Palace of Antiochos

The Palace of Antiochos (

.

History

Antiochos's palace

The palace of Antiochos was constructed as a residence for

The palace was first discovered in 1939, when frescoes depicting the life of

Church of Saint Euphemia

The Church of Saint Euphemia in the Hippodrome (also known as lying "in ta Antiochou", i.e. "the quarters/palaces of Antiochos"

During the Byzantine Iconoclasm, the building was secularized and allegedly converted into a store of arms and manure.^[10] According to tradition, the bones of the saint were ordered thrown into the sea by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (ruled 717–741) or by his son, Constantine V (r. 741–775). They were however saved by two pious brothers and brought to the island of Lemnos, from where they were brought back in 796, after the end of the first Iconoclasm period, by Empress Eirene (r. 797–802).^[11] The church survived until the end of the Byzantine Empire, being redecorated in the late 13th century with frescoes in the Palaiologan style.^[7]

Description

Original architecture of the palace

The original palace consisted of two sections, a southern and a northern. The southern one, inaccessible to the public today, featured the large

The northern section, located between the street that ran along the western wall of the Hippodrome and the Mese thoroughfare, was until recently misidentified as the Palace of Lausus.^[4] It comprised a large rotunda of 20 m diameter with niches on the wall, which seems to have functioned as an audience hall for Antiochos. It was attached to a south-eastwards facing, C-shaped portico open to the street along the Hippodrome. A small bath house, also accessible from the street, lay next to the southern side of the portico.^[4] In the 5th century, when the palace was imperial property, an elongated hallway was added to the rotunda in the west, accessed through a double-apsed vestibule. Its shape points to its use as a triclinium. It was 52.5 m long and 12.4 m wide with an apse at its end, while in the 6th century, six apses were added on each of its long sides.^[4]

Conversion into a church

When the hexagonal hall was converted into a church, several modifications were made. The bēma was placed to the right of the original entrance, in the southeastwards-looking apse, and another entrance was opened up in the opposite apse. The original gate remained in use, but was narrowed at some later point. Two further gates were opened in the two northern circular rooms, to which two mausolea were eventually attached.^[12]

The excavations uncovered the remains of the synthronon (seats for the clergy, a

Frescoes

A series of frescoes, dating to the late 13th century, survive on the southwestern wall of the church, and can be seen behind a protective glass. Fourteen of them form a cycle narrating the life and martyrdom of

Saint Euphemia, while another fresco depicts the martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, a theme unique among the churches of the capital.^[12]

See also

• History of Roman and Byzantine domes

References

1. ^ John Skylitzes, Romanos II, 2.9
2. ^ Martindale, Jones & Morris (1992), pp. 101–102
3. ^ Bardill (2004), pp. 57–59
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Kostenec (2008)
5. ^ Bardill (2004), p. 56
6. ^ Bardill (2004), pp. 107–109
7. ^ ^{a b} Kazhdan (1991), p. 747
8. ^ Cameron & Herrin (1984), pp. 22, 63
9. ^ Bogdanovic, Jelena (2017). The Framing of Sacred Space. Oxford UP. pp. 190–3.
10. ^ Cameron & Herrin (1984), p. 22
11. ^ Kazhdan (1991), pp. 747–748
12. ^ ^{a b c d e} Ball (2008)

Sources

• Ball, Amanda (2008-05-26). "Church of St. Euphemia". Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Constantinople. Archived from the original on 2015-12-06. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
• Bardill, Jonathan (2004). Brickstamps of Constantinople, Volume 1. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-925524-5
  .
• Cameron, Averil; Herrin, Judith (1984). Constantinople in the early eighth century: the Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai (introduction, translation, and commentary). Brill Archive.
  ISBN 978-90-04-07010-3
  .
• ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
  .
• Kostenec, Jan (2008-07-26). "Palace of Antiochos". Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Constantinople. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
• Martindale, John R.; Jones, A.H.M.; Morris, J. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395–527. Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-521-20159-9
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palace of Antiochos.

• 3D reconstruction of the palace at the Byzantium 1200 project
• Palace of Antiochos
• Church of Hagia Euphemia

41°00′27″N 28°58′30″E / 41.0074°N 28.9751°E / 41.0074; 28.9751