84. 



KNOWLEDGE 



[April, 1903. 



and of 47 ± 15, and of 47 + 32 years. The greater number 

 oi inscriptions refer to observations made in order to verify 

 and correct these periods. There are older observations of 

 the moon known from Assyria, but chiefly made for the 

 purpose of astrology and festival arrangements. Up to 

 date there is no inscription known to me where the 

 " phases of Venus'" would be given ; the observations are 

 about Venus as the evening or morning star. In a later 

 period there were elaborate systems of calculating the 

 heliacal rising and setting of Venus and Mercury and the 

 other planets, and the author quoted by Mr. Maclde 

 probably meant these heliacal risings and settings of 

 Venus by the expression " phases of Venus." Spots on 

 the sun are never mentioned in any inscriptions, unless 

 the author translates the word "cloud" by "spot," or has 

 misunderstood the expression for au eclipse. The 

 crystal lens, found at Nineveh by Sir Austen H. Layard, 

 now preserved in the British Museum, is very roughly 

 made, and could, evidently, not be used for any observation. 

 The names of the Jewish months seem rather to be 

 derived from an earlier intercourse with Baljylou than 

 from Assyria, and after the Babylonian Exile the Baby- 

 lonian names were in common use amongst the Jews. — 

 J. N. Stkassmaier, S.J.] 



THE CROSS OF S. SOPHIA. 



TO THE EDITORS OF KNOWLEDGE. 



Sirs, — In the first of M. Autoniadi's interesting 

 papers on S. Sophia (Knowledge, for February, 1903, 

 p. 30), he comes to the conclusion that a large cross stood 

 outside the dome, similar to that on S. Paul's in London ; 

 but he brings no evidence in support of his contention 

 except the passage which he quotes from Paulus Silentiarius, 

 a passage which has been differently interpreted by very 

 competent persons. I should like to ask if M. Antoniadi 

 can quote any other instance in Greek literature where 

 eypa,(j>€ is used for anything except a design on the flat, 

 whether by writing or painting, or possibly mosaic. The 

 use of i'ypa.^1. was certainly not caused by poetical neces- 

 sities, as cirMcre or eKTia-e fits the hexameter equally 

 weU. But the interpretation of the Sileutiary's poem does 

 not depend here upon the single word ; the whole context 

 of the passage refers to the magnificent appearance of the 

 dome /com the inside. The poet compares the dome to the 

 vault of heaven, an idea that would never occur to anyone 

 who was thinking of the apjiearance of the outside. In 

 the age of Justinian the heavens were thought of as a 

 great spherical vault seen from below, and the top, the 

 Kopv^rj, is the zenith. At the zenith of Justinian's dome, 

 on the inside therefore, above every object in sight, above 

 the highest point of the enclosed space, the great cross 

 was drawn, brooding over the worshippers. 



As to the cross being the " protector of the city," surely 

 the Byzantines were not so foolish as to suppose that the 

 position of the cross made any difference to its super- 

 natural virtue ; and if any particular cross was to be 

 regarded as the palladium of Constantinople, it would be 

 not Justiniaaj's architectural ornaments, but the True 

 Cross which was kept inside the church and exposed there 

 three days in the year for the veneration of the faithful. 

 But, doubtless, ipvcriTrroXi-; merely expresses the general 

 belief that the symbol of the Christian religion everywhere 

 protected the city of Constantiue. 



My regretted friend Harold Swainson is not alive to 

 defend his translation of the Sil<>otiary's poem. I have 

 therefore written these few lines to express the opinion 

 that if M. Antoniadi is to convince us that Justinian's 

 Church of S. Sophia had a cross on tiie outside of the 



dome he will need to bring forward some other evidence 

 than the passage he has quoted from Paulus. 



Elterholm, Cambridge. ^- C- Burkitt. 



[In wishing to deprive mediaeval Greek churches of 

 their outer cross, Mr. Burkitt is assuming a gravely 

 artificial position, whose defence is very difficult, if not 

 altogether impossible The "other evidence" he is asking 

 for is now brought forth in my third paper, printed in the 

 present number of Knowledge, where I show that, in 

 opposition to Mr. Burkitt's assertion that the great cross 

 was drawn inside, " brooding over the worshippers," the 

 poet Paulus describes at the very place of this would-be 

 cross, the image of Christ in a mosaic circle. And we 

 know that to paint Christ at the crown of the cupola, 

 inside, was a recommendation of the Greek " Painter's 

 Manual." We thus reach the irrefutable general inference: 

 As there was a cross somewhere about the dome of St. 

 Sophia, and as it was not inside, it must necessarily have 

 been on the outside. 



This focusses matters, and justifies the sense of figured, 

 which I gave to sypn^s. The attempt to confine the 

 meaning of that verb to writing and painting suggests 

 some lack of knowledge of Greek, as, in the first place, 

 ypd<t>eiy meant to scratch, to incise, to carve, all of which 

 meanings imply, of course, action in a solid. And, in 

 choosing the word i'ypa^e, the poet ])robably wanted to say 

 that the cross was " artfully carved out " of metal. The fact 

 that the context interesting us describes the interior of the 

 dome is utilized by Mr. Burkitt as a corroboration of his 

 views. But a closer examination ought to show him that 

 it really militates against them, for, approaching as he 

 does, the crown of the dome on the inside, the poet thought 

 he ought to say a word on the outer cross, and actually 

 does this by selecting the proper adverb, iitip, above, beyond, 

 implying the change of plane from inside to outside. 



Mr. Burkitt, further, does not see that, in placing his 

 mosaic ci'oss " above the highest point of the enclosed 

 space," he locates it either in the thickness of the brick 

 vaulting, or even draws it on the outside — both of which 

 conclusions are, of course, unlikely. 



ifr. Burkitt's letter is the product of an error in -his 

 authority's translation. The poet places his cross un-sp Sh 

 oKpoTarij; K0pu4>v(> literally, " but above the most extreme 

 summit," whereas the late Mr. Swainson inadvertently 

 translated " and at the highest point." giving to the 

 expression vvap Si, but above, the meaning and at, which. 1 

 am afraid, it never had. 



1903, March 12. E. M. Antoniadi.] 

 ♦ 



Brittsl) ^rmtljologtcal Notes. 



Conducted by Harry F. Witherbt, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



The Migrations of the Lapwing. — The following is 

 a brief summary of Mr. W. Eagle Clarke's account of the 

 migratory movements of the Lapwing : — ■ 



Generally it may be said that the movements of this 

 bird largely escape notice. Lapwings do not often approach 

 the light-stations. They do not seem to emigrate fi'oni 

 the British Islands in autumn to any extent, but they 

 come to winter with us from the Continent. The most 

 marked movements of the Lapwing are connected with 

 the weather, and are mainly confined to passages from the 

 north of Great Britain southwards, and from inland to the 

 coast in winter, and vice versa in spring. 



British Summer and Autiimn Movements. — Com- 

 mencing exceptionally in .Tuly, but generally in August, 

 emigration from the north of Scotland and the high 

 breeding grounds goes on gradually until the beginning 

 of November, when the birds are mostly to be found in 



