We know little of the later history of the ambo. The Anonymous Author, who probably wrote not earlier than the twelfth century, comparing the mythical splendour of an earlier ambo destroyed by a fall of the dome to another which he attributes to Justinian’s nephew, Justin, says they made the latter of marble, with columns covered with silver, and with silver screens going round the solea. It had no dome. Immediately after he compares the pavement which he says was destroyed at the same time with one that now is. So that we may assume that he wrote of an ambo then existing, and that therefore in this instance he may be trusted.[86] The work attributed to Justin by the Anonymous is really the restoration under Justinian; he seems to have confused the nephew of the architect who was then employed with the nephew of the emperor. Rohault De Fleury,[87] who accepts this story, suggests that a canopied ambo which appears in the Menologium of Basil (976-1025) figures one in S. Sophia which may have replaced the former ambo after the fall of the dome in 975. Robert de Clari (1200) merely says, “The place from which they read the Gospel is so rich and noble, that we do not know how to describe the making of it.”[88] The ambo of that time was destroyed by the Crusaders (1203).[89] Clavijo, the Spanish ambassador, who saw S. Sophia two hundred years later, has left this description of the covered ambo then existing. “On the floor in the centre of the area is a pulpit placed on four columns of jasper; and the sides of it are overlaid with panels of jasper of many colours, and this pulpit is surmounted by a cover, which stands on eight very large jasper columns; and here they preach and read the Gospel on feast days.”
Coronations.—We shall now quote two descriptions of the ceremonies associated with the ambo at coronations. These are of the age of the Palaeologi, and the first is especially interesting as describing the Megale Eisodos and the Celebration.
“And about the second hour of the same day the prince who is to be anointed is set upon a shield;[90] the reigning emperor, who may be his father, and the patriarch take hold of the front part of the shield, which is also held by the officials of rank and the nobility. They then raise it, and show the new emperor to the assembled populace. After he has been greeted with acclamation, they attend him into the church, where the rest of the ceremony must be completed. Now a little edifice of wood has previously been prepared for this very purpose, into which they lead the new emperor, and put on him the purple and the diadem, which have been blest by the bishops. And round his head it is customary to put only a chaplet. After this the service of the Mass (mustagogia) proceeds. And near the erection just mentioned a set of movable steps, also of wood, are prepared, and these they cover with purple silk. And upon it are placed golden thrones, according to the number of the princes, not like other thrones, but raised on four or five steps; here the princes take their seats. The princesses also ascend with them, and sit on the thrones, wearing their crowns, but she that is about to be crowned wears a chaplet. Now before the hymn Trisagion is sung, the patriarch comes out of the bema and ascends the ambo, and with him are the rulers of the church, all wearing their sacred robes. He then dismisses them, and summons the princes, and they immediately arise from their thrones and come to the ambo, while profound silence is kept by the whole congregation. Then the patriarch goes through the prayers appointed for the anointing, some silently by himself, others out loud, praying for the blessing of God on him who is about to be anointed. After this the new emperor removes from his head whatever he is wearing, and then it is right for all, as many as are present, to stand with bared heads. Then the patriarch with the holy oil anoints the head of the emperor with the form of the cross, saying with a loud voice ‘Holy’; and as soon as they hear it those standing on the ambo pronounce it three times, and after them all the people. After this the crown is brought by deacons from the bema where they keep it (now it is not above the Holy Table as some say), and taken to the ambo. If any previously crowned emperor be there, he and the patriarch take the crown together, and place it on the head of the prince, the patriarch saying ‘Holy’ in a loud voice. Those in the ambo repeat it three times, and the people, as after the anointing. Then the patriarch repeats some more prayers, and the prince descends from the ambo, not on the side by which he ascended, but on the side which is turned towards the solea. If he is unmarried he then ascends the steps and reseats himself upon his throne, but if he has a wife then she also must be crowned. She is then led, as she rises from the throne, by two kinswomen one on either side, or if she has no relatives, eunuchs lead her down from the steps, and stand with her before the solea. Then the emperor descends from the ambo, and takes the crown held ready by the kinswomen or eunuchs, and places it upon the head of his wife, and she kneels before her husband, swearing fealty to him. And the patriarch, standing by the solea, offers up a prayer for the emperor and empress, and all their people. Thus the emperor crowns his own wife. And then both ascend the steps, and sit upon their thrones, and the rest of the mysteries are proceeded with. But at the singing of the Trisagion, or at the reading from the apostolic writings, or the Gospels, they stand up.
“And on both sides of the nave, on wooden steps made for this purpose, are those called protopsaltae, and domestici, and others of ecclesiastical rank who know how to sing, and who are called because of this kraktai;[91] all these sing anthems especially made for the occasion. But when the part of the mysteries which is called The Great Entrance[92] is beginning, the chief of the deacons comes and summons the emperor, and he comes with them into the prothesis, where are set out the Holy Elements, and, standing outside the prothesis, a golden mantle is put upon him over the diadem and the purple; and in the right hand he holds the cross, which he usually carries when he wears his crown, but in the left he carries the rod, which he who is called deputatus usually carries. With these in both hands the emperor leads the sacred entrance, and on both sides of him march the Varangi with their axes, and the sons of the nobility armed and unarmed, about a hundred in all, follow; and immediately behind him come the deacons in order, and the priests, carrying the vessels for the service—and other most holy things. And after going round the nave, as is their wont, when they come into the solea, all the others stand outside, but the emperor alone enters the solea and finds the patriarch standing at the sacred screen, and after bowing to one another the patriarch goes inside, but the emperor remains without, and then the deacon who followed immediately after the emperor, holding in his right hand a censer, and in his left what is called the maphorion of the patriarch, approaches and censes the emperor. The emperor bows his head, while the deacon with a loud voice calls out, ‘May the Lord be mindful of the power of thy kingdom in His universal kingdom, now and always and for ever and ever, Amen.’ And in order the rest of the deacons and the priests approach and say the same. And when this is finished the emperor bows to the patriarch, takes off the mandya, which is taken away by the refendarius. The emperor again ascends the tribune and sits down on the throne, but he stands during the creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the elevation of our Lord’s body. And after the elevation, if he is not prepared for the Communion he remains seated till the end of the service. But if he is prepared, the deacons again come and summon him. And with them he enters into the bema and, having been given a censer, he censes the Holy Table, looking first of all to the east, then north, west, and south, and having again censed towards the east, he censes the patriarch also. The patriarch bows to him and takes the censer, and censes the emperor in return. After this the emperor removes the crown, and gives it into the hands of the deacons. Then the patriarch puts into his hand a portion of our Lord’s body, and after that he drinks of the life-giving blood, not from a spoon like the rest of the people, but from the cup itself like the priests. Then the emperor replaces the crown, and comes out of the bema, and after the congregation has shared in the Communion, and he has been blessed by the patriarch, and the priests, and has kissed their right hands, they lead him to the part called catechumena to receive the acclamations of the people. When this is finished, he comes down again, and he and the empress mount on horseback, and ride back to the palace to partake of a banquet.”[93]
Codinus Curopalata[94] has also a description, almost in the same words, but with some additions. The future emperor is “led to the triclinium called Thomaites, which looks on to the Augusteum, where are standing the populace with the army. But before the emperor shows himself, what are called epicombia are thrown to the people by one of the senators, whom the emperor has selected. These epicombia are made as follows. They cut pieces of cloth, and in each piece they bind up three gold and as many silver numismata and three obols, and then throw them to the people, and they scatter as many thousands of these as the emperor shall arrange. Now it is customary to throw these epicombia in the proaulion of the great church, that is in the part called Augusteum;—he who scatters them standing above the steps of the Augusteum.” Inside the church a wooden tribunal had been prepared in the gynaeceum, and at the end of the ceremony “the young emperor with his wife the empress, and the emperor, his father, and his mother, ascend. But the golden velothyra hide the tribunal, so that they shall not be seen. Then the psaltae sing ‘Lift up,’ and immediately the velothyra are raised, and the princes in the gynaeceum are greeted with acclamations by the people.”
CHAPTER V
THE RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR PARTS OF THE CHURCH
Main Divisions.—Du Cange, in the commentary to his edition of the Silentiary’s Poem, was the first to make a serious attempt to elucidate the interior arrangements of S. Sophia. This appeared with the poem in the folio of 1670,[95] but a revised edition was incorporated in his Historia Byzantina, 1680.[96]
In the first his knowledge of the actual state of the church seems to have been limited to the description of Gyllius unassisted by any plan. Drawings of S. Sophia were desiderata at that time, and Grelot tells us how he was induced to attempt to make them by a knowledge that others who had been commissioned by the King of France had failed. Before the publication of his revised edition of 1680 Du Cange had obtained a plan. This appeared in the same year as Grelot’s work, and divergences seem to show that the plans were, in great measure at least, independent of one another. The main text of his commentary however remained the same, and the alterations, although crucial, were mostly made by the omission of a few lines here and there without any attention being specially called to the fact.