The nimbus of Christ has three rays, and His hand blesses in the Greek manner, by which the fingers represent the initial and final letters of Jesus Christus. The undergarment has broad gold stripes worked on it, and the lights are given in silver; it seems to be of silk, the upper garment appears to be of a white woollen stuff.
The great western arch has a medallion of the Virgin at the crown, and full lengths of Peter and Paul at the sides, Peter on the south; however, only a few remnants of these figures are now left. The border which surrounds the medallion of the Virgin has colours of the rainbow, the circle of her halo is red; the flesh colour is fair, and the eyes are blue. The veil is blue, with a gold cross, and the cloak is also blue. Under the veil is a kind of band round the head, like that which the Spanish Jews of Constantinople wear; it is of a blue green colour with dark stripes; the hair is not visible. Her nimbus has three silver rays on a gold ground; her hands rest on the shoulders of the Child, whose right hand blesses, while the left holds the book of the Gospel.
Peter’s face is dark, the nimbus is blue, the garment is bluish green, and the gold rod, surmounted by a cross, has red and blue bands. He thus has the same insignia as the St. Peter on the Ciborium Curtain, and it is this which, in the mosaic, identifies the figure as Peter, for there is no inscription. Porphyrogenitus, in his life of Basil, mentions that when the western arch was restored the pictures of the Virgin, and the Apostles Peter and Paul were placed there by that emperor. The figure of Paul has an upper garment of green with silver lights, and the undergarment is a greenish yellow. The whole figure is about seventeen feet high, but the head is wanting.[383]
On the large semicircular walls beneath the northern and southern dome-arches are a number of figures in mosaic. The seven arched recesses were filled with representations of martyrs and bishops; above, between the windows, were six smaller figures of prophets, and a larger figure at each end. At the height of the upper row of windows were probably the archangels, but of these only the feet remain.
The figures that now exist are the following. In the recesses on the south side, the second from the east is Anthimos, Bishop of Nicomedia, martyred in 311: in the third is Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, martyred in 379.[384]
The fourth recess from the east has Gregory Theologos, Patriarch of Constantinople from 378 to 383. The next figure is Dionysius the Areopagite; who was converted by St. Paul, and became, tradition says, Bishop of Athens. In the sixth recess is Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who died in 330. This figure is partly destroyed. The seventh, is Gregory, Bishop of Armenia, who died in 325.[385]
The figure of Isaiah, which is to the east of the row of windows, had been covered up (when Salzenberg made his drawings), but it was described by Fossati as having an undergarment of green with silver lights, and over it a cloak of a white woollen stuff. The right hand pointed towards the bema, and in the left was an open scroll with the inscription, “Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” Under the figure was a monogram.[386] Higher up again on the same wall was the inscription:—
ΑΙΓ....ΤΗϹΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ ϹΟΦΙΑϹ
ΗΡΑ....ΤΟΥΚΕΑΚΗΡΑΤΩΝ....
The recesses of the north wall have no mosaics [see below, p. [287].]
At the height of the windows, the first figure beginning from the east is Jeremiah.[387] The undergarment has stripes of blue and red, and the upper represents a russet-coloured woollen stuff. The right hand blesses, the left has an open roll [with the inscription shown in the plate, “This is our God; no other shall be compared to Him.”].[388]