Byzantine Mosaic Analyze

Mosaic is the art of arranging colored small pieces of glass, stone or marble to create a decorative composition or a picture. Between the 4th century and 1453 (when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople), the medium was a fundamental part of the decoration of important buildings in Constantinople (Cimok 1998, jacket).

Byzantine mosaics were generally created for the decoration of churches. Most of the churches were basilica or central church plans (Lassus 1967, 130). The mosaics in Constantinople, especially Hagia Sophia, were created to celebrate the anointing of new emperors and empresses. The mosaics were generally on domes, galleries and narthexes (Lassus, 130).

Byzantine art was different from other period's art. The main aim of Byzantine art was the representation of Christianity (Rice 1973, chapter 4, p.3). Decorative layouts had only a limited number of subjects, especially in the middle Byzantine period (Demus, 238).

The history of Byzantine art can be divided into three important periods: the Early Byzantine, the Middle Byzantine and the Late Byzantine period. The Early Byzantine period is during the rule of the Emperor Justinian I. This period was between 5th century and 726 CE. The middle Byzantine period began with Empress Theodora in 843 CE. This period ended when the Crusaders conquered Constantinople in 1204. The Late Byzantine period started in 1261 and ended in 1453 (Stokstad 2002, 309). On 29 May 1453, Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople, which ended "the longest-lived political entity of Europe, the Byzantine states" (Mathews 1998, 7). The Christ Pantokrator, The Empress ZoÐ"« and the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos, mosaic was created, with the last rebuilding of Hagia Sophia in 1030 (Lassus, 130). It corresponds to the middle Byzantine period.

Until Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was a Christian church. After the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was converted from a church to a mosque (Stokstad, 310). After the conversion, some of the mosaics, which had figural images, were covered. The reason is that no images are allowed in Islam. The mosaics on the lower levels, which were able to seen by Muslims, were "plastered over". The mosaics in the upper level survived better (Cimok, 34). When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became the president of Turkey, he converted Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum.

"Christ Pantokrator" is one of the mosaics that survived in the Hagia Sophia. I shows three figures; the Christ, the Empress ZoÐ"« and the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. The characteristic of Byzantine art and tradition can be seen in this mosaic, particularly the characteristics of the icon tradition. Publicly, the Byzantine government allowed "little freedom of expression" in art.

All three figures' heads are in circles. But only Christ's has a cross behind his head. Christ's hand position symbolizes to the viewer that he is Christ Pantokrator. Like other Byzantine mosaics, there are tones of colors in the different places of the mosaic.

The whole composition makes the content of the mosaic more meaningful. According to Otto Demus, when you look the Byzantine decorations from the Western perspective, in their content you cannot find originality or individuality (Demus, 238). The decorations individually do not mean anything. When you look at the Byzantine decoration, especially mosaics, you should look at the whole picture. Byzantine artists' concentration is on the whole of the composition and the connection of the individual figures to the whole composition (Demus, 238-239). The depiction of the Empress ZoÐ"« and her spouse with Christ makes it clear that her rule is divinely ordained.

The Christ Pantokrator (mosaic), located in the south gallery of the Hagia Sophia, shows the Empress ZoÐ"« with Christ, who is drawn larger then the other two figures. The figure on the left is the Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. The head of the Emperor changed three times when the Empress remarried three times. First it was Romanos III Argryos's, later it was Michael IV the Paphlagonian's and finally the third husband, the last one, was Constantine IX Monomachos (Cimok, 49). ZoÐ"« holds " a scroll of parchment enumerating imperial donations to the church of the Hagia Sophia" (Cimok, 49). The Christ is holding a book. What the Empress ZoÐ"« holds is also important because it shows her understanding that Christ is the reason she is able to rule. So, she must