopal Palace in the centre of Miletus was discovered in the early 20th century by Theodor... more The Episcopal Palace in the centre of Miletus was discovered in the early 20th century by Theodor Wiegand and excavated in the 1970s by Wolfgang Müller-Wiener, but it was never published. This is being done now, following additional excavations and a re-examination of the complex in 2013. The Episcopal Palace dates from the first half of the fifth century AD, when it replaced a late Roman peristyle house from the third century AD that had undergone renovation in the fourth century. Much later and long after its destruction the palace was superseded by a potter's workshop, when during the 14th/15th centuries Miletus was part of the Turkish emirate of Menteşe. The Episcopal Palace was closely associated with the church of St Michael that flanked the residence to the south and served as the bishop's oratory and palace chapel. The chapel, a vestibule in the form of an elongated apsidal hall, a relatively large main hall, and the absence of a central peristyle court distinguish the palace from the peristyle houses of late antiquity and link it to the Byzantine Palace at Ephesus. The new features may reflect the establishment of a new elite of clerical office-bearers that replaced the leading families of old.
The Southern Baths probably served as relatively simple thermae for a modest residential area. Th... more The Southern Baths probably served as relatively simple thermae for a modest residential area. The baths were built at the turn of the second century A.D. (phase I). The main access seems to have been from the west through a vestibule, where coin finds probably attest to the payment of an entrance fee. The bather would then have followed a tour of at least four rooms, starting and ending in a changing room and including warm, hot and cold bathing rooms. Smaller additional rooms may have been used for various medicinal purposes. A first, late antique renovation took place in the later fourth century and appears to have been concerned primarily with strengthening the support system of the vaulting (phase II). A second, early Byzantine renovation around 500 A.D. included a new, higher floor level that responded to annual flooding due to the progressive siltation of the Maeander River (phase III). The Byzantine renovation also led to a new layout, whereby two warm bathing rooms were now closed off from each other and had separate entrances; this resulted in a double bath, probably for the simultaneous but separate bathing of men and women.
During the 2012 field campaign at Miletus a series of new late antique and mediaeval monuments we... more During the 2012 field campaign at Miletus a series of new late antique and mediaeval monuments were investigated: a bathhouse at the eastern harbour, an insula south of the West Market, the Byzantine city walls, their Serapeion Gate, architectural sculpture from the middle Byzantine period, the lates Byzantine settlement on the Theatre Hill, and the chapel of Hagia Paraskevi. The monuments are first discussed one by one and then evaluated in relation to the settlement history of Miletus. The early Byzantine city retained – and indeed conserved – ancient buildings, sculptures and streets. Even churches were designed in an ancient style and, when the Byzantine city walls were built not before the late sixth century and more likely in the seventh, the temple of Serapis became the focal point of the biggest and most splendid gate. However, in the middle Byzantine period the ancient city centre was abandoned and remained in ruins after it was destroyed by an earthquake. Middle Byzantine prosperity is instead attested in the surrounding countryside with the construction of numerous elaborate churches and a considerable amount of architectural sculpture. Middle Byzantine Miletus was evidently affected by ruralisation; this could explain why the city had to be re-founded under the new name of Palatia and re-built on the previously uninhabited Theatre Hill when, from the later eleventh century onwards, the arrival of the Turks necessitated a return to urban fortifications.
Archaeoloy and the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity, 2011
The riddle of the Market Gate in Miletus is as old as the archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. This... more The riddle of the Market Gate in Miletus is as old as the archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. This makes it a useful point of reference for the progress of Byzantine settlement history as well as a stimulant for further research. This essay starts with an exposition of the riddle as it was perceived by Clive Foss in the 1970s. At that time there was as yet little direct archaeological evidence for the settlement history of Byzantine Anatolia, and Foss’s hypothesis was based mainly on historical deduction. The state of research has since changed, and new archaeological evidence from Miletus will be presented. This may not solve the riddle, but it will help to accentuate the problem further. In the search for an answer, recent field work at Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, and elsewhere in Anatolia will be considered. The evidence sheds new light on the date and character of the Byzantine walls of Miletus. These considerations will finally lead to a tentative solution, which—alas—will sound disappointingly familiar and will return to the starting point of historical speculation rather than end with archaeological certainty.
Bei vier Inschriftenneufunden, die als Spolien in der frühbyzantinischen Friedhofskirche verbaut ... more Bei vier Inschriftenneufunden, die als Spolien in der frühbyzantinischen Friedhofskirche verbaut waren, handelt es sich um Wandquader aus dem Delphinion, auf denen Verzeichnisse von Neubürgern und Proxenoi des 3. Jhs. v. Chr. eingetragen sind. Ihre Wiederverwendung in der Friedhofskirche erfolgte im 6. Jh. und läßt darauf schließen, daß das Delphinion solange als Gebäude oder Gebäuderuine bestand und dann systematisch abgerissen wurde.
New excavations underway in Byzantine Miletus are intended to clarify when and how the sprawling ... more New excavations underway in Byzantine Miletus are intended to clarify when and how the sprawling late Roman city shrank to a narrow Byzantine castrum. So far the castrum had been dated to the sixth century on the basis of a Justinianic building inscription from the Market Gate. Following the example of Miletus the same date had been assumed for other Byzantine castra in Asia Minor. This led to the notion that the ancient cities suffered depopulation and decline already during the early Byzantine period. However, new discoveries at Miletus appear to provide evidence of the contrary. It is probable that early Byzantine Miletus still covered a wide area, and that the castron was not built until the seventh or eighth centuries, when there was need for defences against Arab incursions. This is indicated by diverse results and considerations relating to the course of the late Roman walls, the Hellenistic east walls and the Byzantine city walls, as well as to the Justinianic inscription from the Market Gate, new archaeological evidence from beyond the Byzantine walls, and the geoarchaeology of the necropolis site at which a church has been discovered.
Die hier vorgelegten byzantinischen Steinmetzarbeiten wurden zum überwiegenden Teil bei einem Sur... more Die hier vorgelegten byzantinischen Steinmetzarbeiten wurden zum überwiegenden Teil bei einem Survey gefunden, den Hans Lohmann zwischen 1990 und 1999 im Umland von Milet durchgeführt hat. Die Karte Abb. 46 gibt die Fundorte wieder. Die Lohmannschen Funde werden durch einige Stücke ergänzt, die Urs Peschlow schon früher in der Gegend (Kat. 4, 23, 39 und 40) und insbesondere in Didyma (Kat. 6, 9, 27 und 32-34) aufgenommen hat. Der Katalog am Ende dieses Aufsatzes unterscheidet zwischen früh- (Kat. 1-36) und mittelbyzantinischen Arbeiten (Kat. 37-40) sowie zwischen Baugliedern (Kat. 1-27) und liturgischem Mobiliar (Kat. 28-40). Der dem Katalog vorangestellte Text differenziert zwischen Stücken, die sich am ursprünglichen Verwendungsort gefunden haben, und solchen, die offenbar verschleppt worden sind.
In der erstgenannten Kategorie werden die Bauglieder zweier frühbyzantinischer Basiliken besprochen, die das gleiche Formenrepertoire benutzen, sich aber im Material unterscheiden: Die Bauglieder von »Ajos Konstandinos« bestehen aus Marmor (Kat. 4, 16, 22 und 35), diejenigen von »Ajos Pandelémonas« hingegen aus Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 20, 21, 24 und 25). Eine weitere Fundstelle, S 253 am Yassı Tepe, wird versuchsweise als mittelbyzantinische Kreuzkuppelkirche identifiziert (Kat. 38 und Abb. 41-44). Zur zweiten Kategorie der verschleppten Steinmetzarbeiten gehören vier korinthische Kapitelle des 3./4. Jahrhunderts (Kat. 6-9). Sie dürften aus Milet stammen, denn die Ausstattung des ländlichen Raums mit Steinmetzarbeiten setzte wohl erst im 5./6. Jh. ein. Seitdem entsprach das Formenrepertoire der ländlichen Kirchen dann allerdings dem der innerstädtischen Basiliken von Milet. Drei ionische Kämpferkapitelle zeichnen sich durch Kreuzmonogramme aus (Kat. 12-14) und datieren demnach ins 6. Jh. Ein mittelbyzantinischer Templonarchitravblock (Kat. 40) läßt sich derselben Werkstatt zuweisen wie zwei bereits bekannte Arbeiten aus der Gegend.
Im Anschluß an die Besprechung der einzelnen Steinmetzarbeiten geht es um die Verfügbarkeit von Marmor und Steinmetzarbeiten im allgemeinen. Was den Marmor angeht, wird in der Milesia Spolienmaterial verwendet worden sein, denn die Steinbrüche von Milet scheint man aufgegeben zu haben, als die Arbeit am Apollontempel von Didyma eingestellt wurde. Die alternative Verwendung von Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 5, 20, 21, 24, 25 und 36) läßt außerdem darauf schließen, daß Marmor nur in beschränktem Maß zur Verfügung stand. Dennoch gehörten Steinmetzarbeiten offenbar zur Standardausstattung frühbyzantinischer Kirchen, denn sie kommen auch in der bescheidensten Ausführung mit minimalem dekorativen Anspruch vor (Kat. 5, 11, 15, 16, 24 und 25). Ihre verhältnismäßig geringe Anzahl mag darauf zurückzuführen sein, daß sie durch neuzeitliche Besiedlung und griechischen Kirchenbau dezimiert worden sind.
Der letzte Textabschnitt ist siedlungsgeschichtlichen Schlußfolgerungen gewidmet. Im Vergleich mit der vorhergegangen römischen Epoche ist in frühbyzantinischer Zeit eine Angleichung von städtischen und ländlichen Siedlungsbildern zu konstatieren. Erstmals wurden nun auch die ländlichen Siedlungen regelmäßig mit Steinmetzarbeiten ausgestattet und dort insgesamt mehr Kirchen errichtet als in der Stadt. Das konnte zur Folge haben, daß Stadt und Land am archäologischen Befund nicht mehr zu unterscheiden sind. Diese Entwicklung bezeugt das Ende der antiken Polistradition und den Anfang eines neuen, ausgeglicheneren Verhältnisses von Stadt und Land, das die nachantiken Epochen bis zur neuzeitlichen Reurbanisierung Anatoliens charakterisierte.
E-Forschungsberichte des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, 2015
Miletus is a large multi-period site and requires various conservation, restoration and site mana... more Miletus is a large multi-period site and requires various conservation, restoration and site management projects. In 2012 to 2014 these included the Roman Baths of Faustina, the late Byzantine chapel of Hagia Paraskevi, the ancient theatre and a Byzantine castle on top of it, as well as the ancient street grid and its use by modern visitors. The projects continue a long tradition that goes back to the early 20th century, when Miletus started to be excavated and conserved. Over time, continuous conservation and site management work at Miletus has established local conventions that are easily recognizable, self-explanatory and help the visitor understand a complex settlement including many architectural styles and a wide range of cultures.
Andriake, the port of Myra, attained its greatest extension probably in the Early Byzantine perio... more Andriake, the port of Myra, attained its greatest extension probably in the Early Byzantine period. In addition to five churches, most of the houses also appear to have been built anew at that time. A small bath building, a large house, and the town wall are mapped and described here for the first time. The bath building is uncommonly well-preserved and seems to reflect the changed bathing habits of the period. The house has a prestigious character, but no atrium; it is similar to a house in Caria, yet different from houses in Cilicia. Accordingly, south-west Anatolia seems to have generated its own early Byzantine alternative to the traditional atrium house. The town wall was limited to the smaller, northern part of the settlement and hardly capable of withstanding a siege; its function and dating are uncertain.
Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie 15, 2009
The Hilltop Castle İnişdibi near Istlada in Central Lycia: the Ancient Fortress and Byzantine Cha... more The Hilltop Castle İnişdibi near Istlada in Central Lycia: the Ancient Fortress and Byzantine Chapel
İnişdibi is a Turkish village on the modern road from Demre/Myra to Üçağız/Timiussa in central Lycia. About 300 m to the south of İnişdibi, on a rocky hilltop overlooking the sea, lie the ruins of an ancient settlement and a Byzantine chapel. The settlement was fortified, contains rock cut graves and may tentatively be identified as the stronghold of a local aristocrat from the late Classical era. Ceramics found on the surface indicate that the hilltop remained settled at least until the early Byzantine period, but there is a lacuna during the Roman Imperial age. On the southern slope of the hill lies a chapel. It contains a natural cistern and may have been a hagiasma. A lack of earlier sherds, which are plentiful on the hilltop, indicates a middle Byzantine date.
Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie 12, 2006
The Bay of Gökkaya used to be inhabited in antiquity and during the early Byzantine period. The s... more The Bay of Gökkaya used to be inhabited in antiquity and during the early Byzantine period. The surrounding slopes were used for farming. In late antiquity a three-aisled basilica was built. Some of the walls were carved out of the bedrock. Nave and aisles have different floor levels that reflect the sloping ground. The construction is similar to the basilica at nearby Istlada. Like some other churches in the region, the basilica at Gökkaya was built with pillars instead of columns and lacks stone carving and architectural decoration. It may have formed part of a monastery that could have reused a couple of ancient farmsteads to the west of the church. The complex was repaired some time later during the medieval or the early modern period. One farmstead appears to have been in use until the end of the 20th century. Today the lack of any road connection is probably the main reason, why the bay is not inhabited any more.
Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie 10, 2004
Istlada was a densely occupied hillside settlement and ancient village in the vicinity of the Lyc... more Istlada was a densely occupied hillside settlement and ancient village in the vicinity of the Lycian metropolis Myra. The only church, a three-aisled basilica, dates from the sixth century. It occupies a fringe position on the outskirts of the older settlement, where it was narrowly fitted in among pre-existing buildings and some Lycian sarcophagi. As a result the outwardly polygonal main apse is orientated to the northeast. Only the secondary round apse of a south-eastern chapel maintains a duly eastern orientation. In accordance with the sloping ground the basilica’s three aisles and the chapel each have a different floor level: the northern aisle has the highest floor level, the chapel the lowest. Communication between the aisles was further impeded by slabs inserted in the intercolumniation of the nave. The eastern end of the nave was similarly closed off as a bema; the floor of the nave was covered with mosaics; the main apse contained a synthronon; a makeshift ciborium above the altar was a later addition. In front of the basilica lies an open court with a central cistern as well as flanking passages and rooms to the north and west. On the southern side of the court an arcaded propylon opened on to a path along the southern fringe of the village and formed the main entrance to the church. More arcades connected the propylon with a passage that flanks the basilica to the south and leads to the southeastern chapel. Similar passages and chapels were common in late antique Lycia and served the veneration of relics. The basilica of Istlada is of standard type and will have functioned as the parish church. Later, possibly during to the Arab raids of the seventh to ninth centuries, the basilica collapsed and was eventually replaced by a smaller chapel. This happened to many late antique basilicas in Lycia, and it is not clear, whether the smaller chapels indicate settlement continuation or renewal or whether they were mainly memorial in character.
This paper presents four dozen Byzantine marble carvings that the Archaeological Museum Kütahya a... more This paper presents four dozen Byzantine marble carvings that the Archaeological Museum Kütahya acquired during the last two decades, since the publication of the museum’s earlier holdings. The marbles include architectural sculpture, mostly from the Early Byzantine period, and liturgical furnishings, also from later Byzantine times. The find-spots range widely across the huge catchment area of the museum, but the city of Kütahya and the district of Altıntaş each stand out for a cluster of finds. The paper provides an art-historical analysis and observes that, while some Early Byzantine carvings apply super-regional forms that are also known from other parts of the Eastern Roman empire, others and in particular liturgical furnishings are specifically Anatolian and attest to early Christian regionalism. This appears to have increased in the 6th century, as super-regional forms became rare. After a collapse during the Invasion period, Middle Byzantine stonemasonry followed different trajectories, certainly due to a lack of a major regional workshop and possibly in response to a new, aristocratic clientele that was oriented directly towards Constantinople instead of any regional centre, thus turning the formerly self-dependent region into an extended hinterland of the capital city.
The rural town of Tavşanlı in north-western Phrygia does not appear to have ancient roots, the ar... more The rural town of Tavşanlı in north-western Phrygia does not appear to have ancient roots, the area may once have belonged to the Roman city of Aezani, and finds from Tavşanlı have long been discredited as originally belonging to Aezani. However, this article presents new finds from Tavşanlı and its vicinity that are undoubtedly of local origin and attest to considerable ancient settlement activity. The finds include a dozen Roman votives and gravestones as well as two dozen early Byzantine stone carvings, most or all of which belonged to churches. Overall, the find spectrum is similar to other parts of rural Phrygia, Tavşanlı appears to have produced its fair share of antiquities, and the area should not be considered an anomaly anymore.
This article is based on, and includes a catalogue of, the middle Byzantine marble carvings in th... more This article is based on, and includes a catalogue of, the middle Byzantine marble carvings in the Archaeological Museum of Kütahya in western central Anatolia. Also included are finds from the neighbouring city of Aezani and its territory as well as comparable pieces from elsewhere in Anatolia. The corpus appears to consist solely of liturgical furniture, mostly of templon epistyles. The carvings are analysed with respect to art history, topography, and settlement history. The argumentation evolves around a juxtaposition of innovation and tradition. The middle Byzantine templon epistyles were probably not an innovation, but may have continued an earlier tradition that has not survived. Early Byzantine templon epistyles may have been made from more valuable as well as perishable materials like wood, metal, and ivory. This could explain why they have not survived. Thus, the lack of marble carvings from the Invasion Period, when first the Persians and then the Arabs invaded Anatolia from the seventh to ninth centuries, or from some seemingly empty parts of Anatolia, may not indicate an absence of liturgical furniture and a general decline; to the contrary, a lack of marbles may indicated a continued use of more precious and perishable materials.
This article includes a catalogue of early Byzantine stone carvings in the archaeological museum ... more This article includes a catalogue of early Byzantine stone carvings in the archaeological museum at Kütahya as well as various marbles that are to be found throughout the city. In addition to pieces from Kütahya (ancient Cotyaeum), the museum collection also includes finds from elsewhere in the region. The stone carvings are analysed with respect to topography, workshops and settlement history. Cotyaeum gained in importance during the Byzantine period and must have been a sizeable settlement. It was probably larger than the castle that has so far been identified as the ›city‹. Rural settlements in the vicinity seem to have prospered too. Marble and stone carvings, which traditionally distinguished Roman cities from villages, became common in the Byzantine countryside. This development can be linked to a general decline of urban distinctiveness. The overall result was ruralisation, but not necessarily economic decline.
Aizanoi and other Anatolian towns witnessed a last urban building boom around A.D. 400. Colonnade... more Aizanoi and other Anatolian towns witnessed a last urban building boom around A.D. 400. Colonnaded streets and squares, walls, large houses, and baths manifested urban status and distinguished towns from villages. That changed during the fifth and sixth centuries. Urban building other than churches all but came to a standstill. The existing buildings were allowed to run down and formerly prestigious houses were deserted. At the same time the countryside witnessed an unprecedented boom. The settled area and the number of settlements increased all over rural Anatolia, and the population would have done so too. Rural churches met the same regionally varying standards as the urban ones. The overall result was a convergence of settlement patterns in town and countryside. Where there are no older remains, there is nothing in the archaeological record to distinguish an urban from a rural settlement any more.
The conjunction of urban decline and rural prosperity can be observed all over Anatolia and must have had some cause of more than local significance. The last urban building boom around A.D. 400 continued a Roman tradition that was based on the overriding importance of the polis in the political life of the empire. That seems to have changed, after the ‘flight of the curiales’ left the towns with a governing body of ‘notables’, who took little interest in urban affairs. This may explain urban decline as well as rural prosperity: resources that had been concentrated on the towns until about A.D. 400 seem to have been shifted to the countryside in the fifth and sixth centuries. It follows that these resources had not been generated by the towns themselves, otherwise the resources would not have been available any more when the towns were in decline. This lends some new meaning and justification to the old and much disputed label of ‘parasitical consumer city’.
This paper presents the findings of an extensive survey in and around the modern town of Haymana ... more This paper presents the findings of an extensive survey in and around the modern town of Haymana in Galatia, central Turkey. The area is not known for any major ancient city, and the finds would seem to represent Roman and Byzantine life in rural Anatolia. An outstanding funerary relief of the Saokondarios family appears to be the earliest discovery and to represent the ancient Galatian dynasty of that name. Numerous later Roman tomb stones are also carved with figural reliefs, some in the shape of doorstones. A cave tomb of Pelagia was later engraved with Christian symbols and the attribute martyr added to the deceased’s name, suggesting that she was likened to, or identified with, the homonymous Diocletian martyr. Larger, communal cave cemeteries likely date from the Byzantine period. Early Byzantine architectural sculpture was probably employed in churches that are also attested by liturgical furnishings. The Hellenistic/Galatian hilltop fortification of Güzelcekale was rebuilt in later Byzantine times. Several other small and medium-sized hilltop fortifications with or without Galatian routes would also seem to have been (re?)built during the Byzantine period. The same is in evidence for several cave houses, some of which relate to the fortifications. The much larger fort of Taburoğlu Kalesi appears to have been newly built against the Arab invasions and could be identifiable with the bandon of Aphrazeia.
The upper Siberis/Kirmir river valley is well-watered and fertile, but also narrow and small. It ... more The upper Siberis/Kirmir river valley is well-watered and fertile, but also narrow and small. It was thus always farmed and settled, but never on a large scale. This paper reports half a dozen monuments from the valley, including an inscribed statue base for an ancient Galatian ruler from Mahkemeağcin, an Early Byzantine basilica church at Güzelçiftlik, a large Middle Byzantine cave house complex at Mahkemeağcin, a small Middle Byzantine farmstead at Değirmenönü, a Middle Byzantine cave chapel and possible hermitage at Dikmen (İndere), and two fortifications against the Arabs and the Turks, Tabanoğlu Kalesi and Alicin Manastırı/Çeltikçi Kalesi. Overall, the upper Kirmir/Siberis river valley appears to combine a number of unusual features with an otherwise typical Byzantine settlement history. Exceptional is the geographical setting that, whilst allowing for small-scale prosperity, regional strategic importance, and rock-cut architecture, also seems to have implied a diminutive dispersed settlement pattern. Typical are the architectural features of the various monuments and how they reflect a changing society, from relatively egalitarian with large communal churches in the Early Byzantine Period to aristocratic dominance with small private chapels later on.
This paper reports early Byzantine carvings and inscriptions that were found in a survey of the e... more This paper reports early Byzantine carvings and inscriptions that were found in a survey of the eastern vicinity of Ankara/Ancyra in Galatia. Some fluted column capitals can be attributed to liturgical furnishings of early Christian churches. Some weights for wine presses are likewise decorated with Christian symbols and inscriptions. A cluster of finds from Kalecik/Malos echoes the fourth-century Life of St Theodotus of Ancyra. The symbol of a coiled snake refers to an ancient healing tradition that was originally associated with Asklepios, but appears to have continued in Christian times. Overall, the finds confirm the area’s ancient, and modern, reputation for wine making and show that healing cures were also provided. The formal repertoire and style of the carvings differ from other parts of the early Byzantine empire and lend additional distinction to central Anatolia as an early Christian Kunstlandschaft in its own right.
The Roman mansio or way station and Byzantine bishopric of Parnassos in Cappadocia is chiefly kno... more The Roman mansio or way station and Byzantine bishopric of Parnassos in Cappadocia is chiefly known through inscriptions and bishops’ lists and identified with the small Turkish village of Parlasan/Değirmenyolu. It came as a surprise when a salvage excavation unearthed a large building with sumptuous floor mosaics beyond the outskirts of the village. Previous excavation reports misrepresented the building as a basilica church, when it was in fact an apsed hall and may be identified as the reception unit of an elite residence, as this article shows. A large central room had an elevated apse where the landlord would have sat. An animal mosaic in front of the apse is comparable to similar compositions in fourth-to-sixth-century urban palaces but avoids any reference to pagan mythology and employs stylistic features that are otherwise known from church floors. A mosaic inscription identifies the reception unit as belonging to the bishop and thus as part of the episcopal palace. This discovery is augmented by the find of a Late Roman sarcophagus and three Early Christian gravestones. Later, after the original palace was mostly destroyed, the building complex underwent a second, utilitarian phase that appears to date from the Invasion Period, when the Arabs raided central Anatolia from the seventh to ninth centuries.
Kirse Yanı is a ruined country house in the Carian mountain region of southwest Turkey. The ruin ... more Kirse Yanı is a ruined country house in the Carian mountain region of southwest Turkey. The ruin occupies an isolated location next to a brook in the centre of a small valley and is surrounded by cultivated land. The house has a closed rectangular block form and is divided into a western and an eastern half. The main entrance is in the east and gives onto an L-shaped corridor that connects to a large and bright main room and – probably via a wooden staircase – to an upper storey with the same fl oor plan. The western part of the building is arranged around a central hall and consists of smaller rooms and three heated bathing rooms on the south side. This tract would have been more private, whilst the eastern half with the large main rooms close to the main entrance appears suitable for the reception of guests. Other block-shaped houses with similar ground plans and equally large, tall, and bright rooms elsewhere in Anatolia date from the early Byzantine period. At Kirse Yanı a building inscription confi rms a sixth-century date. The new block-shaped houses seem to have replaced the traditional peristyle houses that stopped to be built after the Theodosian period.
The city of Iznik, called Nikaia or Nicaea in ancient times, is located in northwest Anatolia, Tu... more The city of Iznik, called Nikaia or Nicaea in ancient times, is located in northwest Anatolia, Turkey. Nicaea is renowned especially for the first Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman emperor Constantine in AD 325 in an attempt to unify the Church. During an international field course on the geophysical exploration of archaeological targets we detected the remains of a small previously unknown Byzantine church on a fallow lot of land inside the city. The church is oriented parallel to the ancient Hippodamian street grid that deviates from the modern street system of the quarter by ~45°. We found the contours of the nave, two aisles and three apses as well as evidence of a partly refilled grave. The geophysical measurements indicate that the foundations of the church consist of low-porosity hard rock with a low magnetic susceptibility, probably limestone or sandstone embedded in fluvial sediments.
The city of Iznik lies in the north-west Anatolian province of Bithynia on the eastern shore of a... more The city of Iznik lies in the north-west Anatolian province of Bithynia on the eastern shore of an eponymous lake. In antiquity Iznik was called Nicaea. During a course on archaeological applications of geophysical technology in early summer 2008, an open area in the centre of Iznik/Nicaea was surveyed using magnetic, geo-electric and radar technology. The survey led to the discovery of a Byzantine church. The church lies south-west of Deniz Street and appears to have been a cross-in-square building from the middle to late Byzantine period. Its orientation follows the Hippodamian grid plan, which proves that the street grid was adopted throughout the urban area.
"Hagios Antonios" is the modern name of what appears to have been a rich middle Byzantine monaste... more "Hagios Antonios" is the modern name of what appears to have been a rich middle Byzantine monastery in the Mykale Mountain Range in Ionia, above the city of Priene and the Maeander River Delta, near the west coast of Asia Minor.
Preguntando se llega a Roma. Festschrift für Achim Arbeiter, 2023
A dozen water spouts in central Anatolia differ from the ancient tradition as well as from middle... more A dozen water spouts in central Anatolia differ from the ancient tradition as well as from middle Byzantine spouts in so far as they do not form lion heads. Instead, the Anatolian spouts have triangular, almond-shaped, and other tapered outlets that are decorated with crosses, scrolls, ivy, vine, etc. The decoration appears to date from the early Byzantine period and is to be seen from close up and from above, implying that the spouts served as fountain heads rather than as roof-top spouts for the drainage of rainwater. The tapered outlets would have helped with the filling of containers. To forgo the ancient tradition of lion-headed water spouts (because of their pagan associations?) seems to have been a regional, central Anatolian choice and to have been limited to early Christian times, as late antique fountain heads at Istanbul did employ lion heads, same as middle Byzantine rainwater spouts throughout the empire, including in central Anatolia.
Space, Landscapes and Settlements in Byzantium. Studies in Historical Geography of the Eastern Mediterranean Presented to Johannes Koder, 2017
Johannes Koder hat es immer wieder verstanden, den enormen Informationsgehalt der Tabula Imperii ... more Johannes Koder hat es immer wieder verstanden, den enormen Informationsgehalt der Tabula Imperii Byzantini statistisch auszuwerten, so auch im Hinblick auf „Mönchtum und Kloster als Faktoren der byzantinischen Siedlungsgeographie“1. Dazu könnten auch die anatolischen Kreuzsteine ein kleines Mosaiksteinchen beitragen, falls ihre am Ende dieser Zeilen hypothetisch vorgeschlagene Interpretation als Gewichte für Öl- oder Weinpressen in kirchlichem oder klösterlichem Besitz sich eines Tages als zutreffend erweisen sollte. In diesem Fall wäre auch Steven Mitchell bestätigt, der den Fundort zweier solcher Kreuzsteine in der Nähe der türkischen Hauptstadt und byzantinischen Metropole Ankara mit dem Martyrium des hl. Theodotos von Ankyra im Dorf Malos in Zusammenhang bringt.
Production and Prosperity in the Theodosian Age, 2014
The production and distribution of Docimian marble was formerly believed to have ended in the thi... more The production and distribution of Docimian marble was formerly believed to have ended in the third century, and the present paper begins with a summary of that state of research. The text then proceeds to new evidence from Istanbul and Caricin Grad/Justiniana Prima, which shows that the production of Docimian marble continued into the Theodosian age and beyond. Thirdly, new evidence from inner Anatolia is introduced. The provenance of a large corpus of early Byzantine marble artefacts on the central Anatolian High Plateau has until now been unknown and can also be attributed to Docimium.
It turns out that the formal repertoire and style associated with the Theodosian building boom at Constantinople was previously developed in the Phrygian marble quarries of Docimium. This central Anatolian production forms the missing link between the Late Empire and Early Byzantium, as is evidenced first for the finetoothed acanthus and then for the pointed leaf. The main items for export beyond the High Plateau were sarcophagi, wall revetment and pilaster capitals. In contrast, door stones, architectural sculpture and liturgical furniture from Docimium were chiefly distributed in inner Anatolia, where they were imitated by various local workshops and established a distinct regional repertoire.
Two dozen Roman and Byzantine leaf capitals in the Archaeological Museum and in the Alaeddin Mosq... more Two dozen Roman and Byzantine leaf capitals in the Archaeological Museum and in the Alaeddin Mosque at Konya originate from Sidamaria, Iconium and Pappa/Tiberiupolis. One capital may be connected with the Sidamaria Sarcophagus, others with Docimium, and they throw light on the genesis of the 'narrow-pointed' acanthus and of the 'broad-pointed' leaf of the late antique/early Byzantine period. The capitals show that late antique/early Byzantine stonecarving in the Lycaonian captial Iconium/Konya was following the latest fashions as they were established by the leading Anatolian workshop at Docimium in Phrygia. The capitals demonstrate that Lycaonian architecture was not generally as primitive as Binbirkilise, the province's best-preserved and most famous ruins that - seen in isolation - appeared to reflect innate originality. On the evidence of the capitals, architecture elsewhere in Lycaonia was up-to-date, in close contact with neighbouring provinces, and followed transregional trends.
Seven Churches in the Region of Pelagonia, Mariovo and Prespa, 2019
The monastery sits half way up the mountain above the village of Zrze on a large white rock that ... more The monastery sits half way up the mountain above the village of Zrze on a large white rock that forms a landmark on the west side of Pelagonia, roughly 10 km northwest of Prilep in northern Macedonia. The monastery stands out for an extraordinary location that attracted man ever since and appears to have inspired the dedication to the Transfiguration. Byzantine frescoes are remarkable for a sophisticated theological commentary on the Transfiguration and for a unique typology of Eastern monasticism. Later frescoes and dedicatory inscriptions illustrate and document the long and complex development of the monastery church and form an exemplary case study in regional art history. A fortunate state of preservation and an unspoiled natural setting with a stunning view across the Pelagonian plane convey an authentic experience of the monastic calling and its intimate relationship with natural beauty.
Marble is rare at Caričin Grad. Most of it seems to have been burned in lime kilns, and there was... more Marble is rare at Caričin Grad. Most of it seems to have been burned in lime kilns, and there was never very much, because it had to be imported from afar. This restricted the use of marble to comparably light furnishings, whilst the larger structural elements like columns were made from local stone. The best white marbles, figural openwork and round tables, were brought from Docimium in central Anatolia (cat. 1-8). They had to travel far, and this will have increased their value as status symbols. Other openwork, liturgical furnishings, and wall revetment consist of Proconnesian white marble (cat. 9-21). This material from an island close to Constantinople was most commonly employed for Justinianic buildings in the capital and the Mediterranean provinces. Slabs of colourful Greco Scritto and Pavonazzetto were probably also used on the walls; some of the Gerco Scritto comes from Proconnesus (cat. 22 and 23) and some from Cap de Garde in Algeria (cat. 24), whilst Pavonazzetto was again brought from Docimium in central Anatolia (cat. 25-27). Finally, some more white marbles are of no known Eastern Mediterranean origin, but may have been quarried in the East Alpine region (cat. 28-31); a small capital dates from the third/fourth centuries (cat. 29), when marbles from the Eastern Alps were used elsewhere in the Balkans, too. These marbles will therefore have originally been employed before the Hunnic invasion and may have been brought to Caričin Grad only later in order to be re-used in the Justinianic building program. Otherwise, all marbles are of Eastern Mediterranean provenances, and in this respect Caričin Grad is similar to other Justinianic foundations in the Mediterranean basin.
Throughout antiquity the landlocked highlands of northern Macedonia employed various local and im... more Throughout antiquity the landlocked highlands of northern Macedonia employed various local and imported marbles. Among them a certain fine-grained white dolomite stands out both in number of artefacts and in quality of workmanship. The material was used for Roman sculptures as well as the best carvings from Late Antiquity and can be traced back to an ancient quarry at Sivec near Prilep. Local workshops must have been based there or at nearby cities. This contrasts with the southern lowlands south of the Demir Kapija Gorge, where Thasian marble appears the default white marble preference and could be imported with relative ease via the Axios/Vardar River. In Late Antiquity, Sivec marble started to be carved in a style and quality that is without precedent in the region, but often indistinguishable from the production of the quarries and workshops at Proconnesus/Constantinople and Docimium in Anatolia. The three Late Antique quarries seem to have been interconnected in a way that is reminiscent of and possibly in part based on the Roman quarry system.
Peacock and composite capitals as well as the ambon of the episcopal basilica at Stobi, which tod... more Peacock and composite capitals as well as the ambon of the episcopal basilica at Stobi, which today are kept at the National Museum in Belgrade, have been submitted to archaeometrical provenance analyses. The results show that the artifacts consist of dolomite marble from Prilep. It follows that those deposits were exploited in early Byzantine times and a first-class workshop was in operation there. The formal repertoire is the same as that of the leading Byzantine quarries and workshops at Prokonnesos/Constantinople and Docimium. It may be concluded that the marble quarries of Prilep served to supply the remote interior of the Balkan Peninsula with fashionable works of stonemasonry in the metropolitan style.
Review of Nikolas Bakirtzis – Luca Zavagno (eds), The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City. F... more Review of Nikolas Bakirtzis – Luca Zavagno (eds), The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City. From Justinian to Mehmet II (ca. 500 – ca. 1500) (London 2024)
Rezension zu Gerda von Bülow und Sofija Petković (Hg.), Gamzigrad-Studien 1, Römisch-Germanische ... more Rezension zu Gerda von Bülow und Sofija Petković (Hg.), Gamzigrad-Studien 1, Römisch-Germanische Forschungen 75 (Wiesbaden 2020)
Review of Emanuele Intagliata, Simon J. Barker & Christopher Courault (eds), City Walls in Late A... more Review of Emanuele Intagliata, Simon J. Barker & Christopher Courault (eds), City Walls in Late Antiquity: An Empire-Wide Perspective (Oxford 2020)
Review of Sebastian Watta, Sakrale Zonen im frühen Kirchenbau des Nahen Ostens. Zum Kommunikation... more Review of Sebastian Watta, Sakrale Zonen im frühen Kirchenbau des Nahen Ostens. Zum Kommunikationspotenzial von Bodenmosaiken für die Schaffung heiliger Räume, Spätantike – Frühes Christentum – Byzanz B/45 (Wiesbaden 2018)
Review of Robert C. Ousterhout, Visualizing Community: Art, Material Culture, and Settlement in B... more Review of Robert C. Ousterhout, Visualizing Community: Art, Material Culture, and Settlement in Byzantine Cappadocia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 46, Washington DC 2017
Review of Johannes G. Deckers - Guntram Koch, Konstantinopel. Kleinasien - Thracia. Syria. Palaes... more Review of Johannes G. Deckers - Guntram Koch, Konstantinopel. Kleinasien - Thracia. Syria. Palaestina - Arabia, epertorium der christlich-antiken Sarkophage 5 (Wiesbaden 2018)
Review of U. Peschlow, Ankara: Die bauarchäologischen Hinterlassenschaften
aus römischer und byza... more Review of U. Peschlow, Ankara: Die bauarchäologischen Hinterlassenschaften aus römischer und byzantinischer Zeit, Vienna 2015
Review of V. Marinis, Architecture and Ritual in the Churches of Constantinople: Ninth to Fifteen... more Review of V. Marinis, Architecture and Ritual in the Churches of Constantinople: Ninth to Fifteenth Centuries (New York 2014)
Review of T.M. Kristensen, Making and
Breaking the Gods. Christian Reponses to Pagan
Sculpture ... more Review of T.M. Kristensen, Making and
Breaking the Gods. Christian Reponses to Pagan
Sculpture in Late Antiquity, Aarhus Studies in
Mediterranean Antiquity 12 (Aarhus 2013)
Review of B. Fourlas, Die Mosaiken der Acheiropoietos-Basilika in Thessaloniki. Eine vergleichend... more Review of B. Fourlas, Die Mosaiken der Acheiropoietos-Basilika in Thessaloniki. Eine vergleichende Analyse dekorativer Mosaiken des 5. und 6. Jahrhunderts, Millennium Studies 35 (Berlin 2012)
Rezension zu P. Thonemann, The Maeander Valley. A Historical Geography From Antiquity to Byzantiu... more Rezension zu P. Thonemann, The Maeander Valley. A Historical Geography From Antiquity to Byzantium (Cambridge 2011)
Rezension zu B. Brenk, The Apse, the Image and the Icon. An Historical Perspective of the Apse as... more Rezension zu B. Brenk, The Apse, the Image and the Icon. An Historical Perspective of the Apse as a Space for Images. Spätantike - Frühes Christentum - Byzanz. Reihe B. Studien und Perspektiven 26 (Wiesbaden 2010)
Rezension zu J. Kramer, Justinianische Kämpferkapitelle mit einem Dekor aus Paaren von Zweigen un... more Rezension zu J. Kramer, Justinianische Kämpferkapitelle mit einem Dekor aus Paaren von Zweigen und die Nachfolgekapitelle im Veneto (2006)
Rezension zu K. Krumeich, Spätantike Bauskulptur aus Oxyrhynchos. Lokale Produktion - äußere Einf... more Rezension zu K. Krumeich, Spätantike Bauskulptur aus Oxyrhynchos. Lokale Produktion - äußere Einflüsse, Spätantike - frühes Christentum - Byzanz. Kunst im ersten Jahrtausend. Reihe A. Grundlagen und Monumente 12 (Wiesbaden 2003)
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The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects;
3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches;
4. Urban churches;
5. City centres without new church buildings.
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects;
3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches;
4. Urban churches;
5. City centres without new church buildings.
Foss contrasts urban splendour and size as well as diverse public buildings of late antiquity with comparably simple and small kastra and churches of the Middle Ages. He explains the disparity by a disruption of urban life. According to Foss the Dark Ages cut off all ancient traditions and thereby cleared the way for a new start of an independent medieval development. As proof Foss refers to a lacuna in the archaeological record during the Dark Ages and as a reason he gives the barbarian incursions. This catastrophic scenario has been generally accepted. The apparent contrast between late antiquity and the Middle Ages seemed to rule out a continuous, uninterrupted development through transformation.
That contrast however is but the result of a simplistic image of late antiquity as a homogenous period of urban growth and prosperity. Under closer scrutiny the archaeological evidence reveals that the last major urban building campaigns in Anatolia took place around A.D. 400. By the fifth/sixth century a transformation to what is generally associated with a medieval townscape was well under way: prestigious architecture, urban infrastructure, and public buildings were neglected – churches being the only general exception to the rule. Private dwellings irregularly invaded formerly public spaces and some towns can even be shown to have shrunken in size. There was therefore no fundamental difference between urban construction of the fifth/sixth century and that of the Middle Ages. Accordingly there is no reason to assume a priori that urban development was disrupted in the intervening period, and to conclude ex silentio that Anatolia witnessed a de-urbanisation during the Dark Ages.
Furthermore the lack of coins from that period, which Foss has taken to indicate economic discontinuity, is nowadays explained by a change in monetary policy and may not be used as evidence against urban continuity. The same holds true for ceramics from the Dark Ages: A quarter of a century ago Foss had to believe such ceramics did not exist. By now thick strata rich in ceramics that used to be ignored as not datable have been identified with the period in question, for example in Limyra. It seems more than likely that ceramics of the Dark Ages exist elsewhere as well, but have so far not been recognised as such. Accordingly their lack does not lend itself to an argument ex silentio against urban continuity.
All this seems reason enough to try to turn Foss’ argument upside down and for once assume urban continuity during the Dark Ages, wherever the opposite is not proven beyond reasonable doubt. This leads to a revision of the paradigm of contraction from polis to kastron. The alternative scenario can not be ruled out: Towns may have continued to exist outside the fortifications, as had happened earlier on in late antiquity: Chavdar Kirilov in his contribution to this volume makes this point with respect to late antique town walls. Late antique kastra, as opposed to town walls, were not intended to defend civilian settlements. Their purpose was limited to securing strategic positions and maybe the governor’s or the bishop’s residence. In some cases they might also have served as a safe haven for the civilian population, for example in Nikopolis ad Istrum: Here the Byzantines built a new kastron after re-conquering the place from the Huns in the second half of the fifth century. Next to a church, possibly the cathedral, the kastron enclosed much free space, where the civilian population might have assembled in case of an attack, as Andrew Poulter suggests. In contrast the Justinianic citadel of Caričin Grad was obviously too small to host the urban population. It only secured the cathedral and the palace. The surrounding town had its own circuit of walls, and the suburban population fled there to seek shelter from violence.
A wider circuit that included the loosely settled suburbs would have defied the advice of a contemporary manual on strategy, the so called Anonymus Byzantinus: gardens, parks, and lawns inside the walls that resulted in long circuits were – according to the Anonymus – to be admitted only far away from the border, where the enemy could not launch a sudden and surprising attack. Otherwise there would probably not have been enough time to assemble the troops necessary for the defence of extended fortifications. Justinian acted accordingly when he restored the walls of Cappadocian Caesarea in the hinterland of the Persian border. As Procopius informs us, the old fortification had enclosed distant hills in order to prevent them from serving an aggressor as bastions against the town. These hills and much free space within the walls had at no time been populated. Procopius considers such an extended circuit as unreasonably long for both maintenance and defence, and Justinian had it shortened. The same happened in many North African towns that were liable to rapid barbarian attacks from across the border.
In Central and Western Anatolia life was comparably peaceful in late antiquity and no such kastra and reduced circuits were built. After the erection of numerous extended town walls during the last urban building boom around 400, wall building died down almost completely in the fifth/sixth century. Some towns even allowed their newly acquired fortifications to fall into disrepair: The late fourth-century circuit of Sagalassus in Pisidia was given up and used for dumping debris after the earthquake of 518. The walls of Anemurium in Cilicia that had been built around 382 were partly pulled down again to make space for a fifth-century church. In Hierapolis upon Meandrus a bath was built against the outer face of the town wall in the fifth/sixth century. In Lycian Limyra the same happened with a church in the sixth century. In both cases the defensive function of the recently erected fortifications was affected and therefore must have been considered negligible.
All this changed radically in the Dark Ages, when from the seventh century onwards Anatolia came first under Persian and then under Arab attack. The new situation can be compared to what the Balkans, the Near East, and North Africa were facing two centuries earlier, and the same kind of defences were built: The Mediterranean coast now lay open to sudden Arab raids from the sea. These razzias will have left the towns close to the shore with no time to gather troops and men along the walls. Accordingly Limyra had its western circuit of walls renewed and the before-mentioned church was pulled down again, but the eastern circuit seems to have been given up, although people continued to live in that part of the town as well. Other examples are Side, Patara, Miletus, and Ephesus, where new or newly shortened circuits enclosed only half or less of the ancient town. According to Foss they all date to the Dark Ages.
In inland Anatolia the situation was somewhat different and ...
нее византийское искусство и архитектура. Большинство раннех-ристианских церквей было более привержено местным тради-циям, чем стремлению подражать Риму или Константинополю,
«Новому Риму». Эта «центральность» провинций, как кажется, стала сущностной чертой аннехристианского искусства, которая отличает его от более однородного искусства более раннего рим-
ского и более позднего византийского периодов. В то время как романизация проложила путь для христианизации, большин-ство раннехристианских церковных построек, отражало скорее локальную идентичность, чем преданность Риму или Константи-
нополю. Достигнутое разнообразие было вновь потеряно после падения пан-средиземноморской державы, когда Византийская империя сократилась до территории чуть больше, чем Малая Азия, а иконоборческие споры повлекли за собой стандартиза-цию православного искусства.
Their contrasting fates confirm, as is argued in parts one and two of the paper, that the pagan legacy was considered a problem. At first glance, the Christian strategies seem to be informed by the strictest separation of the pagan and Christian. Only when the enigmatic figure of the archangel Michael is taken into consideration in part three of the paper does it become apparent that some Christian healing cults may in fact have emanated directly from or developed in close analogy to their pagan predecessors. Thus, St. Michael seems to have been a particularly popular dedicatee of healing springs in Anatolia, where angels had already been invoked in antiquity, leaving the Christian archangel to appear as a credible agent for the unbroken continuation of healing cults.
infill hid the spring as well as burying the lamps and marbles. This appears to have had the twofold function of closing the sanctuary – probably in response to the anti-pagan laws of the Theodosian emperors – and of protecting the sacred spring, the votive offerings, as well as the marble heads from further abuse and destruction. In addition, findings from around the cave also shed light on the history of the seaward defences that may date back to Archaic times and, in the Byzantine period, were renovated to include a sophisticated gate with zwinger.
West Market, the Byzantine city walls, their Serapeion Gate, architectural sculpture from the middle Byzantine period, the lates Byzantine settlement on the Theatre Hill, and the chapel of Hagia Paraskevi. The monuments are first discussed one by one and then evaluated in relation to the settlement history of Miletus. The early Byzantine city retained – and indeed
conserved – ancient buildings, sculptures and streets. Even churches were designed in an ancient style and, when the Byzantine city walls were built not before the late sixth century and more likely in the seventh, the temple of Serapis became the focal point of the biggest and most splendid gate. However, in the middle Byzantine period the ancient city centre was abandoned and remained in ruins after it was destroyed by an earthquake. Middle Byzantine prosperity is instead attested in the surrounding countryside with the construction of numerous elaborate churches and a considerable amount of architectural sculpture. Middle Byzantine Miletus was evidently affected by ruralisation; this could explain why the city had to be re-founded under the new name of Palatia and re-built on the previously uninhabited Theatre Hill when, from the later eleventh century onwards, the arrival of the Turks necessitated a return to urban fortifications.
The state of research has since changed, and new archaeological evidence from Miletus will be presented. This may not solve the riddle, but it will help to accentuate the problem further. In the search for an answer, recent field work at Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, and elsewhere in Anatolia will be considered. The evidence sheds new light on the date and character of the Byzantine walls of Miletus. These considerations will finally lead to a tentative solution, which—alas—will sound disappointingly familiar and will return to the starting point of historical speculation rather than end with archaeological certainty.
castra in Asia Minor. This led to the notion that the ancient cities suffered depopulation and decline already during the early Byzantine period. However, new discoveries at Miletus appear to provide evidence of the contrary. It is probable that
early Byzantine Miletus still covered a wide area, and that the castron was not built until the seventh or eighth centuries, when there was need for defences against Arab incursions. This is indicated by diverse results and considerations relating to the course of the late Roman walls, the Hellenistic east walls and the Byzantine city walls, as well as to the Justinianic inscription from the Market Gate, new archaeological evidence from beyond the Byzantine walls, and the geoarchaeology of the necropolis site at which a church has been discovered.
In der erstgenannten Kategorie werden die Bauglieder zweier frühbyzantinischer Basiliken besprochen, die das gleiche Formenrepertoire benutzen, sich aber im Material unterscheiden: Die Bauglieder von »Ajos Konstandinos« bestehen aus Marmor (Kat. 4, 16, 22 und 35), diejenigen von »Ajos Pandelémonas« hingegen aus Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 20, 21, 24 und 25). Eine weitere Fundstelle, S 253 am Yassı Tepe, wird versuchsweise als mittelbyzantinische Kreuzkuppelkirche identifiziert (Kat. 38 und Abb. 41-44). Zur zweiten Kategorie der verschleppten Steinmetzarbeiten gehören vier korinthische Kapitelle des 3./4. Jahrhunderts (Kat. 6-9). Sie dürften aus Milet stammen, denn die Ausstattung des ländlichen Raums mit Steinmetzarbeiten setzte wohl erst im 5./6. Jh. ein. Seitdem entsprach das Formenrepertoire der ländlichen Kirchen dann allerdings dem der innerstädtischen Basiliken von Milet. Drei ionische Kämpferkapitelle zeichnen sich durch Kreuzmonogramme aus (Kat. 12-14) und datieren demnach ins 6. Jh. Ein mittelbyzantinischer Templonarchitravblock (Kat. 40) läßt sich derselben Werkstatt zuweisen wie zwei bereits bekannte Arbeiten aus der Gegend.
Im Anschluß an die Besprechung der einzelnen Steinmetzarbeiten geht es um die Verfügbarkeit von Marmor und Steinmetzarbeiten im allgemeinen. Was den Marmor angeht, wird in der Milesia Spolienmaterial verwendet worden sein, denn die Steinbrüche von Milet scheint man aufgegeben zu haben, als die Arbeit am Apollontempel von Didyma eingestellt wurde. Die alternative Verwendung von Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 5, 20, 21, 24, 25 und 36) läßt außerdem darauf schließen, daß Marmor nur in beschränktem Maß zur Verfügung stand. Dennoch gehörten Steinmetzarbeiten offenbar zur Standardausstattung frühbyzantinischer Kirchen, denn sie kommen auch in der bescheidensten Ausführung mit minimalem dekorativen Anspruch vor (Kat. 5, 11, 15, 16, 24 und 25). Ihre verhältnismäßig geringe Anzahl mag darauf zurückzuführen sein, daß sie durch neuzeitliche Besiedlung und griechischen Kirchenbau dezimiert worden sind.
Der letzte Textabschnitt ist siedlungsgeschichtlichen Schlußfolgerungen gewidmet. Im Vergleich mit der vorhergegangen römischen Epoche ist in frühbyzantinischer Zeit eine Angleichung von städtischen und ländlichen Siedlungsbildern zu konstatieren. Erstmals wurden nun auch die ländlichen Siedlungen regelmäßig mit Steinmetzarbeiten ausgestattet und dort insgesamt mehr Kirchen errichtet als in der Stadt. Das konnte zur Folge haben, daß Stadt und Land am archäologischen Befund nicht mehr zu unterscheiden sind. Diese Entwicklung bezeugt das Ende der antiken Polistradition und den Anfang eines neuen, ausgeglicheneren Verhältnisses von Stadt und Land, das die nachantiken Epochen bis zur neuzeitlichen Reurbanisierung Anatoliens charakterisierte.
İnişdibi is a Turkish village on the modern road from Demre/Myra to Üçağız/Timiussa in central Lycia. About 300 m to the south of İnişdibi, on a rocky hilltop overlooking the sea, lie the ruins of an ancient settlement and a Byzantine chapel. The settlement was fortified, contains rock cut graves and may tentatively be identified as the stronghold of a local aristocrat from the late Classical era. Ceramics found on the surface indicate that the hilltop remained settled at least until the early Byzantine period, but there is a lacuna during the Roman Imperial age. On the southern slope of the hill lies a chapel. It contains a natural cistern and may have been a hagiasma. A lack of earlier sherds, which are plentiful on the hilltop, indicates a middle Byzantine date.
Cotyaeum gained in importance during the Byzantine period and must have been a sizeable settlement. It was probably larger than the castle that has so far been identified as the ›city‹. Rural settlements in the vicinity seem to have prospered too. Marble and stone carvings, which traditionally distinguished Roman cities from villages, became common in the Byzantine countryside. This development can be linked to a general decline of urban distinctiveness. The overall result was ruralisation, but not necessarily economic decline.
The conjunction of urban decline and rural prosperity can be observed all over Anatolia and must have had some cause of more than local significance. The last urban building boom around A.D. 400 continued a Roman tradition that was based on the overriding importance of the polis in the political life of the empire. That seems to have changed, after the ‘flight of the curiales’ left the towns with a governing body of ‘notables’, who took little interest in urban affairs. This may explain urban decline as well as rural prosperity: resources that had been concentrated on the towns until about A.D. 400 seem to have been shifted to the countryside in the fifth and sixth centuries. It follows that these resources had not been generated by the towns themselves, otherwise the resources would not have been available any more when the towns were in decline. This lends some new meaning and justification to the old and much disputed label of ‘parasitical consumer city’.
It turns out that the formal repertoire and style associated with the Theodosian building boom at Constantinople was previously developed in the Phrygian marble quarries of Docimium. This central Anatolian production forms the missing link between the Late Empire and Early Byzantium, as is evidenced first for the finetoothed acanthus and then for the pointed leaf. The main items for export beyond the High Plateau were sarcophagi, wall revetment and pilaster capitals. In contrast, door stones, architectural sculpture and liturgical furniture from Docimium were chiefly distributed in inner Anatolia, where they were imitated by various local workshops and established a distinct regional repertoire.
Slabs of colourful Greco Scritto and Pavonazzetto were probably also used on the walls; some of the Gerco Scritto comes from Proconnesus (cat. 22 and 23) and some from Cap de Garde in Algeria (cat. 24), whilst Pavonazzetto was again brought from Docimium in central Anatolia (cat. 25-27). Finally, some more white marbles are of no known Eastern Mediterranean origin, but may have been quarried in the East Alpine region (cat. 28-31); a small capital dates from the third/fourth centuries (cat. 29), when marbles from the Eastern Alps were used elsewhere in the Balkans, too. These marbles will therefore have originally been employed before the Hunnic invasion and may have been brought to Caričin Grad only later in order to be re-used in the Justinianic building program. Otherwise, all marbles are of Eastern Mediterranean provenances, and in this respect Caričin Grad is similar to other Justinianic foundations in the Mediterranean basin.
aus römischer und byzantinischer Zeit, Vienna 2015
Breaking the Gods. Christian Reponses to Pagan
Sculpture in Late Antiquity, Aarhus Studies in
Mediterranean Antiquity 12 (Aarhus 2013)