Part 37 (2/2)

22. In the southern lunette.--To the left, Herod orders the ma.s.sacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem; to the right, the ma.s.sacre of the Innocents.

The other mosaics in this bay have disappeared.

_The Inner Bay fronting the parecclesion_

23. In the vault.--In the south-western corner. Uncertain.

Possibly, the fall of the idols in Egypt at the presence of the Holy Child; to the south of that scene, Zacchaeus on the sycamore tree.

INNER NARTHEX

_First Bay (at the south end of the narthex)_

24. On the soffit of the first transverse arch.--To the east, the healing of the man with a withered arm; to the west, the healing of a leper.

_South Dome_

25. In the crown.--Christ the Pantokrator.

In the flutings, thirty-nine figures, arranged in two tiers, representing the ancestors of Christ from Adam to Esrom, j.a.phet, and the eleven sons of Jacob not in the line of ancestry.

26. On the south-eastern pendentive.--The healing of the woman with a b.l.o.o.d.y issue.

27. On the north-eastern pendentive.--The healing of Peter's mother-in-law.

28. On the south-western pendentive.--The healing of a deaf and dumb man.

29. On the north-western pendentive.--The healing of two blind men at Jericho.

30. On the eastern wall below the dome, colossal figures of Mary and Christ, technically named the Deesis.

31. On the opposite wall.--Christ healing divers diseases.

The mosaics in the three other bays of this narthex depict scenes in the life of Mary as described in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of S. James and other apocryphal Gospels.[543]

_First Bay (at northern end).--The North Dome_

32. In the centre.--The Theotokos; in the flutings, twenty-seven figures arranged in two tiers representing sixteen royal ancestors of Christ, from David to Salathiel, and Melchisedec, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, Daniel, Joshua, Moses, Aaron, Ur, Samuel, Job.

33. In the north-eastern pendentive.--The scene has disappeared.

34. In the south-eastern pendentive.--S. Joachim (Mary's father) with his sheep in the desert, praying and mourning that his offerings have been rejected because he was childless.

35. In the north-western pendentive.--The High Priest judging Mary.

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