Cyril Mango, Ernest J. W. Hawkins. The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul. The Church Fathers in The North Tympanum

The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul.
The Church Fathers in the North Tympanum

Author(s): Cyril Mango and Ernest J. W. Hawkins
Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 26 (1972), pp. 1+3-41
Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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THE MOSAICS OF ST. SOPHIA
AT ISTANBUL
THE CHURCH FATHERS

IN THE NORTH TYMPANUM
CYRIL MANGO and ERNEST J. W. HAWKINS

INTRODUCTION
F the mosaicsdescribedin this reportthe most importantpart-namely

the figures of Saints Ignatius the Younger, John Chrysostom, and Igna-
tius Theophoros-was uncovered under the direction of the late Thomas
Whittemore between 1939 and 1948. Whittemore intended to devote a de-
tailed study to these three figures, but was prevented from doing so by his
death, which occurred in 1950. When, some ten years later, the publication of
the three Church Fathers was entrusted to us, we naturally felt obliged to re-
examine the mosaics at close quarters, and this we did in 1962 with the aid of
a movable wooden platform that rested on the projecting cornice at the foot of
the figures and was secured by means of cables attached to a beam outside the
lower windows of the tympanum. We also used this opportunity to uncover the
remains of the figure of St. Athanasius and part of a monogram in a circular
medallion, as well as some areas of ornament and gold background. In the
course of this work it became evident to us that the figures of the Church
Fathers could not be fully discussed without reference to the overall mosaic dec-
oration of both tympana, part of which still remains concealed under a layer
of plaster. Under ideal conditions we would have proceeded to uncover every-
thing that remains of this mosaic decoration,1 but until now this has not proved
possible.
In 1964 we conducted work in the apse and bema arch of St. Sophia.2 The
observations we made there proved of great value toward establishing certain
criteria whereby mosaics of the sixth century can be distinguished from those
of the ninth. Armed with this new knowledge, we returned in 1967 to the study
of the tympana and carried out further investigations in situ. Not wishing to
delay any further the publication of these important mosaics, some of which
have been open to view for the last thirty years,3 we offer here the information
collected by us in 1962 and 1967. We hope that one day it will be possible for
1 The areas of mosaic that remain to be uncovered

correspond more or less to the patches of dark
plaster visible on the right side of fig. 1 and on the left side of fig. 2, above the mosaic medallion. In
the north tympanum the mosaic border along its circumference seems to be preserved to a consider-
able height, roughly level with the lateral wings of the seraph in the northeast pendentive. The same
applies to the design in the soffit of the great northern arch. The dark patch to the right of the
easternmost window of the top row is of particular interest, since it may conceal the lower part of an
angel's figure. In the south tympanum the area of mosaic that has not yet been uncovered comes up
to the knee of the prophet Isaiah, while the border of the tympanum as well as the soffit decoration
of the arch continue to a height a little above the lower end of the seraph in the southeast pendentive.
2 C. Mango and E. J. W. Hawkins, "The
Apse Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul ...," Dumbarton
Oaks Papers, 19 (1965), 113ff.
3 Photographs of the three
complete Church Fathers have by now appeared in numerous publi-
cations which it would be idle to list here. For the principal bibliography, see V. Lazarev, Storia della
pittura bizantina (Turin, 1967), 177 note 72. Various opinions have also been expressed concerning the
date of these mosaics, ranging from the late ninth century to the thirteenth (!): the latter by G.
Galassi, Roma o Bisanzio, II (Rome, 1953), 319f. Whittemore himself was inclined to date them in
the first half of the tenth century; so also A. Grabar, Byzantine Painting (Geneva, 1953), 94.

4 CYRIL MANGO and ERNEST J. W. HAWKINS
ourselves or others to bring to light every scrap of mosaic remaining in both
tympana, and when this has been done certain slight adjustments may have to
be made in our conclusions. We trust nevertheless that the views presented here
are substantially correct.
It is our pleasant duty, as it has been many times in the past, to express our
gratitude to the Department of Antiquities and Museums of the Republic of
Turkey and to Bay Feridun Dirimtekin, former Director of the Ayasofya Mu-
seum, for authorizing us to carry out our investigations and granting us every
facility for doing so.4
THE DECORATION OF THE TYMPANA AS A WHOLE
When viewed from the inside (figs. 1, 2) the tympana give the appearance of
flat curtain-walls divided into three zones: the lowest zone comprises seven
recessed niches, the middle zone has seven windows of equal height, the top-
most zone has five windows of which the central one is the tallest and widest
while the two end ones are the smallest. In reality, the plastered surface of each
tympanum conceals a massive arch spanning the distance between the main
piers (fold-out figs. A, B), but this need not concern us here. The fenestration
of the tympana underwent considerable change during the Turkish period, pro-
bably in connection with the repair of the building by the architect Sinan in
1573. In the center of the topmost zone there was, in Byzantine times, a large
trilobed window divided by marble mullions. All of the other windows of the
tympana were also larger than they are today (figs. 3, A, B).5 It follows from
this that the amount of daylight admitted by the tympana was greater in the
Byzantine period than it is today and that the wall-space available for mosaic
decoration was correspondingly smaller.
One more factor that ought to be borne in mind is that the tympana were
rebuilt in Byzantine times. This was first conjectured by P. A. Underwood and
E. J. W. Hawkins,6 who suggested that the rebuilding, which also entailed the
resetting of the gallery colonnades, was carried out after the first collapse of
4 Figs. A and B are based on the architectural
survey of St. Sophia by Mr. R. L. Van Nice and
have been drawn by his assistants. We should also like to extend our thanks to Mrs. Fanny Bonajuto
for research assistance; to Dr. H. N. Logvin of Kiev for providing us with a photograph of the fresco
of St. Ignatius in St. Sophia, Kiev; and to Dr. Priscilla Soucek of the University of Michigan for ad-
vice on Near Eastern ornamental motifs.
5 The cut-stone reinforcement of
the windows is today visible only on the exterior, but in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was fully exposed to view on the inside as well. In addition
to our fig. 3, see the drawings of Grelot (1672) and Loos (1710) reproduced in C. Mango, Materials
for the Study of the Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul, Dumbarton Oaks Studies, VIII (Washington,
D.C., 1962), figs. 2, 3, 56. The fenestration of the tympana poses further problems which cannot at
present be resolved. Paul the Silentiary, in describing the church in 563, i.e., after its first rebuilding,
states that each tympanum was illuminated by eight windows (A'eaiuTre 6 TE-rpaKi6oialS I -rrAToaias
OupiSeaatV): ed. P. Friedlander, Johannes von Gaza und Paulus Silentiarius (Leipzig-Berlin, 1912),
242, vv. 536-37. Even if he counted the triple window as one, we are still left with two windows too
many. It appears, therefore, that two windows, probably the end ones of the uppermost zone, repro-
sent a later Byzantine alteration.
6 "The Mosaics of Hagia
Sophia at Istanbul. The Portrait of the Emperor Alexander ...," DOP,
15 (1961), 210ff.

MOSAICS OF ST. SOPHIA AT ISTANBUL 5
the dome in 558. A series of tests made by Messrs. R. J. Mainstone and R. L.
Van Nice in 1966-68 proved that the tympana were indeed reconstructed; that
the line of juncture between the Justinianic brickwork and the rebuilding
follows, more or less, the inner vertical sides of the four main piers, except
above the southwest and southeast piers, where the juncture is above the crown
of the westernmost and easternmost arch of the gallery colonnade respectively;
and that in their original, Justinianic state the tympana did not have any
shallow niches. In publishing these results, Mr. Mainstone made the counter-
suggestion that the rebuilding occurred after the earthquake of 869.7 A dis-
cussion of the relative merits of the Underwood-Hawkins and Mainstone theses
would have to take into account a number of factors that have not been fully
considered, e.g., the entire series of rinceau mosaics in the soffits of the gallery
colonnades and the opus sectile decoration in the spandrels of the same colon-
nades, both of which certainly postdate the rebuilding. The extent to which the
great north and south arches were reconstructed after the collapse of 558 (see
infra, p. 37) would also have a bearing on this matter. The material evidence
for such a discussion is as yet lacking. Fortunately, however, the solution of
this interesting problem does not affect our present purpose: the mosaics we
attribute to the sixth century are well within the limits of the unreconstructed
parts of the tympana, while those of the Church Fathers, as we shall see, can-
not be earlier than 878.
The mosaic decoration of the tympana consisted of a rich ornamental frame
and a considerable number of figures-either seventeen or nineteen in each
tympanum. In speaking of the ornamental frame, we have to consider not only
the flat surface of the tympana, but also the reveals of the great north and
south arches as well as the forward faces of these same arches. The dominant
motif consisted in a band of alternating diamonds and rosettes (as we shall call
them for the sake of simplicity): this was deployed along the base and the semi-
circular circumference of the tympana and was repeated on the forward edge
of the great arches in such a way that part of its width curved onto the reveal.
There was a strange disparity between the two tympana in that the south one
had a double band of ornament along its semicircular circumference, for within
the band of diamonds and rosettes there was a second one of a stepped or
crenellated design which is not present in the north tympanum (figs. A, B).
The reveals of the arches were decorated with a band of three alternating de-
vices: a diamond contained in a square, a stylized tree, and a palmette.
There were further ornamental elements in the decorative scheme of the tym-
pana, but these were on a smaller scale. The surrounds of the niches were
framed with a band of diaper pattern, and a horizontal band of the same pat-
tern lay tangentially to the tops of the niches, thus providing a clear line of
demarcation between the lowest and middle zones. The reveals of the niches
were decorated with repeating quatrefoils. We do not know if the windows of
the middle and upper zones had ornamental surrounds: if such existed, they
must have been rather narrow.
7 "The Reconstruction of the Tympana of St. Sophia at Istanbul," DOP, 23-24 (1969-70), 353ff.

The figural decoration of the tympana has been discussed elsewhere by one
of us on the basis of the Fossati and Salzenberg drawings.8 It will be sufficient
to recall here its main elements. The fourteen niches contained figures of four-
teen Fathers of the Church in the following order:
South tympanum from east to west: 1. Unknown; 2. St. Anthimus; 3. St.
Basil; 4. St. Gregory Theologos (Nazianzen); 5. St. Dionysius; 6. St. Nicho-
las; 7. St. Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia.
North tympanum for west to east: 8. St. Ignatius the Younger; 9. St. Metho-
dius; 10. St. Gregory Thaumatourgos; 11. St. John Chrysostom; 12. St. Igna-
tius Theophoros; 13. St. Cyril; 14. St. Athanasius.
Of the fourteen figures, Nos. 8, 11, and 12 are preserved in their entirety and
No. 14 in part; the others are lost.
The middle zone was devoted to the Prophets. Gigantic figures of the four
major prophets stood one at each end of the zone in the following positions:
South tympanum, east end: Isaiah; west end: Daniel (not recorded, but
required to make up the number).
North tympanum, west end: Ezekiel; east end: Jeremiah.
Somewhat smaller figures of the twelve minor prophets were placed between the
windows. The exact position of each one of them is not known except for Habak-
kuk (north tympanum, between fifth and sixth windows counting from the west)
and probably Jonah (same tympanum, between sixth and seventh windows).
The prophets stood on a horizontal strip of green ground. All that remains of
these figures is, as far as we know, the lower part of Isaiah. His right foot has
been uncovered (fig. 9), and the mosaic seems to extend roughly up to his knee.
The top zone was, in all probability, devoted to angels. We have evidence for
only one figure placed at the east end of the zone in the north tympanum
(directly above Jonah), and this seems to have been an archangel. If the ar-
rangement was symmetrical, as it probably was, we may postulate four arch-
angels. It would also be possible to insert four figures, say cherubim, one each
between the central trilobed window and the end windows, but we have no
authority for doing so.
Finally, the decoration of the tympana comprised several long lines of in-
scription, which we shall consider later, and four monograms in circular medal-
lions placed in the lowest zone beneath the major Prophets. he first of these
has been preserved entire (east end of south tympanum: fig. 8) and the last only
in part (east end of north tympanum: figs. 40, 41). The other two have dis-
appeared.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MOSAICS

1. REVEALS OF THE GREAT NORTH AND SOUTH ARCHES
We can give only a partial account of this decoration which on the east side
of the south tympanum appears to extend roughly as high as the lower ex-
tremity of the seraph in the southeast pendentive, while on the east side of the
8
Mango, Materials, 48ff.

north tympanum it reaches up with some discontinuity nearly to the crown of
the arch. As we have said, this decoration consists of three repeating motifs: a
diamond contained in a square, a tree, and a palmette. A specimen of the first
has been uncovered by us at the east springing of the north arch, its lower edge
at a height of 1.77 m. from the cornice (fig. 4). The square, which measures 0.64m.
in width and 0.62 m. in height, is outlined by two rows of black glass tesserae,
and its field consists of yellow-green glass, except for the four corners into
which small gold squares have been inserted and delimited by two rows of red
glass tesserae. The diamond, whose corners extend a little beyond the sides of
the square, comprises the following elements: an outer gold frame; a rectangular
field of silver having four green trefoils placed at the corners; a circular gold
ring enclosing a gold rosette on a red ground.9
A specimen of the second motif was uncovered by us in the south arch, above
the east springing (fig. 5). The spade-like form, which is 1.59 m. high, is out-
lined all round with two rows of black glass tesserae. Inside, it is divided into
chevrons of the following colors (from top to bottom): yellow-green delimited
by one row of black glass; gold delimited by two rows of red glass; silver de-
limited by one row of black glass; yellow-green likewise delimited by one row
of black glass; gold delimited by two rows of red glass; finally, silver extending
all the way down into the trunk of the tree. Attached to the base are two cur-
ving tendrils terminating in buds. These are rendered in three shades of green
(yellow-green, leaf-green, and turquoise) and are accented with dark blue.
We have not completely uncovered a specimen of the third motif, the foot of
which may be seen in figure 5, directly above the tree. Its shape, which has been
reproduced in paint by Fossati's decorators, may be dimly discerned beneath
the overpainting (fig. 11). It had two projecting wings and terminated in a tre-
foil.
The decoration of the reveals is very tidily executed and consists exclusively
of glass tesserae. The overall background (average width 0.72 m.) is pure gold
(i.e., without any admixture of silver), and the tesserae are everywhere set
flush with the surface. Furthermore, the mosaic curves without any visible
break both onto the front edge of the arch and onto the tympanum.
2. THE BAND OF DIAMONDS AND ROSETTES
This is a design that is used very extensively throughout the nave of St.
Sophia. In the tympana it clearly belongs to two periods: in our sequel we shall
attempt to define the areas pertaning to each. The characteristics of Phase I
work are more or less the following (figs. 6,7). The band is about 0.60 m. wide,
has an overall background of widely spaced blue glass tesserae, and is delimited
on either side by a silver border three rows wide. The diamond motif has an
9 The basic motif, that of a diamond
overlying a square, is, of course, a very common one. It re-
curs, e.g., in the opus sectile decoration of the apse of S. Vitale, Ravenna. It was also frequently used
in textiles. Cf. the embroidered shoulder-patch of St. Vitalis and the costume of the first
lady to the
right of Theodora, both in S. Vitale: F. W. Deichmann, Friuhchristliche Bauten und Mosaiken von
Ravenna (Baden-Baden, 1958), pls. 356, 366.

outer rectangular frame of gold enclosing a field of green. Within the latter is
set a circular disk of silver which contains a red diamond with a step-like pro-
jection on each side. Attached to each side of the main diamond is a semicir-
cular ring of silver enclosing a gold step motif on a red ground.
The rosette may be described as a St. Andrew's cross with a trefoil at the end
of each arm. This is done in gold, usually three rows wide. A line having a
double bulge (also in gold) connects each arm of the cross to the next, thus form-
ing four bilobed leaves. Two of these are filled with red tesserae and two with
green or turquoise. The green filling is regularly separated from the gold outline
by a line of dark blue cubes one row wide.
In Phase I work we find, once again, that only glass tesserae are used. On
the vertical surface of the tympana the gold and silver cubes are mostly tilted
forward. The setting bed for the gold is painted yellow-ochre; it is painted red
in areas that were to be set with red tesserae.
Phase II work represents the imitation of the same design with cheaper ma-
terials. White marble is often used to take the place of silver, slate10instead of
blue glass, terra-cottall instead of red glass.
gass Areas of gold usually contain an
admixture of silver cubes. The workmanship is much more slovenly than in
Phase I, and the individual motifs are fare from being geometrically correct.
3. THE CRENELLATED BORDER

This, as we have said, is present only in the south tympanum (fig. 10). The
border, of which only a small section has been exposed, is about 0.48 m. wide
and consists of a repeating step motif spaced in such a way that the design is
reversible. In the middle of each motif is a circular disk. The entire design is
done in gold: the crenellations pointing toward the center of the tympanum are
filled with gold set flush with the surface, those pointing outward are filled with
tilted gold cubes. Two values of gold are thus produced and the resultant effect
is extremely subtle. The disks are similarly differentiated: the gold in them is
flush when the crenellation is angled, and angled when the crenellation is flush.
They are, however, outlined with one row of dark blue cubes. In one case the
disk is filled with gold cubes set concentrically and its outline consists of "bottle
glass."12The border is delimited from the overall gold background of the tym-
panum by one row of silver cubes, but this slight demarcation extends only as
high as the zone of the niches and appears to be absent above that. Throughout
the crenellated border the gold contains an admixture of silver cubes.
4. THE CHURCHFATHERS
All the Fathers of the north tympanum were represented in the same atti-
tude: the right hand held in front of the breast in a gesture of blessing, the left
10We have used this term for a grey-black local stone that comes from
Beykoz on the Asiatic
shore of the Bosphorus.
11The terra-cotta cubes
appear to have been dipped in red paint, but this has largely disappeared.
12
I.e., clear glass whose color varies from amber to brown to green. In most cases these were gold
tesserae set upside down or sideways. When seen from a distance they appear quite dark.

hand, covered by a fold of the chasuble, supporting a book of Gospels. In the
south tympanum, as we know from the Fossati and Salzenberg drawings, a vari-
ation of attitudes was possible in that some of the Fathers had their blessing
right hand extended, while others held it in front of the breast. This could not
be done in the north tympanum: if the Fathers had their right arm extended,
it would have been pointing westward, away from the altar of the church.
Apart from differences of headgear, all the Fathers were dressed in the same
vestments, namely a tunic (sticharion) with vertical red and blue clavi, a chas-
uble (phelonion) and an omophoriondecorated with crosses. The surviving fig-
ures are summarily finished toward the bottom, that part being hidden from
view by the projecting step of the niches. As a result of this the bishops' slippers
are barely indicated.
i. ST. IGNATIUS THE YOUNGER (fig. 12)

Dimensions:
Height of niche from step to outer edge of reveal 2.15 m.
Width of niche including reveals 1.80
Height of mosaic panel from step of niche to top of nimbus 2.10
Width of mosaic panel inside red borders 1.62
Height of figure from tip of
irerfoot to top of head 1.89
Ditto to top of nimbus 1.97
Horizontal diameter of nimbus 0.395
Height of head 0.255
Height of letters: tau 0.14, iota 0.145, omicron 0.10, epsilon 0.165
Background: The entire figure including the nimbus is outlined with two rows
of gold cubes, as is also the entire panel inside the decorative frame. The letters
of the inscription are outlined with a single row of gold cubes. The background
is set flush with the surface. There is a sprinkling of silver cubes in the back-
ground, roughly 8 to 10 percent of the total. The average size of the gold tes-
serae is 6 x 8 mm.
Inscription (figs. 15-16): IFNATIOC110 NEOC. The letters are in different
values of dark blue and purplish black glass. The initial iota is dotted, but be-
cause of lack of space, there is only one dot on the right side instead of the
usual two.
Nimbus: The outline of the nimbus consists of an outer row of turquoise glass
and an inner row of turquoise cubes alternating with cubes of white limestone.
The inner circumference of the nimbus and the head are trimmed with a single
row of gold set flush with the vertical surface, whereas the field of
thed nimbus
consists of angled gold cubes in horizontal rows. The field of the nimbus does
not contain any silver cubes. The head is slightly sunken with regard to the nim-
bus because of the smaller size of tesserae used in the former.
Head (fig. 13): Ignatius is wearing a skull-cap outlined with one row of "bottle
glass." The skull-cap itself is of white marble. Its inner border is made of a single
row of light purple glass which also outlines the hair above the forehead and

defines tufts of hair. The hair is brushed forward and is rendered in white marble
shaded with grey marble.
The flesh is in three tones: pink, creamy-yellow and white marble. The pink
is in two values, one pure pink, the other having a slightly brownish tinge.
Shadows on the flesh are in two values of green glass (yellow-green and light
green) and two values of olive green.
The ears and neck are outlined in dark red glass. The eyebrows are of dark
purple glass where they converge on the bridge of the nose and of a lighter
purple in the region of the temples. The upper eyelashes, the pupils and irises
of the eyes and the nostrils are in dark purple glass. The whites of the eyes are
of white limestone on the spectator's right side and of grey marble on the left.
The shadow under the lower eyelid is in olive green and light green, while above
the upper lid it is light green.
The ridge of the nose is lit down the center line with white marble. Next to
this, on the spectator's right, is a vertical row of brownish pink marble. The
shadow on the right is in olive greens, on the left in light greens. The lobes and
tip of the nose are in creamy yellow marble.
The crease lines on either side of the mouth are olive green. The parting of
the lips and the line below the lower lip are dark red glass. The lips now show
as white marble, but the tesserae in them were originally dipped in vermilion
colored lead paint.
The size of the tesserae used in the head range from 2 mm. square to 6 mm. square.
Hand (fig. 14): The tesserae used here are much larger than in the head. Flesh
tones: white, pink, and brownish pink (all marble) outlined with "bottle glass."
Gospel Book (fig. 14): This is slightly trapezoid in shape. The cover has a red
border studded with "pearls," the latter consisting of three or four tesserae of
white limestone set in clusters. The cover itself is gold, the tesserae being angled
in rows aligned with the axis of the book, and it has an inner border consisting
of a single line of red glass. The cover is further decorated with five rectangular
emeralds, of which the center one (set in diamond position) and the two bottom
ones have a blue glass outline, whereas the two top ones have no outline. The
clasps are in dark blue glass; the pages are indicated by alternating lines of
silver and dark red glass.
Omophorion: This is outlined with one row of yellow-green glass and consists
of white limestone except for a barely perceptible line of white Proconnesian
marble all round the edges. The omophorionis decorated with three crosses, two
on the shoulders and one below the knees: these are made of alternately red and
blue glass in each arm. The bottom border of the omophorionconsists of three
single lines of red glass: between the first and second lines from the top is a
series of red pellets. Finally, there is a white fringe in three knotted tassels con-
trasting with the purple-grey shadow of the sticharion.
Phelonion: The lighted parts are in white limestone, the shaded parts in grey
marble and light purple stone. Outlines and fold-lines are in "bottle glass."
Sticharion: The lighted areas are in white marble and limestone, the shaded
areas in grey and purple stone. The outline is yellow-green glass and the same

material goes into the folds, especially near the silhouette. There are two pairs
of vertical clavi, one on each side of the figure, made of red and blue glass, the
blue being used in part to suggest shadow, as, e.g., below the knee. The coloring
of the sticharion is differentiated from that of the phelonion in that, 1. Its white
is largely marble instead of limestone; 2. It is outlined in yellow-green, not
with "bottle glass." The sticharion has a cuff of gold embroidery. This is out-
lined with red glass. Within the outline is a gold rectangle containing a row of
gold cubes set diamond-wise on a purplish stone background. The "collar,"13
visible on either side of the neck, is in alternating horizontal rows of "bottle
glass" and white limestone.
Horizontal DecorativeBand: There is a diamond on either side of the figure; the
intervening rosette must be visualized as being behind the figure. The diamond
on the right is almost completely destroyed; so our description applies to the
one on the left. The ornamental band, including its upper border of two rows
of silver cubes (originally there may have been four) is 0.55 m. high. The back-
ground is of loosely set blue glass. The diamond has an outer rectangular
frame of gold four rows wide. The field within the frame is of mixed light blue
and turquoise glasses and contains a silver disk within which is a more or
less quatrefoil figure in red glass. To each side of the diamond is attached a
semicircular silver ring filled with red glass and containing a stepped figure in
gold. The mosaic peters out into unset plaster about 7 cm. above the step of
the niche.
Reveal Ornament:A double row of dark red glass, interrupted by the crown of
the nimbus, surrounds he entire panel. The reveal ornament, preserved only
in fragments, consists of little quatrefoils (10 to 12 cm. high) of dark blue glass
having at their center clusters of white limestone cubes. The quatrefoils are out-
lined with white limestone or, in a few cases, partly with silver. The background
is gold with a sprinkling of silver. The depth of the reveal, measured vertically,
is 12 cm.
ii. ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (fig. 17)

Dimensions:
Height of niche 2.10 m.
Width of mosaic panel inside red borders 1.90
Height of to
figure top of head 1.85
Diameter of nimbus 0.40
Height of head including beard 0.25
Height of letters: iota 0.145, omega 0.12, nu 0.13/0.17, sigma 0.11, omicron 0.11.
13 The nature of this
article, worn under the phelonion, is not quite clear to us: it may have been
either the collar of the sticharion or a scarf. For a similar striped "collar," cf. the fresco of St. Akepsi-
mas in the Karanlik kilise, Goreme: M. Restle, Byzantine Wall Painting in Asia Minor, II (Green-
wich, Conn., 1967), fig. 226.

12 CYRL MANGO and ERNEST J. W. HAWKINS
Background: Same characteristics as in the case of St. Ignatius the Younger,

except that the proportion of silver cubes is smaller (about 2 percent of the total).
Inscription (figs. 24-25): 16ANNHC 0 XPYCOCI|TOMOC.II Initial iota dotted,
the two nus in 'Icoavvrms in ligature. The letters are made of dark blue and dark
purple glass.
Nimbus (fig. 18): In three rows of dark blue and dark purple glass tesserae, the
outermost and innermost being solid, while in the middle one the dark glass
tesserae alternate with tesserae of white limestone. The field of the nimbus is
of gold, without any admixture of silver, laid concentrically. The head and col-
lar are outlined with a single row of gold. Where the nimbus touches the shoul-
ders the first cube of its innermost ring is gold instead of dark blue so as to allow
the silhouette of the shoulders to tell more clearly.
Head (fig. 19): The hair is outlined along its outer and inner circumferences
with "bottle glass." The main mass of the hair is in light purple glass with a few
accents of "bottle glass." There is a lock of hair in the middle of the forehead.
The beard is in light and medium purple glass without a dark outline.
The flesh tones are in three kinds of marble: white, cream, light pink, medium
pink. The shadows are in three values of green on the spectator's left and two
values of olive on the right.
The pupils of the eyes are dark purple glass, the irises light purple. The whites
are in cream-colored marble lit on the spectator's right side with a couple of
white limestone cubes. The tear ducts are indicated by means of single cubes of
vermilion glass. The upper eyelids are dark purple, the lower dark olive glass.
The heavy eyebrows are in two rows, the upper one purple, the lower one dark
olive. The shadows round the eyes are yellow green.
The re
ridge of the nose consists of a vertical row of white cubes terminating in
a large pear-shaped tessera (also white) on the tip and three cubes of vermilion
glass. Following the line of the ridge on the spectator's right are a row of
medium pink marble and a row of dark olive glass. On the left of the ridge is
one row of light pink marble. The nostrils are indicated by means of two dark
purple cubes on each side.
The ears are in white and cream marble outlined with "bottle glass." The
concha is shaded in light purple.
The lips consist of single lines of vermilion glass. The parting of the mouth
and the shadow under the lower lip are dark purple. The slight moustache is in
medium purple and different values of olive. The neck is outlined with bottle
glass. The flesh is in white, cream, and light pink marbles with light green
shadows.
The tesserae used in the head are from 2 to 6 mm. square as also in the case
of St. Ignatius the Younger.
Hand (fig. 20): Clumsily drawn, it is outlined all round with dark red glass. The
flesh tones are cream and medium pink, highlighted with white marble. The
cubes are quite big, up to 12 mm. in length.
Gospel Book (fig. 21): The cover has an outer border consisting of a row of
"pearls" (groups of limestone cubes) separated from one another by dark purple

lines. There is, furthermore, an inner border-a single row of dark red glass.
Within the latter, set into the gold ground, are five emeralds, the central one
circular, the two upper ones rectangular, the two lower ones of somewhat in-
determinate shape. The outline of the book as well as its four clasps are in dark
purple; the pages are in alternate lines of gold and red.
Omophorion: Outlined with one row of light green and yellow-green, inside
which is one row of white Proconnesian marble turning to grey marble at a
point a little above the knees. Except for this double outline, the material of
the omophorionis rendered in white limestone. The three crosses are alternately
red and blue in each arm, the center lines being indicated by widely spaced gold
tesserae set diamondwise. The lower end of the omophorionhas no ornamental
border, merely a fringe of three tassels.
Phelonion: Highlights in white limestone, shaded areas in grey marble and pur-
plish stone,the latter being used mostly in the lower part of the
stgarment on the
spectator's right. Outline and fold lines in "bottle glass."
Sticharion: The lightest color used is grey Proconnesian marble; shaded areas
in light purple and khaki-brown stone; fold-lines light green glass. There is a
double clavus on each side in two to three vertical rows of dark blue and dark
red glass, blue being also used to indicate shadow on the clavi, namely, below the
phelonion, the fold over the
thfigure's right knee, and folds over the feet. Among
the red tesserae are a few of terra-cotta and one of grey marble that were dipped
in red lead paint. In the outermost clavus on the spectator's left there is, just
below the knee, a small area of unset plaster.
Cug: Large, widely-spaced cubes of grey marble outlined with a double row of
dark red glass. A small corner of shadow inside the cuff is indicated by a cluster
of dark blue cubes next to the wrist.
Collar: On the spectator's right it is in alternating rows of white limestone and
red glass. On the left, instead of red glass, there are two small patches of plas-
ter painted a dark earth-red.
Slippers: These are not outlined and are therefore barely visible. They are made
of grey, purple, and khaki-brown stones.
Horizontal Decorative Band (figs. 22, 23): Height 0.54 m. from the step of the
niche; outlined at the top with four rows of silver tesserae. The two diamonds,
which are very untidily drawn, have an outer rectangular frame of three to four
rows of gold, inside which is an area filled with emerald, light green, blue, and
turquoise glasses mixed. At the center of the diamonds is a circular disk outlined
with one row of blue glass on the spectator's left and two on the right. The field
of the disks is silver. The one on the left encloses a stepped square, the one on
the right something resembling a leaf, both in green. The semicircular rings
attached to the sides of the diamonds are in two to three rows of silver. They
are filled with mixed green tesserae and contain a stepped figure in gold. The
general background of the decorative band is in dark blue and purple glass
except on the right of the figure where it is mostly in dark blue Beykoz stone:
the supply of glass tesserae must have been exhausted. The mosaic peters out
into unset plaster 6 to 10 cm. above the step.

Reveal Ornament(fig. 26): Width, including red borders, 0.27 to 0.29 m. This is
a diaper pattern and is here preserved only on the right side of the niche. There
remain five diamonds placed end to end, each one about 0.25 m. high. Outline
of diamonds in three rows of gold with a sprinkling of silver cubes; inside of
diamonds red glass. The diamonds contain little green quatrefoils outlined
against the red with one row of gold. The triangular spaces between the dia-
monds are dark blue mixed with dark purple and contain gold stepped forms
with centers consisting of two to four green glass cubes. The lowest diamond
has an inside field of terra-cotta instead of red glass.
OrnamentbetweenNiches 4 and 5 (fig. 27): Here we have one rosette pertaining
to the horizontal decorative band. Height 0.54 m. including upper border con-
sisting of four rows of silver; width 0.64. The arms of the X (each terminating
in a lily) and the outer outline of the four "hearts" are in three rows of gold
containing a few silver cubes. The upper and lower hearts are filled with mixed
turquoise and blue glass; the two lateral hearts with large cubes of terra-cotta
and a few stray cubes of red glass. The general background is in dark blue and
purple glasses.
Above this ornament plain gold mosaic survives to a height of about 0.30 m.
(measured along the center line). It is set flush with the surface and contains a
liberal sprinkling of silver, about 8 percent of the total.
iii. ST. IGNATIUS THEOPHOROS (fig. 28)

Dimensions:
Width of panel inside red borders 1.93
Height of figure to top of head 1.84
Ditto to top of halo 1.94
Diameter of nimbus 0.395
Height of head including beard 0.325
Height of letters: first iota 0.135, tau 0.12, omicron 0.10, phi 0.16.
Background: The surface of the mosaic is rather uneven as also in the case of
St. Athanasius. Outlining of figure and letters as in the other panels. The pro-
portion of silver cubes mixed with the gold is about 9 percent and there are also
five or six red glass cubes scattered at random. To the right of the figure, below
the inscription, is a small cross of which only the top and right arms are pre-
served. The cross is outlined with a single row of "bottle glass" and is filled
with plain gold.
Inscription (figs. 35-36): IFNA|TIOC || 0 EO||OOPOC.Initial iota dotted. The
letters are made of dark blue and purple glasses; a couple of red glass cubes
have also been inserted into them.
Nimbus (fig. 29): The field of the nimbus is in pure gold laid concentrically. The
outline consists of two solid rows of emerald green with a few cubes of light

green thrown in. The head is slightly sunken with regard to the field of the nim-
bus.
Head (figs. 29 and 30): The hair has an outer and an inner outline in medium
purple glass and is drawn in vertical lines, alternately light green glass and
white marble. The beard has been treated essentially in the same way: it is
outlined and shadowed with light and medium purple as well as olive glass,
while the strands of hair are of white marble alternating with light and yellow-
green glass.
The flesh tones are in white, cream, and one value of pink marble. The face
is outlined with one row of light and yellow-green, the same colors being also
used for shading, except in the lower part of the cheeks which are shaded in
olive. The size of the tesserae used in the head is slightly larger than in the
other two panels that have been described, the average being 4 x 6 mm.
The pupils of the eyes consist of a single cube of dark purple glass. The whites
are of cream marble lit on the spectator's right side with white limestone. Upper
lashes dark purple, lower lashes dark olive. Eyebrows light and medium purple.
Shadow between eyebrow and upper eyelash light green.
The ridge of the nose is formed by one vertical row of white marble. This is
followed on the spectator's right by one row of pink marble and one row of
olive glass; on the left, by one row of cream marble and one row of light green
glass. Nostrils dark purple.
The ears are in the same flesh tones as the face and are outlined in red glass.
The concha of the right ear is shaded in yellow-green with a couple of red cubes
to mark deeper cavities.
The lips are of pink marble, the parting being red glass. The shadow at the
corners of the mouth is dark purple, whereas under the lower lip it is medium
and light purple.
A small portion of the neck is visible to the left of the beard from the spec-
tator's point of view. It is in the same flesh tones as the face.
Hand (fig. 33): Outlined only on underside of palm and fingers in red glass
which is also used to indicate the nails. The flesh is in cream and pink marble
with a few white marble cubes on the knuckles and the back of the hand. The
ring finger is bent to join the thumb that is hidden from view.
Gospel Book (fig. 34): The entire book is outlined in red (double row on specta-
tor's right). The cover is gold with a sprinkling of silver and is decorated, within
a further red border, with round emeralds disposed in an X. We are to imagine
five of these, but the two lower ones are hidden by the Saint's covered left hand.
The round jewels have an outline of blue glass. Round the central jewel is a
ring of smaller ones, of which four are emerald mixed with light green (not out-
lined) and two are blue. The pages of the book are alternately red and gold and
there are two red clamps.
Omophorion: Outlined for the most part in red glass. Within the red line is a
complete outline in yellow-green. The material of the garment is in white lime-
stone: there is no line of white marble along the edges. The three crosses are al-
ternately red and blue in each arm. The blue is mixed with purple and a few

stray cubes of green and "bottle glass." The omophorion terminates in three
triangular white tassels.
Phelonion: Outline and folds in "bottle glass." Highlights white limestone on
a field of grey Proconnesian marble. Shadows in light purple stone.
Sticharion: Grey-blue Proconnesian marble and light grey stone. Outlined on
spectator's right with one row of "bottle glass," on the left with the red line of
the clavus. Shadow lines in light greens. Two red and blue clavi on each side,
the blue for the most part running parallel to the red, and not used to suggest
shading.
Cuff: Rather haphazard arrangement of stripes: one of white limestone in the
middle, two stripes of alternating red and gold tesserae, the rest red and blue.
Collar: Alternating rows of white limestone and red glass.
Slippers: Only his right slipper is visible. It is in unset plaster outlined in light
green glass. The mosaic peters out 5 to 14 cm. above the step of the niche.
Horizontal Decorative Band (figs. 31, 32): Height 0.49 to 0.51 m. from step of
niche. Upper border consists of three (not four) rows of silver. The two diamonds
(the right one is noticeably smaller than the left one) have a quadrilateral frame
of three rows of gold enclosing an area of light green mixed with a considerable
number of light blue, dark blue, and emerald cubes, especially in the diamond
on the right. At the center of each diamond is a silver disk containing a cross-
on-square form in red glass. The semicircles attached to the four sides of each
diamond have a silver border two rows wide. They contain stepped forms in
gold on a red glass ground.
The lower part of the diamond on the left (fig. 31) including part of the two
lower semicircles and a section of background has been repaired in frescoed
plaster, presumably in the late Byzantine period. The patch, crudely plastered
over the surviving mosaic, is painted in blue, white (for silver), red, yellow, (for
gold) and green. Furthermore, there is a small patch of twelve light blue glass
cubes (mixed shades) in the horizontal silver border to the left of the figure,
where the upper left semicircle of the diamond touches the border. This, too,
may be a repair.
Reveal Ornament: Outlined on both sides with double row of red. Quatrefoils,
outlined with one row of white limestone, consist of dark blue and dark purple
glass with a few stray cubes of other colors. They have no centers. The back-
ground is gold with a small admixture of silver.
OrnamentalSurround of Niche: This survives only on the left side to a height of
about 0.65 m. from the step of the niche, and consists of the same diaper pattern
that has been described supra, p. 14, except that the quatrefoils within the dia-
monds are blue with an admixture of emerald green, while the gold stepped
forms in the triangular spaces have no centers.

COLOR CHART OF TESSERAE USED IN THE
THREE COMPLETE FIGURES OF CHURCH FATHERS14
Ign. Neos Jn. Chrys. Ign. Theoph.
Metallic
1. Gold yes yes yes
2. Silver yes yes yes
Glasses
3. Deep red yes yes yes
4. Vermilion no yes no
5. Yellow-green yes yes yes
6. Light Green yes yes yes
7. Leaf or emerald green yes yes yes
8. Turquoise or light blue yes yes yes
9. Dark blue yes yes yes
10. Purple in three values: yes yes yes
dark (almost black), medium,
and light
11. Olive in two values: yes yes yes
medium and light
12. "Bottle glass" yes yes yes
Stones
13. White limestone yes yes yes
14. Proconnesian white marble yes yes yes
15. Proconnesian grey marble15 yes yes yes
16. Cream marble yes yes yes
17. Pink marble in two values: yes yes one value
light and medium
18. Light purple weathered yes yes yes
granite
19. Light grey weathered no yes yes
granite
20. Slate-grey (Beykoz) stone no yes no
21. Terra-cotta(originally no yes odd cubes
painted ?)
Painted cubes
22. Red lead yes yes no
14 Cf. our comments in DOP, 19 (1965), 132 note 18.
15
I.e., the grey vein of No. 14.

iv. ST. ATHANASIUS (fig. 38)
Dimensions:
Width of panel inside red borders 1.67
Height of figure from tip of foot to top of head 1.89
Horizontal diameter of nimbus 0.39
Height of letters: nu 0.12; alpha 0.11
Background: The figure and the nimbus (on the outside) are outlined with a
double row of gold, as is also the entire panel; the letters of the inscription with
a single row. Amount of silver cubes mixed with the gold about 10 percent.
Inscription: [AOA] I|NAC[IOC]. The letters are of dark blue and purple glasses.
Nimbus (fig. 39): The ring of the nimbus is in light green glass two to three tes-
serae in width and is punctuated with pellets of white limestone set halfway
through the width of the ring. The field of the nimbus is in pure gold angled in
horizontal rows and is not trimmed on the inner circumference of the ring.
The head is, however, trimmed with a single row of gold set flush with the
surface.
Head: Outlined on the spectator's right side with a single row of "bottle glass."
The hair is represented by means of short vertical strokes alternately "bottle
glass" and white limestone set rather loosely in the frescoed bed. The hair is
shadowed over the forehead with yellow-green glass which is a little brighter on
the spectator's left side. The flesh tones visible in the forehead are cream and
pink marble.
Omophorion:Only the lower end survives. Outlined all round with a single row
of yellow-green glass, inside which is a second line of grey marble. The body of
the garment is of white limestone. A knotted fringe at the hem is silhouetted by
a shadow of black glass on the lower garment.
Phelonion: The fragment that remains on the spectator's left is outlined with
one to two rows of "bottle glass." The lighted parts of the garment are in white
limestone, the shaded parts in grey marble and light purple stone.
Sticharion: Grey marble, light grey and light purple stones with white marble
highlights. There are two clavi on the spectator's left side and one on the right,
all in vertical rows of red and turquoise glass. There appear to have been two
more at the center of the figure.
Slippers: White and grey marble and light purple stone. Some yellow-green
glass is used over the top of the left foot.
Horizontal Decorative Band: Height of band including silver border 0.52 m.
Unlike the other panels which have a diamond on both sides of the figure, this
one has a diamond on the left and a rosette on the right. The background of the
band is of dark blue glass in which a few cubes of red, green, and gold as well
as white marble and limestone are scattered at random. The silver border is

four rows wide above the diamond, while above the rosette it is, as far as one
can judge, only two rows wide.
The diamond has a gold frame three rows wide enclosing an area of blue tes-
serae of different shades with a sprinkling of green tesserae. At the center is a
silver disk containing an irregular form, perhaps meant to be a leaf, of green
glass. The semicircular forms attached to the sides of the diamond are of green
glass and are bounded with two rows of silver. They contain gold stepped figures
contiguous to the frame of the diamond.
The outline elements of the rosette to the right of the figure are of gold, two
or three rows wide. The bilobed leaves on the two sides were red. The one on
the right, which is the better preserved of the two, is loosely set with dark
red glass and terra-cotta tesserae. The leaves at the top and bottom, of which
only very small areas survive, were of green glass.
One more element of the same decorative band, also a rosette, survives be-
tween niches 6 and 7, i.e., between the Athanasius niche and the next niche to
the west. It exhibits te following distinctive features: the leaves at the top and
bottom are of mixed blue glasses, while the side ones are of green glass; the line
along the top of the panel dividing it from the gold background above is in two
rows of silver, but for the first 15 cm. from the right it was left as unset plaster,
as was also the vertical termination on the right side of the panel where a
double row of red tesserae was called for.
Reveal Ornament: This is preserved nearly intact. It is outlined on both sides
with three rows of red glass tesserae and has a width of 0.11 to 0.14 m. excluding
the outline. As before, the pattern is on a gold background sprinkled with silver
and consists of quatrefoils of mixed blue glasses outlined with a single row of
white limestone cubes. On the right-hand side of the reveal (but not on the left)
the quatrefoils have centers consisting of a single cube of white limestone. The
height of the quatrefoils is from 0.09 to 0.11 m.
OrnamentalSurround of Niche: The surround is better preserved here than in
the previously described niches, extending as it does on the left-hand side to the
very crown of the niche. The width of the surround, including the red border
lines on both sides, is 0.25 m. (0.20 excluding the borders). The pattern consists
of a string of diamonds placed end to end: originally, there must have been
twenty-five of them in all. The diamonds have gold outlines, three rows wide,
and are filled with red glass. Each one contains a quatrefoil outlined with a
single row of gold, filled with green glasses of different shades and having at its
center a cluster of four gold cubes.
The triangular spaces between the diamonds are filled with blue glass (dis-
counting some odd cubes of different colors) and each contains a gold stepped
form having a spot of dark red at the center.
The tops of the niches were, as we have said, connected by a horizontal band
of diaper design. This, as far as we can judge, was similar in detail to the sur-
rounds of the niches. Only a tiny fragment of the horizontal band remains where
it abuts on the left side of the Athanasius niche, its lower outline of three rows
of red glass being at a height of 2.60 m. above the cornice.

We have described the Athanasius panel as it exists today. In 1847-49 the
bishop's figure was nearly intact and it was fortunately sketched by the archi-
tect Gaspare Fossati (fig. 37). Fossati's color indications appear to be exact: he
notes that the nimbus was green with whie pellets, that the hair (which looks
like a skull-cap on the sketch) was dark and that it was outlined against the
forehead with a strip of light green, that the beard was grey-brown, that the
omophorionwas outlined in green, brown, and yellow, that the crosses upon it
were red and blue, and that the color of the garments as a whole was darker
than that of the other bishops, ranging as it did from brown to grey to white.
Fossati also made the following observation: "Quest'immagine e di un lavoro
piiu ordinario, e antico."16 The execution of this mosaic may indeed have been
less accomplished than that of the others, but we cannot subscribe to the
opinion that it was of earlier date.
5. THE MONOGRAMS
Originally, there must have been four monograms in medallions placed below
the four major Prophets at the east and west ends of each tympanum. The first
of these (fig. 8), located at the east end of the south tympanum, has long been
known from Salzenberg's publication, and has come down to us intact. The
medallion has a diameter of 1.07 m., its ring being of blue glass three rows wide.
Part of its upper circumference is, however, a plaster patch painted grey. On
the outside th medallion is trimmed d with a double row of gold, but this trim
ceases a short distance above the center, and from there up the horizontal lines
of tesserae of the overall background reach right up to the blue circle. The over-
all background is set flush with the surface and contains an admixture of silver
cubes.
The monogram reads Kiupiland consists of the letters K, Y, P, and E attached
to the arms of a cross. All of this is likewise in blue glass. The field of the medal-
lion consists of angled rows of gold (with a fair admixture of silver) in a setting-
bed painted yellow-ochre.
The second and third monograms are unfortunately lost. The fourth one,
placed at the east end of the north tympanum, was found by us in 1962 (figs. 40,
41): prior to that its existence had not been known. Actually, only the upper
right quarter of the medallion is preserved. The circular ring consists of dark
blue and dark purple glass four rows wide and, when complete, must have had
a diameter of 1.08 m. The field inside the medallion is in widely spaced rows of
angled gold with a few silver cubes thrown in. The setting-bed is colored yellow-
ochre. Of the monogram there remain the letters T, attached to the upper arm
of the cross, E (rather than C) and H, attached to the right arm. The letters and
arms of the cross are also of dark blue and dark purple glass three to four rows
wide.
The upper segment of the outer edge of the medallion's circumference is
trimmed with one row of gold, but the trim stops at a point level with the top
16 Cf. Mango, Materials, 54.

of the eta. At a distance about 4 cm. east of the medallion there is a clear suture
in the gold background (fig. 43). To the left of the break-we refer here to a
narrow strip following the outer circumference of the medallion-the gold back-
ground is in angled rows on a yellow-ochre setting-bed and contains an admix-
ture of siver cubes. To the
ttheright of break, the gold cubes, evenly but a little
loosely spaced, are also angled, but they are on a red setting-bed and contain
no silver. When the suture is seen in profile, the plaster bed of the mosaic on
the right is seen to form an underlap, that on the left an overlap. We have before
us, therefore, the work of two periods, Phases I and II.
With regard to the meaning of the monogram, the same arrangement of let-
ters may be seen in the panel of the Emperor Alexander (fig. 42), where it has
been interpreted as T-aT-r 6Eoarr6TT.17 This, in all probability, is also the meaning
of our monogram, although it may have read simply ocrr6T1n (without
TrrTco).
The four monograms, therefore, should be completed as K'upIEpoi8eEl T-rZ 8ETvi TICTC
6aEernTal. There may be some doubt as to the exact formulation, but not as to
the meaning. Had the emperor's name (which was probably contained in the
third monogram) been preserved, our task of dating this mosaic decoration
would have been much simpler.
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Our findings in the tympana correspond exactly to those made by us a few

years ago in the apse of St. Sophia. Discounting some minor repairs (such as the
patch of painted plaster in the panel of Ignatius Theophoros), we have en-
countered only two phases of decoration. As in the apse, Phase 1 is character-
ized by the exclusive use of glass tesserae, by very tidy workmanship, by the
absence of silver cubes from gold backgrounds which are on a red setting bed,
and by some minor traits such as the avoidance of the juxtaposition of green
and gold. On vertical surfaces metallic tesserae (gold and silver) are regularly
angled. Phase 1 mosaic is found in the reveals of the great arches and at the east
end of both tympana, its boundaries, insofar as we have been able to trace them,
being indicated in fold-out figures A and B.
All the rest of the mosaic decoration, including the figures of the Fathers,
pertains to Phase II. Its execution-and this is the first thing that strikes the
observer-is untidy in the extreme. The geometric motifs of the decorative bor-
ders are uneven and lopsided. Furthermore, the supply of tesserae of the re-
quired colors appears to have been insufficient so that, again and again, at-
tempts were made to economize on glass tesserae by substituting cheaper
materials. White marble was used in places instead of silver, blue-grey slate
instead of blue glass, terra-cotta (perhaps dipped in red paint) instead of red
glass. The figural panels are unfinished at the bottom. In the decorative bor-
17 Cf. Underwood and
Hawkins, "The Portrait of the Emperor Alexander," 192.

ders, where the design called for a block of a single color (as, e.g., in the leaves
of the rosettes) we find that several shades have been used. We believe that
these phenomena are explainable by economic rather than stylistic factors. How
short the supply of tesserae was in the ninth century (to which, as we shall see,
Phase II should be attributed) may be gauged from the report that the Emperor
Basil I took down the mosaic decoration of Justinian's mausoleum at the Holy
Apostles and reused it in the Nea Ekklesia and the church of the Virgin Mary
at the Forum, both of which he had built.18
Phase II work has these further characteristics. Areas of gold, except for the
haloes of the Fathers, always contain an admixture of silver cubes, up to about
10 percent. The setting-bed of gold backgrounds is painted yellow-ochre. The
overall gold background on vertical surfaces is set flush with the surface:
only small areas of gold, such as the crenellated border and the circular
disks of the monograms, are in angled rows to differentiate them from the
background.
The adjustment of Phase II to Phase I work could not be achieved without
some slight inconsistencies. In the earlier scheme the upper edge of the horizon-
tal band of diamonds and rosettes at the base of the tympana came to a height
of 1.30 to 1.35 m. above the cornice. The ninth-century decorators deployed this
band across the niches, but they were evidently reluctant to make it reach up
to the hips of the Fathers, and so lowered it by about 0.30 m. They were not
able, furthermore, to obtain a regular alternation of diamonds and rosettes. We
have seen that, whereas Ignatius the Younger, John Chrysostom, and Ignatius
Theophoros are flanked by diamonds on both sides, Athanasius has a diamond
on the left and a rosette on the right. A possible explanation of this inconsis-
tency is that the decoration of the north tympanum was carried out from west
to east. The wall space between the edge of the tympanum and the first niche
afforded room for seven motifs, and we have to assume that the first-hence
also the seventh-was a rosette. We therefore have a diamond to the left of
St. Ignatius the Younger, we imagine a rosette "behind" him, and we have a
diamond to the right of him. The same formula was applied as far as the Atha-
nasius niche; to the east of it there were again seven alternating motifs whose
order had been established in Phase I, and these, as we know for certain, started
and ended with a diamond. The only way of avoiding the repetition of two iden-
tical motifs was, therefore, to have a diamond to the left of Athanasius and a
rosette to his right, thus disrupting the previous order.
We do not know how this problem was solved in the south tympanum since
none of the figural mosaics survive, and Fossati's sketches do not show the geo-
metric motifs. If, however, we may trust Salzenberg's drawings, a different
solution was applied there, since he shows the Bishops flanked not by identical,
but by the two different motifs.19 His indications are, however, partly contra-
18 Patria
Constant., ed. Preger, Script. orig. Constant., II (Leipzig, 1907), 288. Cf. Leo Grammaticus,
ed. Bonn, 257.
19Alt-christliche Baudenkmale von
Constantinopel (Berlin, 1855), pis. xxvIII, xxix: Mango, Mate-
rials, figs. 59, 60 (the latter reproduced from Salzenberg's original watercolor).

dictory20 and it may be that, instead of recording the motifs on the spot, he
added them from memory in his Berlin studio.
Another inconsistency we have already mentioned is the absence of the cren-
ellated border from the north tympanum. The reason for this omission is pre-
sumably that a greater area of Phase I mosaic was retained in the north tym-
panum than in the south.
As regards the figures of the Bishops, we believe that all of them are con-
temporary, though they were probably executed by different artists. Of the
preserved portraits, that of John Chrysostom is the most accomplished, while
that of Ignatius Theophoros is the crudest. There are also slight technical vari-
ations between the figures. For example, the omophorion of both Ignatius the
Younger and John Chrysostom, rendered in white limestone, has all round it
a barely perceptible line of white marble. This subtle touch, that can be appre-
ciated only at close quarters, does not occur in the panels of either Ignatius
Theophoros or Athanasius. Such differences, however, are not only natural in
a vast decorative enterprise, but may even have been deliberate. In all essential
respects, both technical and stylistic, in the range of materials used, in the
character of the lettering, the existing figures show complete agreement among
one another.
THE LOCATION OF THE BISHOPS
The location of the mosaics of the bishops on the north and south walls of the
nave may be explained in one of two ways, viz., either by the lack of suitable
wall space in the apse, or by the consideration that in the late ninth century the
emplacement of bishops' portraits within a given church decoration had not yet
been determined. The apse of St. Sophia is indeed entirely revetted with marble
up to the level of the cornice, thus affording no room for representations of
bishops below the zone devoted to the Virgin Mary and archangels. But even
had such room been available, we have no guarantee that in the ninth century
20 At the east end of the south
tympanum the border begins with a diamond, so that the seventh
motif is likewise a diamond. Following Salzenberg's disposition, we would then expect the following
order:
Niche 1: rosette, diamond
pilaster: rosette
Niche 2 (Anthimus): diamond, rosette (so shown)
pilaster: diamond (so shown)
Niche 3 (Basil): rosette, diamond (so shown)
pilaster: rosette
Niche 4 (Gregory Theologos): diamond, rosette (so shown)
pilaster: diamond
Niche 5 (Dionysius): rosette, diamond (shown in reverse)
pilaster: rosette
Niche 6 (Nicholas): diamond, rosette (so shown)
pilaster: diamond
Niche 7 (Gregory of Armenia): diamond, rosette (shown in reverse).
The confusion may be due to the fact that Salzenberg reproduced the last four bishops side by side
on one plate (pl. xxix) without the intervening pilasters. He then either forgot the existence of the
pilasters or deliberately reversed the sequence of the motifs in niches 5 and 7 so as to obtain an
aesthetically pleasing alternation on his plate.

the bishops would have been placed in the apse in preference to another part of
the church. Early Christian antecedents do exist for the location of bishops-
at any rate, local bishops-in the apse (e.g., S. Apollinare in Classe);21 and cer-
tainly there are examples of this practice by the tenth century.22 But even
among monuments of the ninth to the eleventh centuries we often find por-
traits of bishops scattered more or less at random:23at G6reme, chapel 1 (El
Nazar) in the pendentives of the dome reme, chapel 3, on the pier separa-
ting the nave
nav from thenarthe ex;25 Gdreme, chapel 4a, in the east bay of the
nave;26 Irhala, Ylanl kilise, on the east, south, andnorth arches of the nave,
etc. Even at Hosios Loukas, whilst SS. Gregory Nazianzen and Athanasius are
in the sanctuary proper, SS. Basil, John Chrysostom, Gregory Thaumatourgos,
and Nicholas are in the nave; while at the Anargyroi of Kastoria (first layer:
eleventh century?) SS. Basil and Nicholas are in the narthex.27 It is only from
the end of the eleventh century onward that the placing of bishops in the sanc-
tuary and, in particular, in the lower register of the apse, becomes de rigueur.28
A more complex problem is posed by the selection of Fathers represented in
both tympana. Turning back to our list (p. 6), we find in it, on the one hand,
a number of highly venerated doctors of the Orthodox Church, whose presence
here requires no justification (SS. Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Dionysius, Nicho-
las, Gregory Thaumatourgos, John Chrysostom, Ignatius Theophoros, Cyril,
and Athanasius); on the other hand, a smaller number of bishops whose choice
must have been dictated by special circumstances (SS. Anthimus, Gregory of
Armenia, Ignatius the Younger, Methodius). To be sure,, Byzantine practice did
not impose in this respect any rigid formula: every case was, to some extent,
individual. For the sake of comparison, it may be helpful to quote here a few
representative examples. Thus, the iconographic compendium of "Ulpius the
Roman" (ninth/tenth century) includes SS. Dionysius, Gregory Nazianzen,
Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius, Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Cyril of
Jerusalem, Eustathius of Antioch, Tarasius, and Nicephorus (in all, eleven
bishops).29In the apse of St. Sophia, Kiev (1042-46) we find the following from
left to right: SS. Epiphanius, Clement of Rome, Gregory Nazianzen, Nicholas,
21 The case of S. Maria
Antiqua, with its two layers of Church Fathers on the front wall of the
apse and the later series in the left aisle, is too individual and complex to serve as a paradigm. Cf.
the remarks of P. J. Nordhagen, "The Frescoes of John VII," Inst. Rom. Norv. Acta ad Archaeol.
et artium hist. pertinentia, 3 (1968), 94.
22 As at
Cavusln (between A.D. 963 and 969), Kilhilar kilise, and Ayvall kilise (south chapel) in Cap-
padocia. On the last, said to be of the early tenth century, see N. and M. Thierry "Ayvali kilise ou
pigeonnier de Giilli Dere," Cahiers archeologiques, 15 (1965), 103.
23 See the short discussion of this
topic by M. Chatzidakis, "BuLav-rnvs TOlXoypapi6s orr6v'&pcorr6,"
XpiaT. 'ApXaioW. 'ETratp.,4th Ser., 1 (1959), 92ff.
AET-r. rTTS
24 4 described as an
Restle, op.cit., fig. (incorrectly evangelist).
25 G. de Jerphanion, Les dglises rupestres de Cappadoce, I/1 (Paris, 1925), 141f.
26
Restle, op. cit., fig. 48 and accompanying chart.
27 A. Orlandos, BvLuav-riva&
uvrlETaKar-ropias(Athens, 1938), 29, fig. 20; S. Pelekanides, Kaco-ropia,
I
(Thessaloniki, 1953), pl. 38a.
28 For the first half of the eleventh
century we may quote the church of Panagia ton Chalkeon of
1028: see K. Papadopoulos, Die Wandmalereien des XI. Jahrhunderts in des Kirche flavayioa T-rV
XaNK?cOV in Thessaloniki (Graz-Koln, 1966), 28f.; and St. Sophia, Kiev of 1042-46: V. N. Lazarev,
Mozaiki Sofii Kievshoj (Moscow, 1960), 11Off.
29 M.
Chatzidakis, "'EK rCoV'E-7rrlouToiG'Pcoa(iov," 'E7rrET.'ET-rap.BvL.SIrrouC8v, 14 (1938), 412ff.

Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Thaumatourgos.30 At Hosios
Loukas, as we have said, SS. Gregory Nazianzen, Athanasius, Basil, John
Chrysostom, Gregory Thaumatourgos, and Nicholas are given preferential
treatment, while another sixteen bishops are crowded into the vaults and
arches of the prothesis and the diaconicon (SS. Sylvester, Cyprian, Spyridon,
Achilios, Anthimos, Eleutherios, Polycarp, Antipas, Gregory of Nyssa, Philo-
theos, Hierotheos, Dionysius, Ignatius Theophoros, Gregory of Armenia, Cyril
of Alexandria, Clement).31At Daphni we find Nicholas, Gregory Thaumatour-
gos, Gregory of Agrigento, Sylvester, Anthimos, Eleutherios, and Aberkios.32
These few confrontations show us not only the diversity in the choice of bishops
from one church to another, but the absence from St. Sophia of some widely
revered Fathers, such as, e.g., Gregory of Nyssa.
In searching for a principle of selection, we must begin by ruling out one that
would give pride of place to the local Church of Constantinople. The respective
sees of the bishops portrayed are the following:
1. Unknown
2. St. Anthimus: Nicomedia
3. St. Basil: Caesarea of Cappadocia
4. St. Gregory: Nazianzus
5. St. Dionysius: Athens
6. St. Nicholas: Myra
7. St. Gregory: Armenia
8. St. Ignatius the Younger: Constantinople
9. St. Methodius: Constantinople
10. St. Gregory Thaumatourgos: Neocaesarea
11. St. John Chrysostom: Constantinople
12. St. Ignatius Theophoros: Antioch
13. St. Cyril: Alexandria
14. St. Athanasius: Alexandria
While, therefore, Constantinople is a little better represented than the other
sees, its preponderence is too slight to be meaningful. Nor can we discover any
trace of a geographical distribution such as exists at St. Sophia, Ohrid, where
the patriarchs of Constantinople occupy the central apse, while the popes of
Rome are relegated to the south lateral apse.33The only significant observation
we may make under this heading concerns the absence of any Roman pope (e.g.,
Clement or Sylvester) or, for that matter, any other prelate of the Western
80 D. V. Ajnalov and E. K. Redin,
"Kievskij Sofijskij Sobor," Zapiski Imp. Russk. Arkheol. ObSg.,
N.S. IV (1890), 298ff.; Lazarev, op.cit., 112ff.
31 R. W. Schultz and S. H.
Barnsley, The Monastery of St. Luke of Stiris (London, 1901), 55-60
and pls. 43, 44, 51, 52; E. Diez and 0. Demus, Byzantine Mosaics in Greece (Cambridge, Mass., 1931),
plan of Hosios Loukas and figs. 14-17, 26-31.
32 G. Millet, Le monastere de
Daphni (Paris, 1899), 77, 87, 121, 146; Diez and Demus, op.cit., plan
of Daphni and figs. 70-71, 77-78.
33 See A. Grabar, "Deux
t6moignages arch6ologiques sur l'autocephalie d'une 6glise: Prespa et
Ochrid," Zbornik radova Vizant. Inst., VIII/2 (1964), 166ff.; idem, "Les peintures murales dans le
choeur de Ste-Sophie d'Ochrid," CahArch, 15 (1965), 257f.

Church: all the bishops listed above are Eastern ones. Note, however, that of the
four Eastern patriarchates Jerusalem is not represented.
Secondly, we may observe that in the choice of bishops no special emphasis
was laid on the suppression of Iconoclasm. In the room above the southwest
vestibule of St. Sophia the portraits of the patriarchs Germanus, Tarasius,
Nicephorus, and Methodius insistently call to mind the victorious struggle of
the Orthodox Church against the Iconoclasts.34 In the tympana, on the other
hand, Methodius alone symbolizes the final liquidation of the heresy. We may
conclude from this that at the time when the mosaics of the tympana were made
the issue of Iconoclasm had already lost much of its urgency.
Another line of investigation is offered by the liturgical calendar of St. Sophia
as we know it from the late ninth and subsequent centuries. The synaxeis or
special commemorative services in honor of the Fathers represented in the tym-
pana were celebrated in the following places:
1. Unknown
2. Anthimus (September 3): on the north side of the Golden Horn
(-rrpav EiS TO KEpa) .35
3. Basil (January 1): in St. Sophia.36
4. Gregory Nazianzen (January 25): in St. Sophia and also at the
.martyrion of St. Anastasia and the church of the Holy Apostles
(where the Saint's relics were deposited by Constantine VII).37
5. Dionysius (October 3): in St Sophia.38
6. Nicholas (December 6): in St. Sophia.39
7. Gregory of Armenia (September 30): in the martyrion of St. Theo-
dore near the Brazen Tetrapylon.40
8. Ignatius the Younger (October 23): at the Satyros monastery, on
the Asiatic side of the Propontis.41
9. Methodius (June 14): at the church of the Holy Apostles where
his relics lay.42
10. Gregory Thaumatourgos (November 17): in St. Sophia.43
11. John Chrysostom (November 13): According to the typicon of the
Great Church the procession started at St. Sophia and proceeded,
by way of the Forum, to the church of the Holy Apostles where
34 See P. A. Underwood, "A
Preliminary Report on Some Unpublished Mosaics in H. Sophia,"
American Journal of Archaeology, 55 (1951), 367ff.; A. Grabar, L'iconoclasme byzantin (Paris, 1957),
193f., 213f., 234; Mango, Materials, 44.
35 Le
Typicon de la Grande Eglise, ed. J. Mateos, I, Orient. Christ. Anal., 165 (1962), 12. The topo-
graphical indication is lacking in Dmitrievskij's ed., Opisanie liturgiceskikh rukopisej, I (Kiev, 1895),
2, based on cod. Patm, 266. Cf. Delehaye, Synaxarium eccl. Constant., Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum
Nov. (Brussels, 1902), 9,.4
36 Mateos,
Typicon, I, 170; Delehaye, Synax. CP, 36613.
37 Mateos, Typicon, I, 210; Delehaye, Synax. CP, 42221, 4238.
38 Mateos, Typicon, I, 58; Delehaye, Synax. C P, 10214.
39 Mateos, Typicon, I, 124; Delehaye, Synax. CP, 2847.
40 Mateos, Typicon, I, 50; Delehaye, Synax. CP,
947.
41Mateos, Typicon, I, 76;
Delehaye, Synax. CP, 1609.
42 Mateos,
43 Mateos, Typicon, I, 106;

the service was held.44The synaxaria contain no topographical in-
dication.45 In the fourteenth century the commemorative liturgy,
attended by the emperor, was celebrated in St. Sophia.46
12. Ignatius Theophoros (December 20): in St. Sophia.47
13-14. Cyril and Athanasius (January 18): in St. Sophia.48
Thus, of the thirteen Fathers known, eight had their synaxis in St. Sophia.
John Chrysostom was naturally associated with the church of the Holy Apostles
where his relics lay;49 but his inclusion in the series was obligatory and, there-
fore, raises no problem. We are left with four "special" cases, those of SS. An-
thimus, Gregory of Armenia, Ignatius the Younger, and Methodius. We shall
consider these later since they have an important bearing on the date of the
mosaics under discussion.50
Surprisingly enough, the order in which the bishops are arranged appears to
be largely haphazard, except that the central position in each tympanum is
assigned to a "major" Father, Chrysostom on the north and Gregory Nazianzen
on the south.51Basil is appropriately placed next to Gregory; the two Alexan-
drian patriarchs, Athanasius and Cyril, who shared the same feast day, are side
by side, as are also the two most recent members of the group, Methodius and
Ignatius the Younger. Proximity to the east end of the church does not seem to
have been a determining factor.
ICONOGRAPHY
We shall begin with a few general observations which apply to all the figures
of the Church Fathers.
Byzantine representations of bishops lend themselves to a classification based
on costume.52 In the post-iconoclastic period the earliest group exhibits only
three articles of clothing: sticharion, phelonion and omophorion. It is to this
group that our mosaics belong. The epitrachelion,a long embroidered scarf that
was passed round the neck and reached down to the feet (it was worn under the
chasuble) begins to appear in works of art from about the middle of the tenth
century onward.53A further addition, observable toward the end of the tenth
44Mateos,
Typicon, I, 100.
45
Delehaye, Synax. CP, 217ff.
46
Ps.-Codinus, Traitd des offices, ed. J. Verpeaux (Paris, 1966), 242f.
47 Mateos, Typicon, I, 140;
48
Mateos, Typicon, I, 200; Delehaye, Synax, CP, 4009.
49Mateos,
50 Infra,
p. 38 f.
51
Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom were the "Three Hierarchs" par excellence.
However, their joint commemoration (January 30) appears to have been first introduced in 1082:
M. Gedeon, BulavT-vov TopTroX6ylov (Constantinople, 1899), 66.
52 See N.
Thierry, "Le costume 6piscopal byzantin du IXe au XIIIe s. d'apres les peintures datees,"
Rev. et. byz., 24 (1966), 308ff. The latest work on Byzantine priestly vestments is T.
zur Geschichte der Messgewdnder im byzantinischen Ritus, Miscell. Byzant. Monacensia, Papas, Studien
3 (Munich,
1965).
53
Papas, op.cit., 156ff.

28 CYRL MANGO and ERNEST J. W. HAWKINS
century, is the encheirion, a rectangular piece of fabric attached to the tunic

over the right thigh. This was later replaced by the epigonation, a stiff, lozenge-
shaped article suspended over the right knee.
Another archaic feature of our mosaics is the use of haloes delimited by a
colored ring decorated with pearls. This practice, common in the Early Chris-
tian period, disappears from monumental metropolitan painting toward the end
of the ninth century,54while it tends to persist in the provinces (e.g., Cappado-
cia and Italy) and in the minor arts. Also significant is the omission of the epi-
thet 6 aytos from the inscriptions: this, too, reflects Early Christian usage, and
is shared by a few manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries,55and some of
the earlier decorations in Cappadocia.56
ST. IGNATIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE
Representations of the Patriarch Ignatius are very rare in Byzantine art, the
one before us being the earliest and surely the most "authoritative." The head
is that of an elderly man as shown by his white hair. The beardless, oval face
is rather elongated, the nose decidedly long, the dark eyes big and staring. The
complexion is fresh and, except for the wrinkles over the mouth, does not sug-
gest advanced age: indeed, had the hair been dark, we would readily have ac-
cepted this as the portrait of a man of about forty. We must also bear in mind
that the discoloration of the lips (which were originally red)57has made the ex-
moression ascetic and lifeless than was intended.
pression
That this representation is based on a genuine portrait made in the Saint's
lifetime, is a natural enough assumption. There exists evidence from different
periods of Byzantine history that portraits of patriarchs were set up in their
lifetime to be occasionally suppressed when this or that patriarch was con-
demned for heresy.58It has furthermore been suggested that there existed in the
Patriarchal Palace a kind of picture gallery which was gradually enriched by
the portrait of each successive incumbent.59 This may well have been so, al-
though it cannot be proved with complete certainty;60 nor can we say in which
54 We
may quote here the standing Virgin in the dome of St. Sophia, Thessalonica. Among illu-
minated manuscripts, we find pearled haloes in Paris, gr. 510, fol. 239, and Athens, National Library,
cod. 123, fol. 87V (inserted ninth-century miniature of St. Luke). For the latter, a provincial work,
see A. Delatte, Les manuscrits d miniatures eta ornements des bibliothequesd'Athenes, Bibl. de la Fac.
de Philos. et Lettres de l'Univ. de Liege, XXXIV (1926), 18ff. and pl. vii.
55Vat. gr. 699, Stavronikita 43, and Athen. 123
56 G6reme, quoted in the previous note.
chapel 6: G. de Jerphanion, op.cit. (note 25 supra), 96f.; St. Eustratius chapel, ibid.,
150f.
57 See
suprya,p. 10.
58 Here are some of the relevant texts: Theodorus lector, Hist. eccl.
quoted by St. John Damascene,
De imag., III, PG 94, 1397D (images of Patriarch Macedonius, A.D. 342-46, 351-60); ibid., 1400A
(images of Flavian, A.D. 446-49, and Anatolius, A.D. 449-58); John of Ephesus, Eccles. Hist., I. 36,
trans. R. Payne Smith (Oxford, 1860), 71 f. = ed. E. W. Brooks, Corpus script. Christ. orient., Scrypt.
syri, III. 3, Versio (1938), 32 (images of John III Scholasticus, A.D. 565-77, and Eutychius, A.D.
577-82); Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne (Paris, 1886), I, 354 (portraits of the heretics Cyrus,
Sergius, etc.). Cf. J. Kollwitz, "Zur Friihgeschichte der Bilderverehrung," Rom. Quart., 48 (1953), 17f.
59A. Grabar, L'iconoclasme
byzantin, 213f.
60 If we are not
mistaken, the only reference to such a series of portraits is made in 1200 by Antony
of Novgorod: "In the gallery (na polatakh) are painted all the patriarchs and emperors, as many of
them as there have been in Constantinople, and [it is indicated] which ones among them were heretics:"

part of the palace such a gallery, if it existed, was kept. In the case of two patri-
archs who fought Iconoclasm, namely Tarasius and Nicephorus, detailed des-
criptions of their features, probably derived from painted portraits, have been
preserved in written documents. 61 At a later period an extensive series of both
patriarchal and imperial portraits was set up in the narthex of St. George of
the Mangana.62
Ignatius is represented beardless in his mosaic portrait-correctly so since he
was made a eunuch at the age of fourteen. The accuracy of his other features
cannot be verified. Assuming, however, that our mosaic is based on a genuine
portrait, it may be worth asking when such a portrait was made. Now, Ignatius
was born in 799,63 the son of the future emporer Michael I (811-13), and served
as patriarch from 847 until 858 and once again from 867 until his death on Oc-
tober 23, 877. Our mosaic does not appear to us to depict a man in his seventies:
we are more inclined to believe that Ignatius is represented here as he was soon
after his appointment in 847, a man of about fifty.
The following other pictures of St. Ignatius are known to us:
1. Chalice in the Treasury of St. Mark's Venice, first half of tenth century.
Bust of St. Ignatius, beardless.64
2. Menologium of Basil II, cod. Vat. gr. 1613 (979-1025), p. 134. Ignatius,
beardless, lying on his deathbed (fig. 45).
3. Same manuscript, p. 420. Ignatius with white hair and beard stands next
to the Emperor Michael III at the Invention of the head of St. John the
Baptist.65
4. Dionysiou, cod. 587 (740), eleventh-century lectionary, fol. 148r.66Same
scene as in No. 3, Ignatius bearded.
5. Cod. Vat. gr. 1156, eleventh-century lectionary, fol. 262v.67 Small figure
of St. Ignatius, bearded.
Kniga palomnik, ed. Loparev, Pravosl. Palest. Sbornik, no. 51 (1899), 23. Antony uses the term polaty
to denote not only the gallery, but the patriarchal residence which was on the same level. The exten-
sive series of Constantinopolitan patriarchs in the bema of St. Sophia, Ohrid, may also be used as
evidence for the existence of a "master set" in the capital. Cf. A. Grabar, "Deux temoignages" (as
in note 33 supra), 167f.
61 These are found in the tract
by "Elpius the Roman," ed. Chatzidakis (as in note 29 supra), 414.
From this source the descriptions were taken over into the text of synaxaria: Delehaye, Synax. CP
(as in note 35 supra), 488, 725f.
62
The relevant texts are collected in C. Mango, "The Legend of Leo the Wise," Zbornik radova
Vizant. Inst., 6 (1960), 76f. The series is said to have included seventy-seven imperial portraits and
about one hundred patriarchal ones.
63 For the date, see J. B. Bury, A History of the Eastern Roman Empire
(London, 1912), 14 note 2.
This is based on the statement of the Vita Ignatii, PG 105, 492B, that Ignatius was made a monk,
on the accession of Leo V in 813, when he was fourteen years old. The same document (col. 560D)
states, however, that Ignatius died in his eightieth year, which would place the date of his birth in
798.
64 A. Grabar, "Un calice
byzantin aux images de patriarches de Constantinople," Ae-r. Trf Xpicrr.
'ApXacoX.'E-ralp.,4th Ser., 4 (1964/5), 45ff. and fig. 3.
65 II Menologio di Basilio II, II = Codices e Vaticanis selecti, VIII
(Turin, 1907), 134, 420. For the
terminal dates of the manuscript, see I. Sevcenko, "The Illuminators of the Menologium of Basil II,"
DOP, 16 (1962), 245 note 2, 272 note 91.
66 See K.
Weitzmann, "The Narrative and Liturgical Gospel Illustrations," in New Testament
Manuscript Studies, ed. M. M. Parvis and A. P. Wikgren (Chicago, 1950), 173 and pl. xxxII.
67 For a
description of the manuscript, see M. Bonicatti, "Per una introduzione alla cultura medio-
bizantina di Costantinopoli," Riv. dell' Ist. Naz. d'Archeol., N. S. 9 (1960), 255f. note 32.

6. St. Nicholas "of the Roof," near Kakopetria, Cyprus, fresco in prothesis
(late eleventh century?). Bust of Ignatius, beardless, dark hair (fig. 46).68
7. Chronicle of Skylitzes, cod. Matrit. gr. Vitr. 26-2 (late thirteenth cen-
tury), fol. 76r. Ignatius, bearded, receives the news of his appointment as patri-
arch.69
The representations listed above are of some interest for assessing the proce-
dures of Byzantine painters. An iconographic type of St. Ignatius, distinguished
by the lack of a beard and probably by white hair, did exist, but it was so sel-
dom used that very few painters could have known of it. The Kakopetria artist
must have been familiar with it, but he probably interpreted the absence of a
beard as an indication of youth, and so endowed Ignatius with dark hair. Other
painters were less scrupulous and simply created a standard, white-bearded
bishop type. It is particularly interesting that both the beardless and bearded
variants should occur in the same manuscript, the Menologium of Basil II, al-
though, admittedly, the two miniatures in question are not by the same painter.70
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The iconography of this very popular Saint has been discussed at length by
Otto Demus;71 so there is no need for us to go over the same ground again.
Demus finds that there existed three distinct types of Chrysostom: 1. The
"iconic," which is that of a relatively young man having an oval face and a
sparse beard, lacking any strongly individual traits. This is the earliest recorded
type and is found in frescoes of the seventh and eighth centuries in S. Maria
Antiqua, Rome.72 2. The "ascetic," which is the dominant type in Byzantine
art from the eleventh century onward. Here Chrysostom is almost bald and has
a short beard often divided into two points. He has a high bulbous forehead,
an aquiline nose, sunken eyes, emaciated cheeks, and a pointed chin. 3. The
"humanistic" type represented by our mosaic, the tenth-century reliquary of
the True Cross from the treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum in Rome (fig. 50),73
and the fresco in the parecclesion of the Kariye Camii.74Here St. John is not
bald, though his hair is shown as receding from his high forehead, and his fea-
tures are more masculine than those of the "ascetic" type.
Iconographically, the closest parallel to our mosaic is provided by the afore-
mentioned reliquary of the Sancta Sanctorum. The proportions of the figure
are a little different in that the mosaic shows a massive, broad-shouldered body
68 M.
Sacopoulo, "Deux effigies inedites de patriarches constantinopolitains," CahArch., 17 (1967),
193ff. and fig. 5.
69 S. Cirac
Estopaiian, Skyllitzes Matritensis, I (Barcelona-Madrid, 1965), 287.
70 The
one on p. 134 is signed by George; that on p. 420 by Nestor.
71
"Two Palaeologan Mosaic Icons in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection," DOP, 14 (1960), 110ff.
72
As an additional example of this type we may quote an early icon on Mount Sinai: G. and
M. Sotiriou, Icones du Mont Sinai (Athens, 1958), I, fig. 21 and color plate; II, 36ff. (attributed to
seventh or eighth century). Lazarev, Storia della pittura bizantina, 161, attributes this icon to the
ninth century.
73 For the relevant
bibliography, see Lazarev, op.cit. (note 3 supra), 172 note 44.
74 P. A. Underwood, The
Kariye Djami, Bollingen Series, LXX (New York, 1966), I, 244ff.; III,
pls. 478, 482.

terminating in a small head, while the reliquary depicts an elongated and rather
narrow body; the two heads are, on the other hand, practically identical.
It may be of interest to quote here the description of Chrysostom given by
"Ulpius the Roman," an author writing between ca. 850 and 950, hence more
or less contemporary with our mosaic:
"John of Antioch was a man of very short stature who carried a large head
on his shoulders, extremely thin, having a long nose, wide nostrils, and a very
pale, whitish complexion. The sockets of his eyes were hollow and contained
big eyeballs which sometimes glinted pleasantly, although the rest of his ex-
pression was that of a man in grief. He had a bald (yiA6s), high forehead
marked with many wrinkles. His ears were big, his beard short and very sparse,
of a light color due to white hairs (Urrlo-TolaiS TralSopiiv E-avOcov). 75
This description is more applicable to the "ascetic" than to the "humanistic"
type. It is interesting, too, that our mosaic should go counter to the text, for,
instead of representing a small body with a disproportionately bighead, it shows
a big body with a small head. It may be said, however, that in Byzantine art
the size and proportions of human figures were a factor of style, not of iconog-
raphy.
ST. IGNATIUSTHEOPHOROS
Ignatius Theophoros,76third bishop of Antioch (after Peter and Evodius),

was martyred in Rome in the reign of Trajan (98-117).77 There could thus have
been no authentic data for his portrait which, in Byzantine art, is a purely con-
ventional one: he is represented as an old man with white hair and a medium
long beard usually terminating in a sharp point. These characteristics remain
fairly constant, except that in the Palaeologan period the beard grows longer,
while the hair at times becomes less abundant. The only deviant representation
known to us is the fresco in the south gallery of St. Sophia at Kiev, where the
hair and beard are dark (fig. 47). Ignatius was not portrayed very frequently,
but there are enough pictures of him to establish a definite iconographic tradi-
tion.78
76 Ed. Chatzidakis op. cit. (note 29 supra), 413.

76
This epithet occurs in the proems of the Epistles of Ignatius, PG 5, 644, 661, 673, etc. On its
interpretation, see, e.g..,G. Bareille, art. "Ignace d'Antioche," Dit. de the'ol.cath., VII/1 (1930), 685.
77 What little is known of his career is summarized by G.
Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria
(Princeton, 1961), 292ff. For the date of Ignatius' martyrdom, see the discussion by Bishop Light-
foot, The Apostolic Fathers, pt. II, vol. II, 2nd ed. (London, 1889), 435ff.
78 The following list does not claim to be exhaustive:
1. Cod. Paris, gr. 923 (ninth century), fols. 73v, 119V, 151r, 191v, 195V, 216r, 278r, 286V, 308V,
373r. Bust within circular medallion.
2. Kili9lar Kilise, G6reme (tenth century), arch between southeast column and bema. Half-
figure. Jerphanion, op. cit. (note 25 supra), 209 (not illustrated); partially visible in M. Restle, op. cit.
(note 13 supra), pl. 270.
3. Cod. Vat. gr. 1613 (979-1025), p. 258. Martydom. Facsimile ed. as in note 65
supra.
4. Hosios Loukas (early eleventh century), arch between naos and prothesis. Full
figure,
wavy hair parted in the middle. Diez and Demus, op. cit. (note 31 supra), fig. 29 (mislabelled).
5. British Museum, cod. Add. 19352, Psalter (A.D. 1066), fol. 127r. Martyrdom. S. Der Nerses-
sian, L'illustration des psautiers grecs du Moyen Age, II (Paris, 1970), 47, 94f. and fig. 205.

ORNAMENT AND STYLE
The repertory of ornament exhibited by the mosaics of St. Sophia would
deserve a special study. Without going too far afield, we should like to offer a
few observations on the motifs we have encountered in the tympana, namely
the diamond, totthe
rosette, the tree, and the winged palmette. There can be little
doubt of their sixth-century date since they recur in other parts of the mosaic
decoration which we have reason to ascribe to Justinian's reign. In fact, there
is a remarkable consistency of ornamental vocabulary throughout the church,
the same basic forms being used, over and over again, in various combinations,
not only in the mosaics, but also in the carving, the metalwork, and in the opus
sectile.
6. d. Vat. gr. 1156, Lectionary (eleventh century) fols. 272r, 295V.Tiny standing figure. Cf.
note 61 supra.
7. Cod. Vat. gr. 372, Barberini Psalter (late eleventh century), fol. 156V. Martyrdom, similar
to that in the London Psalter. M. Sacopoulo, op. cit. (as in note 68 supra), 195 and fig. 4.
8. St. Nicholas of the Roof, Kakopetria, arch connecting northeast pillar to prothesis. Half-
figure (eleventh century ?). A. Papageorghiou, Masterpieces of Byzantine Art of Cyprus (Nicosia,
1965), pl. vII. 2; M. Sacopoulo, op.cit., 194 and fig. 1. Second representation in same church on
south side of southwest pier (twelfth century). Papageorghiou, op. cit., pl. vii. 3.
9. Sakli Kilise, Goreme (eleventh century) north pier. Half-figure in orant position, short
beard. L. Budde, Goreme (Diisseldorf, 1958), pi. 83.
10. Kiev, St. Sophia, outer south aisle, second bay from west. Half-figure. See Drevnosti
Rossijskago Gosudarstva. Kievshij Sofijskij Sobor (St. Petersburg, 1871), fasc. II-III, pi. 13. 14.
11. Ayvall K6y, Cappadocia (eleventh century ?), straight hair, pointed beard. N. Thierry, "Un
style byzantin schematique en Cappadoce," Journal des savants (Jan.-March 1968), 55, fig. 11.
12. Mount Latmos, cave of St. Paul (eleventh or twelfth century). Figure largely destroyed.
Th. Wiegand, Der Latmos = Milet, III/1 (Berlin, 1913), 205.
13. Asinou, apse (A.D. 1106). Full figure. M. Sacopoulo, Asinou en 1106 (Brussels, 1966), 83f.
and pl. xxIId (detail).
14. Cod. Lavra 427 (A 51), Menologium (telfth century), fol. 87v. Martyrdom. On the manu-
script, see Spyridon and S. Eustratiades, Cat. of the Greek Manuscripts of the Laura on Mt.
Athos (Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 61; A. Ehrhard, Uberlieferung und Bestand d. iagiogr. und
homil. Literatur d. griech. Kirche, II = Texte und Untersuchungen, 51(1937), 486.
15. Spas Neredica (1199), south side of bema. Bust (?) in circular medallion above door
leading from apse into diaconicon. For position, see V. K. Mjasoedov, Freski Spasa-Neredicy
(Leningrad, 1925), chart II, no. 56 (not illustrated).
16. Oropos (Boetia), St. George (early thirteenth century), apse. Frescoes now in the Byzan-
tine Museum, Athens. Full figure, pointed beard. Chatzidakis, op.cit. (note 23 supra), 88f. and
pi. 34.
17. Sopocani (ca. 1265), south wall of bema. Full figure, beard somewhat longer than in pre-
vious monuments. G. Millet and A. Frolow, La peinture du Moyen Age en Yougoslavie, II (Paris,
1957), pls. 3.4, 17.2.
18. Cucer, Sv. Nikita (ca. 1307), southeast pillar of bema. Long beard terminating in two
points. Ibid., III (1962), pl. 33. 2 (detail).
19. Studenica, SS. Joachim and Anna (1313-14), south side of bema. Full figure similar to
No. 18. V. Petkovic, Manastir Studenica (Belgrade, 1924), 68f. and fig. 90.
20. Staro Nagoricino, St. George (1318), south wall of bema. Full figure, long beard. Millet
and Frolow, op.cit., III, pls. 71.2, 77.4.
21. Gracanica (ca. 1320), east wall of naos. Full figure. V. Petkovic, La peinture serbe du
Moyen Age, II (Belgrade, 1934), pi. LXXIV.2.
22. Mount Athos, Protaton (early fourteenth century), bema. G. Millet, Monuments de
l'Athos (Paris, 1927), pi. 43.1.
23. Kastoria, Taxiarches Metropoleos (1356), southeast pillar. Full figure, bulbous fore-
head, pointed beard, receding hair. S. Pelekanides, Kao-ropia,I (Thessaloniki, 1953), pl. 134a.
24. Kastoria, St. Athanasios tou Mouzaki (1385), north side of bema. Bust in circular me-
dallion. Long, pointed beard, head nearly bald. Ibid., pl. 144a.
25. Tirnovo, SS. Peter and Paul (fifteenth century), diaconicon. A. Grabar, La peinture re-
ligieuse en Bulgarie (Paris, 1928), 272.
26. Mount Athos, Lavra, trapeza (1512). Martyrdom. Millet, op.cit., pl. 143.2.

1. The diamond and rosette. These two alternating motifs are found in the
bema arch (Phase I),79the exedra windows,80and the lower part of the ribs of
the dome. A greatly simplified version of the same design recurs in the borders
of the two square porphyry panels on the west wall of the nave, above the
imperial door,81and of marble panels in the apse (fig. 57). Another variant was
obtained by detaching the X from the rosette and placing the former element
in alternation with a diamond: this we find in the ribs of the dome, in the border
of the circular medallion at the center of the dome,82in the apse windows,83in
the west gallery (now destroyed),84 and even in the surrounds of the mosaic
crosses in the west bay of the south aisle (fig. 51). It is worth observing that
practically the same design occurs in the earliest phase, which may be of the
sixth or seventh century,85 of the mosaics of the church of the Dormition at
Nicaea (fig. 52), and in the room above the southwest ramp of St. Sophia whose
mosaics probably date from the last third of the sixth century (fig. 53).86 The
two elements we have been discussing, namely the diamond and the rosette,
also occur in combination with other motifs in various parts of St. Sophia. The
diamond with circular forms attached to each side occurs in the mosaics of both
the south and north galleries (figs. 55, 56) and in the vault of the southwest
vestibule (fig. 58). In the mosaic of the archangel Gabriel in the bema arch a
closely related design also appears as a shoulder patch and as an embroidered
roundel attached to the lower hem of the tunic. The rosette of four bilobed
leaves recurs in the vaults of the aisles; in the barrel vault linking the southwest
secondary pier with the west wall of the naos; on the carved beam casings of
the west gallery (fig. 54),87 on the bronze doors leading from the outer into the
inner narthex (fig. 61), etc. Going one step further, we may observe that the
constituent parts of the two motifs under consideration are echoed elsewhere in
St. Sophia: the stepped or crenellated shape that is used as a center filling of
the diamonds reappears, e.g., in the barrel vault of the southwest secondary
pier (fig. 59); the trilobed termination of the X that overlays the rosette is found
in a different context in the vaults of the aisles and of the narthex (fig. 60), etc.
79 Mango and Hawkins, "Apse Mosaics" (as in note 2 supra), figs. 51, 53-55.
80
Ibid., fig. 39.
81 P. A. Underwood, "Notes on the Work of the
Byzantine Institute in Istanbul: 1957-1959,"
DOP, 14 (1960), 208.
82
Mango, Materials (as in note 5 supra), fig. 118.
83 Mango and Hawkins, "Apse Mosaics,"
84Mango, Materials, figs. 23, 25.
figs. 42, 43.
85 For a discussion of the relevant literature, see E.
Kitzinger, "Byzantine Art in the Period be-
tween Justinian and Iconoclasm," Berichte zum XI. Intern.
Byzantinisten-Kongress (Munich, 1958),
13f. An almost identical design forms the border of the
recently published Samson mosaic at
Mopsuestia (fifth/sixth century): L. Budde, Antike Mosaiken in Kilikien (Recklinghausen, 1969), fig.
147ff. A related design recurs also at the base of the semidome at Kiti (seventh re-
century?),
produced, e.g., by A. Papageorghiou, Masterpieces of the Byzantine Art of Cyprus (Nicosia, 1965), pls.
I, III.
86See the summary report on these mosaics by P. A. Underwood, "Notes on the Work of the
Byzantine Institute in Istanbul: 1954," DOP, 9/10 (1956), 292f. and figs. 107, 108. We are inclined
to attribute the construction and decoration of this room to the Patriarch
John III Scholasticus
(567-77) for reasons which we hope to expound on another occasion.
87
We are not convinced by the ninth-century date advocated for these beam casings by C. D.
Sheppard, "A Radiocarbon Date for the Wooden Tie Beams in the West Gallery of St. Sophia, Istan-
bul," DOP, 19 (1965), 237ff.

It would be futile to discuss the ultimate "origin" of the obove two motifs,
but it may be worth pointing out that the rosette consisting of four bilobed
leaves divided by four spokes is particularly common in Egyptian textiles88and
in Sasanian art;89that it was revived in the Byzantine ornamental repertory
of the tenth century, e.g., at the monastery of Lips90(fig. 62) and is also found
at a later date.91
2. The Tree. Strange as this motif may appear at first sight, it recurs as a
finial, i.e., minus the trunk, in the vault mosaics of the narthex (fig. 60). Trees
of the same general shape, but greatly elaborated, are found in the Dome of the
mosaics of the
Rock, among the mointermediary octagon.92As for the polychrome
chevron pattern, it is of very ancient Near Eastern origin. Closer to the period
that concerns us, we may quote a number of Egyptian93and Sasanian94textiles.
3. The Winged Palmette. This, too, has parallels in St. Sophia, namely in the
vault mosaics of the nahe
narthex (fig. theand
i 60) a e carved beam-box of the central
arch of the west gallery (fig. 54). While not of exclusively Sasanian origin, as
has been claimed by Strzygowski, the winged motif has a decidedly Near Eas-
tern character.95A good parallel is provided by a capital of the main colonnaded
street at 'Anjar in Lebanon (fig. 63).96
The above discussion has shown, we hope, that the sixth-century decoration
of St. Sophia is not only consistent within itself, but that it exhibits definite
88 See, e.g., A. F. Kendrick, Catalogue of Textiles from the Burying-Grounds in Egypt, I (London,
1920), pi. v, Nos. 19, 61; pl. xi, No. 30; pl. xxiv, No. 177; II (1921), pi. xxix, No. 581; III (1922),
pi. xxxII, No. 842; 0. Wulff and W. F. Volbach, Spatantike und optisch Stoe e (Berlin, 1926), pls. 7,
, etc.; P. du Bourguet, usee National du Louvre: Catalogue des etofes coptes, I (Paris,
13, 18, 44, 45,
1964), Nos. A. 19, B. 27, D. 138, 163-64, E. 92, 98-9, 102, 119, F36. The motif is less common in the
Antioch mosaic pavements and in the Ravenna mosaics, where it appears at a small scale on the
triumphal arch of S. Vitale and in the apse of S. Apollinare in Classe: F. W. Deichmann, Fruhchrist-
liche Bauten und Mosaiken von Ravenna (Baden-Baden, 1958), pls. 334-39, 394, 396, 398, 400. Cf.
also the tunic of the second lady- to the right of Theodora in the choir of S. Vitale, ibid., pl. 361. The
difference between the ornamental vocabulary of St. Sophia and that of the Ravennate churches is
worth emphasizing.
89 See, e.g., A. U. Pope (ed.), A Survey of Persian Art, IV
(Oxford, 1938), pls. 201C (silk twill in
Vatican Museum), 203 (cup of Khusraw I), 230B (silver plate in Hermitage), 248, A, F, H (jewelry).
A rosette of similar conception, except for being divided by eight instead of four spokes, occurs at
Khirbat al Mafjar, among the paintings of the "bath" and in apse V of the same building: R. W.
Hamilton and 0. Grabar, Khirbat al Mafjar (Oxford, 1950), 321 (where an Eastern origin is claimed
for this motif) and pi. LXXXVI. Cf. also pls. LXXIX, xci (floor mosaics).
90 A. Grabar, Sculptures byzantines de Constantinople (Paris, 1963), 121, has rightly pointed out
that the sculptures of the monastery of Lips reproduce certain Oriental motifs that had already
entered Byzantine art in the sixth century. For the rosette that concerns us here, cf. ibid., pl. XLIII. 2
(carved slab from St. Gregory at Thebes) and pl. XLIV. 2 (carved entablature from Sardis, now in the
Istanbul Archaeoloigical Museum). Cf. also the rosette directly underneath the mosaic of the Archangel
Gabriel in the bema arch, which bears a strong resemblance to the examples from Khirbat al Mafjar
quoted in the previous note.
91E.g., the Bamberg textile of the eleventh century. See A. Grabar, "La soie byzantine de l'ev6que
Gunther la cathedrale de Bamberg," MiinchnerJahrbuch der bildendenKunst, 3rd Ser., 7 (1956), 14, fig. 8.
92 K. A. C. Creswell,
Early Muslitm Architecture, I (Oxford, 1932), pls. 5.2, 6, 7.2. For the shape of
the tree, cf. also the Egyptian wall-hanging in the Hermitage, No. 11660: L. Kybalova, Koptische
Stofle (Prague, 1967), 84.
93 Kendrick, op.cit., III, pl. xxI, No. 798; pl. xxIII, No. 807; pl. xxIV, No. 795; Wulff and Vol-
bach, op.cit., pl. 134 (all on leaves).
94 Esp. the silk in the Vatican Museum
quoted in note 89 supra.
95See discussion by M. van Berchem in Creswell, op. cit., 198ff.
96 Date uncertain. On the site, see M. Chehab, "The
Umayyad Palace at 'Anjar," Ars Orientalis, 5
(1963), 17ff.

Near Eastern characteristics which ought to be further explored in a more com-
prehensive treatment of this subject, especially in relation to the newly dis-
covered carvings of the church of St. Polyeuctos. There are, of course, in St.
Sophia other decorative motifs of a more conservative, "Hellenistic" character,
such as the acanthus rinceau and the "Greek key," but these are used less ex-
tensively than the "Eastern" variety.
We may now turn our attention to the figural mosaics of the tympana.
In considering those works of painting and mosaic that may be attributed to
metropolitan workshops of the period ca. 850-950, it is difficult to arrange them
in an evolutionary sequence with regard to style. To some extent this may be
due to the small number of works preserved and the fact that an even smaller
number of them can be dated with any accuracy by other than stylistic cri-
teria; it may be, on the other hand, that the difficulty in question correctly re-
flects an unsettled artistic situation. What happened, in our estimation, is not
that the tradition of figural painting had to be entirely reestablished after 843-
indeed, we have literary evidence that the palace buildings of the Emperor
Theophilus contained figural mosaics of a secular nature,97 and there was, of
course, a good deal of small-scale religious painting done, more or less, sub rosa;
the important factor, we believe, is that, starting in the 850's and 860's, the
number of commissions for religious painting far outran the artistic manpower
available. The imperial policy of renovatio entailed the "rejuvenation," hence
also the redecoration after Iconoclasm, of a great many earlier churches, some
of them very big,98not to speak of the new churches and new palaces that were
being built at the time.
This intense activity on a scale unprecedented since the days of Justinian
may explain in part both the hasty execution of the mosaics and paintings made
in the second half of the ninth century and the lack of stylistic unity they ex-
hibit. The best we can do under the circumstances is to isolate certain groups of
related monuments.
The chief stylistic traits exhibited by the mosaics of the Church Fathers are
to our minds, the following. First, a limited range of colors of a generally pale
and opaque tonality. Second, the figures seem sturdily built: the heads, it is
true, are rather too small for the bodies, but the hands are massive. Without
being fully rounded, the Fathers give, nevertheless, the impression of standing
four square on the ground. With regard to drapery, there are considerable vari-
ations between the three complete figures. Chrysostom's is the simplest, con-
sisting as it does of blocks of white and grey: dark lines are used rather sparingly,
mostly for contours. In the case of Ignatius the Younger there is greater relief
(note the prominence given to the right knee) due to a stronger contrast be-
tween areas of light and shadow. In the figure of Ignatius Theophoros dark
lines-often short, straight lines terminating in hooks99-are particularly pro-
97 Theophanes Cont., ed. Bonn, 143, 145.
98 Ibid., 322ff.
This text lists thirty-one churches that were renovated by Basil I in Constantinople
and its environs, and eight that were built de novo, all the latter being in the imperial palace.
99Also
present in the mosaics of the apse and bema arch, the mosaic above the imperial door, and
generally very common in Byzantine painting of the ninth and tenth centuries.

minent. Finally, in the heads the disposition of tesserae is relatively loose and
much use is made of green shadows (though not in the hands).
In trying to relate the figures of the Fathers to other works of monumental
painting, we discover the most pertinent material in St. Sophia itself, namely
in the panel above the imperial door100and the portrait of the Emperor Alex-
ander. The resemblance between these works, which are of course quite different
in subject matter, has to do with a quality of robustness, not devoid of a little
gaucherie, and the nature of the execution which is uneven, loose, and anything
but pedantic. In the mosaic of the imperial door we may note its light tonality,
as in the case of the Fathers, the heavy proportions of the figures, the large
hands. Christ's garments, it is true, are much fussier, more crumpled than those
of the Fathers, but they are rendered in the same way, by means of contrasting
patches of white and grey marble, crisscrossed by thin dark lines, often straight
lines ending in hooks. Now, the date of the imperial door mosaic remains some-
what imprecise: in spite of prolonged discussion, we are still unable to say
whether the prostrate emperor is Basil I or Leo VI.101 As for Alexander's por-
trait, its attribution to the years 912/13102 is by no means mandatory in view
of the fact that Alexander was made co-emperor as early as 879. Since he is
represented on the mosaic as a bearded man who does not look much younger
than twenty-five, it follows that the mosaic could have been made any time be-
tween ca. 895 and 913 (Alexander was born in 870).103 In short, both the im-
perial door and Alexan der mosaics might be fitted into the last two decades of
the ninth century.
Other mosaics of St. Sophia that may be attributed to a slightly earlier period
show less contact with those of the Fathers: we are referring, on the one hand,
to the highly refined mosaics of the apse which we have dated to the year 867,104
on the other, to the as yet imperfectly studied mosaics of the Room above the
southwest vestibule. The latter are comparatively crude: the figures are clumsy,
they are heavily outlined, the transitions from light to shadow are too abrupt.
Yet it is easy to imagine how their style might have led to that of the Fathers.
We reproduce here the half-figure of the Patriarch Nicephorus (fig. 44) and in-
vite comparison with that of Ignatius Theophoros (fig. 29). Now, the mosaics of
the room above the southwest vestibule, judging by the pointed references they
contain to the iconoclastic controversy, should probably be dated to the fifties
or sixties of the ninth century-in any case, somewhat later than the death of
Methodius (847), who was represented there; in other words, they must be
nearly contemporary with the mosaics of the apse. The co-existence at the same
time of two such different styles is deserving of attention.
In the field of manuscript illumination the closest parallel to the mosaics of
the Church Fathers is provided by cod. Paris gr. 510, especially on folios 43v
100Cf. E. J. W. Hawkins, "Further Observations on the Narthex Mosaic in St.
Sophia at Istanbul,"
DOP, 22 (1968), 151ff.
101The evidence is summarized in
102 Underwood and
Mango, Materials (as in note 5 supra), 96f.
Hawkins, "The Portrait of the Emperor Alexander" (as in note 6 supra), 193.
103 R.
J. H. Jenkins, "The Chronological Accuracy of the 'Logothete' ...," DOP, 19 (1965), 98.
104
Mango and Hawkins, "Apse Mosaics" (as in note 2 supra), 142ff.

(St. Gregory Nazianzen, his father and other saints: fig. 48) and 72 (Sts. Basil,
Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen: fig. 49). This comparison has al-
ready been made by others105and needs, therefore, no elaboration. The Paris
manuscript has been dated by its latest investigator to 880-83,106but we can be
slightly more precise by narrowing the time span to 880-82.107
DATING
With regard to the mosaics of Phase 1, it may be asked whether they should
be attributed to the original construction of 532-37 or to the rebuilding of 558-63.
At present we do not possess any clear evidence for resolving this question, but
there is one consideration that deserves to be set down. In describing the rebuild-
ing, Agathias tells us (Hist., V.9.2-5) that Isidore the Younger "left the east
and west arches as they were in their former places," whereas he "gradually
increased" the width of the north and south arches so as to bring their crowns
closer together, thus forming a nearly square base for the dome. The exposed
soffits of the north and south arches do in fact show a progressive widening from
about 0.85 m. at the springing to about 1.40 m. at the crown.108We do not,
however, know what portion of these arches was rebuilt. The profile of the
north arch shows a jog at a height of about 8.35 m. above the cornice, and if
this marks the point of juncture between the original construction and the re-
building, then the patches of Phase 1 mosaic that are at present exposed fall
well within the former area.
Turning next to the mosaics of the Fathers, we have seen that stylistic con-
siderations link them to a small group of metropolitan monuments dating from
ca. 880-900. Epigraphy, though not susceptible to great chronological pre-
cision, offers no contrary evidence. The inscriptions on the mosaics are in un-
cial letters imitating the ductus of a stub pen, and are entirely appropriate to
the ninth century. We have to look no further than fols. Br and Cv of cod. Paris.
gr. 510 to find an alphabet that, if not absolutely identical,109is nevertheless
extremely close to that of our mosaics. We may also mention for comparison the
colophon of cod. Paris. gr. 1470 (A.D. 890),110and the headings of cod. Laurent.
Plut. 28.26 (A.D. 886-911).111 The custom of placing a double dot over initial
iotas is current in these manuscripts as well as in inscriptions of the same period.
For the ligature NN, we may quote at random an example of the
early eighth
century at S. Maria Antiqua, Rome.112
105 S. Der
Nersessian, "Les portraits de Gregoire l'Illuminateur dans l'art byzantin," Byzantion, 36
(1967), 387; V. Lazarev, Storia (as in note 3 supra), 144.
106
S. Der Nersessian, "The Illustrations of the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus ...," DOP, 16
(1962), 197.
107 Since it
evidently predates the marriage of Leo VI to Theophano which took place in 882:
Jenkins, op.cit., 101.
108 Cf. K.
J. Conant, "The First Dome of St. Sophia," Bull. of the Byz. Institute, 1 (1946), 75.
109There are
slight differences in the shape of the alpha and the mu; furthermore the epsilon and
omicron are somewhat rounder in the mosaics than in the
manuscript.
110 K. and S. Lake, Dated GreekMinuscule Manuscripts to the Year 1200, IV/1 (Boston, 1935), pl. 228.
111 Ibid., X (1939), pi. 674.
112 V. Federici in
W. de Griineisen, Sainte Marie Antique (Rome, 1911), p. 414,
fig. 324.

Turning next to historical considerations, we must account in the first in-

stance for the figuration of the patriarchs Methodius and Ignatius, and for the
absence of any particular emphasis on the suppression of Iconoclasm. The
death of Ignatius (23 October 877) provides a firm terminus post quem for the
execution of our mosaics since, as we have seen, this Patriarch's portrait is not
a later insertion, but is contemporary with the others. At what date, then, after
877 would it have been especially opportune to represent Methodius and Igna-
tius side by side and on a par with the great doctors of the Orththodox Church?
It was shown not long ago that Ignati was canonized almost immediately
after his death by his life-long opponent Photius, i.e., between 877 and 886,113
a remarkable gesture, whether it was dictated by political motives or a genuine
desire for reconciliation. If Photius went that far, he could have gone a little
further by putting up the portrait of Ignatius in St. Sophia. As for Methodius,
there is every reason to suppose that his memory was held in high esteem in the
circle of Photius; indeed, the latter is believed to be the author of a sticheronthat
was recited at Methodius's funeral.114One might even discern in the juxtaposition
of Methodius, a "broad churchman," and the rigorist Ignatius an attempt to
balance the respective representatives of the two ecclesiastical factions whose
conflict lasted throughout the ninth century. Finally, as to the issue of Icono-
clasm, we know that it dragged on until the Council of 869/70 which condemned
the obscure Theodore Crithinus,115but there is no evidence that it remained
alive thereafter. In short, the second patriarchate of Photius (877-86) would
be a possible period for the execution of our mosaics.
The inclusion of St. Gregory the Illuminator in the series of the Fathers
points in the same direction. Professor S. Der Nersessian has plausibly argued
that the choice of the Armenian national Saint is explained by the myth of the
Arsacid origin of Basil I,116 a myth that was allegedly fabricated by Photius
himself shortly before 877, and which contributed to his second elevation to
the patriarchal throne.117The same scholar has also drawn attention to Photius'
letter addressed to the catholicos Zacharias in which the Patriarch argues that
the Fathers of the Church all came from Greek lands and that their relics had
found a resting place in Constantinople; namely Basil, Gregory Thaumatour-
gos, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory the Illuminator (who was
educated at Caesarea), John Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Justin, Irenaeus, Am-
brose (sic), Dionysius, Proclus (patriarch of Constantinople), Athanasius, the
113F. Dvornik, "The Patriarch Photius in the

Light of Recent Research," Berichte zum XI. Internat.
Byzantinisten-Kongress (Munich, 1958), 55 and note 189.
114 PG
102, 576-77. Cf. H. Ahrweiler, "Sur la carriere de Photius avant son patriarcat," BZ, 58
(1965), 350. Furthermore, it was Gregory Asbestas, one of Photius' staunchest supporters, who wrote
the Vita of Methodius. See I. Andreades in EEoXoyia, XI (1933), 262ff. Cf. F. Dvornik, The Photian
Schism (Cambridge, 1948), 16 note 1; H.-G. Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzant. Reich
(Munich, 1959), 558. The relation of the Vita written by Asbestas to that published in PG 100, 1244-61,
is not entirely clear.
115 See J. Gouillard, "Deux
figures mal connues du second iconoclasme," Byzantion, 31 (1961),
387ff.
116See article quoted in note 105 supra.
117 Nicetas
Paphlago, Vita Ignatii, PG 105, 565.

Cyrils.18 There is considerable correspondence between this list and the Fathers
represented in St. Sophia.
It is rather more difficult to find a good reason for the presence of St. Anthi-
mus, bishop of Nicomedia and a martyr of Diocletian's persecution. His Meta-
phrastic passio is a text of routine character,119and provides no useful clue.
Anthimus had a martyrium at Nicomedia which was rebuilt after an earthquake
in the reign of Theodosius II,120 and a church at Constantinople erected by
Justinian,121as well as a chapel attached to the monastery of the Chora.122He
does not appear ever to have been a very popular saint. It may be recalled,
however, that one of Photius' closest associates was the chartophylax George,
whom he promoted to the metropolitan see of Nicomedia,123 and that this
George is credited with having composed a canon in honor of St Anthimus.124
It may be for this reason that the patron saint of Nicodemia was pictured in
St. Sophia.
In themselves, the, above arguments are not perhaps sufficiently compelling
for attributing the series of Church Fathers to the second patriarchate of Pho-
tius. The inclusion of Ignatius would be equally explicable after the downfall
of Photius in 886, and we happen to know that the Patriarch Euthymius
(907-12) was particularly devoted to Ignatius' memory.125Besides, the myth
of the Arsacid origin of the Macedonian dynasty was certainly kept alive in the
reign of Leo VI (886-912).126There is, however, another piece of evidence to
be considered, namely, the metrical inscriptions that were once inscribed on
both tympana, and of which only a few words were found during the Fossati
repairs of 1847-49.127The complete text, discovered in three manuscripts by
S. G. Mercati,128ran as follows:
1. South tympanum, above upper row of windows:
caTrpOS&cKrpaTro vie aKTipaTE,TCo8pECZr OcIKC,
opia-rT Ka2coZTCOVTrEpaTrov,XPoVOS ilyayE TrfcJa-
eEpaT[EilaT'rV eEpaTeiaV
p UXris o0CEi.
2. South tympanum, between the two rows of windows:
Yoi TC-rKpatro0vVTITravTa [
VEc v aoTos Kpa'Tr1
rrpoaipeciv Trpooaia CcbEtiv TOV56gov'
cro0 TOiTO 8&pov' iTtlIov&S
a oi TF
poociSou.
118Ed. Pravosl.
Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Palestinskij Sbornik, No. 31 (1892), 234 (Russian trans-
lation).
119PG 115, 172ff.
120Malalas, ed. Bonn, 363.
121 R. Janin, La gdographie eccldsiastique de l'Empire byzantin, 1/3 (Paris, 1953), 37f.
122
Ibid., 38. To Janin's references add Ch. Loparev, De S. Theodoromonacho hegumenoqueChorensi
(St. Petersburg, 1903), 9f.
123 See
Beck, Kirche und theologischeLiteratur, 542f.
124 S.
Eustratiades, 'AyioX6ylov Tir 'OpeoS6oou 'EKKAr1ciaS(Athens, ca. 1950), 42, on the basis of
Paris gr. 1619, fol. 4v. Not mentioned by C. Emereau, "Hymnographi byzantini," Echos d'Orient, 22
(1923), 426, nor by P. N. Trempelas, 'EKXoyrh EVXXqrvKrS'OpOoSo6ou, (Athens, 1949), 252f.
OivoypaqcPioc
125 See
Mango, Materials (as in note 5 supra), 57 note 144.
126 It is mentioned in Leo VI's Funeral Oration on
Basil I: A. Vogt and I. Hausherr, "Oraison
funbbre de Basile I," Orient. Christ., 26. 1 (1932), 44.
127
Mango. Materials, 63ff.
128 "Sulle iscrizioni di Santa
Sofia," Bessarione, 26 (1922), 206ff.

3. North tympanum, above upper row of windows:
"Epyov a&iTl-rTov f
Xpovos ',rEi.rloEv XaEiv.
EipyE-raitietrEprnS &AX&
Sti pypov-ri68oS avoltov
otKov, ava OTrOU
VTI(laTe, Xppvos OnK yyiEit.
4. North tympanum, between the two rows of windows:
'AyTSi XEiPov cosOp6vcAT-r)v cOxv KcarO'
TrrXvOIKo oi'roS cr6osTTOVOUVTI 8S Xp6vC
6co)KaXEapaT1rlvKpaTalav &acvriSos.
These may be rendered as follows: "1. 0 eternall29Son of eternal Father, unto

this Thy house-the beautiful eye of the universe-time has brought misfor-
tune. Its cure will provide spiritual salvation. 2. To Thee who rulest everything
by the might of Thy nod, I have offered my zeal to save this house. This is Thy
gift: grant me steadfastness.130 3. Time has threatened to destroy this inimi-
table work; it has been hindered by our solicitude. Do Thou open [unto me] Thy
house, 0 most-high Lord, which time toucheth not. 4. Thou sittest as on a
throne on the vault [wrought] by Thy hands; yet this is Thy house. It had been
suffering from age, so I proferred to it a mighty hand. Do Thou repay me."
These epigrams constitute an invocation to Christ on the part of an emperor
who restored the fabric of St. Sophia, and there is little doubt in our minds
that the emperor in question is Basil I. As a result of the earthquake of 869, the
church developed fissures in many places,131 and especially in the great western
arch which threatened imminent collapse.l32 Basil proceeded, therefore, to
"tighten up" (rEpltiyyas) this arch, in which he represented in mosaic the Vir-
gin and Child and the Apostles Peter and Paul, and to repair the other damaged
parts of the building.l33 The expressions used in our epigrams (xpovosfiyayE
-T pua... eEpaTrEia
... ocbleiv TObV6i .. x
ov... 8e Xpovcp)
os -rrEisrioev 2CiaEIv... TwOVOUVTI
are not only entirely appropriate to the condition of St. Sophia after the disaster
of 869, but find an exact correspondence in the vocabulary applied by the Vita
Basilii to the restoration of several dozen other churches by Basil I.
We have no documentary evidence to assert that Basil rebuilt the tympana
of St. Sophia. It may be that the structural history of the tympana is not limited
to one major rebuilding, but will reveal several stages of repair, one of them
being perhaps connected with the earthquake of 869. The answer to this ques-
tion will be provided only when both tympana are freed from the plaster that
now covers them; when this is done they can be subjected to a thorough exam-
ination. Whatever the correct solution may prove to be, we are convinced that
the epigrams were integral with the figural decoration of the tympana: Fossati's
careful drawing which shows the final word of stanza 4, [A]NTIAOC,above
129
Literally "uncompounded" or "intact," a common epithet applied to the Godhead.
130 Or perhaps "continuance" in the sense of a long reign.
131 Vita Ignatii, PG 105, 549 A: Kai aOUToS6 plyaSrfsT-roU X
eoEo SoqlaS oiKos KoaTCarroa a P?pTl 8IEKiVSV-
T1S
veIrETO piyvOUEvoS, ei ph1ri giaoS wrposT-rV KpaTro*VTcOv Ty)cnavev EriAeXCias.
132 Vita Basilii in
Theoph. Cont., ed. Bonn, 322; Cedrenus, ed. Bonn, II, 237; Zonaras, ed. Bonn,
III, 435.
133 Vita Basilii, loc.cit.

the head of the prophet Jonah,134proves that the lettering of the epigrams was
identical with that accompanying the figures of the Prophets and the Church
Fathers. From this it follows that the mosaic redecoration of the tympana was
conceived and begun in the reign of Basil I. The task, coupled with structural
repairs, was one of considerable magnitude and may have required several years,
if not decades, to complete. Since the mosaics were presumably made from the
top of the tympana downward, we have no guarantee that the Fathers, who
constitute the lowest element of this decoration, were completed before Basil's
death in 886: the work may have dragged on into the reign of Leo VI. In short,
we believe that the figures of the Fathers should in all probability be dated to
the last two decades of the ninth century.
134
Mango, Materials, fig. 87.

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Cyril Mango, Ernest J. W. Hawkins. The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul. The Church Fathers in The North Tympanum

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The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul.

The Church Fathers in the North Tympanum

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THE CHURCH FATHERS

CYRIL MANGO and ERNEST J. W. HAWKINS

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F the mosaicsdescribedin this reportthe most importantpart-namely

1 The areas of mosaic that remain to be uncovered

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THE DECORATION OF THE TYMPANA AS A WHOLE

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DESCRIPTION OF THE MOSAICS

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2. THE BAND OF DIAMONDS AND ROSETTES

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3. THE CRENELLATED BORDER

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i. ST. IGNATIUS THE YOUNGER (fig. 12)

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ii. ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (fig. 17)

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Background: Same characteristics as in the case of St. Ignatius the Younger,

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iii. ST. IGNATIUS THEOPHOROS (fig. 28)

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Ign. Neos Jn. Chrys. Ign. Theoph.

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CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Our findings in the tympana correspond exactly to those made by us a few

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THE LOCATION OF THE BISHOPS

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century, is the encheirion, a rectangular piece of fabric attached to the tunic

ST. IGNATIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE

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ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

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Ignatius Theophoros,76third bishop of Antioch (after Peter and Evodius),

76 Ed. Chatzidakis op. cit. (note 29 supra), 413.

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