Part 10 (1/2)

Upon these arches is raised what has been called an elliptical dome. But in no part has it the character of a true ellipse, nor does it spring from its supporting arches in the simple regular manner of a dome, but in the complex manner of a vault built upon arches of unequal curvature.

It should therefore rather be called a domical vault. Where it shows above the roof it has the appearance of a modified and very low cone covering an irregular elliptical drum.

The eastern bay of the nave is square on plan, bounded by semicircular arches, all extended so as to form short barrel vaults. The western arch is joined to the eastern arch of the western bay, thus forming a short barrel vault common to both bays. The vault to the east runs to the semi-dome of the apse; whilst the vaults to north and south, like the corresponding vaults in the western bay, extend to the outer walls and cover the eastern portions of the aisles and galleries. Above the supporting arches regular pendentives are formed, and above these there is a drum carrying a dome. The apse to the east of the nave is semicircular within and covered by a semi-dome.

Between that semi-dome and the eastern barrel vault of the nave a break is interposed, giving the bema arch two orders or faces, with their external and internal angles rounded off, and the whole surface of the semi-dome and of the bema arch is covered with mosaic. At one time the mosaic extended also over the surface of the barrel vault. The decoration in the semi-dome consists of a large cross in black outline upon a gold ground; below the cross there are three steps set upon a double band of green that runs round the base of the semi-dome. A geometrical border bounds the semi-dome, and then comes the following inscription, an extract from Psalm lxv. verses 5, 6 (the lxiv. in the Septuagint version), on the inner face of the arch:

[Greek: (DEUT EI)SOMETHA EN TOIS AGATHOIS TOU OIKOU SOU, HAGIOS O NAOS SOU THAUMASTOS EN DIKAIOSYNe EPAKOUSON HeMoN O TH[EO]S O S[oT]eR HeMoN He ELPIS PANToN ToN PERAToN TeS GeS KAI ToN EN THALa.s.se MAK(RA)[N]].

(Come we will go?) in the good things of thy house. Holy is thy temple. Thou art wonderful in righteousness. Hear us, O G.o.d our Saviour; the hope of all the ends of the earth and of them who are afar off upon the sea.

The letters enclosed within curved brackets and the accents[141] above them are paint only; the letters within square brackets are not in the inscription, but are supplied where evident contractions render that course necessary. The remaining letters are in unrestored mosaic.

Probably [Greek:(Deut ei) sometha] is a mistake of the restorer for the word [Greek: plesthesometha] in the original text. 'We shall be filled with the goodness (or the good things) of thy house.'

Three other geometrical patterns in mosaic succeed, after which follows a broad wreath of foliage on the outer face of the bema arch and the words:

[Greek:(HO O)IKODOMoN EIS T(ON OIKON SOU KAI) ANABASIN AUTOU, KAI TeN EPANGELIAN (TOU HAGIOU PNEUMATOS EU HeMAS eLPEISAMEN EIS TO O)NOMA A(UTOU)].

The mosaic above the crown of the semi-dome has been injured and restored imperfectly in plaster, paint, and gilt. Hence the large black patch in it which includes the upper arm of the cross.

The letters enclosed within curved brackets are in paint and are manifestly the work of a restorer who has spoiled the grammatical construction of the words and obscured the meaning of the inscription.

The remaining letters are in unrestored mosaic.

I venture to suggest that the original text was a quotation from Amos ix. 6, with possibly some variations:

[Greek: ho oikodomon eis ton ouranon anabasin autou kai ten epangelian autou epi tes ges themelion].

'He who builds his ascent up to the heaven and his command on the foundations of the earth.'

The words, [Greek: elpeisamen eis to onoma autou], 'we have hoped in his name,' may be original (Psalm x.x.xii. 21; Isaiah xxvi. 8).

With these inscriptions may be compared the beautiful collect used at the consecration of a church:

[Greek: Akolouthia eis enkainia naou.

Nai Despota Kyrie ho Theos ho Soter hemon, he elpis panton ton peraton tes ges, epakouson hemon ton hamartolon deomenon sou kai katapempson to panagion sou Pneuma to proskyneton kai pantodynamenon kai hagiason ton oikon touton].

'Yea, Lord G.o.d Almighty our Saviour, the hope of all the ends of the earth, hear us sinners when we call upon thee, and send thy Holy Spirit, the wors.h.i.+pful and all powerful, and sanctify this house.'

Below the windows of the apse are ranges of seats for the clergy, forming a sloping gallery, and consisting of eleven risers and eleven treads, so that, according to the method of seating adopted, there are five or six or eleven rows of seats. There is no vestige of a special episcopal seat in the centre, but the stonework has been disturbed; for some of the seats are built with portions of the moulded base of the marble revetment of the building. Underneath the seats runs a narrow semicircular pa.s.sage originally well lighted through openings[142] in the riser of one range of seats, and having a doorway at each end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XX.

(1) S. IRENE. MOSAIC ON SOFFIT OF AN ARCH BETWEEN THE NARTHEX AND THE ATRIUM.

(2) S. IRENE. PORTION OF THE MOSAIC INSCRIPTION ON THE OUTER ARCH OF THE APSE.

_To face page 96._]

On either side of the nave, towards the eastern end of each aisle, there is an approximately square compartment covered with a domical vault, and having an opening communicating with the nave immediately to the west of the bema. To the east of these compartments stands what was the original eastern wall of the church, and in it, in the north aisle, a large doorway retaining its architrave and cornice, is still found.

Of the corresponding doorway in the south aisle only the threshold is left. These doorways must have communicated with the outer world to the east of the church, like the doorways which occupy a similar position in the Studion (p. 53). The northern compartment had an opening, which is still surmounted by architrave and cornice, also in its north wall.

There are, moreover, four other openings or recesses in the northern wall of the church, and two in the southern.

The main portions of the aisles are divided from the nave by light screens of columns, the eastern and western portions being connected by pa.s.sages driven through the dome piers. In the eastern nave bay there are four columns, giving five aisle bays on each side. The columns are very slender, without any base moulding, and stand upon square pedestals, now framed round with Turkish woodwork. On opening one of these frames the pedestal was found to be a mutilated and imperfectly squared block of stone. Such blocks may have served as the core of a marble lining, or may be damaged material re-used.