This has been the cause of much confusion, as it has unfortunately happened that the first edition has been reproduced without remark in the series of Byzantine texts published at Bonn and in Migne’s Patrologiae Cursus Completus. In this Du Cange placed the iconostasis “under the great eastern arch which supports the dome,” and thus included the whole eastern hemicycle in the bema. He devoted the whole central square under the dome to the “priests and singers,” separating it from the western hemicycle by “marble columns,” which were obtained by a curious misreading of Gyllius’ description of the verde antique columns in the western opening on the first floor. In the centre between these “marble columns” he placed the “Beautiful” or “Royal Gate,” and the western hemicycle outside this was alone allotted to the people. In the corrected edition of 1680 the bema is confined to the eastern extension, the eastern hemicycle became the solea, and the central area and western hemicycle are given to the people.
There is actually very little diversity of opinion in regard to the main divisions of the church between Du Cange, Neale,[97] and Salzenberg, but Rohault de Fleury has been misled into making an engraving of the iconostasis, stretching across the whole hundred feet of the hemicycle.
Bema.—A church, as Simeon of Thessalonica writes, is properly “divided into three parts, the pronaos, the naos, and the bema.” The bema (see Plan, [Fig. 5]) is the raised part within the screen or iconostasis included by the apse. This was the place set apart for the priests, who are hence sometimes called “they of the bema.”[98] Decrees were passed from time to time to enhance its sacred character; as that no member of the laity should pass beyond the screen, except with the consent of a bishop. Even the emperor was only allowed there during a few portions of the liturgy.
The bema of S. Sophia was indifferently called the adyta, hierateion, thusiasterion. The history of Michael Attaliotas also speaks of it as the “second skene, that is, the Holy of Holies.”[99] The apse proper is by Paulus mentioned apart from the space contained by the straight walls, and it is possible that this is the kuklios (cyclius) of Porphyrogenitus. From the poet we gather that the priests’ stalls against the wall were plated with silver. The upper part of the curved wall is incrusted with precious marble of sombre golden tones, beneath which the surface has been disturbed and is now covered by plain gray slabs. When we recall the immense quantity of silver that Procopius says was used in the sanctuary, and remember that the iconostasis and the altar-ciborium were of silver and the Holy Table of gold, it seems likely that the plating of the silver stalls covered the whole of this narrow strip, which would not be more than six or eight feet above the top seat, the level of which we suppose is marked by the projection of the lower part of the wall. In the small oratory of the Saviour built by Basil in the palace “the whole pavement was of massive silver wrought by the hammer and enriched by niello, and the walls to the right and left were covered with great plates of silver damascened in gold and glistening with precious stones and pearls.”[100] To this space we should refer the four panels with images in the wall mentioned in the Novgorod Chronicle,[101] which we suppose were of embossed silver or enamel. The most eastward point of the apse was occupied by the patriarch’s throne.[102] A bishop’s chair with a canopy preserved in the cathedral church of S. George at Constantinople, said to have belonged to S. Sophia, is in any case quite late. It is of wood, ornamented with inlaid work representing the two-headed eagle, which was not adopted earlier than the tenth century.
In [Fig. 8] we give an outline of a miniature in the Menologium (Jan. 16) of the adoration of S. Peter’s chains, which were kept in the chapel of S. Peter attached to the great church. We have here a bema fully represented with the altar, ciborium, and apsidal stalls for the clergy. We can hardly suppose that these latter could have belonged to a small dependent chapel, and hence the miniature in the symbolic way of these old drawings is probably intended as a view of the great apse.
Altar.—The central object of the bema was the altar, which stood beneath the cylindrical vault, on the under side of which the two great watching angels are represented in the mosaic. Paulus says, “On columns of gold is raised the all golden slab of the Holy Table; it stands too on a base of gold, and from it gleams the brightness of precious stones.” The doubtful Anonymous says that it was “supported on four columns, overlaid with gold,” and again that “it was set up on solid columns of gold, studded with precious stones;” and that beneath the altar was a “sea” (thalassa) ornamented with gold and precious stones.[103] This seems to refer to the “base of gold” beneath the columns.
Fig. 8.—View of Bema from the Menologium.
According to Labarte, the description by the Anonymous (see p. [138]) shows that the altar itself was decorated with the bright diversity of enamel. This he seems to prove by passages in Suidas[104] and Cedrenus. The last-named writes: “It is formed of gold, of silver, of every kind of stone and metal and wood, and everything which earth, sea, or the whole universe contains. Of all these he (Justinian) collected the most valuable, with some small amount of commoner ones. He then melted those that would melt, added those that were dry, and poured them into a mould till it was filled. He wrote upon it, ‘We (Justinian and Theodora) thy servants, O Christ, bring thee of thine own, praying that thou wilt graciously accept it, O Son and Word of God made flesh and crucified for us. Strengthen us in the true faith, increase and guard this state, which thou hast intrusted to us, through the mediation of Mary, the holy Virgin, the Mother of God.’”
However doubtful these late Greek writers are as authorities for Justinian’s time, enamel was used in later days in the most extravagant manner, and we cannot doubt that at the time when the Crusaders took the church the altar was of enamel.[105] Robert de Clari,[106] writing at this time, says, “the chief altar of the church (S. Sophia) is so rich that one cannot value it; for the slab which forms the altar is of gold and of precious cut stones (esquartelées) and pearls (molucs) all thrown together.” Nicetas is even clearer; describing the capture of Constantinople and the sack of the church, he says: “The Holy Table, made of all kinds of precious materials, cemented together by fire, and formed into a many-coloured harmony so as to be the wonder of all nations, was broken in pieces and distributed by the soldiers.”[107]