Middle Byzantine Research Articles

Michael Psellos on Literature and Art: A Byzantine Perspective on Aesthetics ed. by Charles Barber and Stratis Papaioannou

Reviewed by: Michael Psellos on Literature and Art: A Byzantine Perspective on Aesthetics ed. by Charles Barber and Stratis Papaioannou Michael Edward Stewart Barber, Charles, and Stratis Papaioannou, eds, Michael Psellos on Literature and Art: A Byzantine Perspective on Aesthetics (Michael Psellos in Translation), Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2017; paperback; pp. 446; R.R.P. US$40.00; ISBN 978026810048. Born as Konstantinos Psellos in Constantinople in 1018, the polymath Michael Psellos has been described by one noted Byzantinist as ‘the most amazing figure in Byzantine history’ (Anthony Kaldellis, Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p. 191). While some might quibble with this designation, the burgeoning market for new translations of a wide range of Psellos’s writings underscores his current popularity. Building upon two earlier volumes on Psellos that focused primarily on his orations and letters, this third volume from the University of Notre Dame Press offers English translations and commentaries from a collaboration of scholars on a wide array of his writings on literary theory, visual ethics, and art criticism. For the sake of brevity, I highlight below only some of the sections that I found noteworthy in this fascinating collection. The art of Middle Byzantine rhetoric comes to life in the hands of a master. The book opens with two Psellian treatises on rhetoric, the first a letter to an unknown student, the second a synopsis of grammar in the form of a poem to the [End Page 192] future emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–77). In these lessons Psellos displays his virtuosity as a teacher and master of what he described lovingly as ‘sweet-speaking’ (p. 65). Elegant prose for Psellos was often a matter of individual style. The next selection of texts focuses on Psellos’s views on various literary genres and ancient authorities—pagan and Christian. Rather than relying upon divine intervention or regurgitating the classics, he insisted that inspiration must come from within. He praised the Church Father Gregory of Nazianzos (329–90) for his ability to employ simple vocabulary to craft his own masterful rhetorical style, declaring ‘Without emulating the ancients he opened up each and every stream from a source from within himself’ (p. 126). For Psellos, there was no single pathway to high rhetoric, advising his student that ‘Words, my son, lie scattered about just like (one might say) unarranged stones’ (p. 128). It was up to individuals to arrange the collected material as they saw fit to craft their own mosaic of ‘perfect composition’ (p. 133). Text and author were for Psellos often distinct identities; chameleon-like, the author needed to adapt his persona to the edicts of his chosen rhetorical form. Psellos recommends ‘to argue either side of a dispute, both because we can hold opposite opinions about the same matter, and because the good are somewhat similar to the bad’ (p. 81). How securely Psellos remained tethered to the religious norms of his day remains controversial. We often find him skulking through delicate theological territory. Although Psellos describes theology as ‘The Science beyond physics […] the first science’ (p. 233), he proudly displays his mastery of Aristotelian logic, Platonic metaphysics, and Neoplatonic visual aesthetics. While Plato stands above all other classical authors, Gregory’s writings earn Psellos’s highest praise, offering an exemplum of a Christian rhetor and philosopher, an idealized image of an educated man steeped in both Christian and non-Christian learning. As the editors suggest, it is likely that Psellos hoped his contemporaries would see Gregory as a double of himself. While some (e.g. Kaldellis, Hellenism, p. 231) contend that Psellos’s praise of Gregory functioned largely as a smokescreen, deployed to protect his Byzantine Hellenism from Christian hardliners within Constantinople, the editors counter that the complex tenor of his work does not support such an interpretation. On this point, Stratis Papaioannou asserts that, while Psellos’s models are predominantly non-Christian, we should not see some ‘sort of anti-Christian pagan world-view in Psellos’ (p. 101). Psellos rooted his visual aesthetic in Christian and Neoplatonist teachings. The study closes by exploring Psellos’s response to...

Athanasius, the Author of Vita A of Athanasius the Athonite, on Secular Education, Legal Theory, Mysticism and Asceticism

Athanasius, the author of Vita A of Athanasius the Athonite, was a highly unusual figure in Byzantine hagiography. Unlike other hagiographers, he did not shrink from making explicit his views on a number of topics. His comments about the importance of learning and about the relationship between the emperor and the law point back to his past as a judge in the imperial bureaucracy. By contrast, his rejection of mysticism and extreme asceticism is in keeping with the Middle Byzantine monastic reform movement. Yet unlike the authors of monastic rules, he does not inveigh against mystics and ascetics but prefers to poke fun at them through elaborate wordplay.

A New Neighborhood for an Old City: The Resettlement of the Athenian Agora in the Middle Byzantine Period

When Rome fell in 476 CE, the city of Athens in Greece also shrank, moving inside its walls to protect its people. This left the Agora, the bustling marketplace which sat outside the walls, abandoned. In the tenth century, at the economic height of the Byzantine Empire, Athens expanded outside its walls, ushering in a new period of rebuilding in the Agora. This project sought to characterize the shift in domestic architecture from before and after the abandonment, which led to a better understanding of Athenian identity as expressed through architecture. Research conducted on excavation reports from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (ASCSA) revealed that the houses in these new neighborhoods were modest, more closely resembling homes seen in the Roman period than contemporaneous Byzantine constructions. While they may not be known for the innovative, extravagant architecture of their ancestors, the Byzantine Athenians are ultimately remembered for the simple accomplishment that they were there at all— attempting to rebuild, repopulate, and worship a new faith in an old city.

Protection in Life and Death: Pendant Crosses from the Cemetery of Apollo Klarios at Sagalassos, Turkey

This article presents the different types of pendant crosses found in the burials of a Middle Byzantine graveyard at the Pisidian settlement of Sagalassos in south-western Turkey. The aim is to study both the chronology and function of these pectoral crosses. A variety of sources are used, ranging from stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates to contextual information and skeletal data. The crosses could be broadly dated to between the eleventh and thirteenth centuryAD, thus providing an indication of the lifespan of the cemetery. Moreover, the typological evolution, which was corroborated by parallels from other sites in the Byzantine Empire, allowed us to establish a horizontal stratigraphy for the graveyard. The pectoral crosses discussed here shed light on the funerary practices in this part of the Byzantine world. These generally proved to belong to very young children. They constitute a category of material culture that not only provides insights into the lives of the Byzantine population, especially in early childhood, but are also the material manifestation of the intersection between popular religion, magic, and funerary rites.

The Hull Construction of Yenikapı 14 (YK 14), a Middle Byzantine Shipwreck from Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour, Istanbul, Turkey

Yenikapi 14 (YK 14) is one of 37 shipwrecks discovered by the Istanbul Archaeological Museums during the Marmaray Project excavations in Istanbul's Yenikapi neighbourhood, the site of Constantinople's Theodosian Harbour. Dated to the 9th century AD, YK 14 is one of a group of Yenikapi round ships constructed using similar methods: it was a flat-floored, shallow-draught vessel built primarily of oak using a distinctive combination of shell- and skeleton-based construction methods. Regularly spaced pegs called coaks were used to assemble the hull planking edge-to-edge from the keel to the first wale, above which planks were fastened exclusively to frames.

Terminology Associated with Silk in the Middle Byzantine Period (AD 843-1204)

During the 1st millennium AD, silk became the most desirable fibre in the Mediterranean region. While the expansion of silk production and consumption is widely acknowledged, specific features of the industry’s development are more difficult to discern. Chroniclers had little reason to document silk manufacturing processes, and producers were not inclined to record or publicise their trade secrets. Historical knowledge of silk comes mainly from accounts of its consumption in a variety of forms and contexts.

Radiocarbon Dating of the Architectural Parts of the Middle Byzantine Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Boeotia, Greece

ABSTRACTThe Monastery of Hosios Loukas is situated at an altitude of 430 m (38°23′43.12′′N, 22°44′48.22′′E) in the western foothills of Mount Helikon, near the village of Steiri, Boeotia, Greece. It is one of the most important monuments of Middle Byzantine art and architecture and has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Information varies concerning the construction date of the magnificent church to house the Hosios Loukas relics. Moreover, little is known about the time when the rest of the monastic complex was built. This paper aims to shed light on these chronological questions. For this purpose, 15 wood samples, originating from the outermost rings of the wooden timber preserved from the initial scaffolding of the church and its four supporting buttresses and another two from the wooden gate of the monastery, were radiocarbon (14C) dated using the conventional gas-counting technique. Our results show that the church was built in the beginning of the 11th century. The four buttresses were built in at least two phases, during the 15th through 19th centuries, and the monastery gate may be also attributed to the 19th century.

High‐boron and High‐alumina Middle Byzantine (10th–12th Century ce) Glass Bracelets: A Western Anatolian Glass Industry

The trace element boron is present in most ancient glasses as an impurity, and high boron (≥ 300 ppm) marks raw material sources that are geologically specific and relatively uncommon. Recent analyses of Byzantine glass with high boron contents suggest that glass‐making was not limited to the traditional regions of the Levant and Egypt, and a production origin in or near western Anatolia is proposed. Glass bracelets from Ḥiṣn al‐Tīnāt in southern Turkey give fresh evidence for the production and circulation of high‐boron glasses that closely correlates with object typology. The patterning of findspots suggests that high‐boron glass was closely connected to the Byzantine world.

Women and Family Law in Byzantium

• This article addresses the impact of family law on women during the Middle Byzantine period, 726–1204. Restricted to household roles, marriage provided betrothed women, wives, and mothers with certain legal protections. In the Middle Byzantine period conceptions and practices concerning betrothal, marriage, and dissolution of marriage were not consistent because both the church and the state determined sometimes contrasting rules and laws. The civil law protected women with respect to betrothal and marriage; pressure from the church, however, resulted in harsh laws concerning dissolution of marriage. Canon law nevertheless claimed that both sexes had quite identical legal rights in divorce, and women escaped from unhealthy marriages in certain circumstances. It seems that through its own legislation and its impact on civil law, the church enforced women’s position in marriage. At issue is whether this favorable treatment corresponded to social changes that improved the position of women in the Middle Byzantine era.

O necropolă medio-bizantină cercetată la Nufăru, jud. Tulcea, punctul Trecere bac. Consideraţii arheologice preliminare / A Middle Byzantine necropolis investigated at Nufăru – Trecere bac, Tulcea County. Preliminary archaeological remarks

Cercetările arheologice desfășurate în intravilanul localităţii Nufăru (jud. Tulcea) au contribuit la descoperirea unei fortificații ridicate a fundamentis la sfârșitul secolului al X-lea, cu o locuire prelungită până la mijlocul secolului al XIII-lea și mai multe zone funerare. Una dintre necropolele așezării medio-bizantine, aflate în capătul nordic al promontoriului stâncos pe care se desfășoară așezarea, în punctul Trecere bac, a fost cercetată în campaniile 1999– 2002, 2004– 2014 și 2016. Ocupând zona de la nord de zidul fortificației bizantine și instalația portuară dezafectată, cimitirul se plasează, din punct de vedere spațial și cronologic, între două niveluri de locuire (unul anterior, marcat de locuințe de suprafață, celălalt ulterior, reprezentat de gropi menajere), perioada în care a fost utilizat putând fi considerată sfârșitul secolului al XI-lea – începutul secolului al XIII-lea. Mormintele cercetate în punctul Trecere bac sunt exclusiv de inhumaţie, cu dispunerea în şiruri paralele. Defuncții au fost depuși în decubit dorsal, cu orientarea V-E, cu cu unele deviaţii determinate de anotimpul în care s‐ a făcut înmormântarea. În general, s- a practicat înhumarea individuală, dar se înregistrează și cazuri de morminte duble, de suprapuneri de complexe funerare, precum și practicarea reînhumării. Depunerea defuncților s- a făcut în gropi simple, puţin adânci, de formă rectangulară şi oval- alungită, uneori trapezoidală, în resturile unor complexe de locuire anterioare sau pe/ în stâncă, în cadrul a 10 cripte. Au fost înregistrate şi cazuri de folosire a protecției/ delimitării cu piatră, a sicrielor, precum și înhumarea pe paturi de pietre, pe zidul sau pe pavimentul instalației portuare. În unele cazuri, craniul înhumatului era așezat pe o piatră, pe o cărămidă sau pe un olan. Dintre cele 450 de complexe funerare, au fost înregistrate 215 schelete în conexiune anatomică, în decubit dorsal, integral sau doar parțial conservate, cu reînhumarea scheletului afectat (documentată în 45 de cazuri), precum și grupări de oseminte umane, rezultate din deranjamentele provocate de acțiunile legate de alte înhumări sau de amenajarea complexelor de locuire ulterioare. Morminte documentate doar prin cranii apar în 31 de cazuri. Există, de asemenea, și o mare cantitate de oase umane recuperate din complexele menajere care au suprapus nivelul necropolei și pentru care nu a fost posibilă întotdeauna stabilirea complexului funerar de proveniență. Întretăierea unor complexe funerare, deranjamentele interne provocate, înhumările dublate de reînhumări, indicând o mare densitate a necropolei, se pot explica, probabil, și prin absența marcării pe teren a mormintelor. Nu este exclus totuși ca, măcar în unele situații, să fie vorba și de existența unei conexiuni între un anumit loc din cimitir și un grup de decedați, cu eventuale legături de rudenie între ei. Pentru scheletele bine conservate, a putut fi înregistrată poziția craniilor (normală sau spre piept, pe partea dreaptă sau pe cea stângă), a antebrațelor (cu cele cinci variante de bază – pe lângă corp, pe bazin, pe abdomen, pe piept și pe umeri – , cu diferitele subvariante) și a picioarelor (în general, întinse, paralele, rar încrucișate, flexate lateral, dreapta sau stânga). Inventarul funerar, prezent în 67 de morminte, este reprezentat de piese de podoabă (ale capului, gâtului şi mâinilor), de port și de cult, la care se adaugă monede (indiciu al practicării depunerii „ obolului lui Charon ˮ ). Necropola din punctul Trecere bac reprezintă cea mai importantă dintre zonele funerare identificate la Nufăru și se încadrează în seria cimitirelor de inhumaţie creştine ale Dobrogei medio-bizantine.

Aspecte privind locuirea otomană in zona cetății Noviodunum / Aspects concerning Ottoman Period Habitat in the Area of Noviodunum Fortress

Archaeological site Noviodunum is on the right bank of Danube, on a promontory (Eski–kale) near the most important shoal, in the right of 65 sea miles and about 3 km east of the city center Isaccea (jud. Tulcea). The ancient Noviodunum was identified until the end of XIXth century but the first archaeological researches started after the middle of XXth century when there are surveys on the east, south and west side. Through its geographical location Noviodunum had an important strategic and economic role in the Roman, Byzantine and Middle Byzantine time, the settlement here ceasing at the end of the XIVth century to continue on the territory of modern Isaccea city. Probably in the XVIIth century in the central area of Noviodunum fortress, the Ottomans set up a fortification, tabya (palanca) and in the XVIIIth century they raised a stellate fort in the north–east and a secondary fortification in the northwest. The existence of Oriental ceramics, Ottoman or the Far East in archaeological contexts or accidental findings show the importance of the area in the Ottoman period even after XVIth century, here there is a massive destruction. Ottoman ceramics discovered generally dated in the XVIIIth century being produced by the workshops of Kutahya and the prevailing form, cup, shows that coffee ritual was widely spread not only among soldiers but also the local population.

Roman Festivals in the Greek East from the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era by Fritz Graf

Reviewed by: Roman Festivals in the Greek East from the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era by Fritz Graf Raymond Van Dam Fritz Graf. Roman Festivals in the Greek East from the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era. Greek Culture in the Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Pp. xvi, 363. $120.00. ISBN 978-1-107-09211-2. In the Roman Empire ceremonies originally associated with pagan gods continued to flourish even after the appearance of Christian emperors and the rise of bishops. One notable achievement of Fritz Graf’s excellent book is to highlight the abiding importance of traditional religious festivals for the vitality of civic [End Page 577] life in the Greek East during the first millennium a.d. Another is to analyze the continued celebration of festivals and the observance of a calendar organized around Roman holidays in terms of practices rather than beliefs. Even in a Christian society these festivals and their associated etiologies remained important for articulating the identities of urban communities. Already in the early empire Greek cities adopted festivals closely associated with the city of Rome. In Palestine, for instance, Jewish rabbis mentioned the Kalends at the beginning of the Roman year, imperial birthdays and accession days, and the Saturnalia at the end of the year. Some Greek cities also celebrated the foundation of Rome and the Capitolian games. Although cities certainly continued to promote their own civic festivals and athletic contests, “these local festivals that defined a single city went together with the festivals that marked the unity of the empire” (78). The adoption of Roman cults had political significance for Greek cities, since “the establishment of the festival [of the Kalends] in an autonomous city was a bottom-up affair in which the periphery responded to the center” (101). In 389 a law of Theodosius I defined the calendar for available court days in terms of both Christian holidays, such as Easter and Sundays in general, and traditional festivals, such as the Kalends and imperial anniversaries. The emperor may have been reaching out for the support of prominent senators at Rome, and at Antioch the orator Libanius praised his endorsement for the popular festival of the Kalends. Christian preachers, however, were upset. John Chrysostom recommended civil disobedience against participation in the lewd dances and songs; Asterius of Amaseia censured his congregation for choosing the merriment of the festival over attendance at church; Augustine of Hippo argued that fasting was preferable to feasting. But even after the canons of ecclesiastical councils condemned traditional festivals, Graf argues, emperors were inclined to push back. Emperors and bishops were playing to the same audiences: “underneath was also a question of power and influence, to be gained through the gratitude of the urban crowds” (162). Festivals imported from Rome therefore long survived in Greek cities, even if in modified formats. By the tenth century the Lupercalia at Constantinople ended with the charioteers racing . . . on foot! The household festival of the Roman Bruma developed into a winter festival that replaced the Saturnalia and its association with pagan deities. January remained the month of the Kalends during most of the Byzantine period. In fact, some aspects of the celebration of the Christian liturgy came to resemble the old pagan ceremonies. Christian festivals were extended, and they featured extensive processions. Surveys of long periods are always vulnerable to critiques of both the big themes and the small details. The ancient documentation for religious festivals is of course fragmentary, including inscriptions, sermons, law codes, conciliar canons, and hagiography. Sometimes the texts do require the sort of nuanced analysis that resembles conventional antiquarianism. But Graf’s arguments also tend to jumble the chronological particularity of this evidence and frequently link the stray data points into extended continuities, survivals, and even “Mediterranean constants” (294) that in turn challenge the possibility of understanding “people firmly embedded in their time and society” (8). The final chapters discuss the transition from pagan ideas about dreaming and magic to Christian attitudes. Despite the opposition of Christian clerics, ordinary believers still benefitted from dreams of healing, and the use of amulets and spells remained omnipresent. Graf suggests that this continued reliance on [End...

From Individual Almsgiving to Communal Charity: the Impact of the Middle Byzantine Monastic Reform Movement on the Life of Monks

From Individual Almsgiving to Communal Charity: the Impact of the Middle Byzantine Monastic Reform Movement on the Life of Monks

The Beryozovo Cup: A Byzantine Object at the Crossroads of Twelfth-Century Eurasia

In the twelfth century, Christian military saints, including George and Theodore, became intercultural heroic figures. Appearing in works of art across western European, Byzantine, Crusader, and Islamic cultural spheres, these holy heroes sometimes featured in contexts and objects that modern taxonomies classify as “secular.” This article focuses on a particularly intriguing example of this phenomenon: a middle Byzantine silver drinking cup, which displays on its exterior a program of so-called princely cycle imagery derived from medieval Islamic courtly iconography, but contrasts these decidedly non-religious motifs with a portrait of Saint George on the interior bottom of the vessel. By excavating the logic of the cup’s iconography—its inclusion of George at a banquet—it aims to overcome the insufficiencies of conventional, modern terminology and taxonomies for medieval art by engaging with the transcultural complexity of elite leisure culture in the medieval world.

Middle Byzantine chafing dishes from Argolis.

Τα αυτοθερμαινόμενα σκεύη, γνωστά στην ελληνική βιβλιογραφία ως «σαλτσάρια», συνιστούν ένα σύνθετο σκεύος της μεσοβυζαντινής περιόδου. Εμφανίζονται τόσο σε λευκό όσο και σε ερυθρό πηλό, με κυρίαρχη την παράκτια και αστική διασπορά στο χώρο της κεντρικής και ανατολικής Μεσογείου. Στην Αργολίδα και κυρίως στο Άργος, έχουν έως τώρα καταγραφεί 53 δείγματα που στην πλειονότητά τους φέρουν ομοιότητες με αντίστοιχα δείγματα από την Κόρινθο, την Αθήνα και τη Θήβα και θα μπορούσαν να χρονολογηθούν, βάσει παραλλήλων, κυρίως στον 10ο-11ο αιώνα. Θα απευθύνονταν πιθανώς σε μέλη της τοπικής ελίτ, συνιστώντας μια μαρτυρία για πιο «εξελιγμένες» διατροφικές συνήθειες στη βυζαντινή περιφέρεια.

Byzantine coins from Hadrianoupolis in Paphlagonia

This paper gives a brief report on the 21 Byzantine coins recovered during archaeological fieldwork at Hadrianoupolis in southwestern Paphlagonia between 2005 and 2008. One coin is silver and the rest are all bronze or copper alloy. Chronologically, the latter are divided between the Early and the Middle Byzantine periods. Although the assemblage is small, it provides useful information about the distribution of Byzantine coins from one of the more remote rural areas of northern Asia Minor.

Roman festivals in the Greek East: from the early empire to the Middle Byzantine Era

Part I. Festivals in the Greek East Before Constantine: 1. Greek city festivals in the Imperial age 2. Roman festivals in Eastern cities Part II. Roman Festivals in the Greek East After Constantine: 3. Theodosius' reform of the legal calendar 4. Contested festivals in the fourth century 5. The Lupercalia from Augustus to Constantine Porphyrogennetos 6. John Malalas and ritual aetiology 7. The Brumalia 8. Kalendae Ianuariae again, and again 9. Christian liturgy and the Imperial festival tradition Part III. Christianity and Private Ritual: 10. Christian incubation 11. Magic in a Christian Empire Epilogue. The persistence of festivals and the end of sacrifices.

Between East and West. Orthodox Templa and Latin Tramezzi at the Late Medieval Cretan Churches

This study researches an individual group of templon screens, which are found at three Cretan churches of the 14th/15th c. This group displays typological and morphological features, which seem to break with the tradition of the middle Byzantine templa and to suggest the influence of a Latin architectural model. The specific Cretan group has much in common with facades of choir partitions (tramezzi), mostly of Italian origin. Despite the absence of sufficient archaeological evidence concerning the existence of tramezzi at the Helladic area, the written sources suggest the presence of such installations at the Latin churches of Crete, thus reinforcing the possibility of cultural and cultic exchanges between the Latin and the Orthodox populations of the island during the Late Medieval period.

Within a Budding Grove: Dancers, Gardens, and the Enamel Cup from the Chungul Kurgan

An enameled cup from an early thirteenth-century nomad's grave in Ukraine, published here in full for the first time, invites a reassessment of a group of enamels featuring allegedly “un-Byzantine” motifs and techniques. The cup, attributed to twelfth-century Constantinople, bears figures of dancing women among trees, an image paralleled in the period's secular literature. This literary context, in turn, helps clarify the iconography of works such as the Crown of Constantine Monomachos and the Innsbruck bowl. The cup from the Chungul Kurgan thus helps to correct mistaken generalizations about the sources of secular imagery in Middle Byzantine art.

Copper Repoussé icons of Middle and Later Byzantine Times

<p><em>Στο παρόν άρθρο παρουσιάζεται μια ομάδα εικόνων έκτυπης διακόσμησης από λεπτά φύλλα κραμάτων χαλκού. Παρά την αποσπασματικότητα της διατήρησής τους, μπορούν να προταθούν οι διάφορες χρήσεις τους. Συχνά μιμούνταν πολύτιμες μεταλλικές διακοσμήσεις εικόνων, γνωστών από τα σύγχρονά τους κείμενα. Μέσα από αναφορές των έκτυπων αυτών εικόνων σε φιλολογικές πηγές μπορεί να ανιχνευθεί η μέτρια χρηματική τους αξία. Τέτοια αντικείμενα είναι πολύ πιθανόν να άνηκαν σε οικογένειες κάποιας ανώτερης τάξης και θα χρησίμευαν ως εικόνες ιδιωτικής λατρείας, θα διακοσμούσαν ταπεινές εκκλησίες και παρεκκλήσια, αλλά και θα αφιερώνονταν μέσω δωρεών ή κληροδοτημάτων σε μοναστήρια.</em></p>