XV.—The Church of Asinou, Cyprus, and its Frescoes

Vivian Seymer; W. H. Buckler; W. H. Buckler

doi:10.1017/S0261340900005464

XV.—The Church of Asinou, Cyprus, and its Frescoes

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2011

Vivian Seymer ,

W. H. Buckler and

W. H. Buckler

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This article is in four sections. The first, by the Bishop of Gibraltar, describes his original visit to the church and the impression made upon him by its interior. The second, by Major Vivian Seymer, gives an account of the fabric and the main features of its probable history. In the third section Mr. William Buckler catalogues the frescoes, with brief notice of each, and transcribes the inscriptions on them in cases where these seem to be of special interest. Lastly, Mrs. William Buckler states reasons, based on the evidence of the three historical inscriptions, for believing that the church was probably erected in 1106 by Nicephorus, son-in-law of the emperor Alexius Comnenus and brother-in-law of Anna Comnena the historian. The plan and sections are by Major Seymer.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 83 , 1933 , pp. 327 - 350

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900005464 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1933

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^{page 328 note 1} See the account of this church, which dates from 1259, in Mélanges Ch. Diehl, 1930.

^{page 329 note 1} If, indeed, lime mortar was used, it must have been weak mixture and is now quite perished.

^{page 329 note 2} The ‘verandahs’ mentioned by Jeffery (op. cit., p. 284) are shown in the frontispiece to Peristiani's Monographia (1922).

^{page 330 note 1} It is triapsidal, the recesses on each side being tiny apses. G. Millet notes how rare is ‘une seule abside, parce que la liturgie grecque en veut trois’. B.C.H., xix, 1895, p 455Google Scholar.

^{page 330 note 2} The only windows, besides the semi-circles above the doors, are the three in the E. apse and the one high up in the W. wall of the naos.

^{page 330 note 3} For example, with the plan of the small church of Poganovo in Bulgaria (Bys. Z. xvii, 1908, p. 122) contrast Jeffery's plans of Asinou (fig. 15) and of other Cypriote churches, especially those in figs. 2, 4 (upper half) and 10; Proc. Soc. Ant. xxviii, 1915–16, pp. 114 f.

^{page 332 note 1} Omitting 28, which is post-Byzantine.

^{page 333 note 1} It is the uncial script in vogue about 1100; cf. C.I.G. 8715 (pl.); Mon.As. Min. ant. iv, nos. 95, 96; Byzantion iii, 1926, p. 305, pl. 5.

^{page 333 note 2} It Consists Of 17, 18, 18 a, 26, 26 a, 29, 29 a, 30, 30 a, 33, 40, 41, 41 a, 42, 42 a, 42 b, 42 c, 44, 47. These frescoes are over fifty years older than those of Nerez in Macedonia ; Diehl, Manuel d'art byz. ii, p. 825. Of the other frescoes few appear datable from their style only.

^{page 333 note 3} The fact that 12 a, 12 b are earlier than 4a–4c, 8 a, 8 b, 9 a, explains why there is no large inscription over the N. apse (pl. xcvii, 1) like those over the S. apse and above 8 b (pl. xcv, 1, 2).

^{page 337 note 1} Such, perhaps, were the hounds of Andronicus, son of the emperor John Comnenus ; his widow could not bear to look at his favourite horse, or his falcons, μηδέ δρομικὰς μηδέ ἰχνευτόρας κύνας. Th. Prodromus in Boissonade, Anecdota nova, 1844, p 378.

^{page 337 note 2} As to this St. George, ὁ μαχαιρωμένος cf. Makhairas, Chronicle, ed. Dawkins, i, p. 34; D. 256.

^{page 337 note 3} The accent on the ultima is characteristic of the period; cf. γενιά for νία, λειτονργιά for -γία; Makhairas, op. at., ii, p. 23, n. 1, p. 32. It not the patronymic (as here translated), Kallias was one of N.'s names.

^{page 338 note 1} This is the martyr Anastasia (Oct. 12); she bears this epithet in Denys de Fourna's Manuel (ed. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, 1909), pp. 169, 300, is depicted at Poganovo (Byz. Z. xvii, 1908, p. 126), and had a monastery dedicated to her near Thessalonica; Byz. Z. vii, 1898, p. 57; x, 1901, p. 193.

^{page 339 note 1} Such pictures must have been familiar to the public. Theodore Prodromus suggests that he is condemned σὶς σκώληκαν ἀκοίμητον, εἰς τάρταρο, εἰς σκότος, since he suffers from their equivalents, poverty, cold, and hunger. A. Koraes, Atakta, 1828, pp. 9,11. 254–65.

^{page 340 note 1} This, the usual title, should be ‘of Sebasteia’ (the modern Sivas); cf. Cumont in Studia Pontica, ii, pp. 221–5. For the various accounts of the martyrdom, see Bibl. hagiogr. Gr., p. 168.

^{page 340 note 2} The abbreviation of μάρτυς occurs in Mon. As. Min. ant. iv, 95 (A.D. 1063). In 1. 2, [πάγ]ου is suggested by St. Basil's phrase : ἐκέλευσε πάντας … πηγνυμένους ἀποθανεῖν ; Migne, P. G., 31, 516. For help in copying this faded text by acetylene light from a ladder I am grateful to Mr. J. R. Cullen, Director of Education in Cyprus.

^{page 340 note 3} This may represent the Bishop of Paphos (D. 255), but more probably the famous Bishop of Myra, who is depicted in 30; such a duplication of effigies (as in 10, 24; 9, 35) is not uncommon.

^{page 341 note 1} On these saints, cf. Delehaye, Les légendes gr. des saints militaires (1909).

^{page 341 note 2} Dated about 1620 by the bishops Christodoulos (ll. 1–2, 11) and Makarios (l. 11); cf. Hackett, Hist. Orth. Ch. of Cyprus, pp. 205, 689.

^{page 343 note 1} The spelling Gephyra is, as Professor Myres suggests, doubtless due to a confusion of T and Z still found in Calymnos and Astypalaia; cf. K. Dieterich, Sprache u. Volksüberlieferungen der südlichen Sporaden (1908), p. 79. A similar confusion occurs in two MSS. of Makhairas' Chronicle (ed. Dawkins, ii, p. 34) between βουργέσης and πουρζέζης.

^{page 343 note 2} In the twelfth century before the narthex was built, this and the opposite panel (18) were next on r. and l. to the W. door. Denys de Fourna (Manuel, p. 273) lays down that such panels should respectively bear, as here, paintings of SS. Constantine and Helena and of the Forty Martyrs.

^{page 343 note 3} ‘Ischyrios’ is formed from ὶσχυρός, as Ablabios, Akakios, Alypios, Euphemios from ἀβλαβής, ἄκακος, ἄλυπος, εὔφημος; see below, pp. 346, 350.

^{page 344 note 1} SS. Florus and Laurus (Aug. 18) were martyred together.

^{page 344 note 2} No ‘Stephanites’ is mentioned in Bibl. hagiogr. Gr. The other seven saints are grouped by Denys de Fourna (Manuel, p. 278) among the anargyroi, i.e. healers without expectation of reward. On the four saints (E,) A.-D., see Migne, P. G., 116, 467 f.

^{page 345 note 1} The four saints (E.) A.-D. are anargyroi; D. 290. To them Denys de Fourna (loc. at.) adds St. Thalelaios (May 20). On the confessors of Edessa, Gouria, Šamona and Ḥabib (Nov. 15), see Bibl. hagiogr. Gr., p. 102.

^{page 346 note 1} J. B. Bury. lmpl. administrative system, in the ninth century, Brit. Acad. Suppl. papers I. See also the Byzantine Ranglisten published by Benesević, Byz. neugr. Jbb. v, 1927, p. 114.

^{page 346 note 2} Alex., xiii, 9, p. 400.

^{page 347 note 1} Migne, P. G., 133, col. 1075.

^{page 347 note 2} Sigillographie byzantine, p. 633.

^{page 347 note 3} See Chalancion, Alexis I^er Comnène, p. 234.

^{page 347 note 4} Chalandon, op. cit., pp. 208–9.

^{page 348 note 1} Op. cit., pp. 29–33.

^{page 348 note 2} Cont. Th., p. 175, 3.

^{page 348 note 3} Cont. Th., p. 354, 9.

^{page 349 note 1} Mélanges de lafaculté orientale, Univ. de St. Joseph, vi (1913), p. 331, no. 33; also in Les églises rupestres de Cappadoce, p. 529. For the importance to the empire of this Melias, see H. Grégoire, Byzantion viii (1933), pp. 79 f.

^{page 349 note 2} Alex., iii, 4, p. 78.

^{page 349 note 3} Migne, P. G., 127, col. 1092.

^{page 349 note 4} Ibid., 133. coll. 1075–7.

^{page 349 note 5} C.I.G. 8735 purports to have been written by him about 1140.

^{page 349 note 6} Leo Allatius, De eccl. occ. et or. perp. cons., ii, 12, p. 686.

^{page 349 note 7} Fam. Aug. Byz., pp. 177–8.

^{page 349 note 8} v. 9 and vi. 11. Migne, P. G., 133, coll. 588 and 660.

^{page 350 note 1} Alex., x, 3, p. 276.

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