YALE UNIVERSITY ART LIBRARY SANCTA SOPHIA CONSTANTINOPLE "A work as they report surpassing every edifice in the world." William of Malmesbury. " The fairest church in all the world." Sir John Mandeville. "A marvellous and costful temple, clept St. Sophie." Capgrave's Chronicle. THE CHURCH OF SANCTA SOPHIA CONSTANTINOPLE A STUDY OF BYZ ANTINE BUILDING BY W. R. LETHABY & HAROLD SWAINSON 1894 MacmiUan & Co. London & New York Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, london and cungay. PREFACE Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the world's surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of con structive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the fourth culmination of the building art in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the supreme monument of the Christian cycle. Far from being a ruin, the church is one of the best preserved of so ancient monuments, and in regard to its treatment by the Turks we can only be grateful that S. Sophia has not been situated in the more learned cities of Europe, such as Rome, Aachen, or Oxford, during " the period of revived interest in ecclesiastical antiquities." Our first object has been to attempt some disentanglement of the history of the Church and an analysis of its design and construction ; on the one hand, we have been led a step or two into the labyrinth of Constantinopolitan topography, on the other, we have thought that the great Church offers the best point of view for the ob servation of the Byzantine theory of building. It may be well for us to state how, in the main, we have shared our work. The one of us — by the accident of the alphabet, second named — has done the larger part of the reading and the whole of the translation required. The first has under taken more of the constructive side of the book and the whole of the illustrations. We both visited Constantinople, and wish to thank Canon Curtis for help then and since. Mr. Ambrose Poynter has read the proofs. In our text we have thought it well to incorporate so far as possible the actual words of the writers to whom we have referred. The dates when the more ancient authors wrote are given under their names in the index ; so are the years of the accession of the Emperors mentioned in the text. Although we have made1 full use of Salzenbergs great work in the preparation of some of our illustrations, none vi PREFACE are mere transcripts from his book. In some instances where scales are given to details, the scales are but rough approxima tions. Much remains to be observed at S. Sophia ; the Baptistery, the Cisterns beneath the church, and the Circular Building to the east are practically unknown, and any fact noted in regard to them will almost certainly be new. But it is still more important that building customs, recipes, and traditions should be recorded. Byzantine art still exists not only on Mount Athos but all over the once Christian East — at Damascus the builders are still Christians, and the Greek masons of Turkey, M. Choisy says, are still the faithful representatives of the builders of the Lower Empire, and their present practice is a sure commentary on the ancient buildings. A conviction of the necessity for finding the root of archi tecture once again in sound common-sense building and pleasur able craftsmanship remains as the final result of our study of S. Sophia, that marvellous work, where, as has so well been said, there is no part where the principles of rational construc tion are not applied with " hardiesse " and '¦'¦franchise." In estimating so highly the Byzantine method of building in its greatest example, we see that its forms and results directly de pended on then present circumstances, and then ordinary materials. It is evident that the style cannot be copied by our attempt ing to imitate Byzantine builders ; only by being ourselves and free, can our work be reasonable, and if reason able, like theirs universal. l'art c'est d'etre absolument soi-meme. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Byzantium. New Rome, The Acropolis, The Augusteum. First and Second Churches of S. Sophia . . . page i CHAPTER II. Justinian's Church. Account of Procopius. Fall of Dome and Restoration. Accounts of Agathias and Evagrius. page 21 CHAPTER III. The Descriptive Poem of Paul the Silentiary, Parts 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . page 35 CHAPTER IV. The Silentiary's Account, Part 3. The Ambo. Coronations in the Ambo ... . page 53 CHAPTER V. Main Divisions. Bema. Altar. Ciborium. Crowns, &c. Altar Veils. Iconostasis. Prothesis and Diakonikon. Holy Well and Metatorion. Solea. The Nave and Pavement. Font. Crosses. Miraculous Marbles, &c. Water Vessels. Images and Tombs. Hang ings. Carpets. Synods. Clergy and Ritual. Adoration of the Cross. Procession to the Church ..... page 66 CHAPTER VI. § 1. The True Cross and Relics of the ^Passion. Other Treasure. Accounts by Russian Pilgrims. § 2. The Lighting of the Church ....... page 97 CHAPTER VII. § 1. Later History. Occupation of the Church by the Crusaders. Fall of Constantinople. § 2. The Anonymous Account of the Church. § 3. Legends .... page 122 CHAPTER VIII. Fossati's Reparations. Salzenberg's Description of Design, Materials, Construction, and Decoration . . page 148 CHAPTER IX. Precincts of the Church, &c. Palaces. Hippodrome. Augusteum. Milion. Horologium. S. Peter's Chapel, &c. Bound aries of Church. Atrium. Phiale. Pavement. West Front. Belfry. Cisterns. Exterior generally ..... page 173 CHAPTER X. § 1. Byzantine Origins. § 2. The Builders of the Church. § 3. Original Form of the Church : Dome and N. and S. Arches, Atrium, N.W. and S.W. Angles, Baptistery and Loggia. § 4. Structural System. Arch Forms. Vaulting. Dome Construction. Chainage and Walling. Mortar and Cement . . page 198 CHAPTER XI. § 1. Building Procedure. § 2. Marble Quarries and Identification of the Marbles. § 3. Application of Marble to the Walls. viii CONTENTS § 4. Marble Masonry. Seven Orders of Byzantine Capitals. Distri bution and Dates of Capitals. Shafts and Bases. Responds. Cornices and Skirtings. Windows, &c. Carving . . . page 234 CHAPTER XII. § 1. Bronze Doors, &c. § 2. Mosaics. Salzenberg's Description. First Scheme. Later Scheme. Fossati's Description. Tesserae and Fixing. § 3. Glass. Plaster. Painting. § 4. Monograms and Inscriptions ...... page 264 S. SOPHIA CHAPTER I THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND THE FIRST CHURCH Byzantium. — Where the narrow swift-flowing Bosporus, which divides Asia from the most eastern part of southern Europe, flows into the Sea of Marmara, a crescent-shaped arm of the sea runs westward into the land, leaving a narrow promontory, which, like the prow of a boat in profile, puts out to the east. The point of this promontory is a mass of rock rising steeply from the sea: divided by a slight transverse depression from the rest of the land, it forms the first hill of the seven which were afterwards inclosed by the walls of Constantinople. On this crest (by the present Seraglio Point), commanding the passage to the Euxine, was built, in the seventh century B.C., by colonists from Megara — with whom Dionysius couples the Corinthians- — the Acropolis, the sacred city and citadel, and within certain limits the lines of its containing walls may still be traced. The lower city gathered about the slopes outside the Acropolis, and had other walls defining its landward limits. Dionysius, the ancient Byzantine writer, who describes the city before the siege of Severus, 196 a.d., says that this citadel of Byzantium was on the promontory of the Bosporus, above the bay called Keras (the Golden Horn). "At a little distance over the height is the altar of Athena Ecbasia — of the landing — where the colonists fought as for their .-) B 2 S. SOPHIA own land. There is too a temple of Poseidon, an ancient one and hence quite plain, which stands over the sea. . . . Below the temple of Poseidon, but within the wall, on the level ground are stadia and gymnasia, and courses for the young." 1 This Acropolis is roughly outlined in Fig. I, the evidence being the contours of the hill, remains and records of certain walls to be mentioned later, and the boundaries between the first four regions in Constantine's city as given in the Notitia,2 a description of the city written in the beginning of the fifth century. The Acro polis so defined has a striking resemblance to other Greek hill cities — Tiryns, Mycenae, Acrocorinth, and the Acropolis of Athens. In Fig. i the cross shows the site of the present Church of S. Sophia ; the arrow shows the Hippodrome, which, still existing, is the great monument of pre-Constantinian times, and forms the key for all study of the subsequent city ; O shows the position of the column said to have been erected by Claudius Gothicus about 270 a.d., which stands at the north end of the Acropolis overlooking Seraglio or Demetrius Point. Of the ancient Greek town few positive remains have come down to us, with the exception of the coins. A publi cation by the Greek Philological Society of Constantinople mentions as among several pre-Constantinian inscriptions a marble slab found in " the tower next to the Zouk Tsesme gate on the left as one ascends to S. Sophia," which refers to the stadium erected by Pausanias the General in 477 B.C., " within the walls of Byzantium and below the temple of Poseidon." 3 The coins also go back to the fifth century b.c The early ones show a cow standing on a dolphin, with the letters BY. In the third century we have Poseidon seated on a promontory, and later again a dolphin twined round a trident — all the types having evident reference to the sea- washed city. Another relic of ancient Byzantium is still to be seen below the curve of the Hippodrome, where a 1 'Ava-n-Xovs BooTropou, ed. C. Wescher, 1874, P- 5- 2 Notitia Dignitatum, eds. Pancirolus, Venice, 1602, and Seeck Berlin, 1876. The date given by Seeck for the Notitia is 41 1— 413 a.d. 3 'EAAijj/ikos 4>tXoXoyiKos SvAAo-yos ; Trapapr^fia, 1 88 5. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 3 white marble capital of good Greek Doric work lies neglected on the seaward bank of the new railway. In addition to the ancient buildings already mentioned, we learn from Dionysius that the city possessed a temple of Ge Onesidora — the fruitful earth — which consisted of " an unroofed space surrounded by a wall of polished stone." Near by were " temples of Demeter and the Maiden (Persephone), with many pictures in them, relics of their former wealth." This author was also shown the sites of temples to Hera and Pluto, " the former having been destroyed by Darius, and the latter by Philip of Macedon." He also speaks of a large round tower joined to the wall of the city. Some records or legends of the ancient city are also con tained in the Paschal Chronicle} After the siege Severus " built the public bath called Zeuxippus. Now in the middle of the four-porticoed 2 space stood a bronze stele of the sun, below which he wrote the name of the sun. The people of Thrace indeed call the place Helion, but the By zantines themselves call this same public bath ' of Zeuxippus ' after its original name, although the emperor ordered it should be called Severion. Opposite to it in the acropolis of Byzantium he built the temple of Apollo, which also faced the two other temples formerly built by Byzas — one to Artemis with the olive, and the other to Phedalian Aphro dite. And the figure of the sun was taken from the four- porticoes and placed in this temple (of Apollo). Opposite the temple of Artemis he built large kennels, and a theatre opposite the temple of Aphrodite. He bought houses and gardens from two brothers, and after pulling down the former and uprooting the latter he built the Hippodrome. Severus restored the Strategion as well. It was first named by Alexander of Macedon, who, in his campaign against Darius, reviewed his troops there before attacking the Persians." 1 Ed. Bonn, i., p. 494. 2 Lydus speaks of a fire spreading from the " Forum of Zeuxippus " to that of Constantine (p. 265). The baths of Zeuxippus are placed at the north end of the Hippodrome by Labarte and Mordtmann. B 2 4 S. SOPHIA New Rome. — It was about 328 a.d. or the following year that Constantine decided to enlarge this city, which had long been under the domination of Rome, and to make it his capital. The work of building was pushed forward with great energy, and it was consecrated in May 330. By an edict engraved on a stone erected in the Strategium, it was called the New Rome of Constantine. In the documents of the patriarchs of the Greek Church the city is still called New Rome. The quarries of easily wrought marble of large crystal line structure and soft white colour found in such abundance in the island of Proconnesus, only a few miles away over the sea to which it has given its name of Marmara, then as now furnished a perfect building material ; while the still worked quarries of Egypt and Thessaly provided imperial purple and green. But a richer quarry was doubtless found in the porphyry and cippolino shafts of the old temples of many a declining city. Constantine's city does not appear to have been so completely Christian as the ecclesiastical writers would have us suppose. Zosimus tells us that Constantine erected a shrine to the Dioscuri in the Hippodrome, and he mentions the temples of Rhea and the Tyche of the city in a large four-porticoed forum. A whole population of bronze and marble statues was brought together from Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily. The baths of Zeuxippus alone are said to have had more than sixty bronze statues,1 a still greater number were assembled in the Augusteum and other squares, and in the Hippodrome, where, according to Zosimus,2 Constantine placed the Pythian tripod, which had been the central object in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. On the triple coils of the bronze serpents in the At-Meidan can still be read the names of the Greek states, which, after the battle of Plataea, dedicated a tithe of the spoil to the Delphic oracle, as described by Herodotus.3 An extremely valuable description of ancient Byzantium and 1 Christodorus, a fifth-century poet. — F. Baumgarten, 189 1. 2 Hist. ed. Bonn, p. 97. 3 Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1875, vol. iv., p. 467. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 5 the reconstruction by Constantine is given by Zosimus, writ ing not much more than a century after the transformation. " Now the city lay upon the crest of a hill which forms a part of the isthmus that is made by what is called the ' Horn ' («6/aa?) and the Propontis. And formerly it had its gate (771^X77) at the end of the colonnades which' Severus built." ..." And the wall on its western part descending along with the crest reached to the temple of Aphrodite, and the sea of Chrysopolis [Scutari] which is opposite ; and in the same way from the crest the wall descended northward to the harbour which .is called Neorion, and from thence up to the sea which lies directly in front of the straits through which one enters the Euxine." ..." This then was the ancient size of the city. And Constantine erected a circular forum where formerly was the gate, and surrounded it with porticoes of two storeys. He set up two very big arches of Proconnesian marble opposite each other ; through them one entered the porticoes of Severus or issued from the ancient city. And wishing to make the city much larger he further continued the old wall fifteen stadia, and inclosed the city with a wall which cut off the isthmus from sea to sea." It is clear from this that the ancient land gate of Byzantium stood on the crest of the ridge close to the site now occupied by the Porphyry Column (which was set up by Constantine in the New Forum), and formed the end of a street of columns built by Severus (the Mese). From this gate the wall ran southwards to a temple of Aphrodite, and along the shore of the Propontis opposite Scutari. North wards it descended to the Golden Horn at the Neorion port, and turned along the shore to Seraglio Point. Now the Neorion port was just outside the entrance to the modern Galata bridge,1 and the account agrees perfectly with the Notitia in which we ¦ find the following : " The sixth ward at entering on it is level ground for a short distance, all the rest is upon the descent ; for it extends from the Forum of Constantine to the stairs where you ferry over to Sycae [Galata]. It contains the porphyry pillar of Constantine ; 1 Mordtmann, Esquisse topo. de Constantinople, p. 48 and map. 6 S. SOPHIA the Senate House in the same place, the Neorion port ; the stairs of Sycae, &c." It is evident that the city which Constantine found had been virtually rebuilt by Severus in the style of the East. From the days when Alexandria and Antioch were planned a city had become a whole to be designed ac cording to rule. Essential features of such cities — of which Palmyra is the best representative — were long avenues of columns forming the main streets, and a triumphal arch with a central "golden milestone." The main street of columns at Constantinople, which we later hear of by the name of the Mese as forming the way from the Milion to the Forum of Constantine, cannot be any other than the " Porticoes of Severus " just mentioned. In the fifth century we find the Mese referred to in the building laws of Zeno. " We ordain that none shall be allowed to obstruct with buildings the numerous rows of columns which are erected in the public porticoes, such as those leading from what is called the Milion to the Capitol," any shops or booths between the columns " must be ornamented on the outside at least with marble, that they may beautify the city and give pleasure to the passers by." x Mordtmann shows that this great columned way ! occupied Very nearly the line of the present Divan Yiulu ; indeed, it is hardly possible to divert the great arteries at any stage of a city's evolution, and the Mese itself probably followed the course of a foot- track to the gate of the Acropolis. By building walls across the land between the Golden Horn and the sea at distances farther and farther from Seraglio Point, the city has been successively enlarged ; the great land walls, within which the shrunken city now lies, are mainly the work of Theodosius II. These, the walls of the Constantinople known to the Crusaders, are still com- 1 The Museum of Classic. Antiq. 1857, p. 305. The Capitol was beyond Forum Cons. Lydus speaks of " the porticoes that pass through the city and lead to the Forum of Constantine, and the broad space is screened symmetrically with great and beautiful columns. [Some of] these porticoes are said to have been built by men from Naples and Puteoli who came to Byzantium to please Constantine." (Ed Bonn d 266.) * '*' THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 7 paratively perfect ; a triple line on the land side and a single line around the sea margin, some fourteen miles of walls, eight or ten to fifteen feet thick, strengthened by great towers, completely girdles the city round about. The land- wall of Constantine's city, situated between the Acropolis and the present walls, has disappeared, but its course has been traced (see Fig. 1). Acropolis. — The topography of ancient Constantinople has engaged the attention of generations of writers, and an approximation to true results has undoubtedly been reached. First we must mention Pierre Gilles, usually called Gyllius, who, travelling to collect MSS. for Francis I., resided in the city for many years, and died in 1555. Then Du Cange, in his great work Constantinopolis Christiana, 1680, by a careful comparison of the authorities, certainly made discoveries in a country he had never visited. The folios of Banduri 1 followed in 171 1 ; and in 1861 Labarte published a more detailed study of the Imperial quarter, chiefly based on the ample notices in the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. This work, Le Palais Imperial de Constantinople et ses Abords, shows remarkable insight and critical acumen. Buzantios in Constantinopolis, 1861, and Paspates in his Byzantinae Melatae, 1877, made several further identifications. The latter followed with The Great Palace of Constantinople, recently translated by Mr. Metcalfe, which goes over the same ground as Labarte ; but the excavations for the railway, which now circles Seraglio Point, had in the meantime exposed some remains, and made the examination of certain walls possible. Although Paspates made several valuable suggestions, many of his conclusions are certainly not sustained by his reasoning; indeed, Labarte in many points of divergence was probably much nearer the facts. Paspates' views were accepted by Mr. Bury,2 to be followed in turn by 1 Imperium Orientate, Paris, 171 1. 2 Bury, A History of the later Roman Empire (395 a.d. to 800 a.d.), vol. i., p. 57. Mr. Bury, in an excellent review of Paspates' book in S. SOPHfA ' llUlj A///'/ fflfi'i/ VvN<>\ z^- J / pLft ^S \\W\\ \vx vm(/ — Mm /0 '', '' '' 0/J jT-7 \ '/'''''''A * / * / J- J ^^070-''-0^^7 1 , 'a' V- / * / 7 Yi\''''lX- ^ / h 1 ° / COH3TAJMTI JNES C /l T V /Acup/ 1 / / J. jfOLtS/ 1 / 41° / r^Vx/ ii » / ^/>\ j - * ** \ 1 BY2ANTIVM V, -V "#\. ^/ '.. < \^ — ^T ~^=- — ~ ~ZZ ~~T ~ *Z- -^ * ' , * - ^ COLDEN \nCATE yC^ ^ ~~ *Z- '- ¦" ~n "^ ~~~ -— — ~ -— 1 ''."'''„'**'-'' / r - / - "- - - ^-^/"r i^5 f-rjf//;l- i '-" - Z^c _ **^ "V-^, _"- ^ ^J^r "*^ ? ^ ^^LT"-^- '- -^-/H^^JT-, Fig. i. — Plan of Constantinople showing its development. Mr. Oman in T'/fo Byzantine Empire of the " Story of the Nations " Series. A work in Russian has recently been devoted to the study of the Palace quarter.1 Unger's collection of topographical references in Quellen der Byzan- tinischen Kunstgeschicht is also of the greatest service. In 1892 appeared Dr. Mordtmann's Esquisse, together with a large plan of the city, on which the probable identifications of the ways and buildings were laid down ; this was prepared The Scottish Review, Ap. 1894, gives up the position assigned to the Augusteum by that author. 1 D. Byeljajev, Byzantina, St. Petersburg, 1891, reviewed in Byzan- tinische Zeitschrift, 1892, p. 344. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 9 */"'"^\ R.EC I on\ NX K E O . // REG A. * .?!S^ . V ^N>>IV /J JI ^**^Ci-" "^"*n^^ XXv ^s. J / S. [MINE N/ ( ^ ^K/x ij \. 5 . sotwa// J L — ' ) AV\W B.EGION ^y vOv AVOV5MVM V X UI // /A>\ XX XX PALACE / XX v //\ x X/ * x/ ^\. X It / / ^v X^ V* XXhippodrome nX ^§L / REGION / I _V Br- — . /zT^J^'^ Fig. 2. — Plan ofthe Acropolis, &c., of Constantine's city. at the instance of the Comte Riant, who, in his Exuviae Constantinopolitanae, contributed the result of much research to our knowledge of Byzantine antiquities. Dr. Mordtmann, by a study of the whole of the city area and its entire circumvallation as we have it to-day, in comparison with the written descriptions, has laid a firmer grasp on the problem. Labarte, he points out, was chiefly misled by a confusion of the buildings in the Forum of Constantine and those in the Forum Augusteum — a mistake elaborated in some respects by Paspates. Labarte thus placed the prophyry column of Constantine, which still marks the site of the former, together with other buildings 10 S. SOPHIA that were quartered about it, all within the Augusteum, which last he rightly identified with the present open space to the south-west of S. Sophia. Texier, who in 1834 made a careful study of the ancient city, rightly distinguished the two fora.1 Fig. 2 will assist in making clear our views as to the transformation of the Acropolis under Constantine. The Byzantine brick walls which now inclose the old Serai Labarte regarded as of late work, and we think the style of the building would very well bear out Paspates' opinion that they were erected by Michael Palaeologus. The excavation for the railway exposed some remains of a wall near O in our Fig. 1 which Paspates describes as " built of large stones as much as 10 feet long by 2^- broad, and i|- thick." 2 The rest of the seaward wall still forming the substructure of the retaining wall of the sea-front of the old Serai, and running in a direction parallel to the Hippo drome, is -also of stone. This wall is probably ancient or follows the course of the ancient Acropolis inclosure which is described by Dion Cassius as " built on rising ground and projecting into the sea. . . . The walls are very strong, formed of large squared stones bound together with copper, and the inside is so strengthened with earth and buildings that the whole seems one thick wall." 3 The late Anonymous author edited by Banduri says that the wall of ancient Byzantium commenced at the Golden Horn near the gate of S. Eugenius to pass along by the Golden Milestone.4 We place no reliance on the Anonymous for early history, but there is much to confirm Mordtmann's view that an ancient wall occupied this position and that the Milion — which the Anonymous says was the land gate — was situated upon its course and formed indeed the entrance from the Street of Columns. This wall, which Mordtmann says passed on the land side of the old Serai in front of the 1 MSS., plans, and descriptions, in the Library of R. Inst. Brit. Architects. 2 Paspates, The Great Palace, p. 20. Mr. Metcalfe's translation is intended throughout. 3 Lib. lxxiv., ch. 10. * Mordtmann, Esquisse, pp.4 and 5. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH u modern museum (Tchenli Kiosk) where there is a high retaining wall, and continued to the west of S. Sophia not far from the narthex, we consider must be that which formed the landward inclosure of the Acropolis. The fourth region of the city, Mordtmann says, was separated from the second by the rock of the Acropolis and this wall. We are confirmed in our acceptance ofthe other wall described by Paspates as the seaward wall of the Acropolis, not only because it is built against the steep escarpment of the rock, but by finding that in the division of the city into the wards or regions of the Notitia the first ward exactly comprised the space between the wall and the sea ; the second region contained the old Acropolis itself, with a triangle of lower ground at the north against the Golden Horn, where was probably the sea gate ; while the third was divided from the fourth by the great way which left the Milion gate on the old landward wall of the Acropolis. Such pre-existing features naturally formed the boundaries of the wards. We now give from the Notitia Dignitatum the descrip tions of the first four regions of the fourteen into which Constantine's city was divided, which will show how Con stantine occupied the old areas with the royal and public quarters of his new city. Twelve regions were included within the walls, and two others were formed by the suburbs of Blachernae and Galata. Region I. Region II. Contains the house of Placidia Gradually rises with a gentle Augusta ; the house of most noble ascent beginning from the smaller Marina ; the Baths of Arcadius ; theatre, and then descends abruptly 27 streets or alleys; 118 houses; 2 to the sea. It contains the Great porticoes; 15 private baths; 4 public Church ; the Ancient Church ; the cornmills ; 1 5 private cornmills ; 4 Senate ; the Tribunal built with terraces of steps. It is under one porphyry steps ; the Baths of Zeuxip- curator, who looks after the whole pus ; the theatre ; the amphitheatre ; region ; it has 1 vernaculus, a slave 34 streets or alleys, 98 houses ; 4 (or messenger) for all regions ; 25 large porticoes ; 13 private baths ; collegiati, who are selected from 4 private cornmills ; 4 terraces of different Guilds (Corporati), and steps. It had also I curator, 1 ver- help at fires ; and 5 street wardens, naculus ; 35 collegiati, 5 street who watch the city at night. wardens. 12 S. SOPHIA Region III. Region IV. Is a plane surface in its higher From the Golden Milliarium is part, where is the Circus, but from prolonged, with hills rising to right the end of this it descends steeply and left in a valley leading to an to the sea. It contains the Circus open space. It contains the golden Maximus ; the house of Pulcheria Milliarium ; the Augusteum ; the Augusta ; the new harbour ; a semi- Basilica; the Nymphaeum ; the circular portico, called by the Portico of Fanio; a marble ship — the Greeks Sigma ; the Tribunal of the monument of a naval victory — the Forum of Constantine ; 7 streets ; church or martyrium of S. Mennas; 94 houses; 5 large porticoes; 11 the Stadium; the Scala Timasii ; private baths ; 9 private cornmills. 32 streets; 375 houses; 4 large It had I curator ; I venaaculus ; it porticoes; 7 private baths; 5 private had also 21 collegiati ; and 5 street cornmills ; 7 terraces of steps. It wardens. had I curator ; I vernaculus ; 45 collegiati ; 5 street wardens. Augusteum. — Thus Region I., occupying the land between the Acropolis wall and the sea, was partly reserved for palaces ; Region II. coincided with the Acropolis, and had its south end devoted to the Forum Augusteum and the Christian Basilicas of S. Sophia (" the Great Church ") and St. Irene (" the Old Church."). It will be observed that in the Notitia the Augusteum is given to Region IV., to which it does indeed adjoin ; Mordtmann x considers that the Aug usteum, like the buildings round it, must have belonged to Region II., but suggests that there may have been a continu ation of the open space farther to the west in Region IV., and some such space as this certainly seems required by several of the references. Gyllius first made the identification of the Augusteum with the present open space on the south of S. Sophia ; in this he was followed by Labarte, and Mordtmann concurs. Paspates in making the Augusteum occupy the ground along the east side of the Hippodrome stands alone against, as it seems to us, all evidence. For example, he is compelled to shift the inscribed pedestal of the statue of the Empress Eudoxia, which we cannot but believe was found in its original position (see Mordtmann, p. 64, and Paspates, p. 105, and below, p. 13). The Mese moreover he makes the centre of his Augusteum. Mr. Bury thought it proved that the 1 Esquisse Top. p. 3. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 13 Augusteum "was also called the Forum of Constantine," because a passage in Cedrenus speaks of the Senate House (to erevdrov) as in the Forum of Constantine. It is perfectly clear however from the Notitia that there were two Senate Houses — one in the Forum mentioned in the extract we have given from the description of the sixth ward, and the other included in the second region as just quoted.1 In the Augusteum was erected a Senate, its front facing the west. "The Senate," says Mordtmann, "was placed where to-day stands the Tribunal of Commerce." That is, on the east side of the present place of S. Sophia against what must have been the eastern side of the Augusteum and the ancient Acropolis, on the seaward wall of which it was probably founded. In digging the foundations of the Tribunal of Commerce in 1847 the ancient pavement was found, at a depth of twelve feet, and the base of the cele brated statue of Eudoxia, with an inscription, marked it as the site of the Courts of Justice (Mordtmann, p. 64). The statue, Socrates 2 says, was " of silver, and it stood upon a lofty pedestal {bemaT), not far from the church called S. Sophia, with a road between." The Augusteum, following the Hippodrome, does not lie four-square with the cardinal points, but almost diagonally to them : for convenience, however, we shall speak of the direc tions as North, South, East, and West, calling the side towards the Mese the west. On the north side, and following the same system of alignment, is the present S. Sophia. The palace of the Patriarch probably adjoined the church, on the north side of the square. The royal palaces mentioned in the Notitia were on the south ofthe Augusteum. According to the Paschal Chronicle, written about 630 a.d., Constantine the Great made a palace beside the Hippodrome, " and the ascent from the palace to the stand of the Hippodrome was by means of the stair called the spiral " (Paspates, Great Palace, p. 47). This palace does 1 Zosimus (p. 139) and Lydus (p. 265) say that the Emperor Julian built a Senate. So also according to Sozomen (ii. 3) and the Paschal Chron. did Constantine. 2 Hist, eccles. lib. vi., ch. xviii. 14 S. SOPHIA not seem to have become of great importance until Justinian's time. The Notitia merely mentions the House of Placidia Augusta, and the House of the most noble Marina, the daughters of Arcadius, in the first ward ; and the House of Pulcheria Augusta in the third ; and speaks of several other royal palaces in the 9th, 10th, and nth wards. The palace of the emperor at this time was in the 14th ward, which was outside the walls and isolated, making " the figure of a small city by itself; " this is the celebrated palace of Blachernae. The Church. — It was in May 328 that Helena is said to have discovered the true cross and other relics at Jerusalem. And this event, which synchronizes exactly with Constantine's choice of Byzantium as his capital, was probably not without direct relation to the foundation of the church dedicated to Christ. Socrates writes, " A portion of the cross she (Helena) inclosed in a silver chest and left in Jerusalem as a memorial, but the other part she sent to the king." 1 Theophanes, Cedrenus, Glycas, Paul the Deacon, Nicephorus Callistus, and other late historians agree in making Constantine the founder of the first Church dedi cated to the Second Person of the Trinity as the Divine Wisdom ; and Cedrenus even gives a name — Euphrates — to the architect.2 Codinus, who wrote in the fifteenth century, alone relates that Constantine purified a previously existing temple and dedicated it to Christian uses. There is much evidence to show that the church could not have been completed by Constantine even if he had founded it, or contemplated its foundation. In the life of the emperor, the Church of the Holy Apostles, which was built near the Forum of Constantine, and in which the emperor was buried, is described at length,3 but it does not mention S. Sophia, although the author takes pains to enu merate the Christian objects in the city — saying that there were " many Oratories and Martyria, and by the fountains in the middle of the agorae were figures in gilt bronze of the 1 Ecc. Hist. lib. i., xvii. 2 Du Cange, Descriptio S. Sophiae, ed. Bonn, p. 62. 3 Eusebius, De Vita Cons. lib. iv., cap. lviii-lix. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 15 Good Shepherd and of Daniel with the lions ; in the palace was a cross wrought- in gold with many coloured precious stones." 1 In the fifth century Notitia, as we have seen, S. Irene is called the Old Church and S. Sophia the Great Church. The historian Socrates, probably the best authority, says that Constantine " built two churches, one he called Irene and the other the Apostles," 2 and he attributes S. Sophia entirely to Constantius. " The King built the great church which is called Sophia and joined it to that called Irene, which the father of the king had previously increased and beautified, and now both churches were included within one wall and had one title." Upon its completion, it was dedicated, with magnificent cere mony, by the patriarch Eudoxius on Sunday, February 1 5 th, 360 a.d., "in the thirty-fourth year after its foundation."3 This would fix its foundation in the year 326 a.d., two years after Constantine, having defeated Licinius, had begun to reign alone. Cedrenus writes, " Eudoxius. consecrated a second time the Church of the Divine Wisdom, because after its first completion, and the dedication by Eusebius, it had fallen and been again restored by Constantius,"* and he places this event in the twenty-second year of Constantius' reign. Cedrenus is a late and credulous writer, and in attributing a first dedication to Eusebius — who would certainly have told us himself — he shows how untrustworthy is the whole story. Altogether we cannot do better than accept the account of Idatius and that given in the Paschal Chronicle, with perhaps a little suspicion on the part which refers to Constantine, " In this year (360) in the month Peritius was dedicated the great church of Constantinople, in the thirty-fourth year from the time when Constantine had laid the foundations. For the opening ceremony (encaenia) Constantius brought many offerings of gold, and great treasure of silver ; many tissues adorned with gold thread and stones for the sanctuary ; for 1 De Vita Cons. lib. iii., cap. xlviii.-xlix. 2 Eccl. Hist, ii., xvi. 3 Du Cange, p. 63. He quotes the fifth-century author Idatius. * Ed. Bonn, i., p. 523, and i., p. 530. 1 6 S. SOPHIA the doors of the church different curtains {amphithuriai) of gold ; and for the outside gateways (puleones) many others with gold threads." According to the late Anonymous author (see page 1 29), "in the reign of Theodosius the Great (+395) and in the patriarchate of Nectarius (381-398), seventy-four years after the church was built, the roof of the church was destroyed by fire ;" he probably really meant the fire of 404 in Arcadius' reign. At that time S. John Chrysostom, incurring the dislike of the Empress Eudoxia, was banished. He was brought back at the end of two days, once more preached in S. Sophia, and was exiled again, with disastrous results, for his partisans set fire to the church and destroyed it. " This happened on the 20th of June, in the consulship of Honorius and Aristaenetus " (404). 1 The fire was by some thought to be of supernatural origin. Palladius, the bishop's biographer, writes, "Then a flame seemed to burst from the centre of the throne in which he used to sit, and climbed up by the chains [of lamps] to the roof . . . and crept like a wriggling snake upon the back of the houses ofthe church." There was also burnt the Senate, " lying many paces to the south opposite the church ; and the fire spared only the little house, in which the sacred vessels were kept." The church was again injured by fire, restored by Theodosius II. , and rededicated in 41 5. 2 Fresh relics were required for this rededication.3 One fact of importance in regard to this church is related by Sozomenus of the Empress Pulcheria. " She dedicated an altar in the church of Constantinople, a most wonderful work of gold and precious stones, on behalf of her virginity and her brothers' empire. And she wrote this on the face of the table so that it might be clear to all."4 From this time until the outbreak known as the Nika sedition, in January 532, the church is not said to have been further altered. According to Cedrenus, the records and charters perished with the church. 1 Socrates, Hist. Eccl. vi., 18. 2 Du Cange, § 3. 3 Pasch. Chron. ed. Bonn, i., p. 572. 4 Eccl. Hist, ix., 1. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 17 There cannot be a doubt that the present S. Sophia occupies the site of the first church. A church once made holy by dedication and the reception of relics could not be transported. Indeed it is possible that it may occupy the site of one of the Greek temples, for there was a constant tendency to this supersession on one sacred site ; and the present church stands on the very crest of the old Acropolis. If there were any sufficient reason to identify the site with that of the altar of Pallas, the dedication of the church itself would evidently be one of the many instances of a transference of title from the old worship. The Parthenon— where Hellenic rites survived to the sixth century — became a church in this way dedicated to the Holy Wisdom.1 The axis of the church seems to point somewhere between 300 and 350 south of east, where there is a considerable sea prospect and a low horizon. This direction, either by accident or intention, must agree very closely with sunrise at the winter solstice : 2 the latitude ofthe church being 41° o' 26". The plan will show that the ancient Hippodrome, and probably the other build ings, were set out in relation to this axis. In comparing the early Basilicas of Constantinian date, both those that exist and those of which we have descriptions, we find that they generally, if not invariably, had their doors of entrance at the east end, and their apses towards the west, exactly the opposite of the more recent custom. Rohault De Fleury says this was usual in the East till the fifth century, and the custom continued much later in Rome. Kraus, in the best study of the subject,3 writes : " S. Agatha at Ravenna must be mentioned as the first which had its altar at the east end: it was built in 417, and in this century the practice became general." Socrates (+ 440) says of the church of Antioch that "the altar stood not at the east but at the west," but he speaks of 1 See Tozer's note, Finlay, vol. i., 45. 2 Justinian's church was opened at Christmas. 8 Art. " Orientirung " in Real Encyklop'ddie der Christlichen Alterthumer, 1886, based on Mothes' schedule in Die Basilikenformen, 1865. We hope to show on another occasion that the present church at Bethlehem which points to the east was entirely rebuilt by Justinian. There is no proof that S. George Salonica is older than fifth cent. C 18 S. SOPHIA this as contrary to the usual custom at the time he wrote. This church was founded by Constantine and finished by his son. The Church of the Apostles at Constantinople, built by Constantine to contain the relics of S. Luke, seems also to have been entered at the east, for S. John Chrysostom 1 speaks of the emperor being buried "in the part in front of the doors," and an anonymous author, who wrote about the imperial sepulchres, says that Constantine's sarcophagus was " in front towards the east."2 We shall thus be following the reasonable suggestion of comparative archasology in saying that the first church of S. Sophia almost certainly had its entrance doors at the east — the sanctuary end of the present church. The church was probably only of medium size ; the length of the present church is about 250 feet, its vastness being in its width. The Paschal Chronicle speaks of " its stupendous and marvellous columns all being ex rerpaevTov " ; but owing to a variant reading it is difficult to determine whether it means that the pillars were square, or were set in a square, or formed four bays. Glycas and Codinus, who wrote a thousand years after the foundation of the church, say that it was basil ican (dromika), and had a wooden roof (xulotroullos), and the latter says that the church of Theodosius had cylindrical vaults. As it is evident from the rapid destruction by fire that the roofs of the early churches were of wood, they were probably Basilicas. Only a few minor particulars, such as the existence of an atrium, and the right of sanctuary in the bema (thusiasterion), can be gathered from the homilies of S. Chrysostom. Socrates tells us that this patriarch was wont to preach " in the ambo for the sake of being better heard." 3 From Palladius we learn that there was a baptistery (in which the Sixth Council of Constantinople, a.d. 394/ appears to have met) attached to the church, and it was here Chrysostom took leave of the deaconesses at his banishment, as described in a passage diffi- 1 Homilies xxvi. and lx. 2 De Sepulcris Imperatorum, Migne S. G., vol. 157, p. 726. 8 Migne, p. 674. 4 Bingham, Antiquities ofthe Christian Church, vol. iii., p. 120. THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND FIRST CHURCH 19 cult to interpret. " He went out of the baptistery on the east side, for there was no western (exit). The mule which he usually rode was made to stand westwards before the gate to the church, where is the porch, so that he might escape the people who were expecting him." The passage from the same author about the waters of the font being stained with blood does not, as is sometimes supposed, necessarily refer to S. Sophia. In applying the plan of a church of mean size so that the doors should face eastwards, we are at once struck by finding that the western hemicycle of the present church would lie about the apse ; and we cannot but suggest that in this we may have the very raison d'etre of the remarkable plan of the present church, which it would seem might be properly classed with those churches which have apses at both ends, like the early basilica at Orleansville near Tunis ; x the MS. plan of S. Gall is the best known example ; our own early church at Canterbury was another instance, the result of adding to a church with a western apse ; France furnishes Besancon and Nevers, and Germany numerous examples. It is indeed possible that some parts of the old structure may have given practical and positive reasons contributing to this result, and a thorough examination of the cisterns beneath the present floor of S. Sophia may yet yield full evidence of the first basilica ; or if these vaults were entirely built for Justinian's church, their material would almost certainly be derived from the earlier building. We suggest that the circular brick building lying at the north-east angle of the present church belonged to the pre- Justinian church, and formed its baptistery. It is about forty-five feet exterior diameter, and the plan as given by Sal- zenberg shows great resemblance to other circular structures of the Constantinian age ; such as S. Constantia in Rome, the " tomb of Helen " at Rome, and the round tomb buildings which adjoined S. Peter's as shown in the plan of Ciampini.2 1 Revue Archeologique, vol. iv., p. 659, and Kugler, Geschichte der Baukunst, vol. i., p. 372. 2 For similar early circular baptisteries see Martigny, Diet. Christ. Antiq. C 2 20 S. SOPHIA The entrance doorway of this building was to the east. As to its use. In the contemporary account of Justinian's church, the poet Paulus, describing the north aisle, says, " On the north is a door admitting the people to the founts that purify the stains of mortal life and heal every scar." He does not mention the present south-west building, nor has he any other reference to a font. We suppose therefore that this isolated building on the north-east escaped the Nika fire, and served as the baptistery of the new church, until the square building, on the side of the church towards the Augusteum, which is spoken of in the Ceremonies as the " Great Baptistery by the Horologium," was erected for or diverted to this purpose. We very probably have some relics of the earlier build ings in certain capitals which Salzenberg found in the church:1 the inscribed bricks,2 and a Byzantine Corinthian capital now lying in the courtyard, may likewise have belonged to it. The fine bronze doors to south porch are evidently earlier than the present church, and so probably are the slabs of which the screen on southside of first floor is partly made up. 1 See Salz., plate xx., figs. 4, 5. 2 Ibid. p. 19. CHAPTER II JUSTINIAN S CHURCH The New Church. — The pre-Justinian church was burnt on the 15th January, 532 a — the first day of the sedition — and the work of reconstruction was begun on the 23rd of the following month.2 Theophanes 3 says the period employed in the construction was five years eleven months and ten days ; the statements therefore of Codinus and Gly'cas, that it took seventeen years to build, are completely at variance with this more credible author. The solemn dedication took place, as Marcellinus Comes describes,4 on 26th December, 537, Indiction 15, in the eleventh year of Justinian's reign. A description of this dedication ceremony is given by Theophanes.5 " The procession started from the church of Anastasia, Menas the patriarch sitting in the royal chariot, and the king walking with the people." In the thirfy-sec6nd year of Justinian's reign an earth quake destroyed a great portion of the newly erected church.6 Now Procopius, whose contemporary history of the 1 Chron. Pas-ch. ed. Bonn, p. 622. 2 Zonaras also gives the true date ; according to the Byzantine era the year of the world 6040. In Cedrenus it appears as 6008, a copyist's error in writing 17' for yl. 8 Ed. Bonn, p. 338. 4 Migne, S.L. vol. Ii., p. 943. 5 Ed. Bonn, p. 378. 6 Theo. p. 359. 22 S. SOPHIA edifices built by Justinian was, according to Krumbacher,1 finished and published in the year 558 or the spring of 559 at latest, makes no mention of this earthquake of 558, though he describes in full how, during the building of the church, which was completed in 537, the piers ofthe eastern arch threatened to give way before it was finished. We may therefore conclude that he describes Justinian's church in its first state. The translation from Procopius here given is based on that of Mr. Aubrey Stewart, published by the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, which has been compared with the original. We give in Fig. 3 a plan of the church as built by Justinian, so far as the evidence will allow of an approxi mately certain restoration. As the several different curved portions of the plan are difficult to distinguish, we propose so far as possible to reserve certain words for separate parts. The small eastern semi circle and its vault will be called apse and apsoid respectively. Hemicycle and semidome will refer to the great semicircle at the east or west and its vault. The pairs of curved spaces forming the lateral recesses in the hemicycles we propose to name exedras and their half-domes conchs. Procopius. — " The lowest dregs of the people in Byzan tium once assailed the Emperor Justinian in the rebellion called Nika, which I have clearly described in my History of the Wars. To prove that it was not merely against the emperor but no less against God that they took up arms, they ventured to burn the church of the Christians which the people of Byzantium call Sophia, a name most worthy of God. God permitted them to effect this crime, knowing how great the beauty of this church would be when restored. Thus the church was entirely reduced to ashes ; but the Emperor Justinian not long afterwards adorned the new one in such a fashion, that if any one had asked the Christians in former times, if they wished their church to be destroyed and thus restored, showing them the appearance of the 1 Geschichte der Byzantinischer Litteratur, 1893, p. 42. Ramsay says it could not have been completed until 560. See Historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 205. ¦ ¦ ¦ , ¦ I t I I — I — I — I — I — 1 — I— O 10 lo 60 to 1o* tt» HO l*o t» 60 80 loo 1S0 I4o ltfo lBa 2o« ESOL13;i FEET Fig. 5 —Ground Tlan. Fig. 6. — Plan of Gynaeceum Galleries. The left-hand side of each plan shows the vaults, and the right-hand side the iron ties and wood stiuts at springing of vaults. 40 S. SOPHIA lines 262-27 " Now the workman has fenced all the spaces between the Thessalian columns, with stone closures, on which the women can lean and support their elbows. Thus as you raise your gaze to the eastern arches (antuges) a never-ending wonder appears. Eastern Semidome. — "And upon all of them, above the curved forms rises yet another vault (apsis), borne on the air, raising its head aloft up to the wide-reaching arch, on whose back are firmly fixed the lowest courses of the divine head-piece (koros) of the centre of the church. Thus rises on high the deep-bosomed vault, borne above triple voids below ; and through fivefold openings, pierced in its back, filled with thin plates of glass, comes the morning light scattering sparkling rays. Part II Western End. — "And looking towards the sunset, one might see the same as towards the dawn, though a portion differs. For there in the centre it is not drawn round in a circle, as on the eastern boundary, where sit the learned priests on seats of resplendent silver, but at the west end is a vast entrance (puleon) ; not only one door, but three. Narthex. — "And outside of the doors (pulai) there stretches a long porch (aulon), receiving beneath wide portals (thure- troi) those that enter ; and it is as long as the wondrous church is broad. In the Greek speech this part is called the narthex. Here through the night swells the melodious sound, pleasing to the ears of Him who giveth life to all ; when the psalms of David are sung in antiphonal strains — that sweet-voiced David, whom the divine voice of the Almighty praised, and whose glorious posterity conceived the sinless Son of God, who was in Virgin's pangs brought forth, and subjected to a Mother's care. ' Now into this porch open seven wide holy gates (puleones), inviting the people to enter. One of them is on the south of the narrow porch, and another opens to Boreas, but the others are opened on creaking hinges by the doorkeeper (neokoros) in the west wall. This wall is the end of the church. lines 28-67 THE SILENTIARY'S POEM 41 " Whither am I carried ? What breeze has driven, like a ship at sea, my errant speech? The very centre of the famous church is all forgotten ; return, my muse, to see the wonders scarcely to be believed when seen or heard. The Four Piers. — " Alongside of the eastern and western curves (kukloi) — the half-circles with their pairs of columns from Thebes — stand four strong well-built piers (toichoi)\ naked to look on in front, but on their sides and backs they have supporting arches, and the four rest on strong founda tions of hard stones. In the joints the workman has mixed and poured the dust of fireburnt stone, binding all together with the builder's art. "Above them spring measureless curved arches like the many-coloured bow of Iris : one opens towards the home of Zephyr, another to Boreas, another to Notus, and yet another to the fiery Eurus. And every arch (antux) has its foot at either end fixed unshaken, and joined to the neighbouring curves. But as each rises slowly in the air in bending line, it separates from the other to which first it was joined. The Pendentives. — " Now the part between these same arches (apsides) is filled with wondrous skill. For where, as needs must be, the arches bend away from one another, and would have shown empty air, a curved wall, like a triangle, grows over, touching the rim of the arches on either side. And the four triangles, creeping over, spread out, until they become united above the crown of each arch. The middle portion of the arches, as much as forms the curved rim, the builder's skill has formed with thin bricks (plinthoi), and has thus made fast the topmost curves of the house of stone. " Now in the joints they have put sheets of soft lead, lest the stones, as they lie on one another, adding weight to weight, should have their backs broken. Thus with the lead inserted, the pressure is softened, and the stone foundation is gently burdened. Cornice of Dome. — " A rim (antux) curving round, is firmly fixed on the backs (ofthe arches), where rests the base ofthe hemisphere x ; this is the circle of the lowest course which 1 o-POCYNHC ¦ OTI lONH. RY-eni TWNYAATCON- (" Draw the water with gladness, for the voice of the 1 Fossati : also Paspates' Byzantinae Meletai, p. 343. 2 Relation d'un Voyage de Constantinople, p. 160. This idea he may have obtained from Rosweyd's note to Paulinus (1569), saying fountains in front of churches were succeeded by lustral vases placed at the vestibule of the temple. " The rim of such a one seems to be figured in Gruter, p. 1046, with an inscription which was selected from the Anthology, as is shown by Rigaltius. This line was [also] written on the sepulchre of St. Diomede." 3 Paciaurdi 1758, De sacris Balneis, tab. vi. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 85 Lord is upon the waters ") ; together with a monogram which reads NIKOMEAOY. Beneath the monogram appears a stopping where evidently a tap was fixed, in exactly the position of those to the urns in S. Sophia. The first half of the latter inscription is on a small vessel of lead found at Tunis, which, from the character of the decoration, cannot be later than the fourth or fifth century. The first mention of the vessels in S. Sophia which we have been able to find is by an English traveller, Fynes Moryson (1595), who says, " I did see two nuts of marble of huge bigness and great beauty." We give in Fig. 1 1 the vessel in the south exedra at S. Sophia, together with that of Murano, and for further comparison some beautiful vessels from a relief of Justinian's time on the ivory throne at Ravenna. We have omitted the Turkish top of the former. Canon Curtis, who has specially examined them, writes to us that between the top and body of each vessel is a copper band which conceals the joint, if there is a joint. Images and Tombs. — Very few fragments of Christian sculpture remain in Constantinople. The Silentiary does not mention any sculpture at S. Sophia. Probably the feeling which was mature in Leo the Isaurian was always latent ; Oriental Christians sharing in the dislike with which Jew and Moslem regarded statues. Canon Curtis writes : " On the northern side of the sweating column I used to see parts of a bas-relief representing, as I thought, a procession, but it was almost concealed by the metal plates, and now it is entirely hidden." The wealth of the church in icons at a late period may be gathered from incidental references. Not until a late time do we hear of any tombs in the church. S. Chrysostom and most of the other patriarchs were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Pachymeres mentions "the stele of the three Germani (Patriarchs of Constantinople) near the porphyry columns on the west." Nicephorus Gregoras1 also writes that the 1 Ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 262. 86 S. SOPHIA Fig. ii. — Water Vessels from S. Sophia and Murano. remains of the patriarch Arsenius were buried in the great Church of S. Sophia. Hangings. — The descriptions on several occasions mention veils and hangings by the names of vela and velothyra. With mosaics and miniatures to help us it is possible to judge of the lavish way in which these hangings were used. The mosaics at Ravenna show veils hanging at the door of the church through which Theodora is about to enter, and the large elevation of the Palace of Theodoric, likewise in mosaic, shows hangings in all the arches of the portico. Such textiles suspended at entrance doorways are often mentioned by contemporary authors.1 At S. Sophia the doors entering the narthex, and those between it and the church, all have bronze hooks, to which such " door veils " were suspended ; and embroidered Turkish hang ings, which roll up from the bottom by means of cords and pulleys, are still hung to them. In the Byzan tine mosaics the hangings are often shown raised by being gathered into a loose knot, or by being drawn to the sides and passed once round the pillars between which they hang. 1 E. Muntz, Tapisserie. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 87 Fig. 12. — Vessels of Sixth Century : from Ivory Throne, Ravenna. The account of the coronation ceremony describes how the royal persons were seated in the gynaeceum, screened by " golden velothyra," so that they should not be seen until the psaltae sang the "Lift up," when immediately the velothyra were raised. Of these hangings in the interior we have a picture in the account given in the continuation of Theophanes of an ambassador, Iber Curopalates, who visited Constantinople in 923, and "was taken to the church of S. Sophia, that he should inspect its beauty and size and precious ornaments. Now the walls were all draped with cloth of gold before they led him in, and he, struck with the great size of the church and its wealth of adornment, exclaimed, ' Truly this is the house of God,' and returned home." 1 The Ceremonies mention gold hangings in Catechu mena above Royal Door.2 Nicetas tells us how the Crusaders " spared neither the house of God nor His ministers, but stripped the great church of all its fine ornaments and hang ings, made of the richest brocades of inestimable value." We have no doubt that S. Sophia was frequently adorned inside by the arcades of both tiers having hangings suspended 1 Ed. Bonn, p. 402 and p. 894. 2 Cer. I., p. 591. 88 S. SOPHIA from the iron bars, which cross all these arches at their springing, exactly like those shown in the mosaic of Theo- doric's palace. Indeed Ignatius of Smolensk (circ. 1395), who was present at the coronation of Manuel, says that the women in the galleries remained behind curtains of silk so that none might see their faces.1 These hangings seem either to have had simple figures such as squares with large " gammidae " at the corners worked on them, probably in gold, or they were patterned over with figures, animals, and flowers, woven in the stuff like the elaborate veils of the altar described by the Silentiary. The linen vestments found at Panopolis in Egypt show us that the "gammidae" originated in embroidered shoulder straps, with seal-like ends applied on either side of the neck opening. Fig. 13 shows two of the door veils represented at Ravenna ; that on the right is from the mosaic in S. Apollinare Nuovo showing the palace. The gammidae are here exactly of the form found on the early Coptic linen vestments, and it cannot be doubted that they were " applied " in a similar way. The pattern on the left is the door-hang ing from the mosaic of S. Vitale ; the plain squares are of gold. The designs on the robes in this mosaic are interest ing. Justinian's chlamys is covered with birds in circles, the border of Theodora's robe displays the three Magi making their offerings ; one of her attendants has a robe powdered with swimming ducks and a mantle with four petalled red roses on a gold ground, and another robe has five pointed leaves scattered over its field. Many examples of the figured silks are preserved in museums. There is at South Ken sington Museum a piece of pictured silk of this kind, probably of Justinian's time, which is covered with circles, in each of which is figured a man and a lion. More than a century before the time of Justinian, Asterius, Bishop of Amasius, had made these elaborately figured stuffs a subject of satire : " When men so draped appear in the .streets the passers-by regard them like painted walls. Their clothes are pictures which little children trace out with their fingers. There are lions, panthers, and bears, 1 Soc. Orient. Latin, series Geographique, vol. v. 1889, p. 143. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 89 Fig. 13. — Door Veils of the Sixth Century : Ravenna Mosaics. also rocks, woods, and hunters. The most devout carry Christ, His disciples, and His miracles. Here we may see the marriage in Galilee and the pots of wine ; there is the para lytic carrying his bed, the penitent woman at the feet of Jesus, or Lazarus come again to life." 1 Later the patterns became more heraldic and larger in scale, figuring for the most part great displayed eagles, and griffons, or lions affronted. A piece of a textile of this kind in the museum at Diisseldorf, of which there is a full-size copy at South Kensington, bears golden lions about two feet six inches long, and the names of Constantine VIII. and Basil on a pallid purple ground. Frauberger2 compares this with another signed example of the same age and similar design preserved at Siegburg, and a third at Autun, " all of which were intended for church hangings." The same 1 See E. Muntz, Tapisserie, and M. F. Michel, Recherches sur .... des etoffes de Soie. 2 Jahrbuch des Vereins von alterthumsfreunden in Rheinlande, 1892, p. 224. 9o S. SOPHIA writer says that after Justinian's introduction of silk weaving in 552 and the loss of Bosra with its purple-dye vats to Chosroes, an imperial textile industry was established by the Golden Horn, which existed until the fourteenth century. Here these hangings were probably produced. Carpets. — Portions of the floor of S. Sophia were almost certainly strewn with carpets. Porphyrogenitus relates of the New Church of Basil that " woollen carpets (nakopetai) called prayer carpets, of wonderful size and beauty, and resembling the bright plumage of peacocks, were laid one over another, completely covering the mosaic pavement of valuable stones." The carpets and prayer-rugs of the mosques thus had their direct parallels, if not their proto types, in the Byzantine churches. Synods. — The patriarchal registers, dating from the four teenth century, speak of synods sitting " in the right-hand catechumena " ; this probably refers to the south gallery, where the vault has displayed in mosaic the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles. Across this gallery there is at present a screen, which possibly, as Paspates suggests, shut off the part used by the Synods. (See dotted line on Fig. 6.) The screen is made up of two marble slabs, each sculptured into the form of panelled double doors, with architraves and carved panels. Above the opening left between these is a coloured marble slab. At the top is a carved wood beam, which, being exactly like the permanent vault ties, is evidently of Justinian's age ; but the whole is certainly not an original assemblage of the parts. Each slab, which imitates a pair of wood doors, has a representation of a bronze ring handle and a lock-plate on one half, and a hasp on the other, all exactly copied in sculptured marble. We believe that these imitation doors are earlier than the church ; the idea was common in late classic times. De Vogue and Dr. Merrill 1 found several tomb doors, similarly panelled, studded with imitation nails, and having elaborate knockers, all carved in stone. An example in marble now in the museum at Leeds closely resembles the S. Sophia slabs. 1 Across the Jordan. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 91 Clergy and Ritual. — In the time of Justinian the total number of clergy was 525, but at the time of Hetaclius this had been increased to 600. 1 They were thus divided: — Presbyters . 80 Readers . 160 Deacons . 150 Singers . 25 Deaconesses . 40 Doorkeepers 75 Subdeacons . • 7° Total . 600 The subdeacons, according to the forty-third canon of the Council of Laodicea, stood by the doors. Porphyrogenitus 2 speaks of the emperor " passing through the narthex of the gynaeceum, where the deaconesses have their usual place." The same author also mentions 3 " hypurgi of the narthex, readers for alternate weeks, ostiarii of the Holy Well, a domesticus of the subdeacons, and deputati of S. Sophia." A series of seals of the officers of S. Sophia is given by Schlumberger; 4 the seals are those ofthe klerikos, diakonos, manglabites, ekdikos, deuteroboetes, protospatharios, and the chartophulax. An anonymous author 5 gives a list of the officers of the " holy and great " church which is too long to be given in full, but we may note some of the duties mentioned. The Oeconomus held " one of the flabella, and stood at the right hand of the altar, when the patriarch was officiat ing ; " while " the sacellarius, holding a napkin, stood on the left." The skeuophylax stood in front of the skeuophy lakium, so as to be ready to hand any vessel that might be wanted. The chartophulax stood near the " holy doors," and pronounced the words of the service, " Approach, ye priests." The castensius holds the censer, and draws the curtain at the Trisagion. The refendarius and deputati carried the orders of the patriarch to the princes and nobles, 1 See Paspates and Salz. 2 Ed. Bonn, vol. i., p. 182. 3 Vol. i., p. 801. 4 Sigillographie de' I' Empire Byzantin. The seal of the church itself represents Justinian and the Virgin or Theodora supporting the building. Cp. Lenormant, Revue Numismatique, 1864, p. 268, pi. xii. 8 Explicatio Officiorum sanctae ac magnae Ecclesiae, Auctore incerto a Bernardo Medonio edita, 1655. A Tupikon or Ritual Book of S. Sophia has been recently found at Patmos : Byz. Zeit., 1893. 92 S. SOPHIA and summoned them to his presence. When the patriarch was officiating, the protopapas took precedence of all the other priests, and even gave the communion to the patriarch. The protopsaltes " stood in the middle ofthe church between the right and left choirs," and led the singing. On one occasion the number of priests was so great " that the church of S. Sophia, though it is the greatest of all on the earth, seemed then too small." 1 Up to the eleventh century, services were only performed in S. Sophia on Sundays and Saints' days. In the middle of the eleventh century, Monomachus arranged that the service should be every day, and for this extra salaries were given.2 Some idea of the ritual of the services may be gathered from the offices in the Euchologium, edited by Goar, the Cherubic and other hymns, together with the Ceremonies of Porphyrogenitus. An account given by Anthony of Novgorod is quoted in the next chapter. Bertrandon Broc- quiere writes : " I was curious to witness the manner of the Greeks performing divine service, and went to S. Sophia on a day when the patriarch officiated. The emperor was present accompanied by his wife, his mother, and his brother, the despot of the Morea. A Mystery was represented, the subject of which was the three youths whom Nebuchad nezzar had ordered to be thrown into the fiery furnace." Having in our last chapter quoted the description of the procession and celebration of the Mass, we now give the accounts of the Adoration of the Cross given by Arculf 3 in the seventh century, and by Porphyrogenitus in the tenth ; together with the directions for the emperor's procession to the great church. The Adoration of the Cross. — " In the northern part of the interior of the house (S. Sophia) is shown a very large and beautiful aumbry, where is kept a wooden chest, in which is shut up that wooden cross of salvation on which our Saviour hung for the salvation of the world. This notable chest, as the sainted Arculf relates, is raised with its treasure of such preciousness upon a golden altar, on three consecutive days 1 Cantacuzenus, Bonn, ii., p. 1 5. 2 Cedrenus, vol ii., p. 609. 3 Pal. Pii. Text. Soc. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 93 after the lapse of a year. This altar also is in the same round church, being two cubits long, and one broad. On three consecutive days only throughout the year is the Lord's cross raised and placed on the altar, that is on the day of the supper of the Lord, when the emperor and the armies enter the church, and, approaching the altar, after that sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation. First of all the emperor of the world kisses it with bent face, then going up one after another in the order of rank or age all kiss the cross with honour. Then on the next day, that is on the sixth day of the week before Easter, the queen, the matrons, and all the women of the people approach it in the above- mentioned order, and all kiss it with reverence. On the third day, that is on the Paschal Sabbath, the bishop, and all the clergy after him, approach in order with fear and trembling and all honour, kissing the Cross of Victory which is placed in its chest. When these sacred and joyful kissings of the sacred cross are finished, that venerable chest is closed, and with its honoured treasure it is borne back to its aumbry. But this should also be carefully noted, that there are not two but three short pieces of wood in the cross, that is the cross beam and the long one which is cut and divided into two equal parts ; while from these threefold venerated beams when the chest is opened, there arises an odour of a wonder ful fragrance,1 as if all sorts of flowers had been collected in it, wonderfully full of sweetness, satiating and gladdening all in the open space before the inner walls of the church, who stand still as they enter at that moment ; for from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smelling liquid distils, like pressed-out oil, which causes all men of whatever race, who have assembled and entered the church, to perceive the above- mentioned fragrance of so great sweetness. This liquid is such that if even a little drop of it be laid on the sick, they easily recover their health, whatever be the trouble or disease they have been afflicted with." The passage from the Book of the Ceremonies 2 describing 1 In the Ceremonies, book ii., we read that the three crosses kept in the palace were anointed by the protopapas with balsam, before being shown. Ed. Bonn, p. 549. 2 Ed. Bonn, p. 125. 94 S. SOPHIA the Exaltation of the cross on September 14th begins with the emperor " passing through the palace Manaura, and the upper corridors, ascending by the wooden staircase, and enter ing the catechumena1 of the great church." After he has reached the catechumena and " lighted candles, and prayed, he takes his seat in the part on the right-hand side." " The emperor then summons the patriarch, who remains for a short time with the emperor, and then goes out, and comes to the small secretum, where is kept the Holy Wood, and receives the emperor there. And as the congregation begin the ' Glory to God in the Highest,' the emperor enters, and kisses the Sacred Wood, and comes out into the great secretum. Then the emperor, following the Cross, descends by the great winding staircase, keeping to the left, and passes through the Didaskalion,2 where the paschalia are inscribed, and having gone down the steps, he enters through the great gate of the narthex, and reaches the royal doors and stands there." The emperor and patriarch now pass through the middle of the nave, and on the right of the ambo into the solea ; here the emperor stands before the Holy Doors, and gives the candle he is carrying to the praepositus. He then enters the bema, and having kissed the Sacred Wood, and turning round, he comes out again, and passes through the solea, then mounts the third or fourth step of the ambo and stands there, hold ing the candle. The patriarch then comes out of the bema and mounts the ambo with the Sacred Wood, and the emperor gives his candle to the praepositus, and remains there until the Wood has been elevated in the four quarters of the ambo. The emperor and patriarch then descend from the ambo and enter the bema, and the Wood being placed before them the emperor prays and kisses it, and coming out through the side of the bema he is conducted by the patriarch 1 Ka.Trixovp.eva., a "place for instruction," used both of upper and lower aisles. 2 The college with a provost (didaskalos) and twelve fellows was between S. Sophia and the Chalkoprateia (see Bury, ii., p. 433), and therefore according to Mordtmann north of S. Sophia. Descending steps are only found in the north porch, and this is conclusive against Labarte and Paspates, who saw in the Didaskalion a mere passage attached to the south side of the church. Paschalia are the tables of Easter. RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR OF CHURCH 95 to the Holy Well, and having kissed it, he continues to the palace." It would almost appear that whereas in the time of Arculph (circa 680) the Cross was kept in one ofthe north eastern chambers by the bema, in the time of Porphyro genitus (tenth century) it was preserved, during certain periods, in a secretum accessible from the gynaeceum. Possibly the small upper chapel on the south side with mosaic ceiling, and the additions over the south porch, both built about the tenth century, may be the chambers in question. At the end of the ceremony the Cross was left in the bema, and it may be that only on the occasion of the Festival of the Cross was it taken up to the gallery, pre paratory to a procession through all parts of the church. Procession to the Church. — The following is an account or a pageant, which is the first in the Book of Ceremonies — the order of the royal procession to the Great Church. On the day preceding the feast, notice was given so that the way might be adorned with flowers. The emperor and princes carried gifts, and processional candles, and the Cross of St. Constantine.1 Priests were sent to receive him with the Cross of the Lord, which was taken from the church by the Sacristan (skeuophulax). In proceeding to the church there were six " receptions." Three were in various parts of the palace, " and the princes come to the gate (Chalke), and the fourth reception takes place outside the barrier of Chalke ; the fifth reception takes place in front of the Great Gate which leads into the Augusteum ; and the sixth reception is at the Horologium of S. Sophia." 2 " And from thence the princes enter through the Beautiful Gate, and have their crowns removed by the praepositi within the curtain that hangs in the chamber, that is to say, the propylaeum of the narthex. And the patriarch receives them at the door of the narthex with the usual ceremony. The lords remove their crowns, kiss the holy Gospel 1 At this time more than one " life-giving cross " was kept at the palace and occasionally taken to S. Sophia. Ccrem. 549. 2 Ed. Bonn, p. 14. 96 S. SOPHIA carried by the archdeacon, greet the patriarch, and proceed up to the royal doors. Bearing the candles and bowing thrice, the entrance is made after a prayer by the patriarch ; then those carrying the sceptres and vessels stand right and left of the church ; but those bearing the banners and the books stand on either side in the solea ; and the Cross of St. Constantine is placed on the right side of the bema. And when the lords come to the Holy Doors and to the porphyry omphalion, the patriarch alone enters within the screen, by the holy door on the left. The princes, after bowing thrice, enter with the candles, following the patriarch, and coming to the holy table they kiss the holy cloth, and they place as is usual on the holy table the two white veils, and kiss the holy chalices, and the two discs and the holy corporal cloth, which are handed to them by the patriarch. And then by the right-hand side of the bema the princes enter with the patriarch the Kuklis, where is placed the Holy Crucifix of gold, and again they bow with the candles three times praising God ; and the patriarch gives the censer to the emperor and he censes the crucifix : then they kiss the patriarch, and take leave of him and enter the oratory, which is in front of the metatorion, and there, bowing three times and praising God, they kiss the Holy Cross as well as all the Instruments of our Lord's Passion, and then enter the metatorion." CHAPTER VI RELICS, TREASURE, AND THE LIGHTING OF THE CHURCH § I. RELICS. The True Cross. — There would seem to be little doubt that a discovery was made about 326 of what was supposed to be the true Cross. S. Cyril of Jerusalem, writing some twenty-five years later, says that portions of the Cross were spread all over the world. We have seen (p. 14) that early historians relate that a portion of this precious relic was sent to Constantinople by Helena. The principal part however remained at Jerusalem until it was taken by Chosroes. It is described by some of the pilgrims to the holy city as being encased in silver. Brought back from Persia by Heraclius in 628 together with the spear and sponge, it rested for a brief interval in S. Sophia, where it was " uplifted " ; but it was again returned to Jerusalem until 636,1 when under the fear of the coming troubles the larger portion at least was removed. Rohault de Fleury, who devoted a folio volume to the Instruments of the Passion, quotes a letter from Anseau, a priest of the Holy Sepulchre in the twelfth century, which was sent to Paris with a portion of the Cross. According to this account the Holy Wood was divided into nineteen small Crosses, of which Constantinople possessed three besides the " Cross of the Emperor," and Jerusalem retained four. We have positive evidence that in the century before Heraclius Constantinople was a centre where portions of the Cross were to be obtained : thus 1 Drapeyron, V Empereur Heraclius, 279. H 98 S. SOPHIA Radegunde, wife of Clothaire, received a fragment from Justin II. and Sophia in 569.1 At this time, according to John of Ephesus, there was " a day of the adoration of the Holy Cross of our Saviour ; on this festival the Cross is brought out and set up in the Great Church, and the senate and all the people of the city assemble to worship it." 2 Probably the Exaltation was celebrated concurrently at Jerusalem and at Constantinople. When we more definitely hear of the True Cross at S. Sophia, it is evident, from the frequent occasions in which it is transported to different parts of the church, and to the palace, that it was quite small, a relic in fact. Arculf (circa 680), as we have seen, describes it as kept in a chest, on a golden altar, which was only two cubits long by one broad. He says : " it should be specially noticed that there are not two but three short pieces of wood in the cross ; that is, the cross beam, and the long one divided into two equal parts." Now in the Menologium of Basil we have a representation of the Exaltation of the Cross, which the patriarch is up lifting in an ambo. It is represented as a double cross made up of three pieces, not of two. A miniature of the finding of the Cross in the National Library of Paris shows the same form. Didron remarks that the cross with double branches probably originated in Greece, " for it is constantly seen in Attica, in the Morea, and on Mount Athos." This form appears frequently on the later coins of Constantinople, and we find that most of the relics of the True Cross which still exist on Mount Athos and other places are made up with double arms. A reliquary for the fragment, said to be that which was sent to Radegunde, was preserved in the monastery of S. Cross at Poitiers in the last century. The field was of cloisonne enamel, blue with here and there a red flower. A drawing of this relic, of which we give an outline,3 shows that this fragment of the True Cross was made up in the double-armed form, which was repeated- in 1 Fortunatus celebrated its acceptance by a hymn. 2 J. of Ephesus, ed. R. P. Smith, 140. 8 Figured in Molinier's V Emaillerie, Paris, 1891. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 99 the relic at the Ste. Chapelle.1 Two such relics now at Venice are doubly interesting, for besides a cross of this form two supporting figures are represented which are inscribed Constantine and Helena.2 Now Cedrenus and other late writers say that in the Kamara of the Milion were the figures of Constantine and his mother, with the cross between them. The same composition appears in the mosaics at the monastery of S. Luke. The two Venice relics bear the names of the Empresses Maria (1180) and Irene (1350). Fig. 14 represents the Poitiers reliquary; the True Cross as shown in the Meno- logium ; and a cross from a late coin. We cannot doubt that the Cross at Constanti nople was of this form. Was it the result of the con junction of three pieces as mentioned by Arculph, or did the upper arm from the first represent the label ? With the Cross were associated the other Instru ments of the Passion — the Crown of Thorns, the Sponge and Spear, and slabs from the Tomb. The catalogue of relics by Nicholas Thingeyrensis (1200) says, " In S. Sophia is the Cross of the Lord which Helena the Queen brought ; " 3 but at that time the greater part of the Cross and other relics of the Passion seem to have been transferred to the chapel in the palace of Boucoleon, where they were seen by Robert de Clari (1200)1 The 1 Figured in Schlumberger's Nicephorus Phocas. 2 Sec Ongania, // Tesoro, Fig. 33 and p. 102. 3 Riant, Ex. Sac. C.P., vol. ii., p. 213. H 2 Hr3 Hh Fig. 14.- -Showing form of True Cross at S. Sophia. ioo S. SOPHIA anniversary of the day on which they were moved from S. Sophia, August 14th, was kept as a holiday. According to Paspates all the relics of the Passion were removed in 1234. Baldwin II. took the Crown of Thorns which was acquired by S. Louis. It is evident, however, from the later Pilgrims quoted below, and from Mandeville, that a part of the Passion relics remained or that others were acquired. Other Treasure and Relics. — " Not only kings and patriarchs, but also private individuals and monks brought to Constantinople relics of the apostles and martyrs, ancient ikons, and all kinds of sacred objects connected with the saints of the church. Anything of" value in the whole land of Palestine was for the most part moved to Constanti nople, and such was the reverence for relics that no church, monastery, nor oratory was built without them." 1 So early as 415, when S. Sophia was rededicated, it was necessary to have fresh relics (see page 16). A description of the relics and the treasure of Constanti nople is given in the letter supposed to have been written in 1095 by Alexius Comnenus to Robert, Count of Flanders, in which he craves the assistance of the West against the Turks. After enumerating the relics scattered throughout the city, he continues, " If you do not care to fight for these, and gold will tempt you more, you will find more of it at Constantinople than in the whole world, for the treasures of its basilicas alone would be sufficient to furnish all the churches of Christendom, and all their treasures cannot together amount to those of S. Sophia, whose riches have never been equalled even in the temple of Solomon." The dispersion of the relics and treasures of S. Sophia and the other churches at Constantinople has been exhaus tively treated by Count Riant.2 The description by Anthony, Archbishop of Novgorod, who visited S. Sophia in 1200, three years before the capture by the Crusaders, 1 Paspates, Byzantinae Meletae, p. 285. 2 Des Depouilles Religieuses enlev'ees a Constantinople au xiii siecle par les Latins, 1875, and the fuller work, Exuviae Sacrae Constantinotolitanae 1877. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 101 furnishes the best account of the accumulated riches of the great church. We give this in full from the French version contained in Itiner -aires Russes en Orient? " I, Antonius, Archbishop of Novgorod, an unworthy and humble sinner, by the grace of God and by the help of S. Sophia, who is the Wisdom and the Eternal Word, reached in safety the imperial city, and entered the great Catholic and Apostolic Church. We first worshipped S. Sophia, kissing the two slabs of the Lord's sepulchre. Furthermore we saw the seals, and the figure of the Mother of God, nursing Christ. This image a Jew at Jerusalem pierced in the neck with a knife, and blood flowed forth. The blood of the image, all dried up, we saw in the smaller sanctuary. " In the sanctuary of S. Sophia is the blood of the holy martyr Pantaleon with milk,2 placed in a reliquary like a little branch or bough, yet without their having mixed. Besides that there is his head, and the head of the Apostle Quadratus, and many relics of other saints : the heads of Hermolaus and Stratonicus ; the arm of Germanus, which is laid on those who are to be ordained patriarchs ; the image of the Virgin which Germanus sent in a boat to Rome by sea ; and the small marble table on which Christ celebrated His Supper with the disciples, as well as His swaddling clothes and the golden vessels, which the Magi brought with their offerings. " There is a large gold ' disc ' for the mass, given to the patriarch by Olga, a Russian princess, when she came to the imperial city to be baptized.3 In this disc there is a precious stone which displays the image of Christ, and the seal- impressions from this are used as charms ; but on the upper side the disc is adorned with pearls. " In the sanctuary is likewise preserved the real chariot of Constantine and Helena, made of silver ; there are gold plates, enriched with pearls and little jewels, and numerous others of silver, which are used for the services on 1 Soc. Orient Latin. Series Geog., vol. v. 2 Alluded to on a single page of MS. in the British Museum {Cott. Claud, iv.) 3 In the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, see Ceremonies, vol. ii., ch. xv. 102 S. SOPHIA Sundays and feast days : there is water also in the sanctuary coming out of a well by pipes. " Outside the smaller sanctuary l is erected the ' Crux Mensuralis,' which shows the height of Christ when on earth ; and behind that cross is buried Anna, who gave her house to S. Sophia, where now is the smaller sanctuary, and she is buried near. And near this same smaller sanctuary are the figures of the holy women and of the Virgin Mother holding Christ, and shedding tears which fall on the eyes of Christ. They give of the water of the sanctuary for the blessing of the world. " In the same part is the chapel of S. Peter the Apostle, where S. Theophania is buried. She was the guardian of the keys of S. Sophia, which people used to kiss. There is also suspended the carpet of S. Nicholas. The iron chains of S. Peter are kept there in a gold chest ; during the feast of ' S. Peter's Chains ' the emperor, the patriarch, and all the congregation kiss them [see Fig. 8]. Near by, in another chapel, is also shown the crystal of the ancient ambo, destroyed when the dome fell. " By the side of [the images of] the holy women is the tomb of the son of S. Athenogenius There are no other tombs in S. Sophia except that, and a lamp hangs in front of it, which once fell, full of oil, without being broken. The place is inclosed by a wood screen, and the people are not allowed to enter. " When one turns towards the gate one sees at the side the column of S. Gregory the Miracle-Worker, all covered with bronze plates. S. Gregory appeared near this column, and the people kiss it, and rub their breasts and shoulders against it to be cured of their pains ; there is also the image of S. Gregory. On his feast day the patriarch brings his relics to this column. And there placed above a platform is a great figure of the Saviour in mosaic ; it lacks the little finger of the right hand. When it was finished, the artist looked at it and said, 'Lord, I have made thee as if alive.' Then a voice coming from the picture said, ' When hast thou seen 1 The French translation has Diakonikon: Riant, in Exuv. Sacrae, C.P. says "smaller sanctuary : " the Anon, says skeuophylakium. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 103 me ? ' The artist was struck dumb and died, and the finger was not finished, but was made in silver-gilt. " Above the gate is depicted on a large panel the Emperor Leo the Wise, and in front of it is a precious stone, which illuminates S. Sophia at night-time. This same Emperor Leo took a certain writing from Babylon, which was found in the tomb ofthe prophet Daniel. It was copied, and on it were written the names of the Greek emperors. At the royal gate is a bronze romanistum 1 or bolt by which the door is closed. Men and women are brought to it, and if they have drunk serpent poison or any other poison, they cannot remove the bolt from the mouth, until all the evil of the disease has trickled away with the saliva. " By the great altar on the left is the place where an angel of the Lord appeared to the boy who was guarding the workmen's tools, and said, ' I will not leave this spot as long as S. Sophia shall remain.' Three figures are shown in this place, for the angels are painted there ; and a multitude of people come there to pray to God. Not far from there is the place where they boil the holy oil, burning under neath it old ikons, whose features one can no longer trace. With this oil they anoint children at baptism. Above the sanctuary there rises in the air a great hollow vault covered with gold. In the sanctuary are eighty candelabra of silver for use on feast days, which occupy the first place, besides numberless silver candelabra with many golden apples. " Above the great altar in the middle is hung the crown of the Emperor Constantine, set with precious stones and pearls. Below it is a golden cross, which overhangs a golden dove. The crowns of the other emperors are hung round the ciborium, which is entirely made of silver and gold. Thus the altar pillars and the sanctuary and the bema are built of gold and silver, ingeniously made, and very costly. From the same ciborium hang thirty smaller crowns, as a remembrance to Christians of the pieces of money of Judas. To the ciborium were attached curtains, 1 This must be the same as Robert de Clari's "buhotiaous" fastened to the ring of the great door of S. Sophia. 104 S. SOPHIA which were formerly drawn by the bishops during the services. We asked why they did so, and they answered so that the priests should not see the women and the people, but should serve the supreme God with a pure heart and soul. Later the heretics,1 when nobody could see them as they were behind the curtains, took the body and blood of Christ, and spat them out, and trampled on them. The Spirit warned the fathers of this heresy, and the fathers fixed the curtains to the columns of the ciborium, and set an archdeacon near the patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop, so that they should worship God holily without heresy. . . . When Jerusalem was taken by Titus many sacred vessels and curtains were brought to [New] Rome with the royal treasures and given to the church of S. Sophia. In S. Sophia also are preserved the tables of the Law, as well as the Ark and manna. The subdeacons, when they sing ' Alleluia ' in the ambo, hold in their hands tablets like those of Moses. During the procession of the Holy Sacrament the eunuchs commence to sing, and then the subdeacons, and then a monk chants alone. Then many priests and deacons carry the Holy Sacrament in procession ; at this time all the people not only below, but also in the galleries, weep in great humility. What then ought to be the fear and humility of the bishops, the priests, and the deacons in this holy service ? " How magnificent are the gold and silver chalices, garnished with precious stones and pearls ! When the splendid chest, called Jerusalem, is brought out with the flabella, there rises amongst the people a great groaning and weeping But here is a wonderful miracle, which we saw in S. Sophia. Behind the altar of the larger sanctuary is a gold cross, higher than two men, set with precious stones and pearls. There hangsjaefore it another gold cross a cubit and a half long, with three gold lamps, which hang from as many gold arms (the fourth is now lost). These lamps, the arms or branches, and the cross, were made by the great Emperor Justinian who built S. 1 I.e., the iconoclasts, of whom a number of stories are told by the Russian pilgrims. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 105 Sophia. By virtue of the Holy Spirit the small cross with the lamps ascended above the big cross, and again slowly came down again without going out. This miracle took place after matins, before the commencement of the mass : the priests who were in the sanctuary saw it, and all the people in the church who saw it cried with fear and joy, ' God in His mercy has visited us.' . . . This great and wonderful miracle was wrought by God in the year 6708 [a.m.] on Sunday, May 21st, being the Commemoration of S. Constantine and his mother Helena, during the reign of the Emperor Alexius and the patriarchate of John. It was on the feast of the 318 fathers. Iverdiatinus Ostromitza was then living at Constantinople ; he was an ambassador from the great Roman duke. Nedanus, Domagirus, Demetrius, and Novgaro were also there. " At S. Sophia on the right near the sanctuary is a piece of red marble, on which they place a golden throne ; on this throne the emperor is crowned. This place was surrounded by bronze closures to prevent people walking on it ; but the people kiss it. At this place the Holy Virgin prayed to her Son, our Lord, on behalf of all Christians ; a priest who was guarding the church at night saw her. On the same side is also the grand icon of S. Boris and S. Glebe, which artists copy. When officiating, the patriarch holds it high up in the tribune. " In the chapel behind the altar are affixed to the wall the upper slab of the Lord's sepulchre, the hammer, the gimlet, and the saw, with which the cross of the Lord was made ; also the iron chain which was hung to the gate of S. Peter's prison, and the wood of the cross which Christ's neck touched. This is inserted in a reliquary in the form of a cross. In this chapel above the door is painted S. Stephen, protomartyr, and a lamp is hung before him ; when any one has bad eyes, they put round his head the rope by which this lamp is hung, and his eyes are healed. " There is also the figure of Christ whose neck the Jew struck, 1 and the bronze trumpet of Joshua, who took Jericho, and the marble mouth of the well of Samaria. 1 See this story in Golden Legend, " Exaltation of the Cross." 106 S. SOPHIA Near it Christ said to the woman of Samaria, ' Give me to drink ; ' the well mouth has been cut in half, and the Samaritans still draw water [from the other half]. " There lie also the bodies of S. Abercius, S. Gregory, and S. Sylvester, and the heads of Cyrus and John, and many other relics. There also is the Baptistery, upon which is painted all the history of the baptism of Christ by John in the Jordan : and how John taught the people, and how little children and men threw themselves in the Jordan : all this was executed by Paul the Skilful during my lifetime, and there is no painting like this. There are there wooden supports, upon which the patriarch has had placed the figure of Christ, thirty cubits high ; Paul first painted the Christ with colours made of precious stones and crushed pearls mixed with water ; this image is still at S. Sophia. " And when they sing matins at S. Sophia, they sing first before the great doors of the church, in the narthex, then they enter and sing in' the middle of the church ; then they open the paradise gates, and sing the third time before the altar. Sundays and saints' days the patriarch assists at matins and at mass, then he blesses the singers from the ambo, they stop singing and then say the polykronia : then they begin to sing again, and sing as harmoniously and sweetly as the angels till the Mass. After matins are finished, they put off their surplices and then go out and ask the patriarch's benediction for the mass. After matins the prologue is read in the ambo till the mass ; when the prologue is finished, the liturgy is commenced, and, after the service is over, the chief priest in the sanctuary recites the prayer called ' Of the ambo,' while the second priest recites it in the church on the side of the ambo, away from [the sanctuary] : both, when the prayer is finished, bless the people. In a similar way vespers are sung. There are no bells at S. Sophia, but a little hand-bat \]iagio sider e\ which they strike for matins, though they do not strike it for mass and vespers, as in other churches : they follow the precepts of the angel in having this bat ; the Latins have bells When they built S. Sophia, they inclosed holy relics in the walls of the sanctuary. There are also many cisterns at RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 107 S. Sophia. Above [evidently under] the galleries are the cisterns and storehouses of the patriarchs and of the Chvirch. Vegetables of every kind [suitable for the table] of the patriarchs, melons, apples, and pears are preserved at the bottom of the cisterns in baskets hung by cords : when the patriarch wants to eat, they bring them up quite fresh : and the emperor eats them also. The bath of the patriarch is also above [under] the galleries ; the water of the fountains mounts by pipes, and the rainwater is preserved in cisterns. On the galleries are painted all the patriarchs and emperors of Constantinople, and those who shared their heresies. In the choirs of the church are five heads ornamented with pearls like a silver [word indecipherable] Lazarus, the image painter1 . . . first painted at Constantinople, in the sanctuary of S. Sophia, the Virgin holding Christ and two angels S. Sophia has 3,000 priests ; 500 share in the benefices of the church and 1,500 have no share ; when one of the 500 priests dies, his place is taken by one of the 1,500." Frankish Occupation and After. — Three years after the visit of Anthony, Constantinople was taken by the Latins. One of the Crusaders, Villehardouin, writes, " Of holy relics I need only say it contained more than all Chris tendom combined ; there is no estimating the quantity of gold, silver, precious vessels, jewels, rich stuffs, silks, robes of vair, gris, and ermine, and other valuable things — the production of all the climates in the world. It is the belief of me, Geoffrey Villehardouin, marechal of Champagne, that the plunder of this city exceeded all that has been witnessed since the creation of the world." Much of the accumulated wealth of six centuries — the gifts from emperors and private individuals of "sacred vessels of gold and pearls and precious stones " 2 — was removed by the Venetians and Franks. Many of these precious objects are lost beyond hope of recovery ; such are 1 Lazarus was a martyr in the cause of image-worship. See Bayct, L'art Byzantin. 2 Cedrenus, ii., p. 609. Irene gave a cross "distinguished for its pearls" : Theo. Cont., p. 703. io8 S. SOPHIA the candlesticks and crosses. As some representation of these we give a figure of a gemmed processional cross, with its seizae of jewels, from the Menologium of Basil (Fig. 15). In the treasury of S. Mark's at Venice there is however a rich hoard of vessels, lamps, and other objects, which were taken from the churches of Constantinople ; and many of these crystal lamps, agate cups, and enamelled book-covers doubtless belonged to S. Sophia. Amongst these may be men- 'tioned an agate chalice with the name Sisinnius. This may probably be referred to a Patriarch of Constantinople of that name in 996 ; another with the name Ignatius to a patriarch in 877 ; a third with the inscription "Lord help Romanus, the Orthodox Em peror " to Romanus Lecapenus (919 — 944). 1 Extracts from the Venetian historians men tioning objects brought from Constantinople are given by Riant. Paulus Maurocenus speaks of " the many holy relics, and small figures, and chalices and patens and other beautiful things from the church of S. Sophia ; " also, "the very same doors which now close the church of S. Mark's .... and two censers of gold from S. Sophia of such grace and beauty that one cannot see them without being astounded." He also 1 Ongania, // Tesoro di San Marco, pp. 57, 59. Rohault de Fleury, La Messe. Fig. 15. — Jewelled Processional Cross. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 109 mentions, though it is not quite clear if he associates this with S. Sophia, " The palla of silver-gilt with the figures of our Lord, the Virgin, the Apostles, prophets, doctors, and martyrs, which is now placed in the church of S. Mark." x The head of S. Pantaleon was taken by Henrich Ulmen to the church of the saint at Cologne. After the interregnum, S. Sophia was visited by several other Russian pilgrims, who have left accounts of the church which agree very closely. Of the fullest of these, which is by an anonymous Russian writer, 1424- 145 3, we give a con densed abstract, as it contains one or two more points, shows the acquisition of other relics in the place of those lost, and is useful for comparison with the anonymous Greek author translated in the next chapter: — Near the west door in the middle of the narthex are the doors of the ark of Noah and the chain which bound the apostle Paul. Above the door is the miraculous image of the Saviour, and a lamp is suspended before it. In the sanctuary is the life-giving Cross on which the Jews crucified Christ. The stone on which He sat and conversed with the woman of Samaria is in the chapel on the right. Here is the table of Abraham. At the bottom of the church against the wall to the right of the altar is the bed of iron on which martyrs were burnt. Here is a stone coffer with relics of Martyrs and the Innocents. To the left is the tomb and the whole body of Arsenius : the doors of the ark : the bench where Jeremiah the prophet wept, and a column by which Peter wept. To the left are buried S. George and S. Theologos. On the left is a little shrine beautifully built ; it contains the image of the Virgin which wept when the Franks held Constantinople. Her tears, resembling pearls, are kept in a coffer before the image. The instruments of the Passion are exposed from Thursday to Saturday. Beyond is the image of Christ in marble, and the cross of S. John chained to the wall. Near the Holy Table in the bema is the tomb of S. John Chrysostom, covered by a plank overlaid with gold and gems. To the right on entering the church are situated a well and large basin of marble in which the patriarch baptizes. One 1 Exuviae Sacrae Constantinopolitanae. no S. SOPHIA leaves S. Sophia by the south door ; at some steps from the gate, to the left, is the Church of the Holy Saviour ; above the door is suspended an image which an emperor attempted to destroy. Behind the bema of S. Sophia is the church of S. Nicholas. Near by in front of the door which is behind the altar of S. Sophia is the place where they bless the water, plunging in the Cross ; a roof covered with lead surmounts the basin of green marble. It is here they baptize the emperors ; four cypresses and two palms form a crescent in this place. Some distance in front of the ambo of S. Sophia is a pedestal of marble which supports the holy chalice ; it is within a stone inclosure, and is covered by a vault of gilt copper. From the entrance ofthe church to the ambo is 66 cubits, and it is 30 beyond to the sanctuary, which is 50 long by 100 wide. The church is 200 cubits wide and 150 high. Above the first door is Solomon in mosaic in a circle of azure. That these accounts accurately relate the stories of the guardians of S. Sophia is sufficiently proved by La Brocquiere, who was told in 1433 that S. Sophia possessed "one ofthe robes of our Lord, the end of the lance that pierced His side, the sponge that was offered to Him, and the reed that was put in His hand. I can only say that behind the choir I was shown the gridiron on which S. Lawrence was roasted [the iron bed], and a large basin-like stone on which they say Abraham gave the angels food when they were going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah." § 2. — LIGHTING. The description by the Silentiary l of the lamps and cande labra which illuminated the Great Church forms one of the most fascinating parts of the whole poem. Although the multitude of lamps which once lit up the interior have long disappeared, the main features of the lighting may be brought back to our imaginations by comparing the description with illustrative examples. First then in the central space under 1 See our p. 49. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH in the great dome, chains fell from the height of the upper cornice, where they were probably attached to strong bronze arms which projected far out like the present metal stakes which project in the exedras on the first-floor cornice. These chains all terminated at some height above the floor in sup porting the great sweep of a metal circle to which were suspended flat circular discs of silver, each of which was pierced with holes into which were dropped glass oil vases with rims which prevented them falling through. With these discs were associated crosses of metal which also carried lamps. These, cross and disc together, or alternately, hanging round in a great circle made a " circling chorus of bright lights " within which was a large corona of other lamps and above it a large central disc. Then along the sides of the church were rows of lamps in the forms of silver bowls, and ships ; other rows of lights were attached to beams supported above the floor by metal standards, and to projecting metal arms, or suspended rods. Upon the beam of the iconostasis was a row of candelabra, each with a series of horizontal circles diminishing upwards about the stem, like a fir-tree, issuing from a silver bowl. Above the centre of the iconostasis was a great standard light-bearing cross. Round about the ambo similar light trees were placed. Light coronae, crosses, or single lamps were favourite gifts to a church, and in these objects S. Sophia probably became much more wealthy as time went on. Michael III., for instance, gave to the church in 867 "a circle (kuklos) for lights which they call a polycandelon, as big as any ofthe others but all of gold weighing sixty pounds. To it was given the first and most holy place." 1 "A chalice and paten superior to all the others, as well as a polycandelon in the form of a cross with many lamps," are also mentioned as given by Michael. His successor Basil I., " as there was a danger of the sacred lamps being extinguished for want of oil," assigned for the use of the church "the tribute called mantea, so that the light might never be quenched." 2 The 1 Theoph. Contin., ed. Bonn, p. 211. 2 Ibid., Life of Basil, ch. 79. 112 S. SOPHIA Anonymous doubtless exaggerates beyond belief with his 300 polycandela and 6000 lamps all of gold, but the kinds Qdssfc^ Fig. 16. — Polycandelon or Disc, for Seventeen Lamps, in the British Museum. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 113 of candelabra he speaks of must have been perfectly well known (p. 140). At the end of the twelfth century, Robert de Clari, the knight of Amiens, wrote — " Throughout the church hang one hundred candelabra, and there is not one which does not hang from a silver chain as thick as a man's arm, and each cande labrum has quite twenty-five lamps or more, and there is not a single candelabrum which is not worth two hundred silver marks." Benjamin of Tudela mentions " candelabra, lamps, and lanterns, of gold and silver more than any man can name ; " and Stephen of Novgorod (1350) speaks of "a multitude immense, innumerable, of lamps." Of the great brilliance of illumination obtained in the early churches there can be no doubt. Paulinus writes that at his church at Nola the lights were suspended in such pro fusion that they seemed to float in a sea. An interesting account of the method of lighting followed at the Lateran, illustrated by a plan of the circles, is given by Rohault de Fleury.1 A Byzantine lamp-holder lately sent to the Louvre from Constantinople is probably almost identical in general form with the " discs " of Paulus. This polycandelon is a broad flat ring of bronze pierced with eight holes for as many lights, and suspended by four chains. It bears a votive inscription which reads, " Lord, remember thee of Thy servant Abraham, son of Constantine." 2 In the British Museum is a much more ornate example of the same kind of disc. This is also of bronze, about six teen inches diameter, pierced with seventeen holes for the lights, the interspaces being cut away to form a radiating pattern. We give a drawing of this interesting lamp, with which we have associated a small pierced plate for a lamp chain in the same collection (Fig. 16). In the Archaeo logical Museum at Granada there is an ornamental disc closely resembling the example in the British Museum. It came from the mosque of Elvira, and probably belongs to 1 La Messe, vol. vi., p. 78. 2 See fig. in Byz. Zeitschrift, 1893, p. 142. n4 S. SOPHIA the ninth century. We mention this because the bot tom plate of the modern mosque lamp with the small holes which take glass tubular vessels eight or ten inches long and only about two inches in di ameter, continues the tradition of the Byzantine polycandela, and the oil vessels well represent those like spear shafts mentioned by the Poet. In another ex ample in the British Museum the disc is not quite flat but of the form of a din ner plate, the holes for the lamps being around the rim. This lamp-holder is Qf silver, and was brought from Lamp- sacus near Gallipoli with several altar vessels inscribed with a monogram which reads MHNA or AMHN. In Fig. 17 we have restored the oil vases. Another bronze polycandelon has recently been brought from Egypt by Professor Flinders Petrie : this is about eight inches across (Fig. 18 i). 1 In the figure 18 the attachment for the chain is shown at A, the chain of monograms is taken from Rossi, B shows the provision for the chains in the last example (Fig. 1.7), where there is a slight mistake, the alternate piercings in the. rim being crosses as here shown. Fig. 17. — Silver Polycandelon from Lampsacus, in the British Museum. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 115 On Mount Athos we probably find the best existing parallel to the circle of discs at S. Sophia in the monastery of Docheiareiu (see Fig. 19).1 In the words of the Silen- tiary, " these discs form a coronet." The second crown of lights, which hung within the great circle of discs at S. Sophia, would also have had a circular rim supported by chains with lamps suspended beneath, or attached to arms projecting from the rim. S. Bernard speaks of a church where were placed "not crowns but wheels with precious stones and lights around them." To these circular candelabra ecclesiastical writers usually give the title of coronae. Leo III. gave to the basilica of S. Andrew at Rome a " gold corona of lamps set with gems." Other authors call crowns with lamps of this kind phara ; we read in Leo Ostiensis of a " pharum or large crown of silver with six and thirty lamps hanging from it." 2 They are also spoken of as cycli, but more generally as polycandela. The Chronicon Cassinense mentions " a pharos or crown of silver, weighing a hundred librae, twenty cubits round about, with twelve towers projecting from it, and thirty-six lamps hang ing from it. This was fixed outside the choir, before the great cross, by an iron chain adorned with seven gold apples." 3 1 Adapted from a photographic view in A. Riley's Mountain of the Monks. 2 Du Cange. 3 Lib. iii. This was at Milan. I 2 Fig. 18. — Coptic Polycandelon for Four Lamps. u6 S. SOPHIA The same chronicle also speaks of a "silver-gilt corona, coloured with precious stones, with six crosses hanging from it." The great circles of Aix and Hildesheim are the best- known examples of the ancient coronae. These have twelve towers like that just mentioned, and they symbolised the New Jerusalem. R. de Fleury suggests that relics were Fig. 19. — Corona with Lamp Discs, Mount Athos. contained in such turrets. An extremely beautiful pharos in the Hermitage Museum represents a basilica. The light crosses were very generally known throughout Christendom, and the historian Socrates mentions that crosses of silver with burning candles upon them were carried in processions in the time of Chrysostom. Accord ing to Anastasius, at S. Peter's there was a large pharos " in the form of a cross which hung before the presbyterium having 1,370 candles ; " this was lighted four times a year ; RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 117 also " a gold carved cross hanging before the altar with twelve candles," and " a cross lamp with two little ships and three fishes." The lamp cross hanging in S. Mark's is the best- known example remaining. It is possible that those at S. Sophia mentioned with the discs hung horizontally to four chains. At S. Sophia, in addition to the discs, crosses, and circles, there were, according to Du Cange, lamps hung from nets. The word which he interprets in this way is that translated "skiff" (line 480), as it means a small row-boat. How he Fig. 20.— Single Lamp with Votive Inscription. gets his interpretation of nets it is difficult to see. We mention it here for its intrinsic beauty only : it was a familiar arrangement for lamps. Anastasius in his Lives of the Popes speaks of one of the churches at Rome having " a pharos in the form of a net," and again of a large pharos " like a net with twenty baskets," and also " a bronze net with silver baskets." The hanging lamps in the form of ships mentioned by our poet would have carried the oil vessels round their sides. A most interesting example of a lamp of this kind is given in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Smith and Cheet- ham). It represents a small vessel with a mast and sail, con- n8 S. SOPHIA taining two figures, one steering, and the other looking out from the prow. These figures are either Peter and Paul or more probably Christ and Peter. The symbolism of the ship for the Church is too familiar to need comment ; the mast in the centre, without which the ship is unsafe, as S. Ambrose says, typifies the cross without which the church is unable to stand. The galley form of lamp was well /known also in antiquity. In ihe Christian era it was only one of the many beautiful and suggestive forms in which lamps were made ; some resembled birds, crystal fish, or shells, others again were bowls of white or emerald glass. In the sanctuary there would have been sus pended large single lamps which burnt per petually (Akoimetoi). A very fine single Byzantine lamp of this kind is shown in the fifteenth-century picture by Marco Marziale in the National Gallery, in which the interior of S. Mark's figures as the temple. In Fig. 20 we give a restoration of fragments of a beautiful early Christian bowl-shaped lamp bearing a votive inscription figured by Rossi. On Mount Athos Dr. Covel noticed a lamp of beaten gold set with jewels. The treasury of S. Mark's probably still contains lamps which hung in S. Sophia : one of especial beauty is a glass bowl with circles cut on the outside and attached to a metal rim on which is inscribed in Greek, " St. Panteleon, succour thy servant Zacchariah, Archbishop of Iberia, Amen." 1 In illustration of the tree-like candelabra which stood above the beam of the iconastasis, and round the ,ambo, we may mention the well-known classical examples. A lamp- bearer in the museum at Brussels js described as " an arbuste of considerable size and irregular trunk and branches with lamps suspended from the extremities of its boughs." 1 For this and other lamps see especially La Mess* and // Tesoro. Fig. 21. Sixth-century Candlestick. Fig. 22.— Candlesticks. height of a man. RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 119 Anastasius mentions a " tree of bronze with candlesticks to the number of fifty in which were placed wax candles, thirty-six lamps as well hung from the boughs." Paulinus also speaks of hanging candelabra at Nola " with branches like a vine bearing little glass cups which resembled burning fruit ; when they were lighted it was like the sudden burst into life of spring flowers." Besides all these oil lamps there would have been a great number of standing candlesticks in the sanctuary. The Anonymous speaks of some the One constant type is represented in Fig. 11 ; this is inlaid in mother-of-pearl on the apse walls at Parenzo, and is of Justinian's time. Fig. 22 shows two others from the Menologium. Wax candles, which are frequently mentioned, were patterned and coloured. The miracle of the moving cross of lights mentioned by Anthony reminds us of a remarkable custom in regard to the great coronas of lights in Byzantine churches which is observed on Mount Athos, and also at Sinai, and is probably ancient. A part of the great festival service at Vatopedi consists in singing the Polyeleos. " When the last of the multitude of candles had been lighted in the great coronas under the domes, the monks fetched long poles, with which they pushed out the candelabra to the full extent that their suspending chains permitted and then let them go, the result being that in a few minutes the whole church was filled with slowly swinging lights."1 The method of lighting described by the Silentiary has not changed in the unchanging East. S. Sophia is still lighted by a myriad little lamps arranged in rows, or suspended in circles. The single lamp is a small glass vessel of oil on which floats the wick ; the two typical forms being like a bowl or an elongated tumbler. These cups are hung by three chains, 1 A. Riley, Mountain of the Monks. 120 S. SOPHIA or inserted in a ring, at the end of a metal arm, projecting from the wall or from the rim of a suspended circle. Up to the time of Fossati's restoration there was an immense polygon of probably some sixty feet diameter of iron rods suspended from the dome. Grelot : described it in 1680 as a large circle of iron rods hanging down to within eight or ten feet of the pavement and having fixed to it " a prodigious number of lamps, ostrich eggs, and other baubles." In the mosque of Achmet, several rings are bound together by straight rods, making overhead a geometrical arrangement Fig. 23. — Hanging Rods for Lamps in S. Sophia until 1850. of bars, from which the lamps are suspended ; although these are all Turkish, the system remained from Byzantine times. Fig. 23 is re-drawn from FossatL (Ay a Sophia, Constantinople, 1852.) One of the most beautiful methods is that of suspending the lamps to long straight iron bars running the whole longth of the building as at S. John Studius. In the mosque of Damascus, before the recent fire, there were hanging assemblages of circles one above another some what similar we may suppose to the trees of the poet. At 1 P- i54- RELICS, TREASURE, AND LIGHTING OF CHURCH 121 Salonica a network of lamps which hangs, almost like a curtain before the bema of S. Demetrius may illustrate the " nets," if nets there were. During Ramazan festoons of lamps are hung from minaret to minaret arranged in in scriptions ; in 1676 Dr. Covel of Cambridge saw illumina tions before the Sultan at Adrianople which represented " castles, mosques, peacocks, Turkish writings, &c, extremely pleasant and wonderful to behold." These were formed by lamps hung to light frames ; the method was probably derived from Byzantine illuminations such as the fireworks mentioned as being exhibited in the Hippodrome. The four marble pillars that stand up out of the parapet at the western gallery of S. Sophia (Fig. 41) must always have carried lights on metal branches at the top, much as at present ; and the long metal stakes with hook ends, that project from the first cornice at the angles of the exedras, and from which chandeliers hang, are possibly original in some cases. The multiplication of small' lights is the most brilliant system of illumination, for not only is there light everywhere but flame, and hence no shadows. Whoever sees the great church lighted for the solemn services of Ramazan, when, according to Fossati, " six thousand lamps are suspended at various heights," may imagine the splendour of the lighted interior in Byzantine times. When, after one of the services, the lamplighters walked round and extinguished the lamps with a whisk from long fan-shaped brooms, we saw the need of the passages above the different cornices ; and leaving Constantinople one April evening, as we slowly wound round the point, while the circle of windows in the lighted dome seemed to hang above the city, we realised that it was no idle saying of the poet's that the mariner guided his laden vessel " by the divine light of the church itself." CHAPTER VII LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS § I. HISTORY. From the date of the completion of Justinian's restored church it has had to withstand the frequent earthquake shocks which, as we have so recently seen, devastate the city from time to time Von Hammer1 calculates, from the accounts of the Byzantine historians, that from the beginning of the seventh to the middle of the fifteenth century there were twenty-three severe earthquakes, one of which, in 1033, lasted intermittently for 140 days. In the Turkish records, from 1511 to 1765, ten earthquakes are mentioned. It is remarkable that in this length of time the delicately poised construction of the church should only have required restorations which are relatively unimportant. It is difficult to say how far the church suffered during the struggles about image worship, which raged for more than a century. The question will be considered more fully when we deal with the mosaics of the vaults. The restoration of images was finally accomplished in 842,2 by Theodora and Michael. A belfry was built in the centre of the west front about the year 865 : 3 and the eastern walk of the atrium was probably transformed into an exonarthex at the same time. 1 Constantinopolis und aer Bosporus, vol. i., pp. 36-44. 2 The images were restored in S. Sophia on the 19th of February. Pagi. Critica in Universos Annales Baronii, vol. iii., p. 587. 3 Goar's Euchologium, 1647, p. 560. LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 123 Fig. 24.— Plans of Additions to West End. A and C North and South Porches ; B Belfry. The first regular restoration was also undertaken in the second half of the ninth century, under Basil the Mace donian : " For the wide and lofty western arch of the great church called S. Sophia was showing rents and threatening to fall. With the help of the workmen he girded it round and rebuilt it, so that it was safe and strong. And on it he figured the Virgin with her Child on her arms, and Peter and Paul, the chief ofthe apostles, on either side." x The north and south porches and great lateral stairways, which injuriously altered the exterior, must also have been built by Michael or Basil, as we find them mentioned in the Book of Ceremonies. In October 975 an earthquake caused the "hemisphere with the western arch (apsis) to fall." 2 They were restored again by the same emperor in six years : he spent, Scylitzes says, " on the machines for mounting for the workmen to stand on, and for raising the scaffolding, to build what was fallen ; ten centenaria of gold." 3 According to Glycas, Romanus Argyrus (1028) beautified the capitals; Scylitzes also says this emperor " made bright with silver and gold both the capitals of the great church and of our Lady of Blachernae." 4 1 Cons. Porph. Life of Basil, ch. 79. 2 Leo Diaconus, ed. Bonn, p. 176. 3 Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 35. i Paspates, Byzantinae Meletae. 124 s- SOPHIA The injuries wrought by the Crusaders to S. Sophia are referred to in Chapter V. Baldwin was crowned here in 1 204, and for fifty-seven years Catholic priests read masses at its altar. On the recapture the Byzantine emperors made an effort to restore, but the church never recovered its former splendour. The patriarch Arsenius during the reign of Michael Palaeologos " restored the bema and ambo and solea at the king's expense, besides enriching the church with vestments and sacred vessels." : In the first half of the fourteenth century, Andronicus Palaeologus, the elder, strengthened the north and east sides. Nicephorus Gregoras says the emperor " heard from several experienced builders that in a short time the parts towards the north and east would give way, and fall unless strengthened. And he built pyramidal structures from the foundations and pre vented the threatened destruction," but bricks and mosaic continued to fall.2 The pyramidal structures to the east must be the four great sloping buttresses which stand over the low attached buildings on that side ; they are shown on Fossati's plan. Gregoras also inveighs against the Empress Anna as having, in the reign of Cantacuzenus, robbed the church of furniture and ornaments, and says that tyranny and oppression were the chief causes of the destruction of the church. Cantacuzenus, in his own history,3 speaks of the damage caused by an earthquake in 1 346, when about a third of the roof fell, destroying " the great stoa by the side of the bema " (perhaps the iconostasis). This is also referred to by Gregoras, " the easternmost of the four arches which rival heaven fell, dragging with it the part of the house which rested on it. The hidden beauty of the bema was destroyed as well as its ornaments of sacred icons." 4 The stoa and bema were restored by the Empress Anna, the wife of Andronicus Palaeologos, Phaceolatus being prefect of the works, but the upper parts with the roof had to wait until the accession of Cantacuzenus in 1347. He restored the decoration both in marble and mosaic, a work which John Palaeologus finished. 1 Pachymeres, ed. Bonn, i., p. 172. 2 Hist. Byzan., ed. Bonn, p. 273. 3 Ed. Bonn, lib. iv., p. 29. 4 Nicephorus Gregoras, p. 749. LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 125 Both emperors were helped " by one Astras, in many things a clever man, but especially in building, and by John, sur named Peralta, one of the Latin subjects of the emperor." x The church was necessarily much neglected in the last days of the Empire. Clavijo, who gave a careful account of the church in 1403 (see Chapter IX.), says " the outer gates by which the church was approached were broken and fallen." He notes that " the Greeks do not call Constantinople as we name it, but speak of it as Escomboli." This clearly proves that the derivation of the Turkish name Istambul from et? ttjv itoXiv, " to the city," is correct.2 The Florentine Bondelmontius, who was there in 1422, says that " only the dome of the church remained, as every thing is fallen down and in ruins." This exaggeration is probably explained by a story given by the Chevalier Ber- trandon de la Brocquiere, who visited the city eleven years later, in the course of his remarkable ride from Damascus to Dijon along the route of the present Oriental express. He attended service in the church, and writes : — " There the patriarch resides, with others of the rank of canons. It is situated near the eastern point, is of a circular shape, and formed of three different parts, one subterranean, another above the ground, and a third over that. Formerly it was surrounded by cloisters, and was, it was said, three miles in circumference.3 It is now of smaller extent, and only three cloisters remain, all paved and inlaid with squares of white marble, and ornamented with large columns of various colours. The gates are remarkable for their breadth and height, and are of bronze." 4 The visit of the Chevalier Bertrandon brings us within twenty years of the fall of the great city. The incidents of the later years of the empire, the vain efforts to get help from Europe, and the schemes for uniting the Greek and Latin churches, are described by Chedomil 1 Cantacuz., ed. Bonn, p. 30. 2 Compare Tozer's Turkey, i. 97. He says Constantinople is still con stantly called " the City " all over the Levant. 3 Gyllius reports a similar story. 4 Wright's Early Travels in Palestine. 126 S. SOPHIA Mijatovich.1 In the year before the Fall the negotiations with the West had proceeded so far, that, on the 12th of December 1452, a Te Deum after the Latin rite was sung by Cardinal Isidore in S. Sophia, but this did not meet with favour from the populace. Ducas speaks of the church after that time as being nothing better than a Jewish synagogue or heathen temple. Five months later, on the 28 th of May 1453, the last Christian service was held within its walls. At the vesper service on that solemn evening, the emperor, after praying with great fervour, left his imperial chair, and, approaching the iconostasis, prostrated himself before the figures of Christ and the Madonna on either side of the great central door. He then asked for pardon from any whom he might have offended, and the ritual proceeded. On the morrow at the first capture of the city the Janis saries rushed to the great church, which they conceived was filled with gold, silver, and precious stones. They found the doors fastened, but broke them open, and at once began to pillage. The sultan as soon as possible rode to S. Sophia. Dismounting on the threshold, with the mystic symbolism of an Oriental, he stooped down, and, collecting some earth, let it fall on his turbaned head, as an act of humiliation. Then he entered the edifice, but stopped in the doorway some moments, and gazed in silence before him. " He saw a Turk breaking the floor with an axe. ' Wherefore dost thou that ? ' inquired the conqueror. ' For the faith,' replied the soldier. Mahomet in an impulse of anger struck him, saying, ' Ye have got enough by pillaging, and enslaving the city, the buildings are mine.' " A letter to Pope Nicholas V., written in 1453, describes how " the profane heathen broke into the marvellous temple of S. Sophia, unsurpassed by Solomon's ; they reverenced not the sacred images, nay, rather broke them in pieces; they put out the eyes of the priests, scattered the relics of the saints, and seized on the gold and silver." 2 Ducas, who died eleven years after the Fall, bewails " the Great Church, a new Sion which has now become an altar of 1 " Constantine, the last emperor of the Greeks." 2 Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6,417. LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 127 the heathen, and is called the house of Mahomet." " The dogs hewed down the holy ikons, tore off the ornaments, the chains, the napkins, and the coverings of the holy table. Some of the lamps they destroyed, and others they carried away. They stole the sacred vessels from the skeuophylakium. Everything made of silver and gold or other precious materials was taken away, and the church was left naked and desolate as it had never been before." With the exception of the removal of much of the\ treasure, the church did not immediately suffer great harm J from its new masters. ~L On the outside however the destruction of many of the low attached chambers, and the addition of the minarets, i have very much changed its appearance. The first minaret,! which was indeed the first in Constantinople, was built atj the south-east corner by Mahomet the Conqueror. Selim II.,' who reigned from 1566 to 1574, built the second at the; north-east corner, and also restored the eastern apse which j had been again damaged by an earthquake : Amurath III. j erected the last two minarets at the western corners.1 " The description of the church of S. Sophia as it now appears," which forms one of the chapters in Gyllius' (f 1555) Topography of Constantinople, describes the church before the addition of these three last minarets. It is interesting to note that he remarks how little the building had been altered, " and it is despoiled of nothing, except a little of the metal work [mosaic ?] which shows itself in great abundance through the whole church. The Sanctum Sanctorum, for merly holy and unpolluted, into which the priests only were suffered to enter, is still standing, though there is nothing remaining of the jewels and precious stones which adorned it, these having been plundered by its sacrilegious enemies." This is later supported by Grelot,2 who writes, "It is decorated with everything that human industry and skill could devise to render the work absolutely perfect. .... I say nothing about the beautiful pictures, the faces of which have been destroyed by the Turks." It is clear 1 Salzenberg, Altchristliche Baudenkmaie. 2 Relation d'un Voyage de Constantinople, 1680. 128 S. SOPHIA from Tournefort (1702) and Lady Mary Montagu (17 17) that the mosaics were not wholly obliterated ; the latter writes, " the figures were in no other way defaced but by the decays of time : for it is absolutely false that the Turks defaced all the images they found in the city." On the other hand, an Italian MS. description of S. Sophia in the British Museum, written in 161 1, says, "The Turks took away all the beautiful work and covered everything with whitewash." l It is evident from Dr. Covel's MS., quoted later, that much was destroyed, defaced, and plastered over. Dr. Walsh tells us that one ofthe smaller vaults fell in about 1820, scattering its mosaic over the floor. § II. THE ANONYMOUS ACCOUNT. We must now examine the description of the church by the writer generally called the Anonymous of Combefis (otherwise of Banduri or Lambecius). Codinus, who is believed to have died soon after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, has so closely copied the Anonymous that the accounts differ only in a few minor particulars. Combefis says that the text of the Anonymous was collated by Lambecius, " who produced it from the royal archives " with the Chronography of the Logothetae, a tenth-century work to which the same account is added as a separate treatise. Labarte however considers that it was written in the eleventh century : Choisy assigns it to the fourteenth, a view with which we are inclined to agree ; but in any case we cannot think it earlier than the twelfth century. The description by Paulus is so precisely accurate where we can — as is so largely the case — check it by the existing work, that there cannot be a doubt of his entire accuracy. With the Anonymous this is not so ; and it must first of all be borne in mind that he professes not to write of the church as he saw it, but to celebrate its splendour when first completed by Justinian ; in this his account differs entirely from the Silentiary's, which there is no sign to show that he 1 MS. Harl., 3,408. LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 129 had ever read. The Anonymous has been very largely used by scholars of the ability of Labarte and Bayet, but we believe him to be entirely unreliable where he speaks of the former state df the church. He simply gathers the legends which had grown up, because facts were forgotten, and enumerates the relics. "The great church,1 known as S. Sophia [formerly a place of heathen worship — Codinus], was first built of an oblong (dromica) form, like those of S. Andronicus and S. Acacius. On its completion it was adorned with many statues. This building lasted seventy-four years. But in the reign of Theodosius the Great, at the time of the second synod of Constantinople, an Arian uproar arose, during which the roof of the church was destroyed by fire. The most holy patriarch Nectarius took up his office at S. Irene, a church which was also built by Constantine. Then for two [Codinus and Glycas say sixteen] years S. Sophia was without a roof, until Theodosius, with Rufinus as his master workman (magistros), covered it with cylindrical vaults. After this it remained unhurt for thirty-nine years, making altogether eighty-five years (sic) from the time of Con stantine, until the fifth year of Justinian's reign. This was after the massacre in the Circus, in which thirty-five thousand men were killed, when a faction elected Hypatius emperor. However, in the fifth year of Justinian's reign, the Most High God put it into his mind that he should build a temple to surpass all that had ever been built from the time of Adam. " He wrote therefore to the strategi, toparchs, judges, and satraps of the different provinces, that with all zeal they should look for materials — columns, piers, panels, and lattice- doors — everything in fact that would be useful for building. Obeying the emperor's letter, they quickly sent all that could be found from the shrines of the pagan idols, from baths, and private houses, from every province of east, west, north, and south, and from all the islands. 1 From Originum Rerumque Constantinopolitarium, variis auctoribus, manipulus, F. Franciscus Combefis, Paris, 1664. The same anonymous description is also given by Banduri, Imperium Orientate, ed. 171 1, vol. i. K i jo S. SOPHIA "Eight porphyry columns from Rome, which, according to Plutarch, Justinian's secretary, a widow Marcia had received as dowry, were transmitted to Constantinople. They had formerly stood in a temple of the Sun built by Valerian, who surrendered himself to the Persians. Eight others of green, of marvellous beauty, were quarried and sent from Ephesus by the praetor Constantine. The Marcia, whom I have just mentioned, wrote to the emperor as follows : ' I send thee, master, eight columns from Rome of equal length and size, and the same weight, for the safety of my soul.' " Of the other columns some were brought from Cyzicus, some from the Troad, others from the Cyclades and Athens. And when sufficient was collected for the work seven and a half years had been spent. Then in the twelfth year of Justinian's reign, the church built by Constantine was destroyed with the foundations ; the old materials were put aside, as a sufficient amount of fresh had been prepared ; and Justinian began to buy up the neighbouring houses. The first of these was one belonging to a widow named Anna, of which the price was estimated at eighty-five librae. She was however unwilling to sell it to the emperor, and refused to give it up under five hundred librae ; nor did the emperor gain his purpose by sending the nobles of the court to win her over. He finally went himself and begged her to sell her house at any price. But when she saw him as a suppliant, she fell at his feet, saying, ' Lord and King, I can accept no moneys for my house from thee ; I ask only that I may obtain reward in the day of judgment, and that I may be buried in a tomb near the future church, so that the memory of my gift may live for ever.' The emperor promised that when the church was finished she should be buried there, for the land which she had given up, that the memory of it might live for ever. The part which she gave to the great church is that now occupied by the skeuophy lakium, and the chapel (naos) of S. Peter. " Then the part which is occupied by the Holy Well, and all about the thysiasterium, and the place of the ambo, and the middle of the nave, was the house of a certain eunuch, LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 131 Antiochus, which was valued at thirty-eight librae. He was offended because the emperor had not offered him a proper price for it. Now the emperor was much distressed, wondering what to do. But the Magister Strategius — a guardian of the treasures, the adopted brother of the emperor — promised that the emperor should gain his point by a little guile, and that the other should sell his house. Now this Antiochus was an eager frequenter of the Circus, and especially favoured the blue faction. When the games were about to be given, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Praetorian prison. Then Antiochus called out from the prison that if he could only witness the games he would do whatever the emperor wished. He was then led by the emperor's orders to his empty seat, and made to sell his house before the games commenced, the Quaestor and the whole Senate being witness. Now there used to be the custom, that as soon as the emperor ascended to his seat the charioteers should begin, but because they stopped then, until the eunuch had accomplished his deed of sale, even to the present day the chariots for the races are accustomed to enter at a slow trot. " The whole of the right-hand part of the Gynaeceum 1 up to the column of S. Basil, and some portion of the nave, was the house of an eunuch, Chariton, nicknamed Chenopolus, who sold it as a favour for double its value, which was twelve librae. " The left part of the Gynaeceum x up to the column of S. Gregory Thaumaturgus was the house of one Xenophon, a cobbler. When they wanted to buy this house, besides asking twice the value, which was fourteen librae, he also demanded that, on the day of the games, the four chariot eers of the four factions should do obeisance to him as well as to the emperor. The emperor decreed that it should be done as he had asked, but made him a laughing-stock for ever. For on the day of the games he was set midway in the boundaries, so that the charioteers, by way of joke, bowed to his back before beginning their courses, and so it 1 Evidently meant for lower aisles. JC 2 132 S. SOPHIA is still done, and the man is styled ' Chief of those below.' He wears a white chlamys, woven with byssus. " On the area of the naos, the four nartheces, the louter, and the parts adjacent, was the house of Damianus, a noble of Seleucia, the value of which he estimated at ninety librae, and gladly gave to the emperor. " Now Justinian, when he had measured out the site, and found a stone to act as centre, from the thysiasterium as far as the lower [western] apse, laid the foundations of the great dome in circle-wise. Now from the apses right away to the most outside narthex, the foundations were laid in marshy and spongy ground. And when it had been begun, he urged Eutychius the patriarch to offer up prayers to God for its safe building, and then, taking with his own hands lime and stone, giving thanks to God, he himself laid the first stone in its place. Now before the church was built he constructed the oratory of S. John the Precursor with a gilt vault, and various ornamentations of precious stones. This is generally call the Baptistery, and is situated near the Horologium. He built at the same time the adjacent portion of the Metatorium, that he might frequently rest there with his court, and refresh himself with food. Then also he built the whole of the portico, which leads from the palace up to the Great Church, so that, as often as he liked, he might cross over and devote his time to the building, without being seen by any one. There were one hundred master workmen, and each had a band of a hundred men under him, making ten thousand men altogether. Fifty bands took one side, and fifty the other ; and by the emulation between them, the work quickly progressed. " The form of the church was shown to the emperor in a dream by an angel. And the first Deviser (mechanikos) of the builders was skilful and full of sound wisdom, and well versed in building churches. Barley was put into cooking pots, and its decoction, instead of water, was mingled with unslaked lime (asbestos) and tiles [crushed]. The mixture, when warm, became viscous and sticky. At the same time they cut slips off willow trees, which were cast into the cooking pots with the barley ; they then made solid masses, LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 133 having a length of over fifty feet, and fifty feet broad, and twenty feet deep, and placed them in the foundations. They were put there, not hot, nor yet quite cold, that so they might bind better, and above these masses they placed large square stones. "_When the foundations had arisen from the earth two cubits, they had spent four hundred and fifty-two miliarisia of gold. Money was brought daily from the palace, and placed in the Horologium, and each of those who carried stone received a piece of silver, lest any slackness should come upon them, or they should be tempted to complain. Some of them, when carrying stone, gave way under the weight, and fell head foremost and were hurt. Strategius, whom I have mentioned, distributed the wages : he was a Count of the royal treasury, and foster-brother of Justinian. " Now when the piers (pinsoi) had been finished, and the great columns, both those from Rome and the green ones, had been put in their position, the emperor left his noon day sleep and devoted himself to the work, and inspected, with Troilus, a count of the household, all the polishers (lithoxooi), stonecutters (laotomoi), carpenters (tektonikoi), and labourers (oikodomei), promising them each week a nummus more, or as much as each might ask, above their fixed wages. He used to come to see how the work was proceeding, clad in a white linen garment, his head covered with a kerchief, and holding a stick in his hand. " And when they had raised the vaults (apsides) of the upper floor, those on the right and on the left, and had covered over these vaults, the emperor decreed that no miliarisia should be carried from the palace on Sundays. Now it was the third hour of the day, and Strategius ordered the men to go to their dinners. As Ignatius, the first mechanikos of the builders whom I have mentioned above, came down, he left his son on the right-hand side of the upper floor, where he had been working, with strict orders to watch the workmen's tools. He was a boy of about fourteen. As he was sitting there, a eunuch, clad in shining garments, and fair to look upon, like one sent from 134 s- SOPHIA the palace, appeared to him and said, ' What is the reason why the workmen do not quickly finish the work of God, but have left it and gone to eat?' To him the boy answered, 'At the earliest hour, my lord, they will be here.' But he cried, 'Go quickly and bring them.' When the boy said that he was not to leave, lest the tools should disappear, the eunuch said, ' Go quickly and summon them here, for I swear to thee, my son, by the Holy Wisdom, whose temple is now being built, I will not depart, since, by the command of the Word of God, I am to minister and guard here until you return.' When he heard this, the boy quickly set out, leaving the angel of God as guard. And when he had got down, and gone to his father and the rest, he related everything in order ; then the father took his son and led him to the emperor's table. For the emperor was then dining in the oratory of St. John the Precursor, by the Horologium. When he heard the story, he summoned all his eunuchs, and showed each in turn to the boy. Then the boy calling out that he saw none like the one that had appeared, the emperor knew that it was an angel of the Lord who had addressed the boy, and this was made more clear, as the boy said that he was clothed in a white robe, his eyes glittering like fire ; then the emperor praised God, saying, ' God has accepted my temple.' And as he had been wondering what name to call it, he named it S. Sophia, according to interpretation ' Word of God.' And the emperor took counsel with himself and said, ' I will not allow the boy to return, so that the angel may guard it for ever, as he promised by his oath. For if the boy return, the angel will depart.' Having consulted with the principal senators and the bishops, the emperor com manded that the boy should not be sent back to the temple, so that, by the grace of God, it should have a guardian till the end of the world. And then the emperor loaded the boy with gifts and honours, and, with the consent of his father, sent him to the Cyclades. Now the conversation of the angel with the boy happened on the right-hand side of the pier of the upper arch, as one ascends towards the dome. [Codinus says, " near the Syllagonum," for this it has LATER HISTORY AND LEGENDS 135 been suggested to read Syllagoeum, or "the place of the council "]. " When the workmen had continued the work up to the second catechumena, and the upper columns and arches were built, and they were roofing the adjacent parts, the emperor began to be anxious for want of funds. But as he was standing in the upper part of an arch, as they were about to begin the dome, at the hour of the Sabbath just before dinner, an eunuch appeared to him, clad in white, and said, ' Why are you distressed for money ? To-morrow bid some of your nobles to come, and they shall have as much gold as they wish.' On the following day the eunuch came and showed himself to the emperor. The emperor sent to follow him Strategius, and Basilides the quaestor, and Theodorus the patrician, and Colocyns who was a praefect, besides fifty servants, twenty mules, and twenty paniers. With all these he marched out of the Golden Gate. And when they had come to the Tribunalium, there seemed to those who were sent to be built there palaces of stupend ous beauty. But when they had dismounted, the eunuch bade them ascend a wonderful stair, and then, producing a splendid gold key, he opened the door of a room, and, as Strategius says, trie whole floor was heaped with gold coins. Taking a shovel, the eunuch filled each panier with four hundred pounds of gold, amounting altogether to eight thousand, and with these he sent them back to the emperor ; and having closed up the room with the key, he said to them, ' Take the gold to the emperor, and bid him spend it on the work.' The eunuch left them there, and they came and showed the emperor the gold they had received. He was astonished, and asked them where they had been, and where the eunuch dwelt. They told him all in order. and how the wealth of gold was spread on the floor of the room. The emperor hoped that the eunuch would return, but as he was disappointed he sent a slave to the place. When the slave had found the place where the palace had been, and saw that there were no houses there, he returned, and told all to the emperor. He was then astonished, but understanding how it was, said, ' Truly this is a miracle as all may see ; ' and he praised God. 136 S. SOPHIA "Now when they were going to build the thysiasterium and let in the light through glass windows, the Deviser (mechanikos) suggested that the apsoid (muax) should have one light. Then he changed his mind, and suggested that it should have two, so that it should not be heavy, because no wooden ties (ikriomata) were placed there as in the narthex, and on the sides of the church. But the rest of the craftsmen were opposed, saying that one arch (kamara) would light the holy place. Then the chief builder (protooikodomos) was at a loss what to do, because the emperor said at one time that there should be one arch (apsis), and at another time two. Whilst the master (maistor) was thus pondering and anxious, on the fourth day, at the fifth hour, appeared an angel of the Lord, like the emperor, with royal robes and red shoes, and said to the craftsman. ' I will that there be a triple light, and that the conch be made with three windows,1 in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.' He then disappeared quickly. Then the master, struck with wonder, rushed to the palace, and said to the emperor, ' You keep not to your word. Until to-day you wanted one window, and then two, to light the bema ; but now, when the work is all but finished, you come to me and say, three windows shall light the bema, as a symbol of the Trinity.' Now the emperor knew that day that he had not left the palace, and he recognised that an angel of the Lord had spoken. He said, ' As I have bidden thee, so do.' "All the piers (pessoi) inside and outside were made strong by iron bars (mochloi), so that they were bound together, and made immovable ; the joints of the piers were made with oil and asbestos ; and upon them was placed a plating of many marbles (orthomarmarosis). " The emperor sent Troilus the Cubicular, Thedosius the Prefect, and Basilides the Quaestor, to Rhodes to have bricks (be sala) of Rhodian clay, made all equal in weight and length, with the words engraved on them, ' God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be moved ; God shall help her, and that right early.' 2 And they sent bricks of 1 If this interpretation can be accepted for o-too MH > > H enO oan 1 88 S. SOPHIA this side. Without doubt this was the principal entrance. Clavijo and other visitors all appear to have entered the church from the south. When Grelot's western view was made (before 1680) no west doors to the atrium existed, but it was entered from the north and south only. In our plan we have therefore shown only one door in the west wall of the atrium, possibly there was none (Fig. 3). Outside the present south-west entrance of the court there remained until 1869 a stone inscribed +CACeCENeAAEKATOlKlMHAEI .... Its form suggests that it was a step, or it may have been a lintel from one of the doors into the atrium or the rim from a fountain.1 The words "The Holy God dwelleth here let no ... . " may be compared with the inscriptions for fountains and gates given on pages 84 and 264. This atrium court of S. Sophia was called by the Byzantine authors aule, mesaulion, aithria, and by some late writer, garfonastasion, which Du Cange explains as " the place where pages wait." The cloistered walk originally sur rounded it and formed a quadriporticus ; although the eastern walk, the present exonarthex, is inclosed and entirely different from the other colonnaded walks, the atrium is often" referred to as "Four-porticoed" (Tetrastoon). It cannot therefore be doubted that the exonarthex with its great piers replaced the original eastern walk, for the sake of greater abutment to the church. This is equally clear from the building itself and the description ofthe poet. (See Figs. 3, 24, 25, 29). The " Propylaeum " often spoken of must either be this exonarthex, or the gateways in the atrium. The cloister walks were vaulted, and the walls covered with marble. One of the capitals remained in the court yard as lately as 1873, when it was drawn by Canon Curtis ; it resembled those in the gallery inside, with deep sculptured dosseret and small volutes below. More than one writer remarks on the great beauty of the marble shafts. They were set in close order, and we may see from Salzenberg that, when we add for their bases, they were some twenty- 1 See Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., part 2. PRECINCTS AND EXTERNAL PARTS OF CHURCH 189 two feet high, and must have made a fine portico to the west front. In 1852 two of the pillars were represented on the plan of Fossati as still in situ : now every evidence of the atrium has entirely disappeared. Phiale. — In the middle of the court was placed a fountain, where, according to the Silentiary, was a " bubbling stream leaping into the air from a bronze pipe." The name given to such a fountain by Greek writers was phiale or colym- bethra, and, by the Latins, cantharus or nymphaeum. At S. Sophia it was also called " The Laver of the Atrium " (XovTrjp fiea-avklov)? The louter or loutron, with its colymbethra, formed a sanctuary for the pursued : we read in Procopius of their " fleeing to the church of S. Sophia, and coming to the holy loutron, and laying hold of the colymbethra which was there." 2 According to the Anonymous author, on whom we place no reliance, the phiale had twelve arcades or columns, and lions spouted out the water. Canopied phialae it is true still exist at St. Demetrius at Salonica, and in the monas teries of Mount Athos. The canopy of the phiale at old St. Peter's was of bronze ; under it the great pine cone, which still remains, threw out water in innumerable little threads. On the canopy were probably placed the beautiful bronze peacocks, which also still exist.3 A very beautiful fountain of this kind, at Constantinople, was placed before the church built by Basil in the palace. The basin was marble, from which rose a, pine cone pierced with holes. Above on the cornice were placed cocks, stags, and rams, of cast bronze, from which the water flowed.4 In the Court ofthe Lions at the Alhambra, the basin of the fountain rests on lions, and the water runs away from the fountain in four open streams to the four sides of the cloister. 1 It maybe mentioned that an Italian cantharus, or font, ofthe twelfth century, in the possession of Mr. Brindley, has the Latinised form of the same word in an inscription around its rim which reads Artificum summus cui nullus in orbe secundus Hunc luterem clarum sollerer sculpsit aquae. . . . 2 Quoted by Paspates, Byzan. Mel. Note on p. 340. 3 Lanciani, Pagan and Christ. Rome. i Labarte, Pal. Imt. 190 S. SOPHIA This work was certainly executed under Byzantine influence, and it is curious to find more than one small garden fountain at Constantinople in which the water issues from the mouth of lions. On the other hand it seems probable that the Anonymous imitated the description of the temple of Solomon and the laver, which stood on twelve oxen. The other washing place he describes (see page 141) with the different kinds of animals represented, seems to be founded on the description of that of Basil's church. Porphyrogenitus speaks of the " cup of the phiale " ; and it seems most probable, considering the simple description of the Silentiary, that, as in so many ancient churches, it was at first merely a bowl, standing on a pillar rising from a polygonal basin. In the time of Michael Palaeo logus, there was such a basin on the sides of which " was engraved on the marble the honoured form of the cross." 1 A bowl figured by Gruterus 2 in 1 602 as " newly found at Constantinople," has been spoken of by Du Cange and others as having belonged to S. Sophia, although the evi dence of this is not very positive.3 This was a circular bowl very similar to the well-known representation of a cantharus of Justinian's time in the Ravenna mosaic. The inscription around the rim read equally well in both direc tions.4 This circle being horizontal, we cannot but think, as it would necessarily be read from outside, that Gruterus was mistaken in putting the bottom of the letters toward the centre ; we have therefore reversed this in our figure. The words " Wash thy sins, not thy face only," almost certainly refer it to a phiale. Eusebius, for instance, speaking of one of these fountains, says, " it is not meet for an unclean foot to step on the sacred place within the temple," and Paulinus tells us that at Nola those who entered the church washed 1 Pachymeres de Michael Palaeol., ed. Migne, p. 703. See also Du Cange, S. Sophia, § 22. 2 Inscriptions Antiquae totius or bis Romani. 8 Grelot is vague in regard to it. Banduri understood him to mean that the inscription was on the inner water vessels. The Greek patriarch Constantios accepts it as having belonged to the Phiale. Buzantios wildly says baptistery. 4 An inscrip. in Baptistery Florence, reads — EN GIRO TORTE SOL CICL0S ET ROTOR IGNE. PRECINCTS AND EXTERNAL PARTS OF CHURCH 191 their hands in a similar place.1 Pro bably, so accurate a writer as Du Cange had good reasons for referring the bowl in question to S. Sophia. Dr. Covel of Cam bridge, who was at Constantinople from 1670 to 1677, and has left a valuable MS. now in the Brit ish Museum, which we shall have further occasion to quote, also gives the inscrip tion, which he says came from the fountain of S. Sophia, but again, it is possible he derived this from Du Cange, or from Grelot, whom he appears to have met, for some of the Frenchman's drawings are included in the MS. In this collection are drawings of two beautiful phiale cups, which existed at Ephesus when visited by Dr. Covel. From the simple elegance of their forms we suppose that these bowls cannot be later than the sixth century.2 See Fig. 27. Pavement of the Court. — When the Anonymous tells us that the four boundaries of the church were called after the rivers that flowed from Paradise, it is quite evident from the context that he is speaking of the atrium ; and it seems probable that immediately before, where he speaks of " ever flowing waters of great rivers," he is describing the pave ment of the court as figuring four streams. This certainly would furnish a reason for the walks taking their names from the four rivers of marble which flowed towards them, like Fig. 26. — Inscription on Phiale from Gruter. 1 See p. 84 and Kraus for other similar inscriptions. 2 The first, he says, " stands by the entrance to an old Bagno," it was 4' 3^" in diameter. " The second stands in the midst of the cistern in the square court of the supposed St. John's Church." This was 2' 6" in. diameter. 192 S. SOPHIA the four real streams flow in the court of the Alham- bra. There is much to countenance this theory For instance, the atrium of Fig. 27. — Phiale Bowls from Ephesus. old St. Peter's was called Paradise : Symeon of Thes- salonica tells us the part outside the doors of a church represented the creation, as the bema symbolised heaven; and the idea might easily be referred to the words used in the service for blessing the waters of the phiale. This custom of blessing the waters on the eve of Epiphany, to which Paulus the Silentiary alludes (see page 44), was practised as early as the end of the fourth century.1 Goar gives the ritual.2 After the evening service the priest with the censer and candlestick proceeds to the " luter of the mesaulion" chanting "the voice of the Lord is upon the waters." Part of the ceremony of blessing included a prayer, " We beseech thee, O Almighty Father .... who fixed Paradise in Eden and bade its quadruple spring flow far and wide .... who blessed the waters for Jacob, and hast bidden us, through thy prophet Isaiah, to draw water in gladness from the fountains of the Saviour." The account of the Anonymous may be a duplication of his description of the interior, but outside Charlemagne's church at Aix there is a pine cone which formerly belonged to a phiale ; the water rained from it through little holes, and about the foot are verses referring to the rivers of Paradise and Baptism. West Front. — On the east side of the atrium court, 1 Migne, Pat. Cur. Com. Series Graeca, vol. i. 2 Euchologium, ed. 1647, p. 463. PRECINCTS AND EXTERNAL PARTS OF CHURCH 193 against the west wall of the exonarthex, rise four great piers from which spring flying arches to the west wall of the church. Salzenbergthoughtthatthe upperarches were Turkish,and that the piers were originally intended to support equestrian statues, which he therefore shows in his drawings. Other writers, amongst whom is Fossati, say that the bronze horses now on the gallery outside the west front of S. Mark's at Venice, taken from Constantinople in 1 204, came from this position ; but there is not the least authority for this statement, and the horses at Venice are not half the size of those that would be required to justify the suggestion. Bondelmontius in 1422 describing the columns of the city, speaks first of that of Justinian, " secondly of that of the Cross, where are seen four upright porphyry columns ; and on them were placed four bronze horses which the Venetians took to S. Mark's at Venice, but the columns remain." Brocquiere, writing ten years later, says that " westward [in the city] is a very high square column with characters traced on it, and bearing on the summit an equestrian statue of Constantine in bronze. He holds a sceptre in his left hand, with his right extended towards Turkey in Asia and the road to Jerusalem as if to denote that the whole of that country was under his govern ment. Near this column are three [sic] others placed in a line, and of single pieces which bore the three gilt horses now in Venice." Brocquiere has here certainly confused the column of Justinian, and that of Constantine, but we may safely accept Bondelmontius. The porphyry column of Constantine, situated in the Forum Constantine, at this time bore a cross with the inscription " Holy, Holy, Holy." Many modern writers place the four horses in the hippo drome, as Nicetas speaks of " the arched starting-places for the racers, above which are fixed powerful horses of gilt bronze, curving their necks and facing one another as if eager for the course" (Ed. Bonn, p. 150). Between the four great piers of the west front there are now three doorways. If, however, we refer to the plates of Salzenberg, we shall find that only the two lateral ones are there shown, and that the position of the central door is occupied by a window ; this arrangement was seen by Texier o i94 S. SOPHIA in 1834, and is shown in a MS. drawing of his, now in the library of the Royal Institute of Architects.^ Referring to the views and plan which Grelot published in 1680, we see the central bay occupied by a belfry, with a pyramidal top rising above the roof of the exonarthex. Now in Goar's Euchologium1 there is a note to this effect, "The Greeks first took up the use of bells from the time when Urso Patricio, Doge of Venice, in the year 865, sent them to Michael the emperor, who greatly valued them, and built a tower for them against S. Sophia." We have already seen that large repairs were made to the west front of the church about this time (page 123), with a view of counteracting the thrust of the vaults. Be fore the belfry was built the Semantron would have been used ; this was a plate of bronze or wood suspended in the atrium and struck like a gong (see Fig. 28). It appears from the Russian pilgrims that the bells remained in use for only a short time. A sixteenth century French MS. in the British Museum speaks of the old square tower and bells. Grelot 2 says " this tower, formerly the belfry, is now void, the Turks having exchanged the music of bells for the noise of cannon." It was not fifty toises high, and could not have held many bells, or large ones.3 The upper story of the narthex, Grelot tells us was sup ported by six flying buttresses, and both his exterior views show three complete piers and flying arches on each side of the tower. The bay next the belfry on the right was occupied by a low building with a pent roof, in which were descending 1 Ed. 1647, p. 560. 2 Relation Nouvelle d'un Voyage de Constantinople. 3 In Fig. 29 we have followed his drawings disregarding his estimate of height. Fig. 28. -Semantron at Constantinople, from Lenoir. cto Fig. 29. — West Front as altered in the Ninth Century. (a w o I— I Z o HCO> a!awxHw 2! >t-1 >jaHeno oXa (a OX ^a 196 S. SOPHIA steps, at the bottom of which they drew off water from " the great cisterns under the church, from which it was said a boat might reach the sea." As to the doors there were three towards the west, used when Grelot made his plan, two being those at the extreme north and south, opposite the lateral atrium walks, and the other, which was less, and little used, was next the belfry on the left, and is in fact the left one of the three present doors. The arches, which cover two ofthe spaces between the piers and make them into porches, are shown in the view by Fossati of the unrestored state of the front. Comparing the drawings of Grelot and the plan given by Du Cange, both published in 1680, with the present remains, it would appear that there were formerly ten of these but tresses ; two being merged in the central belfry, and the two outside ones incorporated in the minarets, on the sides of which traces of them may still be seen . Two others have either been destroyed by the Turks, or Grelot's drawings are wrong to this extent, as no trace seems to remain of more than eight. Of these eight which now in part remain, Salzenberg only reserves the four at the centre, on which he places the horses. Our Figs. 26 and 29 represent the original west front and the altered facade of the ninth century ; see also Plan, Fig. 24. Cisterns. — On the south side of the right-hand pier is a small arch which gives access to a little recessed chamber in the buttress. From this and from a similar recess north of the central entrance, water from the cisterns beneath the church was probably obtained : a cross on the wall of the little chamber would seem to show that it was a " holy well." 1 Clavijo says the cisterns beneath the church would float ten galleys, and C. Lebrun (17 14) speaks often cisterns and forty columns standing in the water. The only real de scription of the cistern we have been able to find is in Dr. Covel's MS. diary in the British Museum. -In 1676 he writes, " We went to see the vaults under S. Sophia ; they were full of water, then 17 feet deep, and overhead, from 1 Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., Part II. PRECINCTS AND EXTERNAL PARTS OF CHURCH 197 the water up to the top of the arch was about 2 yards and 6 inches. Every pillar is square (4J feet), and distant from another just 12 feet. The bricks are very broad, thin, and well baked ; [it is] not plastered within, the mortar very hard. They say it goes under [the] At-Meidan, but we coul'd not enter it. The waste water of the Aqueduct enters into it, and [going] out of it passing through the Seraglio, goes into the sea by the dunghill. [There is] severe punish ment to [those who] have houses with offices [draining] into it ; or [for those who] throw any filth into it : the well of S. Sophia [opens] into it and many wells in the Seraglio." He gives a diagram plan, showing two rows of eight piers and a third row of three, although, as no boundary is shown, it is impossible to say if this is the whole extent (see below).1 Generally. — Some of the exterior was doubtless cased with marble like S. Mark's ; indeed some of the marble plating remained in Salzenberg's time. " The walls outside (the Anonymous writes) were covered with large and valuable stones." Where not so incrusted the narrow coursed brickwork showed in thin red lines, almost equalled by the thick joints of the mortar. From this brickwork the marble lattices of the windows, each with its slab at the bottom charged with a cross, shone out fair, and the gray lead of the many domes rose above all, curve on curve in pearly gradation of light. The courts were doubtless closely set with cypresses, like those which now rise about the turbehs on the south side. Many passages in the Byzantine authors show how much beauty of site was regarded as essential for a fair church.2 Procopius, describing the Church of the Fountain at Con stantinople, says, " there was a grove of cypresses in a rich meadow of glooming flowers, a garden abounding in fruit, with a gently bubbling spring of sweet water, everything suggested the site of a church." 2 See P. D. Kouppas, The Building of Byzantine Churches. 'EXXi?v. $iAoA- 2uX\. ttapap. vol. 20-22, p. 38. CHAPTER X BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS § I. ORIGINS. It may be well to say a few words on the growth of the Byzantine architecture, of which Justinian's church is the perfect flower. This building is often spoken of as if it were at once the first and the maturest essay in this great style, but this we might know would have been impossible, even though the links that led up to it were lost, which is not entirely the case. It is perfectly true, however, as Mr. Morris says, that " the style leaps into sudden completeness in this most lovely building." The new wants of the Church soon evolved the complete Christian basilica, which, it has been said must have been in the mind of the writer of the Apocalypse as the type of the entire arrangement of the altar, the twenty-four elders, and the great congregation, in his vision of the heavenly wor ship. In the time of Constantine, and in Rome, alongside of work which was entirely classic, the churches, with fewer ties to the past to limit development along truly rational lines, had developed a manner which was a more direct out come of the necessities of building with a minimum of merely perfunctory " architectural " forms — those con ventions for the thoughtless expenditure of the workers' labour, which in still worse times make architecture a burden to them instead of a delight. This transitional style is rightly called early Christian, or Constantinian. In the East, the vital part of the empire BUILDING FORMS AND. THE BUILDERS 199 at this time, a greater change was taking place that brought back life once again to the arts of decoration ; this may be expressed in a formula as the re-orientalization of classic art — the linking of simple massive Roman building to a new decoration, vividly alive and inventive, frank, bright, and full of colour, and yet as rational in its choice and application as the construction. In the modern sense the Romans may be said to have invented building, and the Byzantine-Greeks architecture. The Roman system of arched building, covered , with brick and concrete vaulted shells and domes, had been masked by non-functional pillars, tablements, and pediments in what was thought the true Athenian manner ; at the same time many beautiful decorative expedients were also in use, such as the lining of walls with large thin marble slabs, or small pieces of glass of various forms and colours. Mosaic of gold glass seems to have been known before the time of Constantine.1 Gold tesserae probably originated in an at first almost accidental use of portions of the Roman glass vessels which are decorated by patterns in gold leaf protected by a thin layer of glass over the surface. Parts of such vessels are found used decoratively in the Catacombs. Byzantine architecture was developed by the use of brick in the frankest and fullest manner, especially in domical vaulting. Wide spans were kept in equipoise by other smaller domes. The more concentrated supports were marble monoliths, and the wall and vault surfaces were covered by incrusta tions of marble slabs and glass mosaic. Directness, an economy of labour relative to the results obtained, is perhaps the most essential characteristic of the art both in construc tion and decoration in the great period. This freedom and rationality mark it out from all other styles of building, or rather make it include all other styles, for this reaches the universal. M. Choisy rightly insists on the fact that the Byzantine builders endeavoured to suppress preparatory and auxiliary work, and to execute their vaults and domes without centring. "The greater number of their vaults," he says " rose in space without any kind of support. . . . 1 For gold tesserae of second cent, see Bull. Soc. des Ant., 1893, p. 76. S. SOPHIA Their method is not a mere variation of that of the West; but it is quite a distinct system, not even derived from a Roman source, but Asiatic. Byzantine art is the Greek spirit working on Asiatic elements." Here we have an extreme statement in one direction, and the word Roman must be used in a narrow sense ; for these Asiatic elements in construction, of which alone M. Choisy seems to be speaking, whatever were their remote origins must have been completely absorbed into the larger Rome of the Empire, and we have no knowledge of any other system of con struction in western Asia from the first to the fourth century than " Roman," unless we subdivide this into Palmyrene, Herodian, or construct an imaginary Persian style out of what went before and came after wards. Choisy himself shows that a large use of burnt brick was first made by the Romans, and that the system of building vaults in sec tions known in Assyria and Egypt had been adopted by Roman builders in the East in the time of Constantine. But this was the essential germ of Byzantine con struction. It was the falling away of a dead scholasticism that left Roman building in the East free to be shaped into Byzantine architecture. Mr. Bury, who is extreme in the opposite direction, and makes the same claim for the continuity of Roman art as he does for the Empire, suggests that Romaic would be a better term than Byzantine. But whatever name is given to the political system we must remember that the arts are shaped by the people, and that the people were truly Greek who, in the age of Justinian, thought out and left to the Fig. 30. — Roman Tomb in Palestine. BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 201 modern world the last great gift of Hellenic genius — mediaeval Greek architecture. While the art of building in the East, particularly in Syria and Asia Minor, and possibly in Egypt, was still distinctly Roman, a ferment and change may be detected which cannot be matched in Rome itself. Both in construction and ornamentation there is much already at Palmyra and Baalbec that belongs to the new, and repudi ates the rules of merely official art. In Rome the dome never appears to have been finally adapted to a composite building by being directly applied to a square plan. The dome on pendentives, so far as we know, was invented and perfected entirely in the East. M. Choisy figures a building from Jerash, which may be of the third or fourth century which he considers the earliest known dome on pendentives. This building, although it is plainly early, has nothing characteristically Roman about it. A building of the same class however, recently discovered by the Palestine Exploration Society at Kusr en Nueijis in eastern Palestine,1 is an ornate example of late Roman work ; Ionic pilasters and carved entablature mask the outside, while within we have a perfected dome on pendentives covering a central square area, counterpoised by four barrel vaults. We agree with the Memoir that — " there can be little hesitation in ascribing this building to the second century a.d." This building, probably a mausoleum, in adjustment of parts, and geometrical development might be a Byzantine church of three hundred years later. It is a little Sancta Sophia, and taken together with the Jerash building it makes a class invaluable as a fixed point to work from.2 This however like most Syrian buildings is of stone. A church at Koja Kalessi in Isauria,3 Fig. 31, which there is a great reason to suppose of early fifth century work, furnishes an important link. We have here an approxima tion of the square domed building to the columned basilica which is most interesting. This church is substantially 1 Eastern Palestine Memoirs, 1889, p. 172. 2 See Fig. 30. 3 From the Hellenic Society's supplement to their journal. 202 S. SOPHIA UT % -¥ • • 4* •» •» ? ? c Fig. 31. — Plan of a Church in Isauria. Fig. 32.— Church of the Trinity, Ephesus. complete with women's galleries opening to the nave by a second tier of arcades just as at S. Sophia. The next building we should place in the sequence is the church of the Trinity at Ephesus of which Hiibsch, Wood and Choisy give plans. The former furnishes a restoration, and speaks of it as probably one of the earliest of Christian churches, but there is no reason to suppose it earlier than the beginning of the fifth century. Choisy speaks of it as a curious monument of transition already Byzantine in structure. Before seeing Hiibsch's restoration, we had placed an arcade in the lateral arches, agreeing in every respect with his suggestions ; and that this was the original form is strongly confirmed by the next church — as it seems to us — in the development. This is the church of S. Sophia at Salonica, which has long been assigned to Justinian's reign at a time subsequent to the erection of S. Sophia, but is now thought to belong to the fifth century. M. Petros BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 203 rij ¦J Papageorgios in the Hestia? of Athens for Oc tober 3rd and November 1 4th 1893, gives the mosaic inscrip tion of this church, which he thinks de finitely fixes its decoration in the year 49 5. 2 The churches at Cassaba, An- cyra and Myra in Asia Minor engraved in Texier's Asie Mine ure, and repeated by Sal zenberg relate themselves so closely to this chain of development that we believe they will be found to belong rather to the fifth and sixth centuries than to the seventh or eighth as those writers thought. The square type with a central dome persisted independently without coalescing with the basilica. Such was the domed church at Antioch founded by Constan tine and completed by Constantius ; here the central dome was surrounded by aisles, and formed an octagon. In the 1 See also Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 1894. 2 The inscription states that the work was done while Paul was arch bishop. And — MHNINOeMBPKUINAIKTIONITeTAPTHeTOTC AnOKTICeOKKOCMOYC The vital numerals were defaced, but there seemed no doubt that the last fragment was a part of S (6000) and as the writer states that there was only room for one more letter, SA or 6004 (495) is the only year that will fit the fourth indiction. "The architect BubrofF is about to show that the church was built in the fifth century." Fig. 33. — Church of S. Sophia, Salonica. Scale forty-five feet to an inch, for three plans. about 204 S. SOPHIA churches of St. George at Ezra, and St. Sergius at Bozra we have domes standing over a central octagon contained in an external square. These were built about 515, and they furnished the type that was followed at St. Sergius at Constantinople which was built only a few years before S. Sophia. § 2. THE BUILDERS OF THE CHURCH. It is noteworthy that the architects who built S. Sophia as well as the historians who chronicle the work, all, so far as their birth-places are known, come from Syria and Asia Minor. The flourishing city of Ephesus was one of the great centres of the transformation of the art of building ; and it was from the neighbouring cities of Tralles and Miletus, that Anthemius and Isidorus came to Constantinople. Of the two master builders who appear to have been em ployed together by Justinian, it seems clear, from Procopius and the other writers, that Anthemius was more especially concerned in the preparation of the first draft or model, and that Isidorus, by birth a Milesian, was associated with him in the conduct of the works. " Anthemius," says Paulus, " skilled in setting out a plan, laid the foundation." " Anthemius was the man who devised and worked at every part," writes Agathias, and this author gives some account of his life. " Now this Anthemius was born at Tralles, and he was an inventor of machines ; one of those who apply designs to material, and make models and imitations of real things. He was distinguished in this and had reached the summit of mathematical knowledge, just as his brother Metrodorus was distinguished in letters. Besides these there were three other brothers, Olympus, famous for his knowledge of law, and Dioscorus and Alexander, both skilled in medicine. Of these Dioscorus lived in his native land and Alexander in Old Rome. But the fame of the skill of Anthemius and Metrodorus reached the emperor, and they were invited to Constantinople, where they spent the rest of their lives, each presenting wonderful examples of his skill. One taught letters ; the other raised BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 205 wonderful buildings throughout the city and in many other places ; these, I think, even if nothing were said about them, as long as they remained unharmed, would be sufficient to win for him perpetual glory." Stories of his mechanical ingenuity are told by Agathias one of which is as follows. Anthemius had a quarrelsome neighbour whose room overhung his ground. He placed here large kettles of water, with an arrangement of leather pipes and a tube like a trumpet up to the projecting part ; and making the other parts secure, " he heated the water so that the whole thing burst up like an earthquake." As to the scheme prepared by the master builders for the building, an examination of the evidence seems to suggest th^ following antecedent conditions and governing ideas. 1 . The ground levels required a short and wide church (ante, p. 186). 2. An old western apse possibly suggested the western hemi cycle of the new church (ante, p. 19). 3. The plan, while a direct outcome of traditional forms as we have shown, seems a synthesis of the three types which were then current ; the Basilican like S. John Studius ; the square church with a dome like S. Sergius, and the cross plan of the Church of the Apostles. At S. Sergius, the expedient of planning columned exedras to fill out the angles of the square beneath a domed vault had proved its utility and beauty. For the influence of the cross type we need only turn to the plan, and observe that the width across the " transepts " is exactly the same as the length included by the eastern and western hemicycles. The master builders not only designed the church, they came "and worked at every part," and lived with their building until their death ; they certainly graduated as work men, and we hear nothing of their honours or position, only of their genius.1 In the words of M. Choisy, " In Justinian's time, to build was the essential role of the architect." Both master builders are again mentioned as working together on the occasion of the fortifications of Dara in Mesopotamia, having been injured by floods. The emperor 1 A book on mechanics (irtp\ TrapaSoioiv p-q\avnp.a.Tusv) has been ascribed to Anthemius. 206 S. SOPHIA on hearing of it at Constantinople " straightway summoned those most celebrated architects Anthemius and Isidorus mentioned before, and inquired what might be devised." The scheme of Chryses, the engineer of the works at. Dara, Was however adopted.1 The younger Isidorus who re-erected the dome of S. Sophia Procopius mentions as having been employed by Justinian in rebuilding the city of Zenobia in Mesopotamia with its fortifications, churches, baths and porticoes. "All this work was done under the superintendence of Isidorus and Joannes, of whom Johannes was a Byzantine and Isidorus a Milesian by birth, being the nephew of that Isidorus I mentioned before." To the master builders Procopius, Paulus, and Theophanes give the names mechanikos, polumechanos,mechanopoios, to which other writers add protooikodomos — " first of the builders," magistros and maistor. The craftsmen appear to have been classed as technitai with a foreman over each subdivision. The Latin names of the different building crafts are given both in Theodosius' code,2 and in the edict of Diocletian,3 which fixed their wages. This edict is bilingual, but unfor tunately the Greek synonyms for the workmen are wanting. In the description of the building of S. Sophia, Procopius speaks of the lithologos or " stone-layer," who built the big piers, Paulus and the Anonymous use laotoros and laotomos a " mason " and " stone-cutter," wherever marble workers are mentioned, to which must also be added lithoxos " stone polisher." The general bricklayers, &c. are comprised as oikodomoi. Tektonikos implies a carpenter. S. Gregory of Nyssa, in describing a church pf S. Theodore, calls the craftsman who arranged the mosaic tesserae, 6 trvv0iri)<; tu>v T]rr]O Hamwa >-* t-aw 5a CO Fig. 34. — View of Vaulted System of S. Sophia, adapted from Choisy. 212 S SOPHIA Fig. 35. — Plan of Upper Gallery as first designed. Fig. 36. — Section of Aisles and Gallery. each of which contains twelve windows, are now filled in beneath these arches, flush with their inner faces, and the arches therefore do not show to the interior through the decoration (Figs, 4, 36, 38). Now Agathias (see page 30) says that at the re storation after the earth quake in 558, at the north and south arches they brought towards the inside " the portion of the building which was on the curve." This, we think, must refer to the filling wall, in the arches of seventy-two feet span, which we suppose was for merly on the exterior, and thus left an upper gallery twelve feet wide and seventy- two feet long open to the interior. " And they made the arches wider to be in harmony with the others, thus making the equilateral symmetry more perfect. They thus reduced the vast space and formed an oblong design." That is the arches of seventy-two feet, when filled up on the inside, were no longer visible, and the dome appeared to stand over arches of 100 feet span on north and south, as already on east and west, the trans verse dimension of the BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 213 mS r j Fig. 37. — Plan of Basis of Dome as originally designed, with Additions A A containing stairs. Fig. 38- That church being lessened be tween these points by some twenty-fourfeet. Salzen berg under standing Aga thias to refer to the apparent arches of 100 feet span on north and south is unable to offer any ex planation. The actual evidence in the church, we believe, fully bears out the interpretation here suggested. What we have called the secondary order of columns would pass exactly beneath the position given to this wall. These columns on the gallery floor are very strong, and a very strong row of arches runs along over them (see Fig. 38). Moreover the curtain walls in every other instance throughout the church are flush with the exterior. this space is not available to the interior of S. Sophia -Section between Great and Secondary Orders. 214 S- SOPHIA has caused Choisy to criticise the design in this respect as " a solution undecided, moyen terme, fdcheux ; the large arches by a departure from ordinary rule being thrown on the outside so that the space covered by them was lost. S. Sophia Salonica redressed this error." We wonder that Choisy's views as to the original base of the dome did not cause him to take the further step we have here suggested. The pre sent form, in which the lateral arches support the square base of the dome, is at least a possible one ; but that the arches when they carried nothing and thus were actually vaults (as before shown by Choisy) were not filled with a screen but were mere arches twelve feet on soffite, lying against the sides of the building seems inconceivable. In our Figure 34 we have amended Choisy's view in this respect. Looking on these lateral arches as vaults we have filled them with a window like the western vault, and the harmony which results between the sides and the west end amply verifies our conclusions. One point further. The upper surface of the base ofthe dome on the west side should not be wholly level as shown in Fig. 34, the central third curves up following the line of the top of semidome. In other words, the great arch of the interior pushes itself up through the base of the dome, and this treatment thus recurred at various heights — over large windows of aisles, over western and lateral lunettes, as we have shown, and over the semidome. Originally, before the interior was narrowed in the way we have explained, there was a much clearer suggestion of a cross plan : barrel vaults at north and south being filled at their ends with large lunettes like the west vault. We suppose that the failure was mainly in the secondary order, and that the window screen and all possible weight was entirely removed and transferred to the great order. Salzenberg was satisfied that there had been great alterations in this part of the building, and Choisy's view of the window-wall, Plate xxv., entirely confirms his opinion. If it could be shown that the alteration spoken of by Agathias will not bear the inter pretation we put on it, there were earlier troubles at this part mentioned by Procopius. The best proof, however, we suggest is found in the design. It has been before pointed BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 215 out that Choisy and other writers have too hastily as sumed that S. Sophia Salonica was built after the great church of Constantinople. That it preceded it enforces the present argument. Grelot (1680) writes that upper galleries remained in the church in these positions, but he based his assertion on the row of seven arched recesses just above the main cornice which he thought were formerly open. It is clear however from an examination of the section that the arches could only have opened to the vault of the first floor gynaeceum. That these small arches did open to the vault of the first floor, seems to be borne out by the fact that above the centre of the secondary order, where its arch is low, a similar piercing is made, through which (or the higher arches on each side) and through the seven arches, a mysterious perspective into the immensity of the dome might have been obtained by those in the gynaeceum (see Figs. 4, 36, 38). Shallow arched recesses merely used decoratively seem to have been little known to early Byzantine art, and arches on the first floor through the great piers are blocked in a similar way. Moreover such openings would explain why the vault between the two orders of columns is so much stilted up into mere darkness. Atrium. — To explain the present confused arrangement of the exterior, we must remember that from the time of the de scription of the church by the Silentiary to its description by Gyllius was a thousand years — as long as from the time of Alfred to the present day — and in this time we may well expect alterations and accretions. In Chapter IX. we have shown that the present form of the exonarthex, with its great external piers, was an altera tion, made about the time the belfry was added in the ninth century. Before that time the atrium was alike on all four sides — a true quadriporticus — one of the most beautiful features of the ancient churches. (See Figs. 3 and 25.) North and South Porches. — Much of the confusion at the north-west and south-west angles is the result of Turkish attachments, including the western minarets, which were built in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. The plan of gynaeceum floor furnishes the best key to the former 216 S. SOPHIA arrangement, for where there is Byzantine work above, it must once have existed below. Comparing the first floor and roof plans in Salzenberg with the ground plan, it becomes apparent that the main block was originally finished both at north-west and south-west angles to the general square of building. The two staircases now at these angles were added as extra buttressing masses; the original stairs being the four in the piers of north and south sides. The north and south porches, with extra building above the latter on the first floor, were also additions. Besides the irregular ity and inferior style of these buildings the following evidence should be noticed. The actual form of the north-west angle on the gallery floor ; and the natural reading of the three plans when laid one over the other ; broad arches, which pass across the porches ; the fact that the arch in south porch (dotted in C on Figure 24, see also Fossati, Plate i.) now has no office ; and that above the door at this end of narthex, there is a window which now merely opens into the south porch. An examination of the exterior on the south side shows that the south-west staircase was built before the porch, or the part above it at least, because a straight joint in the walling, and the form of the roofing, here clearly make evident that the apex of the gable roof was originallv over the centre of the staircase, and that the slope has been subsequently run forward to cover the part above the porch. In considering all the other irregularly attached buildings, together with the historical evidence, it seems clear that the church as designed and first built was externally a regular parallelogram, interrupted only by the projection of the apse at the east end ; which was itself masked by a range of low chambers against the east wall, through which there were two entrances to the church as at present, and to which other two doors, in the east wall, still visible but now blocked, gave access. The other external doors, besides those from narthex, being two on the north and one in the south wall ; together with two external doors at the gynaeceum level, one of which probably gave access to the gallery along which the emperor BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 217 passed to the church, and the other, to the north, may have led to the cells of the clergy. Baptistery and Loggia. — Of early buildings detached from the church we have the round building at the north-east, which we regard as having descended from the earlier church, and the south-west baptistery, with a loggia attached to its north side. The space between the church and the baptistery on plan looks like a covered way, leading from the church with a screen in the middle, but the part next the church is, and always must have been, open. The part next the baptistery is covered with a large semi cylindrical vault, arched trans versely to the " screen," and penetrated by a less cylinder in the direction of the length of the loggia. Rebates (on baptistery side) round the doorway which stands between the pair of columns show that there was a door, and strips down the sides of the pillars, which stand above the tran- some, show that pierced slabs or other closures filled the arched front of the vault. If we add breast-high closures in the lateral openings, as in the portico of St. John Studius, the whole becomes an inclosed loggia against the baptistery. Salzenberg states that there was a door in the north wall of baptistery, and Labarte places another in the western com partment of south aisle of church, but for the latter there does not appear to be a particle of evidence ; and conse quently the court and loggia cannot have formed a direct passage to the baptistery. 1. Salzenberg on his plan draws the transverse axis of the baptistery, and that of the western bay of the church ; these do not agree by a foot or two, but the doorway of " screen " agrees with neither, nor is it a mean between them, but varies by excess. 2. In the section (Salzenberg, Plate xi.) it is seen that the present level of floor in this loggia is that of baptistery, and is below that of church ; but the columns have no bases, therefore the loggia floor was beneath both church and baptistery. 3. A large arch is shown between the church and west pier of this loggia, from which it springs properly, while at the other end it is cut off incomplete by the wall of the church. These reasons together lead us to suggest that the loggia is possibly older than the church, and that it may be a part of an arcade 218 S. SOPHIA retained when the present church was built. The style of the screen would readily allow of its being twenty or thirty years older than S. Sophia. The capitals are not found elsewhere in the church, while similar ones form the chief order at S. i Fig. 39. — Restoration of Loggia by the Baptistery. Scale about eight feet to an inch. Sergius ; and the door is inserted between the two columns, exactly as in the portico of S. John Studius. We do not however insist on its being earlier than the church so much as on the evidence pointing to its being part of a continuous arcade (see plan, Fig. 39). Doubtless it might be de- BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 219 termined from a careful examination whether the loggia or the baptistery was built first. The way by which the " Great Baptistery " was reached from the bema, as mentioned in the Ceremonies was probably by this cloister, which perhaps inclosed one of the courts on the sides of the church, spoken of by Procopius and the Silentiary. The portion drawn by Salzenberg still remains, although sadly plastered over and mutilated. § 4. STRUCTURAL SYSTEM AND VAULTING. The geometrical scheme of this building, which in its -final form must be the result of hundreds of adjustments, modifications, and expedients, to meet newly discovered emergencies, is withal so seemingly simple, that it may be read as a bare mechanical solution of the primary conditions. The great central area, excepting only the narrow bema, is surrounded by two stories of vaults ; the thrust of the dome over the square of about 100 feet is not only resisted by these, but by the four immense buttressing masses (or rather chambers for they are built hollow) which, pierced by arches, pass right across the aisles. East and west the dome is sustained by the semidomes of the great hemicycles, and these in turn by the vaults of the three subdivisions of the hemicycles. The thrusts are thus distributed in a regular pyramid. The external wall, which incloses the whole, being built out to the extremity of the great buttress piers of the north and south sides, and the lesser piers east and west, is thus little more than a screen, inclosing the more active parts of the structure. One of the most remarkable expedients of this mar vellously planned building is that by which the vaults of the side aisles, — which, having large spans, necessarily spring comparatively low down— are received on the secondary order of columns, standing behind the pillars of the great order. This allows of the stately colonnade on either side of the central space and those in the four exedras being only controlled by the height of the upper .floor, which is forty- 220 S. SOPHIA four feet above the area as is explained by Figs. 2^> 3%- These secondary pillars also transform the spaces left by the exedras into square compartments. Arch Forms. — The great arches under the dome have their centres two feet six inches above the springing line. Those in the principal arcade appear to be semicircular. In the adjoining exedras, the porphyry columns not being nearly so long as the green ones, they were set on pedestals, and the arches are " horseshoe " in form, at least towards the nave, for they are built " winding," so as to approach a square impost on their caps. We say approach, for there is a gradual modification; the caps being an inch or two wider towards the aisles, the impost increases this by a few inches more. The openings . from gynaeceum at west end are segmental, some arches to the side windows and the lateral windows of west elevation, Fig. 25, are bluntly pointed. The transverse arching of narthex is semielliptical, or rather three-centred, a segment with the curve at the ends quickened to become tangential to the wall. The pointed arch is used in the great aqueduct near Constantinople and in one of the city cisterns : both appear to be of the age of Justinian.1 Vaulting. — The vaulting is executed with the mastery and freedom that comes of confidence in direct methods. Certain portions are cylindrical, and others are formed by cylindrical cross-penetrations. The octagon of the bap tistery, and the square compartments of the gynaeceum, are covered by domes which penetrate down into the angles with continuous pendentives. The larger compartments of the vaults of the aisles require some explanation. Where four semicircular arches open about a square or oblong space, and it is desired to make the vault conform exactly to them, this may be accomplished by a semispherical dome, the span of which is equal to the diagonal of the compartment to be covered ; such a vault presents an 1 There is no doubt about these arches being truly pointed. They were drawn so by Dr. Covel about 1675, they appear so in the careful en graving in Miss Pardoe's Bosphorus, and these are fully confirmed by Strzygowski and Forchheimer, Die Wasserbeh'dlter von Konstantinopel, pp. 12 and 71. The use ofthe pointed arch in the east is probably an unbroken tradition from early days in Egypt. 221 BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS unbroken surface. Or two cylindrical vaults may penetrate at right angles, when the vault is broken by the intersection into four surfaces. At S. Sophia it was evidently desired to keep the springing high for the sake of the monolith Fig. 40. — Construction of Vaults. columns, and yet to maintain, so far as possible, a domical surface. Thus in Fig. 40 the dome springing out of the angle requires the height a, the radius being equal to half the diameter ; but it was wished to flatten this to b, and yet for 222 S. SOPHIA the vault to rise everywhere from the arched line e, c. Now if the vault conforms to the surfaces generated by the revolution of the arc d, /, b, about the axis o, d, intersecting with a similarly generated surface at right angles, we get a mean between the domed and cylindrical forms — a domical vault. The intersections, instead of being everywhere square on plan as at x, x, and rising just to the crown of the vault, as would be the case with cylindrical penetrations, will be obtuse as at /', i, and not rising so high will practically leave a large concave surface unbroken at the crown of the vault. This is the principle of the vaults of S. Sophia ; the gradations being gentle and the means less obvious, the forms are more like those found in nature, and the result is extremely beautiful. The forms are further softened by every edge of arch and vault being rounded, so that the mosaic completely envelops the whole like a vast em broidered gold tissue. There would be no difficulty in construction, for the vault falls everywhere on an arch in the angle e,f, b that is in planes which are radii to the arch. The vaulting of the narthex is made up of a series of compartments, much nar rower than the span, divided by plain arched bands. To meet the requirements of such oblong spaces two gauges would be needed. The "winding" of the lines of inter section was not to be feared, as they were so soon lost in the more domical surface of the upper part of the vault. After the above was written we found the geometrical and practical construction of these vaults explained in L'Art de Bdtir chez les Byzantins, in a manner which differs from that here given. M. Choisy's method is first of all to design the curve of the intersection over the diagonal of the plan as a segment of a circle : then he considers all sections of each compartment of the vault, taken parallel to its arch, and therefore perpendicular to its axis, to be also segments of circles springing from a series of points on the diagonals, their centres being on the axis of each vault. We cannot agree with this, for, although theoretically the vault so conceived differs immaterially from the solution we have proposed, yet practically its erection would be full of BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 223 difficulty. M. Choisy's method is that proposed by M. Viollet-le-Duc for the later Romanesque vaults, in which, the materials being poor rubble, centring must have been required. In these Viollet-de-Duc thinks that diagonal centres were used, and then planks were placed from them to the generating arches, and the additional height of a domical vault made up by a layer of earth. It is to be noticed that diagonal centres in this case almost immediately produced diagonal stone ribs. M. Choisy in his most interesting book shows that the chief consideration in the construction of the Byzantine vaults was to avoid wooden centring. With this view we entirely agree, but in the system explained in L' Art de Bdtir, the lines of construction would be arrived at by an elaborate system, which required fixed axes to the vaults and either a diagonal centre or a rod revolving in a vertical plane over the diagonal. Then two rods, forming an angle with its apex touching any given point in the diagonal curve and the ends resting on the axis of the vault as a base, revolved as a trammel for that course of the filling. This had to be repeated for a series of points. By the method we have suggested nothing was required except a single template to a fixed angle, the upper arm cut to the curve from the crown of the arch to the crown of the vault ; we may suppose this to sweep round the generating arches like a trammel, but practically testing the work with it at the crown, as it gradually grew forward, was doubtless found sufficient (see Fig. 40). Thus the vault surfaces gave the conditions of the problem and the intersections found themselves. We did not notice the curious " curve of inflection " of which M. Choisy speaks ; certainly it does not generally exist, although according to L' Art de Bdtir " S. Sophia is the most curious example which remains of this singular conception, where the spirit of Greek logic did not hesitate before anomalies of form" (p. 55). We believe this curve is deduced only by the logic with which M. Choisy's follows up his method of geometrical projection, which certainly generates such an inflected curve. We cannot say this 224 S. SOPHIA without at the same time expressing our great admiration for L'Art de Bdtir ; its freshness of sight, clearness, vitality, and logic are entirely delightful. Strzygowski and Forch- heimer x follow Choisy's demonstration ; and give an elaborate and analytical explanation of the curve and its points of inflexion. One of the cisterns they say showed the inflected line in the axial sections of the vaults (p. 71). Now the cistern vaults are roughly built and some of them may have settled down ; some indeed may have been designed so that the axial section is horizontal for some distance from the walls before the doming is commenced, especially in the long direction of parallelogramic compart ments. The essential points are two. Did these vaults grow forward from the walls and the intersections find themselves, or was the curve of intersection first designed ? Are horizontal sections through the intersection of two vault surfaces just above the springing obtuse or acute ? The vaults at S. Sophia have the angles of intersection so obtuse that this first drew our attention to the subject. For a general view of the vaulted system of S. Sophia we would especially refer to Choisy, whose remarks on the construction of these vaults are most interesting. He clearly shows how the large flat bricks made possible the construction of vaults without centring. The extrados of the arches from which the vaults spring being splayed to a skew back, the large surfaces of the thin light bricks allowed them to be stuck up against this skew back, or any part already done, much as if they were square sheets of card board (see left side of Fig. 40). Indeed the bricks seem sometimes to have been placed quite vertically, but the better plan seems to have been to incline the beds, the vaults were thus built in sections rather than in layers. To take the simplest instance, a cylindrical vault, the arching would begin at one end against the vertical wall, the rings of large thin bricks being placed " on edge " in planes of say 60° right down the vault. In other words, in a longitudinal section of such a vault the joints instead of being horizontal might be vertical, or a mean between the two. This method 1 Die Wasserbeh'dlter, p. 130, &c. BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 225 #¦ - 0:077. i\?-l\~-:-':-:'.Z /^i^!f'-*:.:l;VV-^=V--1>"^ Fig. 41. — Section of Narthex and Gallery over showing Royal Doors. Scale twelve and a half feet to an inch (t£s)- 226 S. SOPHIA was known in ancient Egypt and at Khorsabad, and the im mense vault at Ctesiphon is built in this way. Although the mosaic covers most of the vaults at S. Sophia, a vast number are exposed in the contemporary cisterns, and Choisy seems to have found a cylindrical vault uncovered in a chamber in one of the buttress masses (Plate ii.), he also shows the construction of the aisle and narthex vaults (Plates ix. and xi.), but he does not say if he had any authority for these. We agree with him that the vaults of S. Sophia owe much of their exceptional beauty to the fact that arches do not break up the curving expanse of the vaulting to any appreciable degree ; in the narthex the arches become one with the vault, see Fig. 41. Fig. 42. — Dome Construction. Domes. — In elaborating his theory of Byzantine dome construction Choisy refers to a passage in Eton's Turkish Empire1 which describes domes the latter saw built without any kind of centring. The builders put a post in the middle about the height of the walls. To this is fixed a pole reaching to the inside surface of the dome, which is free to move in all directions. Below is attached to the post another pole, which reaches to the outside and describes the outside curvature of the cupola. These give the thickness at the top and bottom and at every intermediate point. " Where they build these cupolas of bricks they use gypsum instead of lime, finishing one layer all round before they begin another. Scaffolding is only required for the workmen to close the opening at the top." Our diagram a, Fig. 42, represents this fascinating scheme of building : with such a rod any point in the whole curvature is defined in a moment ; it equally gauges the horizontal courses and the rise of the dome. 1 i799» P- 236. BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 227 Choisy suggests a second scheme which will be made clear by b. There is no reason, he points out, why the beds of the bricks in a dome should radiate to the centre of the curve : in the Byzantine domes the beds were flattened so that they radiated more or less accurately to the springing of the opposite side of the dome. The thrusts were thus mini mised, and the construction was facilitated. If rods forming a triangle revolve about a vertical post as shown, the horizontal curvature is gauged and the top rod will define the slope for the bed. These rods can then be raised to another position as shown in the figure. We should have supposed that little care would be taken with the slope of the beds, as from the thin bricks used the construction practically became homogeneous. Choisy even thinks that the great dome of S. Sophia may have been built in the air without centring, c, in Fig. 42, gives his representation of the construction of the semi- domes, which he thinks were built out some way entirely without support. The outer arch was then built on a centre and the filling completed " in space " (a straight joint be tween the arch and the dome filling is shown in the figure in Salzenberg's text). We think it more likely that in all the larger domes auxiliary support was required " to close the opening at the top," when the space had been so con tracted that a light centring resting on the part already completed was all that would be needed. From the importance attached to wood ties or girdles built into the small domes of Mount Athos, we may be certain that some system of chaining was applied to the great dome of S. Sophia. Choisy gives an example of the former, and also a dome constructed by interlocking semicircular bricks, " two courses of which make a circlet absolutely inextensible." See b in Fig. 45. The dome of S. Vitale at Ravenna is built of layers of earthenware pots or tapering tubes, the end of one fitting into the next and rising in a continuous spiral course, round and round from the bottom to the crown of the dome. The question of dome construction without centring is of the greatest interest, and much might doubtless be gathered of the traditional methods still followed in modern Greece, Q 2 228 S. SOPHIA Egypt, Persia, and S. Italy. Our Fig. 43 represents modern domes in Persia, the upper diagram being an ordinary type of exterior from a photograph of Koum. The dome beneath, Fig. 44, is from a sketch made in a Persian caravanserai by Mr. Wm. Simpson,1 who describes it as built of burnt brick, square below, round above. " As I was told that centring was never used in Persia I presume this one was constructed without it." This beautiful form may be considered as four conical squinches penetrating a hemisphere as at a, or as. a gradual transition from square to round, b. Ancient Persian domes of substantially the same form, in which a hemisphere penetrates a pyramid, are shown by Dieulafoy.2 Chainage and Walling. — In the East the frequency of severe earthquakes necessitated a manner of construction which should resist disruption. The massive walls of stone of the Classic period are cramped together with metal. The stone Byzantine church at Ezra has a course of interlocking stones forming a chain around the octagon beneath the dome (Fig. 45 a). At S. Sophia the continuous courses of stone some feet above the floor, mentioned by Salzenberg, are almost certainly converted into a chain by cramps ; and the stone course at the springing of the great arches probably has the same function. In brickwork lateral cohesion was usually obtained by a system of continuous wood ties, which is described by Choisy as built into the wall at every five or six feet of height. According to the Greek architect, M. Kouppas, ties of bond timbers were used in this way in the construction of the cisterns, " laid not only along the outside walls but also in parallel rows beneath the lines of pillars and arches ; " other rows of timber were built in either as ties or struts in continuous lines at the springing of the vaults. At S. Sophia there was doubtless a large use made of tem porary ties of this kind during the construction. In many places at the springing of the gynaeceum vaults the ends of such provisional ties, which have been sawn away, appear. Besides these there is a series of wood beams which from the 1 Journal of Roy. Inst. Brit. Archts., Jan. 1893. * See also p. 247, 1892, for the conditions of stability of dome of S. Sophia. BCT1WNG *»™ ™ «« BU,1MRS *** " "«*-«'-«. D.„«„,.,tta( 229 Centring, 230 S. SOPHIA first were intended to be permanent, for they are richly carved (c in Fig. 45) ; these are shown by double lines on the right-hand side of Figs. 5 and 6, the single lines showing the iron ties. These carved beams, as Choisy points out, are struts rather than ties. If we take one of the columns stand ing in an angle in the aisles, an impost of marble connects it with the wall to which it is nearest, and a carved wood beam forms a strut to the other wall. The beam across the central bay of secondary order (Fig. 5) forms a rigid strut to the two wider arches (see Fig. 38, where, however, by oversight the beam has been omitted ; it is at the springing of narrow arch high above iron tie). Choisy asserts that " the architect intended to preserve only the struts, all the ties subject to extension were removed, but their suppression was disastrous, and they had hastily to replace them by bars of iron which were fixed with difficulty." We do not know what reason Choisy had for supposing the system of iron ties to be an afterthought, unless it is because in some cases they appear directly above the ends of the removed wooden ties. Now we believe they occur equally above the carved beams in the openings from the gallery to the nave, and there is no sign of wood ties having been removed from the ground-floor vaults, where the iron bars fulfil such an important function. It is certain that the iron bars to all the nave arches are original, for the marble casing shows no sign of alteration, and they are evidently threaded continuously through the imposts. The important iron ties across the aisles are shown in Fig. 45 : d is the attachment to the column of great order, e to impost of secondary order behind it, / is a king rod. Across the west gallery the span is lessened by stone corbels beneath the ties g. With a view of binding the vaults and walls together into a homogeneous mass, the arched vaulting of the interior was carried through the thickness of the walls : in some cases these arches were left open, to be afterwards filled with a screen of windows. The walling of the sides of the church is built independently of the great piers, as straight joints on the exterior show, and Choisy remarks that the independence of masonry unequally charged was a leading idea in Byzantine BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 231 Fig. 45. — Methods of Chainage. construction ; indeed it is obviously necessary where the quantity of mortar is so great that the brick at times becomes secondary to the joints. Mortar and Cement. — The mortar used by the Byzantine builders was called Keramotos, from the crushed pottery or tiles which was used in its composition. In an article in the Transactions of the Philological Society of Constantinople M. Kouppas1 enters fully into the methods which have been traditionally followed in cistern building, and describes this mortar as formed of powdered unslaked lime (asbestos), crushed pottery, coarse sand, and tow or hair, fully a third being lime, another third the crushed pottery, about a fifth 1 'EXXiji'. 3>iAo\. %vXX. irapap. vol. xx., 1892. 232 S. SOPHIA the coarse sand, and the rest or 10 per cent, of hair or tow. These were then mixed together in water. M. Kouppas also describes a hydraulic cement made of " coarse lime (titanos) slaked by water into powder, sifted and laid in layers with cotton shreds. This was thoroughly mixed, and then olive oil was poured in, and the whole gradually brought to a homogeneous mass." Andreossy1 describes a mixture (called lukium) made of a hundred " ocques " of lime, freshly slaked in the form of powder, twenty-five " ocques " of linseed oil of the best quality, and twenty drachms of filaments of cotton." This was reduced to a dough, and then before using fresh oil was added. Strzygowski 2 also speaks of a Turkish cement " of six parts by weight linseed oil, eight parts slaked and powdered lime, and one part of cotton." He refers to a Roman mixture mentioned by Pliny of " oil and quicklime." By far the best and earliest account of the methods used for obtaining lime and making cement at Constantinople is contained in Dr. Covel's MS. in the British Museum (1670-7). The lime was burnt in a pit dug in the ground, the stone, which was hard and black and like " Plymouth stone," being piled up in and above it like a beehive hut, an opening being contrived in the side for inserting fuel, and a smaller pit dug in the middle for the ashes ; it was fired for three days. Then he describes m detail how a cement was made which recalls what the Anonymous says of the joints of the piers at S. Sophia being made of unslaked lime (asbestos) and oil : " To make good lukium (a strong cement as I may call it) they take the above said calx or burnt stone and slake it with water, and so soon as it is moulded and turned into a meal (even while it is warm) they work it with linseed oil and cotton till it is well saturated and brought to the consistency of plaster, and make present use of it, for it will not rest in its perfection above one day or two at most, and if they use it immediately after it is tempered it is certainly the best. In the works of their Bagnos so soon as it is laid on [as a plastering, understood 1 P. 485. 2 Die Byzantinischen Wasserbehdlter, p. 22. BUILDING FORMS AND THE BUILDERS 233 h.ere] they let the water come to it, which, by tempering the heat ofthe lime, hinders it from cracking. Cotton is better to be mixed amongst it than hair, it being more tenacious and apt to incorporate." He again describes a similar cement ("lukium, an excellent mortar ") used in some waterworks. It is made of unslaked lime and beaten brick most finely powdered and sifted, cotton wool very thinly pulled and strewed on, and then all slaked with linseed oil and mixed together : then they use it whilst it is fresh made, otherwise it hardens immediately." 1 Such a cement must have had the hardening qualities of gesso ; the oil cements or mastics used in England some fifty years ago were closely allied in their composition. Modern mortar has lost much by our neglect ing the tradition of using crushed brick. Eastern builders spared neither labour nor time in pre paring and testing their materials. Tavernier tells us the waterproof terraces of the Persian houses were formed of " a layer of lime beaten for eight days, which became hard like marble." The materials used in Byzantine building were tested by long exposure, slaked lime was sealed up in pits for one or two years; and stones, bricks, and tiles they had found should not be used new, for, as Vitruvius says, "the only way of ascertaining their goodness is to try them through a isummer and winter." 1 In another place Covel gives the following. Lukium — unslaked lime, burnt brick (both in a fine powder), cotton wool very fine pulled and strewed on, linseed oil. Cistern plaister — Lime,, burnt brick, cotton or flax, water [use] almost dry, smooth it and saturate with oil. CHAPTER XI MARBLE MASONRY I. BUILDING PROCEDURE. The method and sequence of the building operations as followed by the Byzantines seem to have been very much as follows. After the form of the building had been more or less decided, the first thing necessary was to collect marble monolithic shafts. At S. Sophia the eight verde-antique shafts match one another very closely ; they are all of one length, and vary from 7 J to 8 diameters in proportion. The four pairs of porphyry shafts in the exedras differ much more ; and, as we have remarked, those in the western exedras seem to be made up of separate drums. The proportions of these vary from less than 7 diameters on one side to 8J on the other. The great monoliths are the largest known, and of nearly normal classic proportion, so we can readily see that it was necessary to have a certain knowledge where such marbles might be quarried or otherwise obtained, before even the foundations were prepared, for the columns decided the heights and points of support of the building. These once assured, the body of the structure was proceeded with as a brickwork shell without further dependence on the masons, who were only required to prepare bases and capitals, and then the cornices ; everything else was completed as a brick " carcase." At S. Sophia the main square piers are in fact stone, but this was only for strength, not because they were to be seen finally, any more than the rough brick. MARBLE MASONRY 235 The building completed in this form we must remember was made up of vast masses of thin bricks, of which the mortar occupied probably a half of the aggregate ; this had to thoroughly settle down and dry before the rest of the marble masonry was inserted, and the wall casings applied. The marble work, however, was all the while being prepared, and, the building once ready, the windows were inserted as screens in the openings previously left ; marble jambs and lintels for the doors were placed in position also, with windows above them filling out to the brick arches. The walls were then sheeted with their marble covering, the vaults were overlaid with mosaic, and the pavement was laid down. In this way, as the bricklayers had not to wait for the masons, the carcase was completed in the shortest possible time ; and by reserving the application of the marble until the structure was dry and solid, it was possible to bring together unyielding marble and brickwork that must have settled down very considerably. § 2. MARBLE QUARRIES. Much confusion exists as to the marbles of which the ancient writers speak ; this has been occasioned necessarily by wrong identifications when but few ancient quarries had been recovered, and most unnecessarily by a persistence in using antique names for modern varieties, long after the true provenance has been discovered, when the ancient marbles are not " in the market." It is the Italian names that have been corrupted in this way, and it would be a great advantage if they were discarded in England, or better still, used only in conjunction with the geographical names. In this case as the Italian names are descriptive, and, as many varieties of marble are found in the same or neighbouring quarries, we should get a safe nomenclature. Synnadan would thus be qualified as Pavonazzetto or Fior de Persico, and the banded varieties from Carystian, Proconnesian, or modern quarries might without confusion be called cipollino. In endeavouring to identify the marbles mentioned by the 236 S. SOPHIA ancient writer on S. Sophia, we have made use of Salzenberg's notes to the Poem of the Silentiary, and of the researches of Garofalo,1 Corsi,2 and C. O. Miiller ; 3 and we have also been helped by the practical knowledge of Mr. W. Brindley. The account of ancient marbles easily accessible in Professor Middleton's Ancient Rome, 1892, is substantially an extract from Corsi. Porphyry. — The " porphyry powdered with bright stars " of the poet is used for the columns of the exedras, and for some of the panels on the walls. The Anonymous author states that these columns came from a temple of the Sun, but the Silentiary says " they loaded the boats on the bosom of the Nile," and there seems no reason to doubt that the columns came direct from the porphyry quarries at Mons Porphyrites in Egypt. This porphyry mountain is at Djebel Dochan, twenty-five miles north-east from Thebes. Lepsius * seems to prove that the quarries were worked as long as the Nile canal remained open ; and ships still sailed on the canal till the appearance of Islam. Letronne 5 gives details of the method of transit. The porphyry was brought from the quarry to the Red Sea, and then by the Nile canal to the Lower Nile, and hence into the Mediterranean. On this evidence we would say that the porphyry used at Constantinople in Justinian's reign was quarried for the purpose, and not brought from Romain buildings. Marmor Molossium^ — "The marble that the land of Atrax yields," is called elsewhere in the poem " Thessalian," and, from the province in Thessaly where it was found, " Molossian." Corsi and Garofalo both wrongly describe Molossian as Fior di Persico. The marble really is the brecciated serpentine and limestone, now called Verde Antico, the Lapis Atracius of the ancients, of which the eight great columns in the nave and many others are formed. Here again it has been said that these eight large columns were taken from a building at Ephesus, but the Silentiary 1 Blasii Caryophili opusculum de antiquis marmoribus, 1 743. 2 Trattato delle pietre antic he, 1833. 3 Ancient Art. * Chronologie von Egypten, p. 365. 5 Revue des deux Mondes,. 1841.. MARBLE MASONRY 237 says, " Never were such columns hewn from sea-washed Molossis," and we can hardly doubt that they were quarried especially for S. Sophia, together with the rest of the enormous quantity used in the church. The quarries were near Atrax in Thessaly, and the marble is best named as by French writers, Thessalian green. Lapis Lacedaemonius. — " The fresh green, like emerald, from Sparta," was probably the porphyry quarried in Mount Taygetus in Laconia. This green porphyry, called by Corsi serpentino, is used in the opus sectile of S. Sophia. As a green porphyry is obtainable in Egypt, the former should be distinguished as Spartan. Proconnesium. — "The hills of Proconnesus," according to Paulus, " strewed the floor." The same marble was also used for the columns in the upper aisles, for the eight square columns below, and for the capitals, door frames, window lattices and other structural parts ; also for the plating of the lower arcade and other parts of the wall- surfaces, and as frames to the coloured marbles. It is a soft white, or white with gray-banded streaks. The quarries of Marmora are still worked. This marble was greatly prized in Classic times, and Pliny mentions that it was used at the palace of Mausolus, where, it is said, the method of plating brick walls with marble was first applied. It closely resembles gray Carystian but they should not be con founded. " The Bosporus stone with white streaks on black," used for the floor, was probably the ordinary limestone — black with white veins — used at Constantinople. Marmor Carystium. — " The fresh green from Carystus," is the marble now known as cipollino ; it was quarried at Carystus, at the foot of Mount Ocha, in the island of Euboea. Its beautiful greenish white surface, marked with broad wavy lines of green or purplish gray, was often praised by the later classical writers. Its resemblance to the markings of a sliced onion is the origin of its name. Modern cipollino need not be confused with true Carystian marble, which the ancient material should always be named. Marmor Phrygium. — "The marble hewn from the 238 S. SOPHIA Phrygian land towards the Mygdonian heights," spoken of as "many-coloured," has been identified as the marble which came from Dokimion near Synnada in Phrygia. The descriptions by Statius and Claudianus of the deep red- veined marble of Synnada agree closely with the Phrygian and Mygdonian stone as described by Paulus. It is a brecciated marble of a rosy colour, slabs of which alternate with verde antique in the panelling of the side aisles of S. Sophia. The quarries at Dokimion were visited by Leake and Texier, and a recent examination of them by M. Leonti 1 disclosed all shades of " violet and white, yellow, and the more familiar brecciated white and rose-red." This beauti ful material is best called Synnadan, as the modern Italian name Pavonazzetto is also used for the streaked marble quarried at Carrara. Marmor Hierapolitanum. — "The stone from the sacred city Hierapolis." This marble has been identified by Professor Ramsay.2 It was found at Thiounta about ten miles N.W. of Hierapolis in Asia Minor. It is variegated like Synnadan, and was much used for sarcophagi ; indeed Professor Ramsay says, " On every occasion when its use is mentioned, it was employed to make sarcophagi." It was called by the name of the great city which is not far distant, " and to which doubtless orders from the outer world were sent. Similarly the marble found at Dokimion was always called Synnadic marble from the time of Strabo, yet Doki mion was thirty-two miles from Synnada." Marmor Iassense. — The " Iassian, with slanting veins of blood-red on livid white," was used for the phiale. Corsi identifies this with Porta Santa, but Porta Santa, Garofalo says, came from Chios, and this conclusion we believe is now accepted. Garofalo thought Iassian to be the same as the Carian marble mentioned by Porphyrogenitus in his Life of Basil the Macedonian, and says it was quarried on the island quite close to the coast of Caria. A " stone mingled with streaks of red " is also mentioned by Paulus as brought from 1 In MS. notes lent by Mr. Brindley. 2 His tor. Geography of Asia Minor, p. 433. MARBLE MASONRY 239 " the Lydian Creek." Possibly the port of Iassus is again intended. The ordinary Lapis Lydius was a black touch stone. The " rosy cipollino," in which wide bands of deep red alternate with white, used in the panelling of the aisles does not seem to be mentioned specifically by Paulus ; unless this is the Iassian marble to which his words would very well apply. A variety of rosy, cipollino, the splendidly figured red and white marble, is obtained in Laconia. Marmor Numidicum. — " The stone, nurtured in the hills of the Moors, crocus colour glittering like gold," is the beautiful warm yellow African marble from Semittu Colonia, about fifty miles from Tunis, so highly prized by the Romans, and now called giallo antico. It is used in S. Sophia in the sectile work. Marmor Celticum. — " The product of the Celtic crags, like milk poured on a flesh of glittering black," has been identified as the Bianco e Nero Antico, quarried in the Pyrenees.1 The black marble with white streaks, which occurs in some of the panels in the nave, is probably the one to which the poet refers. Onychites. — " The precious onyx " mentioned by the poet is the alabastrites or onychites of the ancients. It is the oriental alabaster (aragonite) used in the horizontal bands of the nave, and some of the panels. It is a translu cent, fibrous stalagmite formation, generally of a clear honey-colour. Some of the varieties are strongly veined with white, and others are much darker. Large ancient quarries of this Egyptian alabaster have been discovered on the east bank of the Nile. Paulus appears to make no mention of the dusky black with dull golden veins used in the bema apse, which closely resembles the " Porto Venere " quarried at Spezzia. The marble blocks were roughly hewn into shape with picks while still attached to the rock, and were then separ ated by the aid of metal wedges. Many objects discovered show that they were sometimes completed at the quarry, at other times the blocks were roughly brought to the sizes and forms required. The quarries appear to have been 1 See Boni, who corrects Corsi, in La Basilica di San Marco. 240 S. SOPHIA officially inspec ted. Texier found many ar chitectural frag ments and blocks at Dokimion bearing the signs of the inspectors of the block. Professor Ram say writes: "The route from Do kimion to the coast is com mercially almost the most import ant in Asia Minor. The road along which the enormous monolithic col umns were trans ported passed throughSynnada, where the central office for manag ing the quarries was situated." Ephesus and Alexandria were most important centres for the working and export of marble, of which such an enor mous quantity was required by the Byzantine builders. The method of slicing up the blocks into veneer is described by an Eastern pilgrim, Nasiri Khusrau, in 1047. He says : " In the city of Ramlah there is marble in plenty .... they cut the marble here with a toothless saw which is worked with Mekkah sand." This sand he ! — 1=> — <=r — tXa 1 — J_i — 1^ I — I 'I — ' >-Ul- I i — 13 Fig. 46. — Marble Slabs and Frieze in Narthex. MARBLE MASONRY 241 Fig. 47. — Portion of Marble Lining of Aisles. Scale about W 242 S. SOPHIA tells us came from Haifa near Acre (Pal. Pilgrims' Text Soc. Compare Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvi.) § 3. APPLICATION OF MARBLE. At S. Sophia the application of the thin sheathing and incrustations (the " crustae " of Pliny) of the " delectable variety " of marbles is made in many ways. First there are the large sheets of the grayish Proconnesian, opened out side by side " so that the veining of one follows from the next." Then the richer varieties are set in bands and panels with narrow notched fillets between them, and still more precious slabs are framed round with carved margins of white. Over the doors entering the aisles at the west there are panels with especially wide and rich borders of meanders growing from chalices. The large panels are very often of two pieces with matched veining. Fig. 46 shows one of a row of strongly veined panels from the narthex with the frieze above. All the wall plating is arranged with delight ful variety as to size, and in the alternate placing of light against dark, so that there is no rigidity or over-accurate " setting out." Besides this constant change of size, colour, and arrange ment, there is a great variety in the surface treatment. We have the shallow channelling into continuous mouldings of the skirtings, some portion of which has a stiff fret sunk in the surface in addition. Then there are panels on either side of the great door, and on the faces of the projections frbm the great piers in the aisles, coming just above the eye, (Fig. 48) of plain russet-red or brown which bear severe abstract patterns, made out by slight sinking into the sur face. The centre in some cases is overlaid with an oval or square of another precious material such as red or green porphyry or the " onyx " ; the whole of the sunk portions may have been filled by inlays, or in some the sinking alone may have formed the design. The upper part of the bema is incrusted with slabs patterned in this way, and here the sunk portions are entirely inlaid ; several parts of this are represented by Salzenberg. In this work " casements " are MARBLE MASONRY 243 sunk into the rosso or other deep coloured field, and green porphyry and other materials, set off by yellowish-white lines and spaces are inlaid in geometrical panels, or friezes of stiff foliage. Our Fig. 47 shows the arrangement of the marble plating on the great piers towards the middle compartment of the aisles ; in this we have shown one of the enriched panels now only sunk, as inlaid. Fig. 48 gives outlines of others of these panels. The marble used in the aisles is as follows. First comes the moulded skirting of white Proconnesian, then a 3/-3" band ofthe streaked variety ofthe same marble. A band of verde antique 2,,o" wide follows, above which is a row of slabs alternately verde antique and Synnadan. A second similar row of slabs comes above a band of rosy cipollino. * The frieze below the cornice is of marble sectile work. The passages through the piers are lined with slabs of streaked Proconnesian marble, nearly fourteen feet high. The gynaeceum has two bands at the bottom and an upper band of rosy cipollino ; the wall space between is covered with a row of vertical slabs of streaked Proconnesian, except the central space on north side where the slabs are of rosy cipollino. In the spandrils of gynaeceum arcade at the west are roundels of oriental alabaster. Directly over the Royal Door is a very beautiful arrange ment of decorated slabs. First there is an immense upright piece of verde antique in the middle, ten or twelve feet high, with two lateral horizontal pieces making a great cross, in the quarters of which are panels with sunk and inlaid designs. At the head of the cross is a fifth panel which displays a still richer form of decoration. It represents a vaulted recess or ciborium between the columns of which hang curtains, looped back, and displaying a dark field. Here is the matrix of a cross which was probably of silver ; right and left of the cross are other matrices, in which were set crowns or other objects, not to be determined from below. The two upper lateral panels have sunk geometrical designs. The lower pair are inlaid ; their centres are charged with circles, above and below which are pairs of dolphins. These inlaid designs are made out in por- R 2 H+ S. SOPHIA mm m>o4, w Fig. 48. — Marble Panels with Sunk and Inlaid Panels. Scale about TV MARBLE MASONRY 245 Fig. 49. — Inlaid Marble Slabs above Royal Door. Scale about -*j. 246 S. SOPHIA phyry and green, which are separated by white lines and spaces which shine out bright, and are probably of mother of pearl like similar inlaid panels of this date around the apse at Parenzo. These panels at Parenzo are so much like those of S. Sophia that we do not doubt they were sent from Constantinople. There are very similar panels in the baptistery at Ravenna. Finally we have the enriched surfaces of the two ranges of arcade spandrils. The upper row being sectile work of coloured morsels put together to form a pattern of scrolls and foliage, and the lower series having the surface entirely sculptured with the exception of discs of precious substance which are set in them. This uttermost splendour is quiet and soft in its result. The surface of course has not that mechanically even, repellently smooth, painfully fitted appearance of modern work. The planes are waved under the hand sawing, and the face is smooth but hardly polished. The colour in consequence, gray and russet rising to full yellow, green and reds, veined, waved, and flowered in all manner of gradations and lovely combinations, vibrates with a wonderful " bloom " which doubtless owes much to age ; but it is very probable that the marble was polished with wax encaustic which was so generally used for finishing surfaces by ancient workers. The wax deepens and mellows the colour and leaves a dull pleasant polish. We suppose the method followed was that recommended by Vitruvius for the encaustic polishing of coloured stucco walls. " Lay on with a brush a coat of melted Punic wax tempered with oil ; then with a brazier of hot charcoal heat all the waxed surface, forcing the wax to melt in an even way over the whole surface ; finally rub the wall with a wax candle and then polish it with a clean linen cloth just in the way the nude marble statues are treated. This practice is called ydvcoai<: by the Greeks." Felix Fabri, who travelled in Palestine at the end of the fifteenth century, describes the rows of costly columns at Bethlehem, " and they are polished with oil so that a man can see his face in them as in a mirror." In regard to the wall plating we wish especially to point MARBLE MASONRY 247 out the extremely easy way in which it is applied, without thought of disguise. The slabs of great size are placed vertically, entirely the reverse of solid construction ; more over the slabs of the finer panels are opened out side by side so that the veinings appear in symmetrical patterns. At the angles the lap shows in the most open way ; while it is mitred where restored. The best account of the actual methods of fixing the marble slabs to walls by metal clamps which notch into the edges of the sheet before the adjoining one is fixed, is given by Professor Middleton, who figures an example of the second century from Rome which might belong to S. Sophia. § 4. MARBLE MASONRY. After more than a thousand years of working marble through one complete development, Greek builders, by considering afresh the prime necessities of material, and a rational system of craftsmanship, opened the great quarry of ideas in constructive art which is exhaustless. In a hundred years architecture became truly organic, features that had become mere " vestiges " dropped away, and a new style was complete ; one, not perhaps so completely winning as some forms of Gothic, but the supremely logical building art that has been. If anywhere this vitalising had not been completed, it would have been in the more decorative forms ; but here we find no mere exercise in applying architectural orders, every thing is as real and fresh as in the structure. Having the Corinthian and Ionic capitals before their eyes and without forgetting or rejecting them, the Byzantine builders invented and developed an entirely fresh group of capitals fitted in the most perfect way for arched brick construction. As Mr. Freeman has said (Hist. Essays, iii. p. 61) of the new architecture : " The problem was to bring the arch and column into union — in other words to teach the column to support the arch." This was done by shaping the block of marble which formed the capital so that a simple 248 Fig. 50.— Columns of Great Order. S. SOPHIA transition from the square block to the circle of the column was formed. When they were sculptured, and most of them are most elaborately sculp tured, the general form is not altered but the carving enriches the surface only. The new " Impost capital " is found throughout the great cistern generally known as that of Phil- oxenus which is usually referred to the time of Constantine. In their study of the vaulted cisterns of Constanti nople Forchheimer and Strzygowski have contributed much that is new to our knowledge of the architecture of the city and show that the evidence is entirely against this theory, which was propounded by Gyllius, whom more recent writers have been content to copy. This cistern, known to the Turks as Bin Bir direk (thousand and one columns), they identify with a great cistern which the Paschal Chron icle says was built by Justinian in 528. We believe with them that the architecture of the cistern agrees entirely with what we might expect as an outcome of the special circum stances in the time ofthe great building era. " Bin Bir direk exhibits the highest development of the art of cistern building, and it thus in its particular sphere resembles S. Sophia ; like it the boldness of its construction was never again equalled by the By zantines. It would be an explanation of the bold achievement if it might be assumed that Anthemius proved his capability in this subterranean work MARBLE MASONRY 249 Fig. 51.— Capital now Outside Porch at S. Sophia. before he made his supreme effort in S. Sophia. Technical features, however, make it seem probable that the builder was an Alexandrine." " It is of the widest significance for the history of Byzan tine art that here throughout the new ' impost capital ' is employed in its plainest constructive form. It seems not improbable that the daring builder of the cistern was the first to make use of this form of capital which completely broke with classical tradition and is in such perfect accord with the exigencies of arch-architecture." This is to go too far ; for if the cistern is rightly referred to 528 it is probable, as we shall show, that the impost capital had at that time been for many years in use. At S. Sophia the four main varieties of the new capital are all found. In the cistern the change of form is made by 250 S. SOPHIA Fig, 52.— Columns in Gallery. rounding away the angles at the bottom without reference apparently to any geometrical idea ; but in other capitals which belong essentially to this type the method seems to have been that explained in Fig. 53 which represents the form of the caps of the lamp pillars on the front of the western gynaeceum. They are most delicately carved with a network of ornament, but the general form is un disturbed as we have ex plained. The plain capitals of the west window and the isolated sculptured capital Salzenberg found in the north aisle are also of this form, which we shall call the Im post Capital type I. The profile can be made convex or inflected, we are only speaking of the simplest method of changing the form from a circle to a square. Two capitals now used as mounting blocks outside the east porch, which we illus trate (Fig. 51), furnish us with a sculptured example of a similar capital in two stages of development, one of them never having been completed. We give here an outline of the blocked out capital, in which the MARBLE MASONRY 251 Fig. 53. — Rudimentary Form of Capital. Type I. method of work manship may be plainly seen. First, the block was cut away below convexly to meet the circular shaft. In this state it exactly resembles the capitals of the cistern. Secondly, on this was marked a border all round the top ; also centre lines running down each of the faces, about the centre point of each of which a circle of about seven inches diameter was drawn ; and at the bottom the width for the necking was marked off. Thirdly, the intermediate spaces were sunk about two inches ; the hollow of the abacus was formed ; the necking, and edge of the circular discs were rounded. This brings the capital to the stage shown in the diagram, the point to be observed being that the abacus, boss, and necking lie in one surface, first obtained, and the rest in another face, sunk some two inches below the former. It cannot ^_._ be doubted that the style of these capi tals is contemporary with the work at S. Sophia, and the fin ished one bears a monogram which appears to read GEOACOPOT; it is, however, almost identical with that of Theodora, which occurs on the capi tals of the interior. MM. Curtis and Fig. 54. — Rudimentary Form of Capital. Type II. 252 S. SOPHIA Aristarches,1 who have written on these monograms, think it belonged to a portico, restored in 409 by an eparch called Theodoros. Work of this style was not done at that time, and these capitals possibly belonged to some of the outer courts of the church mentioned by Procopius. They resemble the great capitals so closely that they might almost be preliminary studies. The strips which are left down two sides of the capitals were customary in the capitals of a Byzantine colonnade, especially where screens were inserted between. Fig. 55.— Rudimentary Form of Capital. The two capitals in the loggia by the baptistery furnish a well-defined variety of the impost capital. The square at the top is here wrought into curves recalling the antique abacus. These are gathered together into the circle of the necking in a beautiful convex form which may be called the Melon type II., see Fig. 54. We give in Fig. 50 an outline of the whole column of the great order in the interior of the church, and in Fig. 56a diagram of the blocking out -of the capital. The columns 1 'EXXr/v. $iX. Su\\. Trapap. 1 88 5, p. 10. MARBLE MASONRY 253 here and throughout the great church being monoliths of fine material, the supporting area is very small compared to the area of the arch imposts, which are of brick sheeted with marble. It will be seen that the projection is just that required by the impost, which springs directly from the outside edge. Fig. 56. — Rudimentary Form of Capital. Type III. The great capitals of S. Sophia are remarkable examples of the evolution of beautiful forms on the mason's banker ; the workman finding form in the stone block by the ap plication of practical methods. The lower half of the capital is circular like the shaft, rising in a slightly swelling curve of a bowl ; the upper part is square like the impost. The basis of form is that of a bowl with a tile placed above it, and is thus that of the Greek Doric. This 254 S- SOPHIA type III. in which the circle does not pass by transition into the square impost, but changes abruptly, we may call the bowl and tile capital. At S. Sophia the surface of the form obtained as shown in the figure is wrought into crisp acanthus and palm foliage ; and is in many places, especially at the tips of the leafage and behind the monograms, entirely undercut. The cutting being so sharp, and the shadows so deep, while at the same time the general form with its broad gradation of light and shade is so little modified by surface modelling, the effect is almost that of inlaying black on white. The capitals of the columns standing in the aisles, and those of the first floor ranged against the central area, are similar to the great order, but simplified and reduced. The columns of the aisles on the first floor have block capitals, with small volutes below; Fig. 57 will make the elementary form clear. This type IV. is really a Byzantine Ionic. The dual columns of west gallery have a capital in common, which is a variation of these, and the capitals of atrium were also similar. One capital of the north gallery is entirely different from all the rest, the block, not being carved all over continuously, is broken up into several horizontal lines of ornament. For the capitals of the square pillars of ground floor, and others to the windows, we must refer to Salzenberg ; they are all of the simple block form delicately sculptured. Salzenberg also figures two capitals, now on the porphyry columns at the east porch. These are com paratively small, and may possibly have belonged to some position in the interior of the church, such as Justinian's first ambo. The form is that of a basket with four doves perched on the rim, and crosses between. Doves associated with crosses symbolized the Church. Now in St. Clemente at Rome there are two capitals of this kind which belonged to the ciborium, set up as the inscription shows while Hormisdas was pope (514-523), they are figured by Cattaneo, Fig. 7, who says they obviously were sculptured by Greek chisels. It is thus extremely possible that ours may have been late additions to the pre-Justinian church, MARBLE MASONRY 255 Fig. 57. — Rudimentary Form of Capital in Gynaeceum. Type IV. where they also may have belonged to the ciborium. Rohault de Fleury believed that this form of capital was intended to represent an offerings basket. To these Bird and Basket capitals, type V., may be added varieties of the great class of derivatives from the Corinthian of which this is in fact one. These were in general use before the block type of capital was developed. We will here only mention two of these acanthus capitals. Those in which the leaves are set upright on the stem of the shaft we will call Byzantine Corinthian and type VI. Those in which the leaves turn over and bend round the capital we will, with Mr. Ruskin, call "Wind-blown acanthus," and type VII. Distribution and Dates of Capitals. — We have referred before to our belief that Constantinople was a marble working centre from which sculptured marbles were dis persed to all parts of the Roman world. Having the chief types of Byzantine capitals before us it will be convenient to consider this more fully. We suppose that as white marble 256 S. SOPHIA had to be bought in any case, the custom grew up of obtain ing the capitals fully wrought. Importation was, of course, a general antique practice in regard to figure sculpture, columns, and other objects of marble. Proconnesian marble seems to have been the common stone of Constantinople so that it is used for the columns and capitals of the cisterns. We believe that careful examination of the capitals at Ravenna, Parenzo, and other Byzantine centres will show that they are in the main of this material. As to design the capitals lying neglected about the city, together with those in situ in the churches and cisterns, furnish a perfect museum of the types with which others dispersed through the whole area of the empire agree in the minutest particulars of design and workmanship. To take the types we have mentioned : Impost Capital, I. — This capital is found with the surface richly sculptured at S. Sergius. Capitals identical in form and decoration with the isolated capital of S. Sophia (Salz. PI. xx., fig. 8) are found at Parenzo and in Jerusalem. The splendid examples of this type at S. Vitale, Ravenna, are well known ; here the fretwork of sculpture is almost entirely relieved from the ground. We found an example absolutely similar at Constantinople. Mr. Ruskin's " Lily Capital " which belongs to this group is found at S. Mark's, at S. Vitale, at Parenzo, and at Alexandria. Another variety is covered all over with horizontal bands of zigzag fillets ; an example rests in the Tchenli-Kiosk Museum, others are found at Athens, at Mistra, and a third now at S. Mark's is figured in the Stones of Venice. The capitals at S. Sophia, Salonica, figured by Texier are probably the earliest of type I. to which an approximate date can be given ; it was certainly in general use at the end of the fifth century. Melon Form, II. — These magnificent eight-lobed capitals form the great order at S. Sergius, and are found at the church usually called Agia Theotokos. Similar capitals belong to the upper order at S. Vitale, and others are found at S. Mark's. Some of the nave columns of S. Demetrius at Salonica have fine capitals of this type which although MARBLE MASONRY 257 evidently derived from the last probably also originated in the fifth century. Bowl Type, III. — These, the great capitals of S. Sophia, seem to have been especially designed for the metropolitan church : the beautiful palm foliage, however, with which they are sculptured is found again at Parenzo and on a capital in the Ravenna museum said to have been brought from Pomposa. The church at Parenzo was begun in 535. Byzantine Ionic, IV. — These occur in their perfected form of block capital fully sculptured in S. Sergius and at the palace of Hormisdas in Constantinople, also in the upper order at S. Sophia, Salonica. Examples are also found at Venice. In their earlier form of transition from the " Ionic with a plain dosseret " an immense number are found in the sub terranean structures of Constantinople. An example has been found in Chalcis.1 Bird and Basket, V. — S. Sophia furnishes two examples, but there is no proof that they originally belonged to the building. Another example is in Cairo. That at S. Clemente, Rome, is signed with the name of John Mercurius ; Piranesi figures a capital of this kind from the Palazzo Mattei, bearing a monogram which is indecipherable in his plate. Period, end of fifth century and beginning of sixth. Byzantine Corinthian Type, VI- — These are of great variety ; we will only mention one. In the portico of John Studius the acanthus leaves are doubled, one leaf lying over and within another, so that a double row of serrations is shown around the margins (see figure in Salz.). Similar capitals are found in S. Demetrius, Salonica, and at S. Mark's, Venice. This particular form is probably nearly concurrent with the last, possibly a little earlier. Wind-blown Acanthus, VII, is represented at Constanti nople by two examples forming bases for the posts of a wooden porch to a house near Gul Jami, and another is found in the cistern usually called after Arcadius or Pulcheria. Absolutely similar capitals are found in S. Sophia, Salonica (circa 490) and one occurs at S. Demetrius. At Ravenna fine examples are dated by bearing the monogram of Theodoric. 1 Mittheilungen, etc., Arch. Inst. Athens, 1889, xiv. 286. S 258 S. SOPHIA tmmm^M Oftftft Others at S. Apollinare in Classe resemble the last so closely that we doubt their having been made specially for the church built in 534-549. An example was found in Chaleis with the Ionic capital just referred to and De Vogiie figures one from Syria. Period, say 425 to 525. The seven most typical Byzantine orders were thus being wrought concurrently at the end of the fifth century, and it seems that the three last did not long outlast this century. The others in their central types probably did not continue in use much beyond the sixth century. After this time somewhat coarse varieties of Byzantine Corinthian, or Type I., were mostly used. The evidence of the original block in the fully sculptured finished work which we find in the most characteristic examples of the Byzantine capitals is of primary importance in all marble sculpture, and differentiates the work of the chisel from being a mere stone model of a clay model which is prac tically what most modern sculpture has become. In many of these capitals the vertical strip shown in Fig. 5 5 left in the finished work furnishes a further suggestion of the block from whence they were hewn. Shafts and Bases. — The usual theory that the Byzantines wrought but few new marble shafts does not bear scrutiny. Byzantine shafts have neckings of very slight projection, thus obviating the waste of labour and material of Roman work.1 The shafts of the baptistery loggia at S. Sophia, Mr. Brindley has shown us a photograph of a half worked Byzantine column with a flat necking, still attached in a horizontal position to the rock on its underside while the upper part is rounded. UCS33K2 C Fig. 58. — Bronze Annulets of Columns. MARBLE MASONRY Fig. 59.— Marble Pedestals and Skirting Slabs. figured by Salzenberg, furnish good examples ; sometimes the necking,, as to the square marble pillars, is a simple broad fillet of about a quarter of an inch projection. The hundred round shafts of S. Sophia exhibit a remarkable and beautiful structural expedient by which the necking is entirely sup pressed, and bronze annulets surround the shaft under the capital and above the base ; which prevent the shafts from sliding or splitting, and retain the lead beds from being forced out by the weight (see Choisy, p. 15). Large monolithic shafts were the more apt to split, as they had to be set up contrary to the direction of the quarry strata. Fig. 58 represents these bronze zones in association with the great capitals and bases. The pedestals of the exedra columns a a, next figure, are worked together with the bases s 2 z6o S. SOPHIA Fig. 60. — Cornice Profiles. in one stone. In these profiles we again see how little the mouldings disturb the original form. Responds. — A very remarkable feature in the interior, is the way in which the colour of the marble columns of the arcade is reflected as it were on the responds, where the arches fall on the great square piers. A strip of porphyry or verde antique, the width and height of the free shafts, is inlaid into the marble casing of the piers absolutely flush, the edge being only defined by a line of the notched fillet. A flat sculptured slab at the top echoes the capital, and a base slab of mouldings worked in a vertical plane ranges with the bases of the columns. Salzenberg's plate does not render this feature properly, the " capital " is flat and has straight sides and instead of the " base " he shows a portion of the wall skirting. Fig. 5 9. shows this base in elevation (B), and section (C), ranging with, the pedestals of the exedra, Columns (A). The way in which the sculptured and inlaid spandrils of the arcades stop against the plain veneer ing of the great piers is also most noteworthy. Cornices and Skirtings. — We give here (Fig. 59, D and E) two profiles of the skirtings where the- principle of working out of thin veneering-slabs is applied to moulded work. The parapet slabs of first floor are worked in a very similar MARBLE MASONRY 261 way ; Salzenberg shows design of front, and they bear flat lozenges between two crosses at the back. See Fig. 6 1 . The cornices of the interior, which really formed walks for the lamplighters, are made up of no regular combination of curves ; they project steeply forward, the general slanting plane being little disturbed (A, Fig. 60) ; they are decorated with rows of acanthus, the curved tips of which catch the light in bright points. The cornice of aisle is given at B. We also give a profile of the door-head, which shows how the mouldings conform to a plane of least labour (C). By the jambs and heads being mitred together, the difficulty of working stop ends was also obviated. The mouldings Fig. 61. — Closures between Pillars, Front of Gynaeceum. are not sharp and accurate, as is suggested by Salzenberg's engravings. We may mention here that all the doors entering the church from the narthex have raised marble thresholds, that of the Royal Door being a magnificent piece of verde antique which rises some seven inches above the level of the floor ; the others are of white marble. Windows, &c. — The pierced lattices of the windows also furnish examples of another beautiful method of marble slab construction. The large windows are subdivided by marble posts, between which the pierced lattices make a mere screen. Salzenberg, who found a store-room full of broken fragments, gives a section of a bar. Windows over the western entrances, 262 S. SOPHIA Fig. 62.— Marble Window Lattice. Fig. 63.— Cipollino Slabs with Cross. and another at the foot of the south-west stair, which are similarly pierced out of sheet marble, have a simple meander carved on the bars (Fig. 62); this we suppose to be of the ninth or tenth century. The lower part of the window openings going down to the floors are filled with marble closures, some of which bear flat sculp tured devices, such as a fish in a lozenge, and on the outside a cross ; above this came a second tier of slabs pierced with square open ings, which were possibly covered by marble slabs as opening casements. Some of these closures are translucent ; one in the West Gallery over narthex is the well-known " Shining Window " which is men tioned by Grelot. These transparent slabs of " Phen- gites " were much used in Byzantine architecture. The transparent marble slab windows of S. Miniato are well known. At Ravenna there is a sculptured slab altarfront, through which shone the light of candles placed behind. Placed against the east side of the marble screen now in south gynaeceum MARBLE MASONRY 263 are slabs of cipollino, which bear large crosses standing on circles ; the relief being very slight and the edges softened these show in the faintest way ; each cross extends over two slabs, the joint being down the middle. A similar slab with a cross is now placed in the opening on south side of bema. These cross slabs some seven feet high are beautiful examples of the proper use of marble. (Fig. 63.) Carving. — Of the carved ornament we can only stay to re mark on the large use made of the drill in obtaining points and chains of sharp shadow : and that in the design new motives and old — the acanthus and the vine are found side by side, both equally alive. The acanthus has been redrawn from the leaves which tracery the stones along the shore ; and even the archaic lotus, for centuries degraded into " egg and tongue," buds once again into leaf. sSr* — W — V ^ mi, ¦*#*& i^i A*** i# J- — ULP=^ULff-*JUV: >T£0}&OSK FlG. 64. — Forms on Carved Impost Moulding. CHAPTER XII BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS § I. BRONZE WORK. One of the most interesting facts in connection with the building is the lavish use of bronze in construction and decoration. There is every reason to suppose that the bronze casing of the Royal Doorway entering the church from the narthex, was applied long subsequent to the building of the church. We give in Fig. 65 a sketch of the bronze cornice of this door, with its hooks for the door hangings ; the left hand shows the form towards the narthex, the right hand the interior. The deep-splayed casing, of the cornice resembling a sarcophagus may have suggested the story quoted by Buzantios,1 that the body of S. Irene reposed above this doorway. By comparing it with the adjoining marble door ways, it is apparent that the bronze must be laid over similar marble forms, and that this deep-splayed casing simply covers a marble cornice hacked back to one slanting face. Salzen berg gives a detail of the panel at the centre, and the inscription has already been quoted. Such inscriptions were general at the entering in of ancient churches. For instance, a small church 2 in Palestine has the legend, " This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter in thereat," and a similar inscription is on the lintel of the early church at Corfu.3 An isolated lintel at Constantinople has " Open H. T£.ii)vrTTavTivovia-oXi~, p. 500- 2 Survey of Western Palestine, vol. iii., p. 357. 3 Walsh, A Residence at Constantinople, " Errata " to p. 80. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 265 FIG. 65.— Bronze Casing to Royal Doorway. Scale t,V. me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and praise the Lord." Paulinus says that at the door of his church at Nola was written, " Peace be to thee with peaceful heart and pure, who comest within the secret place of Christ." In a paper on the inscriptions at S. Sophia, by C. G. Curtis and S. Aristarches in the Transactions of the Philological Society 1 of Constantinople the authors point out that S. Sophia was greatly injured by earthquake on the 25th of October, 975, and restored six years afterwards, and say that the form of the letters of the inscription suggests that it was written at this time. Possibly an earthquake gave a very sufficient reason for such a casing, by fracturing the great marble lintel, but there appears to have been a whole series of additions and alterations at this end of the church before this period, and it might very well have been done at the same time as the mosaic above it. All the doors opening into or from the narthex, with one exception, are cased in bronze on a wood foundation about five inches thick, formed into panels. They are all hung in two leaves, and the back edges against the frame are rounded con tinuing top and bottom as pivots on which they revolve. The nine doors entering the church are comparatively plain, each leaf being divided into three panels. The central doors entering the narthex are two panels high, each of which bore a large cross ; these were applied separately, the upper one under a round arch on pilasters, and 1 "EaXXtjv. *iA. %vXX. irapap., vol xvi., I 885, p. 34. j66 S. SOPHIA Fig. 66. — Central Bronze Door entering Narfhe*. Scale about three feet to an inch. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 267 the lower beneath a gable also supported by pilasters. The lower cross is planted on a rock, from which flow the four rivers, symbol of the Gospel preached to the ends of the earth. Part of a verse in the mosaic of the apse at Nola as given by Paulinus makes this symbolism clear. "Christ the rock Of all the church, the base of rock sustains From which as living streams four fountains flow ; The four evangelists, whose words are gone Through every land." The margins, framing the panel of this pair of doors, are decorated with elliptical hollows and pairs of small rosettes alternately (see Fig. 66). The two doors right and left of this central door are less in size ; here each leaf is again divided into two panels. The top one has a relief of a chalice from which rises the stem of a cross with crisp acanthus foliage on either side. The lower panel has a large plain cross. These reliefs are all applied to the panels, the crosses being made up of four arms, which are separately inserted into a central boss. The horizontal arms, and in many instances the whole crosses, have been removed by the Mahommedans. The styles and rails of these doors are inlaid with strap-like forms and gammidae in silver, and engraved with a representation of a setting of gems (see Fig. 67). These inlaid straps, with seal-like ends, exactly repeat the forms found on door-hangings. See Fig. 13. At S. Sophia the forms have certainly been taken from similar veils. The large simplicity of the design of these beautiful bronze doors suggests that they may be of Justinian's time. The doors still further from the centre, right and left, that is to say the two end doors of the five entering the narthex, have each leaf divided into three panels. The top and bottom panels are charged with crosses ; and the centre one, which is smallest, bears an annular boss ; the styles are studded with discs. The south door of narthex, and also the end doors in the west wall ofthe nave are similar to these ; the others in this wall, including the great central door from the narthex, have the big panel in the centre and two smaller ones with circular boss top and bottom (see Fig. 68). 268 S. SOPHIA The outer doors of the porch at the south end of narthex are still more remarkable. The panel margins are made up of cast bronze decorated with meanders, frets, and leaf mouldings, very delicately modelled in high relief. These are evidently of antique workmanship, possibly they may be as late as the fourth century, but they can hardly have been wrought later. The ancient doors have been enlarged by add ing outer margins, consisting of later re lief work, and flat metal studded with little leaf ornaments which form the heads of pins. The panels have been filled with plates of bronze, which bear an inscrip tion ingeniously made up of monograms, arranged on crosses in circles ; these are deeply engraved into the metal plates and filled with silver. It is interesting to find here an example of the damascened work of which some of the doors in Italy brought from Constantinople are such remarkable specimens.1 The letters are beautifully designed, and in all cases the horizonal arm of the cross is above the centre of the circle in which it occurs. Good engravings of these doors are given by Salzenberg, 1 See Bayet, V Art Byzantin. Fig. 67. — Bronze Door of Narthex. four feet to an inch. Scale about BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 269 who however incorrectly transcribes and arranges the inscrip tion on the panels. Of this we here give a corrected version, Fig. 69. (The top line in the figure is actually above the right-hand monograms.) The inscription has been deciphered in the previously mentioned Transactions of the Greek Syllogos at Constanti nople. [eeO(j)IAOV KAl] MIXAHA NlKHTGJN kvpig BOHeei eeocj)iAU) AecnoTH eeoTOKe BOHeei eeoAWPA avi-ovcth XPICT6 BOHeei MIXAHA ACCnOTH 6TOVC ATTO-KTICeOJC KOCMOV STMe INA.A (of Theophilus and) Michael Conquerors (1) Lord, help (2) Theophilos Emperor (3) Mother of God, help (4) Theodora Augusta (5) Christ, help (6) Michael Emperor (7) Year from the creation (8) of the world 6349. Ind. 4 The sixth and eighth monograms show evidence of having been altered. The silver has been removed from the earlier form, and the grooves having been filled up with bronze fresh letters were inlaid : the lines stopped out however show a different colour from the original ground, and so the palimpsest can be read. The revision was made " after the birth of Michael the first son of Theophilus in 839 and his coronation in the year 840.1 Before this time the monogram of John the patriarch, which may still be traced, occupied the position of Michael's monogram: and instead of 6349 Indiction 4, the date was 6347 Indiction 2, thus giving the year beginning September 838, when John the Sixth was Patriarch of Constantinople." 2 The inscription " Michael Conquerors " (which is formed by piercing a bronze plate, not by damascening, as shown by Salzenberg) occupies the top of the right-hand leaf of 1 a.m. 5508 of Byzantine chronology coincides with a.d. i up to September 1st. Indictions were cycles of fifteen years commencing in 312 a.d. Both the years of the world and the Indictions began on September ist. 2 'EAA.i?!'. <6iA.oA. %vXX. iratpap., vol. xvi., p. 30. 270 S. SOPHIA © the door : that on the left corresponding to it is lost. MM. Curtis and Aristarches have restored this as above. The existing words, it is evident, must have been added after Michael's birth and with the alteration of the monograms probably form a memorial of his coronation. Murray's Handbook 1893 sug gests that the word Niketon refers to the restoration of images; but the revision of the inscription was made during the lifetime of Theophilus, who was the last of the icono clastic emperors. Ac cording to Muralt x Theophilus died Jan. 20 a.m. 6350 (842). Just before, feeling himself to be dying, he made the empress swear not to re establish images, and not to depose the patriarch John. Three weeks however after the emperor's death, Methodius was named patriarch. " The vic tory of the image- worshippers was cele brated by the instal lation of the long- banished pictures in S. Sophia on the 19th of February 842, just thirty days after the death of Theophilus."2 It is almost certain that the conjectural restoration is correct for Theophilus and Michael are thus associated in a mural 1 Essai sur la Chronologic Byzantine. 2 Finlay, vol. i., p. 165. © Fig. 68. — Bronze Doors in Narthex. four feet to an inch. Scale about BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 271 IMfflOOMEI Fig. 69.— Inscription Damascened in Silver on Bronze Door. 272 S. SOPHIA inscription1 and Niketes was a common title from Con stantine downwards. On the panels are certain pin-holes2 placed symmetrically between the monograms ; these must have been for the attachment of reliefs. The Anonymous author speaks of doors of " elektron " and of silver dipped in gold, but we cannot rely on this any more than on his 365 doors of ivory. Electrum is incorrectly translated as amber in the last edition of Murray's Guide (1893). Labarte pointed out that enamel forms the right equivalent, and for this interpretation he has ample authority. Theophilus, the Byzantine writer on the arts, continually uses the word for glass enamels, either set as separate jewels, or fused as translucent enamels to a metal base. A note in the English edition of this writer explains that this use of the word was probably extended from amber to cover other transparent bodies of similar appearance. From the lavish way in which enamel was used about the tenth century it is possible that some of the doors such as those in the iconostasis might have been enamelled. As to the " dipping " of silver or bronze with gold the Silentiary tells us that Justinian " overlaid with gold " the bronze zones of the columns ; and the annulets of the porphyry columns at the east entrance still show gilding. Buzantios 3 quotes from a MS. chemical treatise in the Paris library which mentions " dipping bronze like the doors of S. Sophia," and Fossati says the head of the Royal Door was gilt. Theophilus explains in detail how bronze or silver might be gilt by fire-gilding, the process here called dipping. The copper in the bronze had to be pure and free from lead. The gold was ground very fine and cooked with mercury. This amalgam was then applied to the surface with a copper bit, like that plumbers use in soldering, and polished with a wire brush. We have given sketches of the bronze collars which surround the columns, at the junction of capital and shaft, 1 Mordtmann, p. 36. 2 Shown in Salzenberg's plate. 3 H. KwraravrivoiOToAis, vol. i. p. 500 BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 273 and just above the bases. The porphyry columns in the two western exedras have many intermediate annulets at unequal heights ; these in some cases were doubtless intended to bind up longitudinal fractures in the shafts, which show in many places ; but in other instances they appear to cover the junction of separate drums of porphyry. These are all shown in Grelot's interior view. The principal collars are certainly of the time of Justinian ; those under the capitals have square metal bosses or boxes covering the point where they meet and are pinned together. These "seals" of the great order bear the monograms of Justinian and Theodora. The annulets at the base are made continuous at the joint, and have the appearance of being brazed : those of the main order are now kept brightly polished. One of the base annulets in the north gallery is signed by a mono gram as the work " of Stephen." 1 Besides the hooks, in the form of upturned fingers, for the hangings at the bronze door, similar hooks occur in the marble lintels of the doors in the narthex and the exonarthex. -mosaic. The mosaics of figures exposed at the time of Fossati's repairs are many of them figured by Salzenberg, although his harshly coloured diagrams can but very inadequately represent the beauty of the originals. We give here his descriptive text in a slightly condensed form as a basis for our own remarks. Dethier 2 asserts that only a part of the mosaics discovered were published by Salzenberg, and that Fossati preserved others inedited in his portfolios.3 The mosaics are formed of glass of various colours cut into small pieces and applied to the vaults with a cement. The gold mosaic was made by laying leaf gold on the glass, which was then covered by a thin film of glass to protect the surface. Silver mosaic was made in the same way. The gold 1 Curtis, Broken Bits of Byz., part ii. 2 Le Bosphore et Constantinople, 1873. 3 See below, p. 287. 274 s- SOPHIA was used, in spite of its apparent abundance, with great economy. For instance, in vertical spaces high up and only visible from almost immediately beneath, the tesserae are arranged in horizontal rows at a distance of two or three tesserae from each other with their upper edges projecting. The projecting edge of the lower row hides the bare space between it and the row above. There is thus a saving of more than half the material, and great play of light is obtained. The tympana of the aisles are covered in this way. The coloured tesserae are set in the usual way, as the difficulties involved by the other method in the curves of the ornament would outweigh the saving of material. Besides gold and silver, red, blue, and green are the principal colours ; though others are used in the heads of the figures. The vaulting throughout was covered with a back ground of gold, on which are conventional patterns that follow the forms of the construction. Some of the spaces have representations of figures. In the bands of ornament are gamma-crosses [swastikas], hearts, leaves, and crosses, placed in circles, squares, and other figures. There are no sharp arrises to the vaults, but patterned bands are placed on the rounded edges. The vault of the narthex has its wide transverse bands adorned with gamma-crosses. In the domed portions between the transverse arches are diagonal bands which culminate in a circle inclosing a cross.1 The vaults of the gynaeceum, perhaps because they were visible from the nave, are more elaborate than those of the aisles below.2 Salzenberg's Plate xxv. shows the western dome on the south side, on which is represented the descent of the Holy Spirit : the arches have the same ornament as those below.3 Details of the dome are given in Salzenberg's Plate xxvi. The edges of the ribs and window openings are 1 See Salz., plate xxiii. Fig. 2 is one of the tympana, the centre one has figures : fig. 3 transverse arches ; fig. 5 soffite of a window. 2 Salzenberg's plate xxiv. gives details of the lower aisles. 3 Fig. 2 is the barrel vault near the window ; fig. 3 arches and vault adjoining ; fig. 6 the intrados of the arches opening to the nave; fig. 7 a pattern of the west gynaeceum. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 275 covered with bands of ornament. The faces of the ribs have alternate^ squares and crosses, which decrease in size as they get higher. The central space has lost its figure subject, but it is surrounded by a wide border.1 The sides of the window openings are lined with silver mosaic. The lower part of the dome is not decorated, as the projecting cornice hides it from below.2 The edges of the exedrarconchs have bands similar to those on the great arches, and the same pattern occurs again on the edges of the eastern barrel vault, and the bema apse.3 The rest of the decoration of the surface of the apses has disappeared. Over the centre door from the narthex to the nave is repre sented Christ on a throne, holding a Gospel open at the words, " I am the Light of the world : Peace be with you." A monarch is prostrate before him, and in medallions on either side are Mary the Intercessor, and Michael the Protector.4 The nimbus of Christ has three rays, and His hand blesses in the Greek manner, by which the fingers represent the initial and final letters of Jesus Christus. The undergarment has broad gold stripes worked on it, and the lights are given in silver ; it seems to be of silk, the upper garment appears to be of a white woollen stuff. The great western arch has a medallion of the Virgin at the crown, and full lengths of Peter and Paul at the sides, Peter on the south ; however, only a few remnants of these figures are now left. The border which surrounds the medallion of the Virgin has colours of the rainbow, the circle of her halo is red ; the flesh colour is fair, and the eyes are blue. The veil is blue, with a gold cross, and the cloak is also blue. Under the veil is a kind of band round the head, like that which the Spanish Jews of Constantinople wear ; it is of a blue green colour with dark stripes ; the hair is not visible. Her nimbus has three silver rays on a gold ground ; her hands 1 Plate xxvi., fig. 6. 2 See fig. 3 for this cornice, the band beneath, and the edges of the great arches. 3 Fig. 7 gives the borders ofthe windows in semidomes. 4 Salz., plate xxvii. T 2 276 S. SOPHIA rest on the shoulders of the Child, whose right hand blesses, while the left holds the book of the Gospel. Peter's face is dark, the nimbus is blue, the garment is bluish green, and the gold rod, surmounted by a cross, has red and blue bands. He thus has the same insignia as the St. Peter on the Ciborium Curtain, and it is this which, in the mosaic, identifies the figure as Peter, for there is no inscription. Porphyrogenitus, in his life of Basil, mentions that when the western arch was restored the pictures of the Virgin, and the Apostles Peter and Paul were placed there by that emperor. The figure of Paul has an upper garment of green with silver lights, and the undergarment is a greenish yellow. The whole figure is about seventeen feet high, but the head is wanting.1 On the large semicircular walls beneath the northern, and southern dome-arches are a number of figures in mosaic. The seven arched recesses were filled with representations of martyrs and bishops ; above, between the windows, were six smaller figures of prophets, and a larger figure at each end. At the height of the upper row of windows were probably the archangels, but of these only the feet remain. The figures that now exist are the following. In the recesses on the south side, the second from the east is Anthimos, Bishop of Nicomedia, martyred in 311 : in the third is Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, martyred, in 379. 2 The fourth recess from the east has Gregory Theologos, Patriarch of Constantinople from 378 to 383. The next figure is Dionysius the Areopagite ; who was converted by St. Paul, and became, tradition says, Bishop of Athens. In the sixth recess is Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who died, in 330. This figure is partly destroyed. The seventh, is Gregory, Bishop of Armenia, who died in 325.3 The figure of Isaiah, which is to the east of the row of windows, had been covered up (when Salzenberg made his drawings), but it was described by Fossati as having an undergarment of green with silver lights, and over it a cloak of a white woollen stuff. The right hand pointed towards 1 Salz. xxxii., fig. 4. 2 Salz.,. plate xxviii. 3 Salz., plate xxix. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 277 the bema, and in the left was an open scroll with the inscription, " Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son." Under the figure was a monogram.1 Higher up again on the same wall was the inscription : — AIT ... . THCAOANATOT CO(b|AC HPA .... TOTKEAKHPATtON .... The recesses of the north wall have no mosaics [see below, p. 287.] At the height of the windows, the first figure beginning ¦ from the east is Jeremiah.2 The undergarment has stripes of blue and red, and the upper represents a russet-coloured woollen stuff. The right hand blesses, the left has an open , roll [with the inscription shown in the plate, " This is our God ; no other shall be compared to Him."].3 The figure between the first and second window is probably Jonas, as AC still remains on the right side of the head, and there is only room for three letters on the other side. The undergarment is a greenish blue with silver lights, and has broad red stripes. The nimbus is blue. Over the head of this figure is found the remnant of an inscription NTIAOC. This may have belonged to one of the figures above, of which a sandaled foot and edge of a garment alone remain. The foot does not stand upon green earth, like the prophets below, and therefore probably belonged to an angel. Only a part remains of the third prophet from the east, which was inscribed Habakkuk.4 The mosaics on the soffite of the eastern arch were covered before drawings were made. At the crown is a medallion with a white ground. In this is a low throne of gold, with two green cushions upon it ; over them is thrown a blue cloth with a white hem, and upon that is placed a golden book. Above is also a gold cross with three arms ; the middle one is the longest, and at its intersection with the upright member is a circle. On the south face of this 1 Reading KYPIE. 2 Salz., plate xxx. 3 The figure of Jeremiah at S. Clemente, Rome, bears the same inscription. 4 Salz., plate xxv., fig. 3. 278 S. SOPHIA eastern arch is the figure of John the Baptist, with long hair, and a brown shaggy garment ; his right hand blesses, and his left holds a cross with three arms. Opposite, on the north side is the Virgin, with uplifted hands in the attitude of prayer. She has a white undergarment, bound with a golden girdle, a red upper garment, and a veil of a green- blue, with a gold hem. Under her is John Palaeologus, who restored this part, and to whose time these figures and designs certainly belong. The emperor wears a crown, with strings of pearls on either side. He has a closely fitting undergarment of gold, decorated with pearls and embroidery. A magnificent cloak hangs down from the left shoulder, and round the neck and breast is a kind of broad gorget richly embroidered. In his right hand is a sceptre, and in his left a roll. The archangel on the south side of the bema vault 1 has a globe in the left hand, and a staff in the right. He is clad in white, with imperial red shoes. The arch of the apse bears an inscription, which ends with the letters CCie TTAAIN. On the conch of the apse is the Mother of God upon a throne, holding the Child between her knees ; her upper garment, which is blue, conceals the whole figure, except that at the breast, under the arm, and above the feet, the white and gold garment beneath is visible. The Child has his right hand uplifted, and his left against his breast. He wears a white garment, with a gold girdle. His hair falls down freely, and the nimbus has three streams of light. The throne is gold with red ornaments, but is without a back, and the footstool is of green silk. In the dome pendentives are Cherubim with six wings. Each head is four feet two inches high. The upper feathers of the wings are a light green, and the under feathers brown.2 The great centre-piece of ' the dome, which, according to Du Cange, represented Christ as Judge of the World seated upon a rainbow, no longer exists. Only one of the domes of the gynaeceum preserves its mosaic ornament of figures. This 3 represents the descent of 1 Salz., plate xxii. 2 Salz., plate xxxi. 3 Salz., plate xxxi. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 279 the Holy Spirit. Only a part remains of the throne in the centre ; on it is a green cushion, and a blue cloth with gold patterns. Groups of spectators fill the pendentives of the vault. Above the doorway which leads from the western gynaeceum to the chambers over the south porch, are remains of figures, which can no longer be identified.1 In the ceiling of the chamber over the stairway is a design of green tendrils on a gold ground.2 The small dome in the chamber which opens out of the western buttress of the south side on the first-floor level has four angels with uplifted hands, supporting a medallion in the centre. This design is similar to that in the side chapel at S. Prassede at Rome. " The figure representations belong to the time of Justinian, though the Silentiary, otherwise so accurate, does not describe them." First Scheme. — A reading of Salzenberg's notes on the figure mosaics will show how little ground there was for his impression that these belonged to the time of Justinian, which the last sentence expresses. Several of these mosaics are dated as being parts of restorations. Thus he shows that Basil I. placed figures on the arch of the great western hemicycle, and that those of the great eastern arch are the work of Palaeologus. The subject has been much obscured by insecure assump tions and inexact assertions. Labarte, who was one of the first to doubt that Justinian was intended by the figure of the kneeling emperor before Christ over the Royal Door, thought that the Silentiary described figure-mosaics as covering the interior.3 Gerspach in La Mosaique calls the emperor ' Justinian ' and appears to mistake the Pentecost cupola for the great dome. In regard to the date of the lunette containing the emperor, Labarte suggested that it was a work of the seventh century, and that the emperor was Heraclius.4 Woltmann and Woermann placed it still later 1 Salz., plate xxxi., fig. 7. 2 Ibid, fig 8. 3 Arts Industries. * Hist, of Painting, vol. i., p. 234. 280 S. SOPHIA and write, " There is no kind of resemblance between the beardless portrait of Justinian at Ravenna and this bearded, gray-headed man. It is more likely to be Basil I. the restorer of the western apse, and this opinion is supported by the miniatures of his time." The pilgrim Anthony seems to refer to it as Leo the Wise, but the Russians ascribe so many works to this emperor without reason that this is in conclusive. The forms of the letters in the inscriptions, however, show that the mosaic is late. Bayet,1 who has considered the mosaics afresh, and thinks the silence of Paulus is conclusive as to the absence of figure-mosaics when the poem was written, about 562, himself seems to misread some parts of the poet's description ; thus he thinks patterns in mosaic are intended in lines 607 — 6 1 2. The animals of the atrium may possibly have been of glass mosaic : but we think it more likely that inlaid marble like the dolphins of the interior (Fig. 49) is intended. The baskets of fruit, branches with birds, and the golden vine in the church, spoken of in lines 668, &c. seem to refer to the carved and gilt surfaces of the spandrils of the arcade, not to the mosaic, as Bayet supposes. The figure scheme, so far as it can be traced, closely agrees with the Byzantine Manual of Painting : and the subjects and treatments can be associated with work in other churches of the ninth and tenth centuries which have in several cases almost identical designs. Altogether it may be doubted if a single figure belongs to a time anterior to the iconoclastic period of the eighth century. We believe the original scheme of decoration is best accounted for without figures, and even if this were not so, we can hardly believe that in the Patriarchal Church at the door of the Palace figures would have lasted through the reigns of the iconoclastic emperors and patriarchs, as they may well have done in remoter churches where the clergy were on the other side. Leo issued his first decree against images in 726. Its purport was not, as is often stated, that pictures should be hung higher in the churches in order that people should not adore them 1 Rec her c he s. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 3^ Fig. 70. — Mosaic of small Vault Compartment next the Bema. by kissing : " it commanded that they should be totally abolished."1 It is well known that a figure of Christ over the entrance to the palace was destroyed by Leo the Isaurian. Dr. Walsh, who was chaplain to our embassy at the Porte about 1820, writes, " There stood till very lately in Constantinople an inscription over the gate of the palace called Chalces. Under a large cross sculptured over the entrance to the palace were the following words : — " ' The emperor cannot endure that Christ should be represented (graphes) a mute and lifeless image graven on earthly materials. But Leo and his young son Constantine have at their gates engraved the thrice-blessed representation of the cross, the glory of believing monarchs.' " 2 1 Bury, vol. ii. 432. 2 R. Walsh, Essays on Ancient Coins, 13 'c, 1828, gives the Greek. 282 S. SOPHIA In 768 Nicetas, the patriarch under Constantine, Leo's son, is said to have destroyed " the images of gold mosaic and wax encaustic " in all the churches of Constantinople.1 And in the life of Theophilus we read, " throughout every church the figures of the saints were destroyed, and the forms of beasts and birds were painted in their places." 2 It is quite certain from Procopius and the poem of the Silentiary that the vaults of Justinian's church were covered with mosaic. They both describe the brilliance of the gold glittering surface, but do not mention any figures. In such detailed descriptions this silence goes far to show that there was originally no storied scheme of imagery, like that which the Poet so fully traced out on the curtains and iconosta sis. It seems equally certain that where, describing the dome on the strong arches, overhanging the interior like the firmament which rests on air, he says, " at the highest point was depicted (epigraphe) the cross, Protector of the City," we are to understand that a great cross in mosaic expanded its arms on the zenith of the dome, and that the background was strewn with stars. Now this is a well-known scheme, and it is found at an earlier date in the chapel of Galla Placidia at Ravenna, and later it is mentioned by Porphyro genitus in a description of a domed apartment in the palace. The stars on the dome are more than once referred to in the poem (page 2,^)1 and it lS probable that the surfaces between the ribs as well as the central circle had gold stars set in azure, the ribs being of gold ; nothing less would seem to justify " the firmament of the roof its rounded expanse sprinkled with the stars of heaven." It is evident that, however easily figures and pictures might be added here and there at various dates, the church, being once incrusted with mosaic, would at no subsequent time have had the enormous areas of tesserae removed to be again renewed. It follows that the ground, and any patterns evenly distributed in every part of the vaults, are assuredly of the first work. First among such designs is a jewelled 1 American Journ. Archaol., iv. 143. 2 Theoph. Cont. ed. Bonn, p. 99. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 283 cross thirteen feet high, which is blazoned on both ground floor and gallery vaults, and which must have been repeated some twelve times twelve. We give an outline of one of the smallest vault compartments in the church, the irregular space to the east directly south of the bema : here three of the crosses can still be seen through Fossati's colouring, their interlocking arms spreading over the whole field. This form of cross, with lobed ends, is found set in a circle of stars, in the mosaic apsoid of S. Apollinaris in Classe. (Fig. 70.) A similar argument applies to other forms which occur with equal frequency. A square panel of ornament which alternates with the crosses, certain diapers, the bands up the edges of the aisle vaults, and the small circles each containing the six-armed cross or monogram at the centre of these compartments, would all seem to be parts of the original work, and these simple elements we believe formed the first scheme of decoration. Texier figures a mosaic from Salonica made up of crosses. The splendid simplicity of such a scheme seems entirely in harmony with S. Sophia, for even figures would disturb the beauty of the expanse which at each movement glitters like a web of golden mail swayed by a breeze. Later Mosaics. — For the mosaics displaying figures we refer back to Salzenberg's description. Much further in formation might have been gathered if he had given copies of the inscriptions which exist, in however incomplete a state. His section (Plate x.) shows that a long inscription surrounded the arch of the apse, but in his text he only gives the last few letters C€ie TTAAIN; this possibly belonged to the words avea-Ttja-eie tr&Xiv, " Set up again," and the whole may have contained the name of the emperor under whom this restoration was effected. (See below, p. 287.) On the great lunette of the wall of the south side also, where the tiers of saints and prophets seem a part of a scheme representing the Church triumphant, or a Benedicite, two monograms occur (see Salzenberg's Plate ix.) ; only the first, which reads KYPie, is figured in the text; it is evidently a part of the well-known invocation, ' Lord, help,' which requires the name of an emperor or artist to complete it. 284 S. SOPHIA An inscription between these monograms is partly given in the text ; and supposing it to be correctly rendered the whole probably read " Lord, help " (name who painted this wall) " of the Immortal Wisdom " (with the figures) " of the saints ". The entire later scheme of the mosaics must have corresponded closely to that in the New Church in the palace built by Basil, which is described by Porphyrogenitus. Here, at the centre of the dome, was the human form of Christ embracing the whole world in His regard ; below were ranges of angels. In the apse was the figure of the Virgin with arms uplifted in prayer, " a choir of apostles, martyrs, prophets and patriarchs filled the other spaces of the whole church." This in turn re sembles very closely the icono graphy at S. Luke's. The following instances may be given of the agreement of the mosaics at S. Sophia with the instructions of the Painter's Manual. For example, it directs that over the door of entrance from the narthex Christ be represented throned, holding the Gospel open at the words, " I am the Door : by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved." At each side the Virgin and the Prodromos are to be represented. The figure to Christ's left at S. Sophia, called Michael by Salzenberg, Grelot tells us was the Prodromos and he probably followed the traditional ascription, although the type seems to agree better with an archangel. Again, " Inside the Sanctuary at the centre of the vaults draw the Virgin seated on a throne holding Christ as a little child." 1 This exactly describes the apsoid mosaic at S. Sophia. The cupola of the gynaeceum, representing the 1 A composition of this kind at Parenzo appears to go up to the sixth or seventh century. Fig. 71-' — Restoration of Throne at Crown of Pentecost Dome. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 285 descent of the Holy Spirit, is also in close agreement with the directions given in the Manual : — " The Holy Spirit is seen in the form of a dove, twelve tongues of fire go out from it and rest on the apostles." This subject is treated at S. Luke's in a manner almost identical to that at S. Sophia, and it is also found in a dome at S. Mark's. Diehl in his examination of the mosaics at S. Luke's has pointed out that the central circle of the Pentecost cupola at S. Sophia as shown by Salzenberg in Plate xxxi. is quite insufficient to have contained the figure of Christ as shown in the restoration given on Plate xxvi., and that consequently the Holy Spirit as a Dove really occupied this position as at S. Luke's. In Fig. 71 we give an amended restoration of this centre ; it will be seen from Salzenberg's text that he had no evidence for a figure. The two angels above the sanctuary are described by Salzenberg as bearing lances or banner poles ; these were doubtless surmounted ATIOC by Flabella bearing the words ATIOC as at S. Luke's and AHOC Nicaea.1 There is a very similar angel holding a flabellum of this, kind in the tenth century Menologium ; and the words Holy, Holy, Holy, are directed to be put on flabella in the manual. Again the Manual says, " At the summit of these vaults (opening from the dome) draw the holy Veil to the east and opposite to it the holy Cup." Now in Grelot's view of the interior, made when many of the mosaics were still visible, he shows a large square mosaic at the crown of the bema vault directly over the altar, which he says was " the picture of Christ's face upon a napkin called Veronica." The representation of the throne at the centre of the soffite of the eastern arch (see p. 277) is one of the most beautiful symbolisms of Byzantine art. At Nicaea the same design occurs in a similar position on the triumphal arch, and it is inscribed ETOIMACIA TOV GPONOV. This " Preparation of the throne " referred to the second coming of Christ. Our figure represents a throne of this kind 1 SeeDiehlin Byz. Zeits., 1893. 286 S. SOPHIA which we offer as an illustration of that at S. Sophia ; it is based on a throne inscribed H ETHMACIA which appears on the cover of a Byzantine Gospel book at S. Mark's.1 The small dome of the little chapel on the first floor, Salzenberg says, resembles a dome at S. Prassede. The latter is a work of the ninth century.2 Salzenberg's description seems to account for all the figured mosaics mentioned by Grelot (1680) except the " Veronica over the sanctuary." When Grelot made his drawing there was no figure at the crown of the dome but only the bands rising to the central wreath. Clavijo how ever writes, " The vault of the square is covered with very rich mosaic work, and in the middle of the vault high over the great altar the image of God the Father very large is wrought in mosaics of many colours ; but it is so high up that it only looks the size of a man or a little larger though really it is so big that it measures three palmos between the eyes." This must be the Pantocrator of the Manual — " draw near the summit of the cupola a circle of different colours like a rainbow seen on clouds in rainy weather. In the centre represent Christ with the Gospel and this inscription, Jesus Christ, the Almighty." Since the above has been in type we have found a pamphlet published by the brothers Fossati in 1890,3 describing a col lection of drawings of S. Sophia, shown by them at Milan. From this we gather the following additional particulars of the mosaic subjects. — Over the door of the south porch " was a remarkable mosaic representing the Virgin and Child, to whom Justinian presents the Church and Constantine the City." — A representation of Christ, the Virgin, and S. John, 1 // Tesoro. 2 Perate, Arch'eol. Chr'etienne, with figure, p. 265. 3 Relievi storico artistici sulla architettura Bizantina. Fig. 72. — Restoration Throne at Crown of Great E. Arch. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 287 forming the Trimorphion (Pantocrator, Pantochrante, Pante- popte.) — Two groups of the Fathers of the Church, thirteen altogether : Ignatius Oneos, Methodius, Ignatius Theophorus, Gregory Thaumaturgus, John Chrysostom, Cyril, and Atha- nasius. [These must occupy the seven recesses on the north window-wall, as the six others agree with those given by Salzenberg on the south side]. — The Pantocrator on a throne [? supposed centre of Pentecost dome]. — John Palaeologus [? with the Virgin on north side of great east arch, p. 278]. — John Comnenus and Irene with the Virgin between them. — Constantine XI. and Zoe with Christ between them. — Alexius Comnenus X. or XI. — Alexander, the brother of Leo [some of these also were doubtless on the great east and west arches]. — Three Virgins. — S. John with six apostles surrounded by cherubim [? in higher part of one of the window-walls, p. 277]. — Prophets [? of window-wall, p. 276]. — A circle with colossal Pantocrator [? the destroyed centre of the great dome]. — Different emblems with Greek and Latin descriptions. Besides these, a drawing of Cherubim " saved from the Atrium Portico " is mentioned ; and the inscription on the arch in front of the apse is given as follows, and may be compared with Salzenberg's Plate x. : — HIANIPCEIAP HPANeEOHAPIHAP eECICHNANEAICElE TTAPIN. The earliest description of the mosaics entering into any particulars is that of Dr. Covel's MS. 1670-7 in the British Museum. " In those cupolas [of gynaeceum] are imagery of Saints and the story of the Bible which the Turks have in many places quite defaced and plastered them all over ; in other places only scratched out or disfigured their faces as the cherubims in the corners under the great dome." He then enters into details of the pentecost dome which was the only figured vault entire ; and then describes mosaics in the western gallery not otherwise mentioned. " In the sides of the second window [from the south], is Christ coming up from Jordan and the Descent of the Holy Ghost with these words, Matt, iii., 17 : — OTTOCCCTIN, &c, on one side and over against it, Christ between Moses and Elias with these D 288 S. SOPHIA words, Matt, xvii., 5 : — OYTOC, &c." The window jambs of the western gallery are now plastered, it is probable that a series of mosaics of the life of Christ covered them. Up to 1840 every visitor seems to have been offered tesserae, which for better assurance were broken out before his eyes. The Italian MS. of 1 6 1 1 also in the British Museum (Harl. 3408), after saying that the walls of the church werelinedwith marble adds, " the porch as well, except that this is all worked in mo saic with grow ing leaves of great beauty down to the pavement of the porch." 1 Signor Boni has noticed that some of the gold tes serae at Pa renzo are in serted at an angle of 30° to the plane ofthe wall, so as to be normal to the line of vision, just as Salzenberg describes at S. Sophia ; the same thing occurs at the Dome of the Rock. This, besides saving the material, aided in flashing the light, a property of the gold tesserae which was much valued, as several inscriptions from the mosaics show.2 In S. Maria in Domnica, the apse — " Nunc rutilat jugiter variis decor ata metallis," again in S. Maria in Trastevere the vault " divini 1 See note above the index. 2 // Duomo di Parenzo, p. 26. ddo DDClD Dana ddqd Fig. 73. — Mosaic Tesserae, actual size. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 289 rutilat fulgore decoris," and at S. Paulo fuori le Mura the mosaic — "fulget fulgente decore." We have examined a handful of gold tesserae from S. Sophia through the kindness of Mr. James Powell. The cubes average a quarter of an inch in size, the glass is yellowish, slightly amethyst or dark green. The surface layer equals stout paper in thickness. At the back of the tesserae a dusty red appears, which under a glass proves to be of powdered tile. This roughens and adheres to the surface of the glass, which was evidently sanded with the powder while in a molten state, and of course before it was broken into morsels. The first purpose of this without doubt was to increase the hold of the cubes to the cementing material, but the reddening — almost like a coat of vermilion paint — may probably have assisted the gold to show out better than if the tesserae had been fixed without it into the perfectly white stucco which forms the bed. The cementing material was an inch or more in thickness, formed of lime with broken reed for binding, and a considerable amount of crushed white marble, in the part next the mosaic at least. § 3. GLASS, PLASTER AND PAINTING. The Romans probably largely used coloured glass for windows. The lattices were sometimes bronze or thin slabs of marble pierced into a pattern.1 Sidonius (f 484), describing the basilica of Tours, clearly mentions the patterned windows of green and sapphire glass.2 It has been suggested that some of the windows at S. Sophia were filled with glass of brilliant colour. Theophilus, in his preface to the section of his work dealing with coloured glass, says, " I have approached the atrium of Holy Sophia, and beheld the chancel filled with every variety of divers colours." He proceeds to describe windows of painted glass in which the pieces are united by leads : but assuredly, if coloured windows did exist in the apse of S. Sophia, the glass was inserted in pierced marble, like 1 Middleton, Anc. Rome, i. 31. 2 See Labarte, Arts Indust., vol. iii., p. 331. 290 S. SOPHIA the plaster lattices of the Orientals. Beautiful windows of brilliant-hued glass exist in the mosques and turbehs. The Arab lattices show us what beautiful mosaics of jewels may be formed in this way ; the singular charm of them is the spreading and blending of the colours, by reflection from the sides of the thick dividing bars ; lumps of crystal seem to have been used occasionally in place of glass. Most beauti ful ' braided ' Byzantine lattices of marble are to be found at S. Mark's which would be well characterised as Ovpat, 8eSt,KTvopt,ei>ai which according to Lenoir was the name of these windows. If coloured glass was used in S. Sophia, we think it can only have been in small windows of this kind in the apse and conchs. Labarte thought, from the descriptions of Procopius and Paulus, that the windows were of white glass which allowed the rays of the sun to shine through unaltered. It is hardly possible to conceive of the great windows being of anything else than white glass. A fragment of " ancient crystalline " glass from S. Sophia was exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries in 1876. It is described as only " one sixteenth of an inch thick, and nearly colourless except for iridescence." Grelot remarked that the plain glazing was " of round panes set in plaster," but this must refer to the gradual filling round of the panes by repairs, as may at present be seen in the baptistery windows ; although circular panes in a plaster setting were much used in Byzantine work, the glass being spun in separate discs of slightly varying sizes was inserted in marble or plaster slabs in different com binations. Windows of this kind remained in the apse of the Theotokos church twenty years ago. Dr. Covel is precise as to S. Sophia in 1676; he says the windows were " cut out of entire stone into quarries exactly square," 10 by 12 or 14 inches. " In the first window of the west gallery (coming in on the south side), are several pieces of white transparent stone which I take to be Indian alabaster." Modelled stucco work was much used by late Greek, Roman, and Byzantine builders. Paulinus tells us that at Nola " a cornice of gypsum " separated the mosaic and BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 291 >uuuurm, 1. i i p I j ummjp Fig. 74. — Plaster Friezes of Gynaeceum. marble of the apse. A large number of examples from the fourth to the sixth century are found in Rome, Parenzo, and Ravenna. "About the middle of the fifth century Galla Placidia built the church of S. Croce in Ravenna ' of very precious stones, and with stucco (gypsea) modelled with the tool ' (Agnellus. Lib. Pontif i. 283). Decorative stuccoes in' the apse of S. Ambrose at Milan were destroyed thirty years ago, as they were supposed to be ' Baroque.' Dartein analysed the material and found that it contained 85 per cent, of plaster (gesso), a little lime, sand and brick- dust or pozzolana." " The rich decoration of the Chapel of S. Maria at Cividale (eighth to tenth century), and the Arab- Norman modelled stuccoes of Sicily show that the traditions of this kind of ornament were not lost at a later time." 1 In the churches of Greece this material is largely used, and its application in Arab work was due to Byzantine example. At S. Sophia an ornamental plaster frieze runs along both sides of the south porch : this is a scroll throwing out acanthus leaves and fruits like poppy seed-vessels. The background is coloured blue. The flat frieze-like cornice of the first floor ornamented with two patterns of leafage appears to us to be of stucco ; we figure these here, but we have not been able to verify the material. If of stucco, as we suppose, it is cast or stamped in small square panels as shown : certainly some of the Byzantine plaster-work, as for instance that forming the cornice of the apse at S. Apollinare in Classe, was cast in short sections and then applied. 1 Boni, // Duomo di Parenzo, pp. 4, 5. U 2 292 S. SOPHIA The blue background of the plastered frieze just men tioned may remind us of the decoration of the beam above the columns of the ambo with gold ivy leaves on a back ground coloured ultramarine as described by the poet. (The spade-like leaves which occur in several places in the mosaic must be ivy.) This decoration of gold and " sapphire " seems to have been general in Byzantine work. The sculptured beam of the iconostasis at St. Luke's has the blue background nearly intact, and here and there the gold is visible (Diehl, p. 26). Traces of the blue ground may also be noticed in the sculptures of Mone tes Choras at Constantinople. The notched fillet, which separates the marble panels in S. Sophia, is used so extensively at Venice that Mr. Ruskin called it the Venetian dentil ; the complete intention of this fillet, he writes, is now only to be seen in pictures, " for like most of the rest of the mouldings of Venetian buildings it was always either gilded or painted — often both, gold being laid on the faces of the dentils and the recesses coloured alternately red and blue."1 It is clear from Paulus that at S. Sophia the sculptured capitals were all gilt (Part II., lines 129 and 244), as apparently were also the carved surfaces filling the spandrils of the lower arcade (line 236). The red colouring which Salzenberg notices was probably the preparation for the gold. It is thus almost certain that the notched fillets and carved frames of white marble surround ing the marble wall panels were gilt, as the Anonymous says, and coloured, thus reflecting as it were from the wall surfaces the brighter hues of the mosaic vaults. § 4. MONOGRAMS AND INSCRIPTIONS. The poet Paulus speaks of the iconostasis as bearing the names of the emperor and empress, combined in a monogram — " one letter that means many words." Such ciphers or monograms had been in use for some centuries, and at the end of the fifth century they were used as signatures in discs left in the capitals. They appear at 1 Stones of Venice, I., xxiii., 13. BRONZE, MOSAICS, INSCRIPTIONS 293 Fig. 75.— Monograms on Capitals of Nave. 294 S. SOPHIA Ravenna in the time of Theodoric ; and, in Constantinople, S. Sophia, S. Sergius, and S. Irene display similar ciphers of Justinian. At S. Sophia almost every capital is charged with two monograms which are carved on the bosses on opposite sides of the capitals. The background is entirely hollowed away, and the monograms show sharp and clear in the nest like cup which is held by the serrated edges of the acanthus leafage. There are four or five main varieties of which Salzenberg somewhat inaccurately figures two without offer ing any explanation. The first type appears on two or three of the coins of Justinian, of which we have figured an ex ample at large on the title-page, and in these instances they have been deciphered by Sabatier as the monogram of that emperor. A ceramic inscription given in the Revue Archeo- ogiquejor 1876, repeats the same form. We had made out that the second variety was probably the word Basileos, when, at Constantinople, we were referred to the paper by Canon Curtis and M. Aristarches.1 In this article the monograms are classified according to their main types and the whole series is figured. Although the figures are small, this is a thoroughly good piece of work, in the result obtaining many pairs reading Justinian, Basileos, other pairs with Theodora Augusta, and one with a date. The capitals of the sixteen great columns of the nave, the capitals of the lower side aisles — with the exception of those on the eight square columns, — and the thirty-six columns on the floor above, which screen the side gynaecea from the nave, bear monograms. We were fortunately able to examine and draw all of them, but give in Fig. 75 only those on the back and front of the sixteen great columns of the nave. They occur in the order in which they are placed on the illustration from the first column on the left (north) side on entering at the west, to the corresponding one on the south side.2 Many of those monograms, especially those of 1 'EAAr/v.