Constantinople by Philipp Niewöhner
Travaux et Mémoires 27, 2023
This essay views early Byzantine Hagia Sophia as sumptuous, but empty, void of images and with so... more This essay views early Byzantine Hagia Sophia as sumptuous, but empty, void of images and with so many crosses that none stood out and propagated any particular message. The same emptiness and lack of specific messages is shared by other early Byzantine churches in western Asia Minor and appears to have been characteristic of the regional Christianity. This contrasts with elaborate early Christian iconographies in other parts of the oecumene and with later Byzantine churches, including in Constantinople and Asia Minor. It also contrasts with later perceptions of Hagia Sophia that, through time, was imbued with a plethora of meanings. However, the early Byzantine building and its interior decoration appear to have been informed by a desire to avoid any particular message, presumably in order to focus attention on the liturgy alone.
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 68, 2018
Obituary for Urs Peschlow
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 67, 2017
Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings ... more Entablatures became exceedingly rare after the end of the Roman period. Most Byzantine buildings employed arcades with built arches instead of colonnades with monolithic architraves. The only major exception was the capital city of Constantinople where entablatures continued to be newly carved from Proconnesian marble throughout the fifth and sixth centuries. This paper unites the known specimens for the first time, including numerous hitherto unpublished entablature blocks in the collection of the Archaeological Museum Istanbul. A considerable number of externally dated entablatures serve as corner stones of a typology and reveal how the formal repertoire developed over time. The earlier fourth century was characterized by new and varied types of acanthus leaves that emerged at Docimium in Phrygia, the most important marble quarry and workshop on the central Anatolian high plateau. When Theodosius I initiated a new building boom at Constantinople in the late fourth century, the focus shifted to the nearby quarry island of Proconnesus. The ensuing mass production led to simplifications of the formal repertoire and reductions in quality, and the fifth-century developments may be described in terms of decline. The last remnants of the Roman tradition were finally shed and lost around 500 AD. Thus freed of restraining conventions, the sixth century and in particular the prosperous Justinianic period came up with novel forms and established a stylistic repertoire of its own. It harked back at the Roman tradition in ways that confirmed both its death and how it continued to inform the formal development in afterlife.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 68, 2014
The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This pape... more The southwest vestibule of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is today the building’s main exit … This paper will study first its architecture and building history and then its ornamental mosaic decoration. Together these suggest the vestibule originally functioned as an anteroom of the patriarchate and only later became the imperial entrance to the Great Church.
Millennium 11, 2014
The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, ... more The Trier Ivory, the Icon of Christ on the Chalke Gate, Empress Irene’s Triumph over Iconoclasm, and the Church of St Euphemia at the Hippodrome ***
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
The Byzantine Court: Source of Power and Culture, International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium 2, 2013
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 62, 2012
The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished f... more The Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia to the east of San Marco in Venice houses a hitherto unpublished fragment of a porphyry column. The fragment can be identified as a part of the
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 125, 2010
The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous rep... more The monastery church of St Benoît is a hotchpotch of various construction phases and numerous repairs. The last substantial remodelling took place in 1732. An earlier phase is documented in the Khalili Portolan Atlas and dates back to 1686/1687, which provides a terminus post quem for the Atlas that must habe been illustrated within the following ten years, before 1697. Until 1686/1687, the church possessed a polygonal apse with synthronon as well as wall mosaics with festival scenes and Greek inscriptions. The bell tower and south-east chapel survive; a courtyard gateway was demolished in 1958. On the basis of these elements it is possible to reconstruct the original building in the form of a Byzantine cross-in-square or as a church with ambulatory. The edifice may be identical with a Greek Orthodox church of St Mary attested for 1402, because when the Benedictine abbey was founded in 1427 an older Marian patrocinium appears to have been already in existence. The early, pre-1400 dating of the original Byzantine building is evidence of the progressiveness of Palaiologan architecture at Constantinople. The corbel table and ceramic ornamentation of the bell tower and courtyard gateway could have originated in the capital and then been transmitted to the provinces, where they are attested since the 14th century. This gives rise to the possibility that the Tekfur Sarayı and the Lala Sahin Pasa Türbesi in Mustafa Kemalpasa that display similar corbel tables and ceramic ornamentation were also erected before 1400.
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 60, 2010
The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann repo... more The palace at the Myrelaion in Istanbul has been excavated by R. Naumann in 1965/66. Naumann reported the excavation in the same year, but most of the finds were not included in
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
Istanbuler Mitteilungen 59, 2009
In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the... more In January 2009 the police delivered a large pilaster capital and two monumental leaf tips to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The pieces had been confiscated together and show the same patina as well as the same style. They probably belonged to the same large building and date from the fifth or sixth century AD. The pilaster capital is made of marble from Docimium, will have been part of a wall revetment and was most likely employed in a secular building. The monumental leaf tips appear to consist of marble from Proconnesus. The combination of columns from Proconnesus with wall revetment from Docimium was common in early Byzantine Constantinople.
Syrien und seine Nachbarn von der Spätantike bis in die islamische Zeit, 2009
Arastirma Sonuclari Toplantisi 26, 2008
Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstü... more Im Herbst 2007 wurden innerhalb von drei Monaten rund ein halbes Hundert byzantinischer Gebälkstücke in der Sammlung des Archäologischen Museums Istanbul aufgenommen. Diese Unternehmung hat das Ziel, Material für eine Typologie byzantinischer Gebälkformen zu erschließen. Gebälke weisen einen komplexen Formenapparat auf und eignen sich deshalb in besonderem Maß zur typologischen Untersuchung. Kaiserzeitliche Gebälke lassen sich aufgrund solcher Untersuchungen relativ genau datieren. Um dies auch für die byzantinische Zeit zu erreichen, muß das Material zunächst gründlicher erfaßt werden, z. B. durch Profi lzeichnungen. Von den byzantinischen Gebälkstücken im Archäologischen Museum Istanbul sind bislang nur etwa die Hälfte veröffentlich und kaum eines gezeichnet worden. Das Potential dieser Arbeit soll im Folgenden anhand der Funden aus Bakırköy/Hebdomon exemplarisch dargestellt werden.
Anatolia by Philipp Niewöhner
Himmelwärts und erdverbunden?, 2021
This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western As... more This paper addresses the extraordinary preservation of ancient monuments at Miletus in western Asia Minor during the early Byzantine period. The preservation was not due to abandonment or neglect but the result of intentional conservation. It qualifies as antiquarianism, appears to have been unrelated to paganism, and was practised by Christians. Comparison with similarly wellpreserved ancient cityscapes at Aphrodisias and Ephesus, also in western Asia Minor, suggests that ancient monuments were preserved because they continued to distinguish old cities even after their former privileges had been abolished by Byzantine administration. Other settlements elsewhere in Asia Minor lacked ancient monuments and displayed no antiquarian tendencies. Conversely, a focus on the preservation of ancient cityscapes may also explain why western Asia Minor as the most urbanised part of the region did not develop a Byzantine architectural style of its own.
Space and Communities in Byzantine Anatolia, 2021
The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the s... more The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the subsequent disintegration of the Mediterranean world would seem to have brought about the Dark or Middle Ages. Once, the latter was blamed on Christianity, but more recent scholarship has established that the Roman empire was Christianized first and disintegrated later. Christianization would seem to have come about in a similar way as Romanization, i.e. through a top-down process that emanated from the centre, Rome and later Constantinople, the “New Rome”, and – thanks to the empire’s globalization and connectivity – soon penetrated every nook and cranny in even the most remote provinces. Following the same analogy, Early Christian art was conceived as a Late Antique version of Roman art, i.e. centred on Rome and later on Constantinople, whilst the provinces were considered largely irrelevant. However, more recent evidence for Early Christian art and architecture in Anatolia does not agree with such a scenario. This contribution makes the point that Late Antique churches cannot be conceptualized along the same lines as Roman art and architecture. Early Christian art requires an essentially different approach in so far as it was primarily a provincial phenomenon.
World of Changes, 2020
Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with c... more Anatolia has preserved numerous large marble or stone blocks that are beautifully sculpted with crosses and other Christian symbols. Some have previously been attributed to the liturgical furniture of Byzantine churches, but technical features identify them as screw weights for large oil or wine presses, the so-called lever and screw presses. Screw weights are well known from other regions of the Byzantine Empire, where they normally remained undecorated. This paper presents an exemplary selection of decorated screw weights from Anatolia and gives an overview of their formal repertoire. The riddle of these cross stones is their decoration: why should press weights have been decorated, why with Christian symbols, why in Anatolia and not elsewhere, and why only a few, while most screw weights remained undecorated even in Anatolia? The answer may possibly be sought in Christian ownership, if the cross stones were to indicate that the presses belonged to monasteries or to the church.
Social Change in Town and Country in Eleventh-Century Byzantium, 2020
There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any d... more There is scarcely any archaeology of eleventh century-Anatolia, and little can be said with any degree of certainty. Few monuments are known, fewer still are securely dated, and their significance for the socio-economic development is ambivalent. Problems surround most supposedly eleventh-century monuments of Byzantine Anatolia, and to approach them archaeologically is difficult. One major issue is the apparent stagnation of formal development, which makes it virtually impossible to date a monument on stylistic grounds. Most buildings may actually date from the tenth century, and if some belong to the eleventh century, they would look rather old-fashioned. Another, certainly old-fashioned, trait of the period was the employment of traditional forms which had been introduced in the Early Byzantine period. Its heritage remained dominant in Anatolia and was superior to anything contemporary, which may go some way in explaining the conservative attitudes of the period. More importantly, much of eleventh-century Anatolia seems to have been short on prosperity and ambitious building projects, although palynological evidence indicates an intensification of agriculture and an increase of rural population.
This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth ... more The settlement pattern and material culture of Anatolia changed fundamentally from the mid-fifth century onwards, and this chapter attempts to synthesize evidence from various city sites into an overall scenario of when and why ancient urbanism came to an end and what happened thereafter. As the fate of the cities turns out to have been closely related to that of the surrounding countryside, the development of rural settlements is also taken into consideration. The tide turned in the mid-fifth century, which marked the beginning of “late” late antiquity or the early Byzantine period. Urbanism was affected negatively and went into decline while the countryside reached unprecedented levels of prosperity. The surviving cities were newly fortified in the seventh century against Persian and Arab incursions. The new strategic situation concentrated settlement activities on urban sites once more, while the defenceless countryside appears to have suffered badly from the incursions. Later, when peace and prosperity returned to rural Anatolia during the middle Byzantine period, most cities seem to have been finally deserted. By the time the Turks arrived on the scene in the later eleventh century, most of Anatolia was ruralized.
The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia. From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks, 2017
There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the m... more There is little evidence for continuity from the early to the later Byzantine periods among the monasteries of Anatolia. In large parts of the countryside, the Arab raids may have caused a disruption of the earlier tradition. Most later foundations were located elsewhere, typically on holy mountains and in more remote locations, which suggests less integration with the civilian population. The “‘inscribed cross” or “cross-insquare” church became standard and may originally have been devised for monastic communities without a lay congregation. While some of the early monasteries with large and regular courtyards and grand façades were reminiscent of aristocratic
mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
Acta XVI Congressus Internationalis Archaeologiae Christianae. Costantino e i Costantinidi, 2016
The paper is subdivided into the following five sections:
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeologi... more The paper is subdivided into the following five sections:
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects;
3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches;
4. Urban churches;
5. City centres without new church buildings.
The Emperor's House. Palaces from Augustus to the Age of Absolutism, 2015
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Constantinople by Philipp Niewöhner
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
Anatolia by Philipp Niewöhner
This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects;
3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches;
4. Urban churches;
5. City centres without new church buildings.
The well-known ivory in the cathedral treasury at Trier depicts a procession that involves Byzantine emperors, a reliquary, and a newly built or renovated church, as well as other architecture in the background. The date of the carving and the identities of the depicted are unknown, but the scene is generally understood to allude to past and possibly fictitious events that are placed in a generic setting. This paper first makes the point that the ivory cannot date from the early Byzantine period, because it shows the main Chalke Gate of the imperial palace at Constantinople decorated with a bust of Christ, and such icons do not yet seem to have been on public display in sixth-century Constantinople. Secondly, the article proceeds to suggest an alternative reading of the iconography, according to which it may depict a historical event in its real setting: Empress Irene renovates the church of St Euphemia in front of the Hippodrome in 796, shortly after having put up the bust of Christ on the Chalke Gate. The ivory may therefore commemorate two orthodox deeds of Irene and should be contemporary, because later Christ Chalkites was refashioned not as a bust, but as a full length figure.
columns that once carried the porphyry Tetrarchs, which are today built into the treasury of San Marco. The Pietra del bando on the square in front of San Marco may also have belonged to the same monument. A heal that is missing from the Tetrarchs in Venice was found near the Philadelphion at Istanbul, and the name of the Philadelphion derives from the Tetrarchs being linked in a brotherly embrace; the heal proves where the columns came from and that they had already been fragmented before they left Constantinople. The Venetians may have taken the monument to pieces themselves in order to facilitate transportation, after they had conquered
the Byzantine capital during the Fourth Crusade. Alternatively the fragmentation may already have effected in the Early Byzantine period, when the columns, that must originally have been standing in one of the residential cities of the Tetrarchy, were brought to Constantinople for the decoration of the new capital. At that time the columns may have been taken to pieces in order to re-cut one shaft in the form of an obelisk that was also erected on the Philadelphion.
the report and have never been published. Floor mosaics show the mythological hunter Akteon wielding a spear. The iconography may have been the model for the Megalopsychia panel at the Yakto Complex in Daphne near Antiochia. Marble revetment has been imported from Dokimon on the Anatolian High Plateau, as has been confirmed by archaeometric analyses. A series of 15 or more pilaster capitals differ from each other and exemplify the aesthetic principle of ›varietas‹.
This early Byzantine innovation has so far been ascribed to the reuse of varied spolia in Rome. The ›varietas‹ of the newly carved revetment at the eastern capital does now point to an eastern origin of this aesthetic innovation. A number of brick stamps round off the corpus that has so far been published from the same find spot. They as well as all other available evidence comply with a dating to around A.D. 400. The early Byzantine complex at the Myrelaion may therefore be one of the earliest standing monuments of Constantinople. It contained the largest domed hall of the city and probably served as a residency for a member of the imperial aristocracy, possibly for nobilissima Arcadia, a daughter of Arcadius and sister of Theodosius II.
This paper considers the evidence of churches, templon epistyles and fortifications, before asking, ‘what went wrong?’ Why did eleventh-century Anatolia apparently fare worse than the contemporary Aegean, Greece and more generally the Balkan part of the Byzantine Empire?
mansions, later layouts were often determined by fortifications. Evidence for urban monasteries is scarce until the later eleventh century, when they seem to have become more numerous, probably due to a general revival of Anatolian cities as refuges against the arriving Turks.
1. Written sources;
2. The archaeological record - general stagnation and a dearth of new building projects;
3. Methodological problems and the lack of evidence, in particular for rural churches;
4. Urban churches;
5. City centres without new church buildings.
Foss contrasts urban splendour and size as well as diverse public buildings of late antiquity with comparably simple and small kastra and churches of the Middle Ages. He explains the disparity by a disruption of urban life. According to Foss the Dark Ages cut off all ancient traditions and thereby cleared the way for a new start of an independent medieval development. As proof Foss refers to a lacuna in the archaeological record during the Dark Ages and as a reason he gives the barbarian incursions. This catastrophic scenario has been generally accepted. The apparent contrast between late antiquity and the Middle Ages seemed to rule out a continuous, uninterrupted development through transformation.
That contrast however is but the result of a simplistic image of late antiquity as a homogenous period of urban growth and prosperity. Under closer scrutiny the archaeological evidence reveals that the last major urban building campaigns in Anatolia took place around A.D. 400. By the fifth/sixth century a transformation to what is generally associated with a medieval townscape was well under way: prestigious architecture, urban infrastructure, and public buildings were neglected – churches being the only general exception to the rule. Private dwellings irregularly invaded formerly public spaces and some towns can even be shown to have shrunken in size. There was therefore no fundamental difference between urban construction of the fifth/sixth century and that of the Middle Ages. Accordingly there is no reason to assume a priori that urban development was disrupted in the intervening period, and to conclude ex silentio that Anatolia witnessed a de-urbanisation during the Dark Ages.
Furthermore the lack of coins from that period, which Foss has taken to indicate economic discontinuity, is nowadays explained by a change in monetary policy and may not be used as evidence against urban continuity. The same holds true for ceramics from the Dark Ages: A quarter of a century ago Foss had to believe such ceramics did not exist. By now thick strata rich in ceramics that used to be ignored as not datable have been identified with the period in question, for example in Limyra. It seems more than likely that ceramics of the Dark Ages exist elsewhere as well, but have so far not been recognised as such. Accordingly their lack does not lend itself to an argument ex silentio against urban continuity.
All this seems reason enough to try to turn Foss’ argument upside down and for once assume urban continuity during the Dark Ages, wherever the opposite is not proven beyond reasonable doubt. This leads to a revision of the paradigm of contraction from polis to kastron. The alternative scenario can not be ruled out: Towns may have continued to exist outside the fortifications, as had happened earlier on in late antiquity: Chavdar Kirilov in his contribution to this volume makes this point with respect to late antique town walls. Late antique kastra, as opposed to town walls, were not intended to defend civilian settlements. Their purpose was limited to securing strategic positions and maybe the governor’s or the bishop’s residence. In some cases they might also have served as a safe haven for the civilian population, for example in Nikopolis ad Istrum: Here the Byzantines built a new kastron after re-conquering the place from the Huns in the second half of the fifth century. Next to a church, possibly the cathedral, the kastron enclosed much free space, where the civilian population might have assembled in case of an attack, as Andrew Poulter suggests. In contrast the Justinianic citadel of Caričin Grad was obviously too small to host the urban population. It only secured the cathedral and the palace. The surrounding town had its own circuit of walls, and the suburban population fled there to seek shelter from violence.
A wider circuit that included the loosely settled suburbs would have defied the advice of a contemporary manual on strategy, the so called Anonymus Byzantinus: gardens, parks, and lawns inside the walls that resulted in long circuits were – according to the Anonymus – to be admitted only far away from the border, where the enemy could not launch a sudden and surprising attack. Otherwise there would probably not have been enough time to assemble the troops necessary for the defence of extended fortifications. Justinian acted accordingly when he restored the walls of Cappadocian Caesarea in the hinterland of the Persian border. As Procopius informs us, the old fortification had enclosed distant hills in order to prevent them from serving an aggressor as bastions against the town. These hills and much free space within the walls had at no time been populated. Procopius considers such an extended circuit as unreasonably long for both maintenance and defence, and Justinian had it shortened. The same happened in many North African towns that were liable to rapid barbarian attacks from across the border.
In Central and Western Anatolia life was comparably peaceful in late antiquity and no such kastra and reduced circuits were built. After the erection of numerous extended town walls during the last urban building boom around 400, wall building died down almost completely in the fifth/sixth century. Some towns even allowed their newly acquired fortifications to fall into disrepair: The late fourth-century circuit of Sagalassus in Pisidia was given up and used for dumping debris after the earthquake of 518. The walls of Anemurium in Cilicia that had been built around 382 were partly pulled down again to make space for a fifth-century church. In Hierapolis upon Meandrus a bath was built against the outer face of the town wall in the fifth/sixth century. In Lycian Limyra the same happened with a church in the sixth century. In both cases the defensive function of the recently erected fortifications was affected and therefore must have been considered negligible.
All this changed radically in the Dark Ages, when from the seventh century onwards Anatolia came first under Persian and then under Arab attack. The new situation can be compared to what the Balkans, the Near East, and North Africa were facing two centuries earlier, and the same kind of defences were built: The Mediterranean coast now lay open to sudden Arab raids from the sea. These razzias will have left the towns close to the shore with no time to gather troops and men along the walls. Accordingly Limyra had its western circuit of walls renewed and the before-mentioned church was pulled down again, but the eastern circuit seems to have been given up, although people continued to live in that part of the town as well. Other examples are Side, Patara, Miletus, and Ephesus, where new or newly shortened circuits enclosed only half or less of the ancient town. According to Foss they all date to the Dark Ages.
In inland Anatolia the situation was somewhat different and ...
нее византийское искусство и архитектура. Большинство раннех-ристианских церквей было более привержено местным тради-циям, чем стремлению подражать Риму или Константинополю,
«Новому Риму». Эта «центральность» провинций, как кажется, стала сущностной чертой аннехристианского искусства, которая отличает его от более однородного искусства более раннего рим-
ского и более позднего византийского периодов. В то время как романизация проложила путь для христианизации, большин-ство раннехристианских церковных построек, отражало скорее локальную идентичность, чем преданность Риму или Константи-
нополю. Достигнутое разнообразие было вновь потеряно после падения пан-средиземноморской державы, когда Византийская империя сократилась до территории чуть больше, чем Малая Азия, а иконоборческие споры повлекли за собой стандартиза-цию православного искусства.
Their contrasting fates confirm, as is argued in parts one and two of the paper, that the pagan legacy was considered a problem. At first glance, the Christian strategies seem to be informed by the strictest separation of the pagan and Christian. Only when the enigmatic figure of the archangel Michael is taken into consideration in part three of the paper does it become apparent that some Christian healing cults may in fact have emanated directly from or developed in close analogy to their pagan predecessors. Thus, St. Michael seems to have been a particularly popular dedicatee of healing springs in Anatolia, where angels had already been invoked in antiquity, leaving the Christian archangel to appear as a credible agent for the unbroken continuation of healing cults.
infill hid the spring as well as burying the lamps and marbles. This appears to have had the twofold function of closing the sanctuary – probably in response to the anti-pagan laws of the Theodosian emperors – and of protecting the sacred spring, the votive offerings, as well as the marble heads from further abuse and destruction. In addition, findings from around the cave also shed light on the history of the seaward defences that may date back to Archaic times and, in the Byzantine period, were renovated to include a sophisticated gate with zwinger.
West Market, the Byzantine city walls, their Serapeion Gate, architectural sculpture from the middle Byzantine period, the lates Byzantine settlement on the Theatre Hill, and the chapel of Hagia Paraskevi. The monuments are first discussed one by one and then evaluated in relation to the settlement history of Miletus. The early Byzantine city retained – and indeed
conserved – ancient buildings, sculptures and streets. Even churches were designed in an ancient style and, when the Byzantine city walls were built not before the late sixth century and more likely in the seventh, the temple of Serapis became the focal point of the biggest and most splendid gate. However, in the middle Byzantine period the ancient city centre was abandoned and remained in ruins after it was destroyed by an earthquake. Middle Byzantine prosperity is instead attested in the surrounding countryside with the construction of numerous elaborate churches and a considerable amount of architectural sculpture. Middle Byzantine Miletus was evidently affected by ruralisation; this could explain why the city had to be re-founded under the new name of Palatia and re-built on the previously uninhabited Theatre Hill when, from the later eleventh century onwards, the arrival of the Turks necessitated a return to urban fortifications.
The state of research has since changed, and new archaeological evidence from Miletus will be presented. This may not solve the riddle, but it will help to accentuate the problem further. In the search for an answer, recent field work at Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, and elsewhere in Anatolia will be considered. The evidence sheds new light on the date and character of the Byzantine walls of Miletus. These considerations will finally lead to a tentative solution, which—alas—will sound disappointingly familiar and will return to the starting point of historical speculation rather than end with archaeological certainty.
castra in Asia Minor. This led to the notion that the ancient cities suffered depopulation and decline already during the early Byzantine period. However, new discoveries at Miletus appear to provide evidence of the contrary. It is probable that
early Byzantine Miletus still covered a wide area, and that the castron was not built until the seventh or eighth centuries, when there was need for defences against Arab incursions. This is indicated by diverse results and considerations relating to the course of the late Roman walls, the Hellenistic east walls and the Byzantine city walls, as well as to the Justinianic inscription from the Market Gate, new archaeological evidence from beyond the Byzantine walls, and the geoarchaeology of the necropolis site at which a church has been discovered.
In der erstgenannten Kategorie werden die Bauglieder zweier frühbyzantinischer Basiliken besprochen, die das gleiche Formenrepertoire benutzen, sich aber im Material unterscheiden: Die Bauglieder von »Ajos Konstandinos« bestehen aus Marmor (Kat. 4, 16, 22 und 35), diejenigen von »Ajos Pandelémonas« hingegen aus Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 20, 21, 24 und 25). Eine weitere Fundstelle, S 253 am Yassı Tepe, wird versuchsweise als mittelbyzantinische Kreuzkuppelkirche identifiziert (Kat. 38 und Abb. 41-44). Zur zweiten Kategorie der verschleppten Steinmetzarbeiten gehören vier korinthische Kapitelle des 3./4. Jahrhunderts (Kat. 6-9). Sie dürften aus Milet stammen, denn die Ausstattung des ländlichen Raums mit Steinmetzarbeiten setzte wohl erst im 5./6. Jh. ein. Seitdem entsprach das Formenrepertoire der ländlichen Kirchen dann allerdings dem der innerstädtischen Basiliken von Milet. Drei ionische Kämpferkapitelle zeichnen sich durch Kreuzmonogramme aus (Kat. 12-14) und datieren demnach ins 6. Jh. Ein mittelbyzantinischer Templonarchitravblock (Kat. 40) läßt sich derselben Werkstatt zuweisen wie zwei bereits bekannte Arbeiten aus der Gegend.
Im Anschluß an die Besprechung der einzelnen Steinmetzarbeiten geht es um die Verfügbarkeit von Marmor und Steinmetzarbeiten im allgemeinen. Was den Marmor angeht, wird in der Milesia Spolienmaterial verwendet worden sein, denn die Steinbrüche von Milet scheint man aufgegeben zu haben, als die Arbeit am Apollontempel von Didyma eingestellt wurde. Die alternative Verwendung von Süßwasserkalk (Kat. 5, 20, 21, 24, 25 und 36) läßt außerdem darauf schließen, daß Marmor nur in beschränktem Maß zur Verfügung stand. Dennoch gehörten Steinmetzarbeiten offenbar zur Standardausstattung frühbyzantinischer Kirchen, denn sie kommen auch in der bescheidensten Ausführung mit minimalem dekorativen Anspruch vor (Kat. 5, 11, 15, 16, 24 und 25). Ihre verhältnismäßig geringe Anzahl mag darauf zurückzuführen sein, daß sie durch neuzeitliche Besiedlung und griechischen Kirchenbau dezimiert worden sind.
Der letzte Textabschnitt ist siedlungsgeschichtlichen Schlußfolgerungen gewidmet. Im Vergleich mit der vorhergegangen römischen Epoche ist in frühbyzantinischer Zeit eine Angleichung von städtischen und ländlichen Siedlungsbildern zu konstatieren. Erstmals wurden nun auch die ländlichen Siedlungen regelmäßig mit Steinmetzarbeiten ausgestattet und dort insgesamt mehr Kirchen errichtet als in der Stadt. Das konnte zur Folge haben, daß Stadt und Land am archäologischen Befund nicht mehr zu unterscheiden sind. Diese Entwicklung bezeugt das Ende der antiken Polistradition und den Anfang eines neuen, ausgeglicheneren Verhältnisses von Stadt und Land, das die nachantiken Epochen bis zur neuzeitlichen Reurbanisierung Anatoliens charakterisierte.
İnişdibi is a Turkish village on the modern road from Demre/Myra to Üçağız/Timiussa in central Lycia. About 300 m to the south of İnişdibi, on a rocky hilltop overlooking the sea, lie the ruins of an ancient settlement and a Byzantine chapel. The settlement was fortified, contains rock cut graves and may tentatively be identified as the stronghold of a local aristocrat from the late Classical era. Ceramics found on the surface indicate that the hilltop remained settled at least until the early Byzantine period, but there is a lacuna during the Roman Imperial age. On the southern slope of the hill lies a chapel. It contains a natural cistern and may have been a hagiasma. A lack of earlier sherds, which are plentiful on the hilltop, indicates a middle Byzantine date.
Cotyaeum gained in importance during the Byzantine period and must have been a sizeable settlement. It was probably larger than the castle that has so far been identified as the ›city‹. Rural settlements in the vicinity seem to have prospered too. Marble and stone carvings, which traditionally distinguished Roman cities from villages, became common in the Byzantine countryside. This development can be linked to a general decline of urban distinctiveness. The overall result was ruralisation, but not necessarily economic decline.
The conjunction of urban decline and rural prosperity can be observed all over Anatolia and must have had some cause of more than local significance. The last urban building boom around A.D. 400 continued a Roman tradition that was based on the overriding importance of the polis in the political life of the empire. That seems to have changed, after the ‘flight of the curiales’ left the towns with a governing body of ‘notables’, who took little interest in urban affairs. This may explain urban decline as well as rural prosperity: resources that had been concentrated on the towns until about A.D. 400 seem to have been shifted to the countryside in the fifth and sixth centuries. It follows that these resources had not been generated by the towns themselves, otherwise the resources would not have been available any more when the towns were in decline. This lends some new meaning and justification to the old and much disputed label of ‘parasitical consumer city’.
It turns out that the formal repertoire and style associated with the Theodosian building boom at Constantinople was previously developed in the Phrygian marble quarries of Docimium. This central Anatolian production forms the missing link between the Late Empire and Early Byzantium, as is evidenced first for the finetoothed acanthus and then for the pointed leaf. The main items for export beyond the High Plateau were sarcophagi, wall revetment and pilaster capitals. In contrast, door stones, architectural sculpture and liturgical furniture from Docimium were chiefly distributed in inner Anatolia, where they were imitated by various local workshops and established a distinct regional repertoire.
Slabs of colourful Greco Scritto and Pavonazzetto were probably also used on the walls; some of the Gerco Scritto comes from Proconnesus (cat. 22 and 23) and some from Cap de Garde in Algeria (cat. 24), whilst Pavonazzetto was again brought from Docimium in central Anatolia (cat. 25-27). Finally, some more white marbles are of no known Eastern Mediterranean origin, but may have been quarried in the East Alpine region (cat. 28-31); a small capital dates from the third/fourth centuries (cat. 29), when marbles from the Eastern Alps were used elsewhere in the Balkans, too. These marbles will therefore have originally been employed before the Hunnic invasion and may have been brought to Caričin Grad only later in order to be re-used in the Justinianic building program. Otherwise, all marbles are of Eastern Mediterranean provenances, and in this respect Caričin Grad is similar to other Justinianic foundations in the Mediterranean basin.
aus römischer und byzantinischer Zeit, Vienna 2015
Breaking the Gods. Christian Reponses to Pagan
Sculpture in Late Antiquity, Aarhus Studies in
Mediterranean Antiquity 12 (Aarhus 2013)