DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43337#0437
434 I THE WALL PAINTINGS OF AKHTALA MONASTERY
shades with his wings are there as the patrons of the Queen who had
given the Georgian kingdom victory in its battles with the infidels. As
a whole the series of royal saints embodies the theme of the defense of
the Christian faith.
THE FORTY MARTYRS
The composition of the «Forty Martyrs» on the west wall is the best
preserved of the paintings in the compartment. All the elements de-
picted here can be explained from the texts of their hagiography. Below
there are four ranks of naked Roman soldiers who suffered for the faith
in the freezing waters of lake Sebaste in Lesser Armenia. In the right
part of the painting, above the upper tier, a person is shown entering
a building. This recalls an important episode in the Life of the mar-
tyrs when one of the soldiers, unable to withstand the torments, decid-
ed to renounce the faith and hid himself in a warm bathhouse placed
for their temptation on the shore of the lake. His place was taken by
a guard who voluntarily admitted his belief in Christ and shared the
ordeal and triumph of the martyrs.
This saint is presented symmetrically opposite the first depiction in
the left part of the scene: a naked youth with a raised arm points to-
wards a two-toned mandorla in the upper part of the composition, and
to the waist-length figure of Christ shown there with a crown in his
lowered hands. Another 38 crowns are descending from the heavens.
Below them, above the heads of the martyrs, runs the Greek inscrip-
tion, «The Holy Forty».
Thus visual expression is given to the theophany described in the
hagiography when the martyrs of Sebaste were granted salvation, and
which signified their final victory over their persecutors. In all its basic
aspects the Akhtala composition follows the Byzantine iconographic
type which had by the 10th century taken definite form. This differed
from early depictions in giving the figure of Christ in the mandorla an
important place in the scene186.
The scene of the «Forty Martyrs» on the west wall is framed by
a boldly protruding arch, on the front surface of the northern slope
of which are to be found four more depictions of martyrs. Two frontal
full-length figures are located above and two waist-length portraits of
shades with his wings are there as the patrons of the Queen who had
given the Georgian kingdom victory in its battles with the infidels. As
a whole the series of royal saints embodies the theme of the defense of
the Christian faith.
THE FORTY MARTYRS
The composition of the «Forty Martyrs» on the west wall is the best
preserved of the paintings in the compartment. All the elements de-
picted here can be explained from the texts of their hagiography. Below
there are four ranks of naked Roman soldiers who suffered for the faith
in the freezing waters of lake Sebaste in Lesser Armenia. In the right
part of the painting, above the upper tier, a person is shown entering
a building. This recalls an important episode in the Life of the mar-
tyrs when one of the soldiers, unable to withstand the torments, decid-
ed to renounce the faith and hid himself in a warm bathhouse placed
for their temptation on the shore of the lake. His place was taken by
a guard who voluntarily admitted his belief in Christ and shared the
ordeal and triumph of the martyrs.
This saint is presented symmetrically opposite the first depiction in
the left part of the scene: a naked youth with a raised arm points to-
wards a two-toned mandorla in the upper part of the composition, and
to the waist-length figure of Christ shown there with a crown in his
lowered hands. Another 38 crowns are descending from the heavens.
Below them, above the heads of the martyrs, runs the Greek inscrip-
tion, «The Holy Forty».
Thus visual expression is given to the theophany described in the
hagiography when the martyrs of Sebaste were granted salvation, and
which signified their final victory over their persecutors. In all its basic
aspects the Akhtala composition follows the Byzantine iconographic
type which had by the 10th century taken definite form. This differed
from early depictions in giving the figure of Christ in the mandorla an
important place in the scene186.
The scene of the «Forty Martyrs» on the west wall is framed by
a boldly protruding arch, on the front surface of the northern slope
of which are to be found four more depictions of martyrs. Two frontal
full-length figures are located above and two waist-length portraits of