On Early Images of Poleis: Meanings and Messages, in The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City. From Justinian to Mehmet II (ca. 500 - ca. 1500). Edited by Nikolas Bakirtzis and Luca Zavagno. London: Routledge, 2024, 405-426. (original) (raw)
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When Emperor Constantine triggered the rise of a Christian state, he opened a new chapter in the history of Constantinople and Jerusalem. In the centuries that followed, the two cities were formed and transformed into powerful symbols of Empire and Church. This chapter introduces a volume that for the first time investigates the increasingly dense and complex net of reciprocal dependencies between the imperial center and the navel of the Christian world. Imperial influence, initiatives by the Church, and projects of individuals turned Constantinople and Jerusalem into important realms of identification and spaces of representation. Distinguished international scholars investigate this fascinating development, focusing on aspects of art, ceremony, religion, ideology, and imperial rule. In enriching our understanding of the entangled history of Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, the volume illuminates the transition between Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.
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Written records on the 6th century church of St. John at Ephesos echo the role of the monument as the “heart” of medieval Ephesos, and one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Asia Minor. Starting with the 6th century report by Procopius and ending with the 14th century account by the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta, this series of documents spans the greater part of Byzantine history. However, their use in the visualization of the church, which now lies in ruins, has long been problematic (H. Hörmann, 1951). Indeed, the puzzling inconsistencies and enormous differences between the few descriptions included in these records have hindered their use as evidence for reconstruction. What Procopius described as the Ephesian counterpart to Justinian’s church of the holy Apostles in Costantinople, was viewed by Ibn Battuta as a building including elements typical of Moorish Andalusia and Morocco. The recent graphic reconstructions of the monument (A. Thiel 2005, N. Karydis 2010) offer the opportunity to revisit historic descriptions in a new light, establishing what is real and what is distorted in them. The interpretation of the erratic parts of these descriptions is not only essential for the visualization of the monument but also for our understanding of their authors themselves. It reveals the influence of different cultural backgrounds in the perception of the great pilgrimage church, and reflects the changes in the ways in which Byzantine architectural heritage was understood during the Middle Ages.
City of Caesar, City of God: Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity
City of Caesar, City of God: Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, 2022
When Emperor Constantine triggered the rise of a Christian state, he opened a new chapter in the history of Constantinople and Jerusalem. In the centuries that followed, the two cities were formed and transformed into powerful symbols of Empire and Church. For the first time, this book investigates the increasingly dense and complex net of reciprocal dependencies between the imperial center and the navel of the Christian world. Imperial influence, initiatives by the Church, and projects of individuals turned Constantinople and Jerusalem into important realms of identification and spaces of representation. Distinguished international scholars investigate this fascinating development, focusing on aspects of art, ceremony, religion, ideology, and imperial rule. In enriching our understanding of the entangled history of Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, City of Caesar, City of God illuminates the transition between Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.