DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55207#0045
NOTES 35
21. Mr. K. C. Whittail tells me that cinnabar has been found by him in two mines showing very
ancient workings: one at Sisme, about 30 kilometres north- west of Konia, and the other at Karaburun,
at the head of the Gulf of Izmir (Smyrna).
22. Cf. the portrait of Basil II in the Psalter of the Marciana Library, No. 17, with plum face and
heavy nose (Lampros, AsuKooiaa, Pl. 56), and the description of the same emperor by Psellos: ‘his face
assumed the form of a perfect circle’ (Chronographia, i, 35, ed. Renauld, i, p. 22).
23. Cf. the descriptions of Zoe by Psellos, Chronographia, vi, 6, and 158 (ed. Renauld, i, p. 120, and
ii, p. 49) and Letter to the Emperor Monomachos (ed. Sathas, Bibliotheca, t. v, p. 360). The empress,
‘this ornament of womanhood . . ., was more plump than her sister . . . her eyes were well-shaped
under a large brow, her nose was aquiline but without exaggeration of the curvature, she had blond
hair. . . ’. Finally, ‘in spite of her more than seventy years, her face had not a single wrinkle’. At the
moment of the execution of the mosaic, Zoe was probably 68 years old (see below).
24. For this crown—a reminiscence of the corona muralis-—see Du Cange, Glossarium ad scriptores
mediae et infimae graecitatis, s.v. |ao2aoAos, and Reiske, op. cit., pp. 427-8. As in the miniatures of the
10th cent, of the Menologion of Basil II (Lampros, Asukcoijoc, Pls. 43 and 45), the modiolos is here
relatively low and has only a small number of rays at its upper border. The crown of Irene on the
neighbouring panel shows a later development of this ornament.
25. The technique of mosaic painting throughout Haghia Sophia is the same. Brick was rendered
with a coat of plaster keyed by indentation with a small trowel to receive a plaster floating of about the
same texture and thickness as the rendering. On this second bed, and never, as is often erroneously
stated, on the first rough rendering, the mosaic painter drew with an indigo-blue pigment the broad
outlines of his composition. Then on the second or intermediate bed was laid in sections only large
enough to be used for setting the cubes before the plaster dried, a third bed somewhat thinner than the
two preceding beds and of a finer mixture. On each successive section of this third bed was painted
the unfolding design of the mosaic, complete in every detail of form and colour, so that when all
was done, had no mosaics followed, the result would have been a finished painting in true fresco.
Material for further and more detailed discussion of technical matters, relating to the mosaics in Haghia
Sophia, is being systematically assembled, and will be presented later in a special Report. In the mean-
time see also our Second Report, p. 10.
26. This part of the loros has been frequently confused by scholars with another vestment, the
thorakion. The* correct identification was first made by Beljaev, Byzantina, ii, p. 302; cf. also G. de
Jerphanion, La Voix des Monuments, ii, Paris, 1938, pp. 263 If., who compares it with the ‘corselet’
worn by the virgins of S. Apollinare Nuovo. On the shape of the real thorakion—a kind of tunic made
in two pieces—see Beljaev, ibid., p. 198 (add to the quoted examples the ‘patched thorakion of the
Egyptian nun Hilaria: H. Winlock and W. Crum, The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes, New York,
1926, i, p. 150). For the decoration of the pseudo-thorakion, usually consisting of a Patriarchal cross,
but sometimes also—as in our case—of a simple cross, see examples gathered by G. de Jerphanion, op. cit.
27. J. Capart, ‘L’usurpation des monuments dans 1’Antiquite Egyptienne’ (Melanges de Philologie
Orientale, publ. a I’occasion du X-me anniversaire de ITnstitut Superieur d’Histoire et Litterature Orientales
de rUniversite de Liege, 1932, pp. 57 If), W. Deonna, Statua (Dictionnaire des Antiquites Grecques et
Romaines de Daremberg, iv. 2, p. 1483).
28. Nicetas Choniates, Historia, Bonn, p. 433.
29. The entire space to be filled is 46 cm. long. Seven letters occupy about 44-5 cm., six letters only
39-7. A calculation of this kind is not possible for the scroll where the characters are more irregular.
30. Psellos, Chronographia, ed. Renauld, pp. 44 and 55. Arisdages of Lasdiverd, Histoire, trad.
E. Prudhomme, Paris, 1864, viii, p. 47.
31. Psellos, Chronographia, pp. 56 and 84. B. Wassiliewsky et V. Jernstedt, Cecaumeni Strategicon,
Petropoli, 1896, pp. 77, 97, and 98.
32. The presence of several cubes of the original inscription preserved in front of the name of
Constantine excludes the hypothesis that the mosaic underwent two successive restorations and that
the portrait of Romanos had been replaced by that of Michael IV before being finally transformed.
In order to avoid all misunderstanding, let us also note that we cannot admit Zoe Carbonepsina with
21. Mr. K. C. Whittail tells me that cinnabar has been found by him in two mines showing very
ancient workings: one at Sisme, about 30 kilometres north- west of Konia, and the other at Karaburun,
at the head of the Gulf of Izmir (Smyrna).
22. Cf. the portrait of Basil II in the Psalter of the Marciana Library, No. 17, with plum face and
heavy nose (Lampros, AsuKooiaa, Pl. 56), and the description of the same emperor by Psellos: ‘his face
assumed the form of a perfect circle’ (Chronographia, i, 35, ed. Renauld, i, p. 22).
23. Cf. the descriptions of Zoe by Psellos, Chronographia, vi, 6, and 158 (ed. Renauld, i, p. 120, and
ii, p. 49) and Letter to the Emperor Monomachos (ed. Sathas, Bibliotheca, t. v, p. 360). The empress,
‘this ornament of womanhood . . ., was more plump than her sister . . . her eyes were well-shaped
under a large brow, her nose was aquiline but without exaggeration of the curvature, she had blond
hair. . . ’. Finally, ‘in spite of her more than seventy years, her face had not a single wrinkle’. At the
moment of the execution of the mosaic, Zoe was probably 68 years old (see below).
24. For this crown—a reminiscence of the corona muralis-—see Du Cange, Glossarium ad scriptores
mediae et infimae graecitatis, s.v. |ao2aoAos, and Reiske, op. cit., pp. 427-8. As in the miniatures of the
10th cent, of the Menologion of Basil II (Lampros, Asukcoijoc, Pls. 43 and 45), the modiolos is here
relatively low and has only a small number of rays at its upper border. The crown of Irene on the
neighbouring panel shows a later development of this ornament.
25. The technique of mosaic painting throughout Haghia Sophia is the same. Brick was rendered
with a coat of plaster keyed by indentation with a small trowel to receive a plaster floating of about the
same texture and thickness as the rendering. On this second bed, and never, as is often erroneously
stated, on the first rough rendering, the mosaic painter drew with an indigo-blue pigment the broad
outlines of his composition. Then on the second or intermediate bed was laid in sections only large
enough to be used for setting the cubes before the plaster dried, a third bed somewhat thinner than the
two preceding beds and of a finer mixture. On each successive section of this third bed was painted
the unfolding design of the mosaic, complete in every detail of form and colour, so that when all
was done, had no mosaics followed, the result would have been a finished painting in true fresco.
Material for further and more detailed discussion of technical matters, relating to the mosaics in Haghia
Sophia, is being systematically assembled, and will be presented later in a special Report. In the mean-
time see also our Second Report, p. 10.
26. This part of the loros has been frequently confused by scholars with another vestment, the
thorakion. The* correct identification was first made by Beljaev, Byzantina, ii, p. 302; cf. also G. de
Jerphanion, La Voix des Monuments, ii, Paris, 1938, pp. 263 If., who compares it with the ‘corselet’
worn by the virgins of S. Apollinare Nuovo. On the shape of the real thorakion—a kind of tunic made
in two pieces—see Beljaev, ibid., p. 198 (add to the quoted examples the ‘patched thorakion of the
Egyptian nun Hilaria: H. Winlock and W. Crum, The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes, New York,
1926, i, p. 150). For the decoration of the pseudo-thorakion, usually consisting of a Patriarchal cross,
but sometimes also—as in our case—of a simple cross, see examples gathered by G. de Jerphanion, op. cit.
27. J. Capart, ‘L’usurpation des monuments dans 1’Antiquite Egyptienne’ (Melanges de Philologie
Orientale, publ. a I’occasion du X-me anniversaire de ITnstitut Superieur d’Histoire et Litterature Orientales
de rUniversite de Liege, 1932, pp. 57 If), W. Deonna, Statua (Dictionnaire des Antiquites Grecques et
Romaines de Daremberg, iv. 2, p. 1483).
28. Nicetas Choniates, Historia, Bonn, p. 433.
29. The entire space to be filled is 46 cm. long. Seven letters occupy about 44-5 cm., six letters only
39-7. A calculation of this kind is not possible for the scroll where the characters are more irregular.
30. Psellos, Chronographia, ed. Renauld, pp. 44 and 55. Arisdages of Lasdiverd, Histoire, trad.
E. Prudhomme, Paris, 1864, viii, p. 47.
31. Psellos, Chronographia, pp. 56 and 84. B. Wassiliewsky et V. Jernstedt, Cecaumeni Strategicon,
Petropoli, 1896, pp. 77, 97, and 98.
32. The presence of several cubes of the original inscription preserved in front of the name of
Constantine excludes the hypothesis that the mosaic underwent two successive restorations and that
the portrait of Romanos had been replaced by that of Michael IV before being finally transformed.
In order to avoid all misunderstanding, let us also note that we cannot admit Zoe Carbonepsina with