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Arys🏺🪶

Dec 2 • 6 tweets • 3 min read

Byzantine #mosaic of Virgin Mary holding baby Christ in her lap. There are "The Mother of God" monograms around them. 10th c. CE

South door in the vestibule of #HagiaSophia, Istanbul

#Archaeology

To our right, Constantine the Great as a saint while crowned with the imperial stemma, carries the City that bares his name and offers it to the Virgin Mary.

The inscription reads - Constantine, the Great Emperor amongst the saints. (ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟC Ο ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙC ΜΕΓΑC ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥC ).

To our left, Justinian the First; also with a halo and the imperial stemma (crown). Justinian is holding the church of Hagia Sophia and offers it to the Virgin Mary.
The inscription reads - "Justinian Emperor of illustrious memory" ( ΙΟΥΣΤΙΝΙΑΝΟC Ο ΑΟΙΔΙΜOC ΒΑCIΛΕΥC)

The vestibule functioned originally as a passage for processions. Later it also functioned as the main entrance to the Patriarchal Palace and to the cathedral (?).
The regal image of the Mother of God enthroned, reigns over both emperor and the common man; all equal before Christ

Professor Thomas Whittemore, the man who lead the restoration of the 1930's. The mosaic was covered with plaster after the conquest.
On the right is the imperial room and next to it the imperial cupboard, where the crown might have been stored when the Emperor entered the church

The mosaic is thought to have been made to celebrate the victory over the Kievan Rus-Bulgarian alliance (battle of Arcadiopolis ~ Siege of Dorostolon (971 AD) by the Emperor John Tzimiskis I or the victory against the Bulgarian Empire in the battle of Kleidion (Basil II, 1014).

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Arys🏺🪶

@ArysPan

Dec 2

#Roman bust of #Alexander the Great, excavated from Herculaneum.

Blenheim Palace Oxfordshire, UK
©hellenticcosmos
#Archaeology

It seems that the picture is a little refined to cover some imperfections on the face.
Blenheim palace looks amazing, I would love to visit. littlelondonwhispers.com/llw-travels/da…

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Arys🏺🪶

@ArysPan

Dec 1

Detail from the Derveni #Krater (ritual wine-mixing vessel) used as a funeral urn for a Thessalian aristocrat, Astiouneios, son of Anaxagoras from Larissa.

Discovered in 1962 at Derveni/Thessaloniki
©Kevin Norman
#Archaeology

Satyrs and Meneads seated on the shoulder of the vase. Satyrs and Meneads are the traditional company of Dionysus (Bacchic thiasos), the god of wine, rebirth, fertility, ecstatic rituals etc

Derveni Krater is considered a masterpiece of Hellenistic art, 4th c. BCE

©Kevin Norman

On the belly, the frieze is devoted to Ariadne and Dionysus, surrounded by revelling satyrs and maenads of the ecstatic retinue. The faces of underworld deities decorating the handles while snakes wrapping their bodies around them.

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Arys🏺🪶

@ArysPan

Nov 26

The Tholos of the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia is perhaps the most characteristic monument at Delphi and the most important building of this small sanctuary. Located between the later temple of Athena and the Treasury of Massalia (Marseille).
#Archaeology

Tholos means simply "vaulted" since the purpose of the building its still unknown. It is thought to have been connected with chthonic cults.
The site of Delphi was sacred to the earth goddess Gaia in the very ancient times. Pausanias (2nd c. CE) does not refer to it as a temple.

This site isn't located within the main site of Delphi but lies just a little further away.
Pronaia means "the one before". The one Goddess before reaching the main Temple and Oracle of Apollo...and it was the first one met by the visitor who came on foot from the eastern road.

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Arys🏺🪶

@ArysPan

Nov 24

A map of administrative divisions of the Eastern Roman #Empire and number of their cities.

The #Byzantine geographer Hierocles listed 912 cities in the Empire among the 64 Eparchies.

(Zoom in for better reading)
#Archaeology

Synecdemus was written during the reign of Justinian but prior to 535 AD. It is an unparalleled source of information for the geography of the Byzantine world.

The map:awmc.unc.edu/awmc/applicati…

Hierocles separated the administrative divisions "under the Basileus of Romaion ruled from Constantinople" from the "administrative divisions under Rome (city)"
(The list) recogito.pelagios.org/document/9xeul…

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Arys🏺🪶

@ArysPan

Nov 22

Mycenae, one of the most important centers of #BronzeAge Greece. At its peak in 1350 BCE, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 people.

According to #mythology Mycenae was ruled by the House of Atreus and his descendants are known as Atreidae.
#Archaeology

Mycenae developed into a major power during 1550 - 1450 BCE when the Cretan (Minoan) hegemony over the Aegean started to decline. Mycenaeans took over Crete, the islands and expanded even in small parts of W. Anatolia. They replaced the Minoans as the maritime power.

Mycenaeans created the first organized bureaucratic civilization of mainland Europe and they were using the Linear B syllabic script, the earliest attested form of Greek. The oldest Mycenaean writing found dates to about 1400 BCE.mnamon.sns.it/index.php?page…

researchgate.net/figure/a-The-b…

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