Byzantium in the Mirror: The Message of Skylitzes Matritensis and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

This volume draws on two pieces of evidence which offer insights into life in Byzantium: the illuminated manuscript Skylitzes Matritensis and the great Christian monument turned mosque, Hagia Sophia. The main part of the discussion focuses on Skylitzes Natritensis which is a dramatic portrayal of the historical events of the period from Michael I Rangabe (811-813) to the accession of Isaac Comnenos (1057-1059), described as a `videotape in action style'. The manuscript depicts a great many themes, including coronations, marriages, ceremonial life, disasters, persecutions, war, violence and so on, with accompanying legends. The rather shorter discussion of the Hagia Sophia looks at the transformation of the Christian monument into an Ottoman mosquem at its role as a `prototype and antitype' of the mosque, its influence on Ottoman mosque architecture of Istanbul and Edirne, and at iconoclasm. Literary references to Hagia Sophia are also discussed, with extracts.