Writing 3

Aghia Sophia Review of the Literature DCS 1

Faculty Forum: Aghia Sophia

Review of the Literature

Dion C. Smythe

17th November 2020

Much has been written about perhaps the greatest monuments of Byzantine civilisation, the Great Church, the cathedral church of the Holy Wisdom of God in what was Constantinople, now Istanbul. The actions that have taken place in Istanbul under the government of Erdogan, especially since 29th May 2020 [a date that can only have been chosen with intention], has produced a flurry of seminars, lectures, blogs and webinars (Dumbarton Oaks Webinar on Hagia Sophia Doaks.com 1st September 2020; Hagia Sophia Public Forum: Part 1 Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, 9th October 2020; and Rohm, 2020 [cwru.us]). As it is very much history of the moment, it is appropriate that PMU too should have a seminar on Aghia Sophia in Istanbul [in the end it was not deemed appropriate]. Byzantine civilisation combines three things: Roman building techniques (concrete and the dome); the Orthodox Christian religion (Scriptural, credal and formally ritualistic); and Greek language and literature. These three headings provide the structure for my paper. I deal in turn with (a) the building; (b) the decoration and icons within the church; and (c) the literary ekphraseis that describe Aghia Sophia at different stages of its existence.

(a) The Building

The best way to go and experience Aghia Sophia is, of course, to go and stand (hopefully in awe) in the nave beneath the dome. Since the loss of its museum status, this is still possible, though many of the mosaics (such as the image of the Theotokos and Christ in the apse [hemidome] and the imperial panels in the south gallery) are now concealed by curtains. There are many web-sites that give simulacra of standing in the Great Church, as any google search of ‘Hagia Sophia + Istanbul’ will attest. An old-fashioned historian, I am more habituated to beginning with ‘book’ treatments of any subject. Harris places the Great Church in the context of the Byzantine capital (Harris, 2007), an appraisal carried further by Kleinbauer and White

(Kleinbauer and White, 2007). Though now rather old-fashioned in some ways (this is a reprint of the original 1930s publication), Krautheimer puts the innovation of Justinian’s domed basilica into the context of Late Antique, Early Christian and Byzantine architecture (Krautheimer, 1984). The central and clearest exposition of the building of Aghia Sophia as a building comes from Mainstone, though my attachment to this book may in part be because it was this book that introduced me to the detailed study of the building as an architectural artifact (Mainstone, 1997). It offers a plethora of plans, sections and isometric projections that allows one to see the building from almost every angle. The chapter by Alchermes in the volume edited by Maas places Aghia Sophia in the context of Justinian’s other building (Alchermes, 2005). Dark and Kostenec present more recent, detailed archaeological discoveries (Dark and Kostenec, 2017). This year has seen the addition of an on-line discussion of the innovations in architecture under Justinian by Ousterhout (Ousterhout, 2020); this provides a clear and easily assimilated introduction to the issues. Pectcheva presents the most modern directions research into Aghia Sophia, dealing with the play of light thought the clerestory windows and the windows in the drum beneath the dome as well as the ground-breaking collaboration between historians, acoustic engineers and musicologists (Pentcheva, 2017). The article by Xydis seeks to address the liturgical function of the Cathedral during its long history, considering questions of the ambo, the solea and the chancel screen (Xydis, 1947).

(b) Mosaics and icons.

Consideration of the Christian liturgical furniture of Aghia Sophia (no longer in situ, now destroyed, and reconstructed from archaeological spoilia) brings us to consideration of the decoration of the Cathedral. It is clear that the earliest cycles of decoration were non-figural and consisted of repeating floral patterns on soffits and arches and marble revetments on flat surfaces [in effect ‘marble wallpaper’ organised into repeating patterns]. This period of the decoration of the cathedral is dealt with magisterially by Teteriatnikov (Teteriatnikov, 2017), who also considers and discusses the major restoration undertaken in the middle of the nineteenth century by the Fossati brothers (Teteriatnikov, 1998). Though not in Aghia Sophia in Constantinople at all, yet any discussion of Justinian’s building of the cathedral must make mention of the panels of the imperial couple Justinian and Theodora in San Vitale in Ravenna (Barber, 1990; this also connects with liturgical practice at the time – though in Ravenna only or also in the imperial capital?). The major figural icon raised in Aghia Sophia under the Patriarch Photios after the Triumph of Orthodoxy is the apse mosaic of the Theotokos and the Christ-child (Mango, 1968). Mango has also written on the images of the Church Fathers who parade on the North Tympanum of the nave (Mango, 1972). Next in temporal sequence is the ‘donation’ panel in the South-West vestibule which is dated to the tenth century and shows Constantine the Great (dressed as a tenth-century basileus) presenting a model of the City to the Theotokos, together with Justinian (also attired in the significant loros of a tenth-century emperor) presenting a model of the domed Aghia Sophia to the Theotokos in the centre (Riccardi, 2012). Thought perhaps to be of the same period, the lunette mosaic of the emperor, performing proskynesis to an enthroned Christ, the Theotokos on one side and an angel on the other (interpreted to be begging for Christ’s forgiveness on behalf of the prone emperor – identified by some as Leo VI the Wise of the tetragmy controversy) over the ‘imperial doors’ that lead from the narthex into the nave is a major historical artifact of the Cathedral, inviting much discussion about who ordered it to be put up and who paid for it (Scharf, 1964). In some ways we are on safer ground when we consider the imperial mosaics in the south gallery. Handily named, we know that one panel is the Empress Zoe, who reigned in the middle of the eleventh century and the ‘John II’ panel shows the Komnenian emperor who reigned form 1118 to 1143, together with is Hungarian wife who took the Greek name Eirene (Comack, 1981; and Cormack 1985).

(c) Ekphrasis and literary descriptions.

The final aspect of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Wisdom of God that I wish to consider deals with ekphrasis – the written, literary ‘description’ of a work of art. I have place ‘description’ in scare quotation marks as Byzantine ekphaseis were not a straight-forwardly descriptive as we would expect them to be in English. An ekphrasis took as its starting point an artistic creation – in this case a building for Prokopios or Paul the Silentiary or the apse mosaic for Photios – but then then developed the themes in literary ways and with literary goals. The original texts (in translation obviously) are the focus to understanding how the Byzantines saw their great building. There remain many issues with Prokopios’s text On buildings but with the text we can – by close reading – examine what the author sought to do, even though authorial intention is no guide to accuracy of interpretation (Prokopios, 1894). Paul the Silentiary’s text (Mango, 1972) is much more clearly an ekphrasis without the complicating factors of Prokopios’s relationship with his emperor or indeed the inter-relationship to the various texts written by Prokopios [now universally agreed]. The much later ekphrasis on the apsidal mosaic on the Theotokos by the Patriarch Photios displays in many ways how far Byzantine civilisation had travelled since the Iconoclastic controversy of the early-eighth to mid-ninth centuries (Mango, 1958).

Transition to methodology.

Having dealt with the sources for my research paper, I now turn in the next section to deal with considerations of the methodology.

[1270 words]

List of References

Alchermes, J. (2005). Art and Architecture in the Age of Justinian, in Maas, M. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Anonymous, Dumbarton Oaks Webinar on Hagia Sophia Doaks.com 1st September 2020 11:00-12:00 EDT [US], last accessed 1 September 2020.

Anonymous, Hagia Sophia Public Forum: Part 1 Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, Stanford University CA, 9th October 2020 12:00-13:30 PDT [US] last accessed 9th October, 2020.

Barber, C. (1990). The imperial panel at San Vitale: a reconsideration, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 14, 19-42.

Comack, R. (1981). Interpreting the mosaics of S. Sophia at Istanbul, Art History, 4, 34-56.

Comack, R. (1985). Writing in Gold. London: Thames and Hudson.

Dark, K. and Kostenec, J. (2017). Hagia Sophia in Context: An Archaeological Re-examination of the Cathedral of Byzantine Constantinople. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Harris, J. (2007). Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium. London: Hambledon/Continuum. 

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/procop-deaed1.asp Last accessed 22 October 2020.

Kleinbauer, W. and White, A. (2007). Hagia Sophia. London: Scala Publishers. 

Krautheimer, R. (1984). Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Mainstone, R. (1997). Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure, and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church. London: Thames & Hudson.

Mango, C. (1958). Homily 17 in The Homilies of Photios Patriarch of Constantinople: English Translation, Introduction and Commentary. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mango, C. (1972). The mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: The church fathers in the north Tympanum. Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mango, Cyril (1968). The Apse mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul: Report on work carried out in 1964. Johnson Reprints. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Mango, Cyril and Ertuğ, A. (1997). Hagia Sophia. A vision for empires. Istanbul.

Nelson, R. (2004). Hagia Sophia, 1850–1950: Holy Wisdom Modern Monument. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

Ousterhout, R. (2020). Innovative Architecture in the Age of Justinian, at https;//smarthistory.org/author/Robert.g-ousterhout/innovative architecture in the age of justinian last accessed 28 September, 2020.

Paul the Silentiary, Ekphrasis on Aghia Sophia Mango, C. (1972). The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453. Englewood Cliffs: College Reprints, 80–91, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/paulsilent-hagsoph1.asp last accessed 22 Oct 2020.

Pentcheva, B. (2017). Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space and Spirit in Byzantium. University Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Prokopios, On Buildings (1894), Translated by W. Lethabv and H. Swainson, from Procopius, De Aedificiis, in The Church of St. Sophia Constantinople, New York, 24-28.

Riccardi, L. (2012). Alcune riflessioni sul mosaico del vestibolo sud-ovest della Santa Sofia di Costantinopoli, in Vie per Bisanzio. VIII Congresso Nazionale dell'Associazione Italiana di Studi Bizantini (Venezia 25–28 novembre 2009), edited by Antonio Rigo, Andrea Babuin e Michele Trizio. Bari, 357–71. 

Rohm, D. (2020) Heaven on Earth: Justinian’s Hagia Sophia Zoom conference 12 October 2020 at 17:00 EDT [US and Canada], Case Western Reserve University, cwru.zoom.us

Scharf, J. (1964). Der Kaiser in Proskynese. Bemerkungen zur Deutung des Kaisermosaiks im Narthex der Hagia Sophia von Konstantinopel. In: Festschrift Percy Ernst Schramm zu seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag von Schülern und Freunden zugeeignet, Wiesbaden, 27–35.

Teteriatnikov, N. (1998). Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Teteriatnikov, N. (2017). Justinianic Mosaics of Hagia Sophia and their Aftermath. Dumbarton Oaks Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Theotokos and Christ Apse Mosaic, https://www.pallasweb.com/deesis/virgin-and-child-hagia-sophia.html last accessed 22 October 2020.

Weitzmann, K. ed., (1979) Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century , no. 592, New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Xydis, S. (1947). The Chancel Barrier, Solea, and Ambo of Hagia Sophia, The Art Bulletin. 29(1): 1–24.

[1896 words].