50 



KNOWLEDGE 



[March, 1903. 



of the Greeks. But it might also have been quite close to 

 the Sanctuary, in the position marked A, on Fig. 4, where 

 the marble Jocoration of the pier shows some curious 

 anomalies, which it is not easy to account for on the basis 

 of other assumptions. 



Meintnrinn. — -The word iJ.y)TaTMpiov seems to come from 

 hiiiliifdrliun, and meant a vestiary. There were several 

 Mctatoria in St. Sophia, but the most important lay south 

 of the Samtuary, as ably pointed out by Messrs. Lethaby 

 and Swainson.* Paul the Silentiary speaks (verses 165- 

 l(i8) of a " wall " in south aisle, " screening off the king 

 on great feast-days," and enabling him " to hear, from his 

 usual throne, the reading of the books celebrating the 

 holy mysteries " ; while we learn from Constantine 

 Porphyrogenitus that, on attending service in the tenth 

 century, the emperor spent a considerable part of his time 

 in the Metatorion, where, of course, there- must have been 

 a throne, granting him some rest after the numerous 

 processions he had to attend upon during the celebration 

 of the liturgy. 



Airnexes of the Sanctuary. — Right and left of the apse, 

 the openings of the eastern wall show evidence of having 

 been originally subordinated to the presence of a series of 

 low attached chambers, whose saddle roofs can still be 

 traced from the south gallery of the church. Not only 

 the windows are opened here at an unusual height, but 

 also the great doors to the east lack centering with refer- 

 ence to the axis of the aisles. Communication with these 

 chambers was ensui-ed from the Sanctuary by two small 

 doors, of which the one to the south is still extant, though 

 blocked up so as to lead only to a shallow recess of the 

 eastern wall. 



There is good reason to believe that the Prothesia, or 

 table destined to receive the bread and wine for the sacri- 

 fice on the Altar, lay in one of the northern chambers 

 (Prothesis I. of the plan), and that most of the other halls 

 constituted the Sacristi/, Skenophylakion, or Viaconicon. 

 The addition of the high buttress masses of Andronicus 

 Paleologos mvist have introduced serious trouble here, in 

 1317, by blocking with stone and mortar the all-important 

 annexes. It does not seem improbable, therefore, that, 

 during the last 13.5 years of the empire's existence, the 

 Prothesis was in the aisle (Prothesis II.), immediately to 

 the left of the Sanctuary ; while a special strong circular 

 building had to l)e erected as Sacristy, outside the north- 

 east angle of the church. 



The north porch to the east was the Worn en' a Narthex. 

 "On leaving the skenophylakion," says Porphyrogenitus, 

 " the emperor passes through the women's vestibule, where 

 stand the deaconesses of the great church, and goes ovit 

 through the left of the sanctuary. "f 



The Holy Well. — In his work on the Palace of Constan- 

 tinople, Labarte raised a series of annexes all along the 

 south wall of St. Sophia, for which, however, there is no 

 trace of evidence, architectural or historical ; and the fact 

 that these a.nnexes would inevitably block the windows of 

 the southern ailes is a fatal objection to their assumption. 

 Speaking of the celebrated Holy Well, Labarte, in his 

 customary dogmatic spirit, says : — " From the great hall 

 of the holy well one entered the church. It could only 

 be by the great southern door, which still exists in the 

 centre of the edifice" Now the door leading from the 

 Well to the church was quite small, inasmuch as Porphyro- 

 genitus informs us that the Patriarch used to accompany 

 the emperor, leaving St. Sophia " as far as the little dooV 



leading to the holy well."* But Labarte commits a graver 

 error than this one. The Holy Well was not to the south, 

 but "probably in one of the eastern chapels," as pointed out 

 by Messrs. Lethaby and Swainson. A Byzantine author, 

 quoted by Combefis, says : " In this honoured and celebrated 



church, there is a coloured eikon of Christ painted 



on a panel near the eastern door, where is the well of the 

 Samaritan woman. "f There are two doors in the east 

 front, so that we have to examine if the Well was by the 

 northern or southern of the two. This is easy. According 

 to the testimony of a Kussian pilgrim, " the stoni; on 

 which sat Christ, s)3eakiug to the woman of Samaria, was 

 in the chapel to the right."J Right means south. Mean- 

 time, another Russian pilgrim says that this chapel was 

 behind (east of) the Sanctuary.? Hence we learn : — 



(a) That the door between tlie Holy Well and the 

 church was small ; 



(6) That the Well was in one of the southern divisions 

 of the eastern annexes ; and 



(«) That it was quite close to the great southern gate, 

 on the east side. 

 Examining our plan, we find that the first of the 

 eastern chambers, close to the gate, will fulfil all these 



* S. Sophia, p. 78. 



t Ceremonies, ed. Bonn, Tol. I., p. 182. 



Fig. 5.— Entrance of Holy Well, Door of South-east Window, iitid 

 Corridor of Mannaura. Epoch : 10th Century. 



conditions. It will also be seen that the Embolos (portico) 

 of the Well, mentioned by Porphyrogenitus (Fig. 5). is 

 partly still extant, though reconstructed by the Turks, 



* Ceremonies, I., ch. 1. 



t Du Cange, S. Sop/da, §76. 



J Letliaby and Swainson, S. SopJiia, p. 109. 



§ md, p. 105. 



