A lost church and its client in Palaeologan Byzantium: St. John in Selymbria and the parakoimomenos Alexios Apocaukos
Keywords:
Byzantium paleologian
Abstract
This study presents a comprehensive examination of the interplay between art and society in Palaiologan Byzantium by analysing a paradigmatic instance of aristocratic patronage on the outskirts of Constantinople. The focus is on the now-lost Church of St. John in Selymbria (modern Silivri, near Istanbul), commissioned by the parakoimomenos and megas doux Alexios Apokaukos (c. 1280-1345), a key figure in the empire’s tumultuous history during the early 14th century. Following its conversion into a mosque shortly after the Ottoman conquest (1462-1463), the building had deteriorated into ruins by the late 19th century and vanished entirely after World War I. Nonetheless, a “virtual” reconstruction of the church is feasible through a comparative analysis of its surviving elements, little known historical photographs, descriptions made by 19th-century travellers and archaeologists, and a collection of capitals bearing the monograms of Alexios Apokaukos currently preserved in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. This renewed scrutiny of the Church of Selymbria not only illuminates the patron’s engagement with the arts, but also reinstates the church’s significance within the Palaiologan architectural tradition.
References
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Crow, J., Turner, S. (2009), Silivri and the Thracian hinterland of Istanbul: an historic landscape, Anatolian Studies, 59, 167-181.
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Karpozilos A., Fatouros G. (2017), The Letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos, Athens: Kanakis publishers.
Kazhdan, A. (1991), s.v. Selymbria, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, III, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1867-1868.
Kozanoğlu, C. (1994), Her Yönüyle Silivri, Silivri: Silivri Belediyesi Basın Yayın ve Halkla İlişkiler Müdürlüğü Tarafından Yayımlanmıştır.
Lazarev, V. N. (1997), The Russian icon: from its origins to the sixteenth century, Collegeville (Minn.).
Magdalino, P. (1978), Byzantine Churches of Selymbria, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 32, 309-318.
Makris, G. (2005), Alexios Apokaukos und sein Porträt im Codex Paris, gr. 2144, in Geschehenes und Geschriebenes. Studien zu Ehren von Günther S. Henrich und K.-P. Matschke, Kolditz S., Müller R. C. [ed.], Leipzig: Eudora, 157-180.
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Mendel, G. (1914), Musées Impériaux Ottomans: Catalogue des Sculptures Grecques, Romaines et Byzantines, II, Constantinople.
Mordtmann, J.H. (1884), Zur Epigraphik von Thrakien, Archäologisch-epigraphische Mitteilungen aus Österreich-Ungarn, 8, 211-212.
Nicol, D. M. (1993), The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Orlandos, A.Κ. (1936), Ή Άγια Θεοδώρα της 'Άρτης, in Αρχείο Βυζαντινών Μνημείων Ελλάδος (ABME), II, Αθήναις, 88-104.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2002), The Art of Kariye Camii, London: Scala Publishers Ltd.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2011), Two Byzantine Churches of Silivri/Selymbria, in Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and its Decoration. Studies in Honor of Slobodan Ćurčić, Johnson M. J., Ousterhout R.G., Papalexandrou A. [ed.], Farnham (Surrey)-Burlington: Routledge, 239-257.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2019), Eastern Medieval Architecture. The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands, New York: Oxford University Press, 595-618.
Öz, T. (1953) [hrsg. und eingeleitet von], Zwei Stiftungsurkunden des Sultans Mehmed II Fatih, Istanbul (= Istanbuler Mitteilungen; Heft 4), IX-X; 12-17.
Papastavrou H. (2007), Recherche iconographique dans l'art byzantin et occidental du XIe au XVe siècle: l’Annonciation, Venezia: Biblioteca dell’Istituto ellenico di studi bizantini e postbizantini di Venezia / 25]
Pitarakis B., Tanman G. (2018), Life is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing in Byzantium. New Perspectives, Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalari Enstitüsü.
Riccardi, L. (2014-2015), L’Epiro tra Bisanzio e l’Occidente: ideologia e committenza artistica nel primo secolo del Despotato (1204-1318), Phd Thesis. Università La Sapienza di Roma: Italy.
Seure, G. (1912), Antiquités thraces de la Propontide, Collection Stamoulis, in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 36, 534-641.
Schiller, G. (1971), Iconography of Christian Art. 1: Christ’s Incarnation, Childhood, Baptism, Temptation, Transfiguration, Works and Miracles, Greenwich (Connecticut): New York Graphic Society Ltd.
Schrijverl, F.M. (2012), The Early Palaiologan Court (1261-1354), PhD Thesis, University of Birmingham, 201-2013.
Spatharakis I. (1976), The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden: E. J. Brill (= Byzantina Neerlandica, 6), 145-151.
Stiegemann, C., Wemhoff, M. (herausgegeben von) (2006), Canossa 1077: Erschütterung der Welt: Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik, catalogo della mostra (Paderborn July 21-Nov. 5 2006), München: Hirmer, 387-388, n. 481.
Talbot, A.M. (1991), s.v. Philotheos, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, III, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1661.
Velmans, T. (1971), Le portrait dans l’art des Paléologues, in Art et société à Byzance sous les Paléologues, actes du colloque organisé par l’Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines (Venise, Septembre 1968), édit. Institut Hellénique, Venezia: Stamperia di Venezia, 91-148;
Ward Perkins, J.B. (1958), Roman Garland Sarcophagi from the Quarries of Proconnesus (Marmara), Washingthon D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Yalçin A.B. (1999), Materiali di età paleologa nel Museo Archeologico di Istanbul, in L’arte di Bisanzio e l’Italia al tempo dei Paleologi 1261-1453, Iacobini A., della Valle M. [ed.], Roma: Argos, 359-382.
Diplomatarium Veneto-Levantinum sive acta et diplomata res venetas graecas atque Levantis illustrantia a. 1300-1350, I, Venetiis 1880, p. 14;
Ο ἐν Κωνστανινουπόλει Ηλληνικός Φιλολογικός Σύλλογος, VI, Istanbul 1871-72, pp. 245-246.
Ayverdi, E.H. (1953), Fâtih devri mimarisi, Istanbul: Istanbul Matbaası.
Bacci, M. (2021), “Ceci n΄est pas une corniche”. Architectural Frames in the Chora Church and in 14th Century Palaiologan Painting, in Re(dis)covering Chora: The Byzantine Νame of the Rose, International Scientific Symposium (Athens, 25 and 26, 2021).
Barsanti, C. (1993), s.v. capitello, in Enciclopedia dell’Arte Medievale, IV, Roma: Treccani, 183-214.
Belting, H (1972), Zur Skulptur aus der Zeit im 1300 in Konstantinopel, Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 23, Ser. 3, 63-100.
Bevilacqua, L. (2013), Arte e aristocrazia a Bisanzio nell'età dei Macedoni: Costantinopoli, la Grecia e l’Asia Minore, Roma: Campisano editore.
Bonsanti, G. (2002) [ed.], La Basilica di San Francesco ad Assisi. Basilica inferiore, Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini (= Mirabilia Italiae, 11).
Brooks, S.-T. (2004), Scheda n. 56A, B. Capitals with Monograms of Alexios Apokaukos, in Byzantium Faith and Power (1261-1557). Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Culture, catalogo della mostra (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 23-July 4 2004), Brooks, S. T. [ed. by], New York, New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 111.
Bouras-Vallianatos P. (2020), Innovation in Byzantine Medicine: The Writings of John Zacharias Aktouarios (c. 1275-c. 1330), Oxford.
Cantacuzeno (1829), eximperatoris Historiarum libri IV, I, ed. L. Schopen, Bonn.
Cantacuzeno (1830), eximperatoris Historiarum libri IV, II, ed. L. Schopen, Bonn.
Ciric, J. S. (2014), “Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα“: brickwork narrative in Constantinopolitan Architectur during the period of Palaiologoi, in Niŝ and Byzantium, Twelfth Symposium. Niš, 3 – 6 June 2013. The Collection of Scientific Works XII, Rakocija M. [ed.], Niŝ: NKC, 231-244.
Crow, J. G. (1995), “The Long Walls of Thrace.” In Constantinople and its hinterland. Papers from the Twenty-Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Mango C., Dagron G. [ed.], Aldershot, 118-24.
Crow, J., Turner, S. (2009), Silivri and the Thracian hinterland of Istanbul: an historic landscape, Anatolian Studies, 59, 167-181.
Dumont, A., Homolle, Th. (1892), Melanges d’archeologie et d’epigraphie, Paris: E. Thorin.
Eyice, S. (1964), Alexis Apocauque et l’église byzantine de Sélymbria (Silivri), Byzantion, 34, 77-104.
Eyice, S. (1978), Encore une fois l'église d'Alexis Apocauque à Selymbria (= Silivri), Byzantion, 48, 406-416.
Feld, O. (1967), Noch Einmal Alexios Apokaukos und die byzantinische Kirche von Selymbria (Silivri), Byzantion, 27, 57-65.
Förstel, C. (2015), Scheda nr. 52. Works of Hippocrates, in Hayat Kisa, Sanat Uzun. Bizans'ta Sifa Sanati - Life is Short, Art Long. The Art of Healing in Byzantium, catalogo della mostra (Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, Pera Museum, 10 February-26 April 2015), ed. by B. Pitarakis, Istanbul, 285-288.
Fryde E. (2000), The Early Palaeologan Renaissance (1261-c. 1360), Leiden.
Georgievsky, M. (2004), Scheda n. 99. Two-Sided Icon with the Virgin Psychosostria and the Annunciation, in Byzantium Faith and Power (1261–1557). Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Culture, catalogo della mostra (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 23-July 4 2004), ed. by H.C. Evans, New York-London 2004, 179.
Grabar A. (1973), Sculptures Byzantines du Moyen Age (XIe – XIVe siècle), II, Paris: Picard.
Guilland, R. (1967), Recherches sur les institutions byzantines, I, Berlin-Amsterdam: Berliner byzantinistische Arbeiten.
Heyd, W. (1185), Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen-âge, I, Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz.
Hohlweg A. (1983), Johannes Aktuarios: Leben – Bildung – De Methodo Medendi, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 76, 312-321.
Jouve, E. (1855), Guerre d’Orient, Voyage à la suite des armées alliées en Turquie, en Valachie et en Crimée, II, Paris: Delhomme Alphone, 8-9.
Karagöz, Ş. (2015), Scheda nr. 53. Small impost capitals, in Hayat Kisa, Sanat Uzun. Bizans'ta Sifa Sanati - Life is Short, Art Long. The Art of Healing in Byzantium, catalogo della mostra (Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, Pera Museum, 10 February-26 April 2015), Pitarakis B [ed. by], Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 289.
Karpozilos A., Fatouros G. (2017), The Letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos, Athens: Kanakis publishers.
Kazhdan, A. (1991), s.v. Selymbria, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, III, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1867-1868.
Kozanoğlu, C. (1994), Her Yönüyle Silivri, Silivri: Silivri Belediyesi Basın Yayın ve Halkla İlişkiler Müdürlüğü Tarafından Yayımlanmıştır.
Lazarev, V. N. (1997), The Russian icon: from its origins to the sixteenth century, Collegeville (Minn.).
Magdalino, P. (1978), Byzantine Churches of Selymbria, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 32, 309-318.
Makris, G. (2005), Alexios Apokaukos und sein Porträt im Codex Paris, gr. 2144, in Geschehenes und Geschriebenes. Studien zu Ehren von Günther S. Henrich und K.-P. Matschke, Kolditz S., Müller R. C. [ed.], Leipzig: Eudora, 157-180.
Matschke, K.-P. (1971), Fortschritt und Reaktion in Byzanz im 14. Jahrhundert. Konstantinopel in der Bürgerkriegsperiode von 1341 bis 1354, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
Mendel, G. (1914), Musées Impériaux Ottomans: Catalogue des Sculptures Grecques, Romaines et Byzantines, II, Constantinople.
Mordtmann, J.H. (1884), Zur Epigraphik von Thrakien, Archäologisch-epigraphische Mitteilungen aus Österreich-Ungarn, 8, 211-212.
Nicol, D. M. (1993), The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Orlandos, A.Κ. (1936), Ή Άγια Θεοδώρα της 'Άρτης, in Αρχείο Βυζαντινών Μνημείων Ελλάδος (ABME), II, Αθήναις, 88-104.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2002), The Art of Kariye Camii, London: Scala Publishers Ltd.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2011), Two Byzantine Churches of Silivri/Selymbria, in Approaches to Byzantine Architecture and its Decoration. Studies in Honor of Slobodan Ćurčić, Johnson M. J., Ousterhout R.G., Papalexandrou A. [ed.], Farnham (Surrey)-Burlington: Routledge, 239-257.
Ousterhout, R.G. (2019), Eastern Medieval Architecture. The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands, New York: Oxford University Press, 595-618.
Öz, T. (1953) [hrsg. und eingeleitet von], Zwei Stiftungsurkunden des Sultans Mehmed II Fatih, Istanbul (= Istanbuler Mitteilungen; Heft 4), IX-X; 12-17.
Papastavrou H. (2007), Recherche iconographique dans l'art byzantin et occidental du XIe au XVe siècle: l’Annonciation, Venezia: Biblioteca dell’Istituto ellenico di studi bizantini e postbizantini di Venezia / 25]
Pitarakis B., Tanman G. (2018), Life is Short, Art Long: The Art of Healing in Byzantium. New Perspectives, Istanbul: Istanbul Arastirmalari Enstitüsü.
Riccardi, L. (2014-2015), L’Epiro tra Bisanzio e l’Occidente: ideologia e committenza artistica nel primo secolo del Despotato (1204-1318), Phd Thesis. Università La Sapienza di Roma: Italy.
Seure, G. (1912), Antiquités thraces de la Propontide, Collection Stamoulis, in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 36, 534-641.
Schiller, G. (1971), Iconography of Christian Art. 1: Christ’s Incarnation, Childhood, Baptism, Temptation, Transfiguration, Works and Miracles, Greenwich (Connecticut): New York Graphic Society Ltd.
Schrijverl, F.M. (2012), The Early Palaiologan Court (1261-1354), PhD Thesis, University of Birmingham, 201-2013.
Spatharakis I. (1976), The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, Leiden: E. J. Brill (= Byzantina Neerlandica, 6), 145-151.
Stiegemann, C., Wemhoff, M. (herausgegeben von) (2006), Canossa 1077: Erschütterung der Welt: Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur am Aufgang der Romanik, catalogo della mostra (Paderborn July 21-Nov. 5 2006), München: Hirmer, 387-388, n. 481.
Talbot, A.M. (1991), s.v. Philotheos, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, III, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1661.
Velmans, T. (1971), Le portrait dans l’art des Paléologues, in Art et société à Byzance sous les Paléologues, actes du colloque organisé par l’Association Internationale des Etudes Byzantines (Venise, Septembre 1968), édit. Institut Hellénique, Venezia: Stamperia di Venezia, 91-148;
Ward Perkins, J.B. (1958), Roman Garland Sarcophagi from the Quarries of Proconnesus (Marmara), Washingthon D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Yalçin A.B. (1999), Materiali di età paleologa nel Museo Archeologico di Istanbul, in L’arte di Bisanzio e l’Italia al tempo dei Paleologi 1261-1453, Iacobini A., della Valle M. [ed.], Roma: Argos, 359-382.
Diplomatarium Veneto-Levantinum sive acta et diplomata res venetas graecas atque Levantis illustrantia a. 1300-1350, I, Venetiis 1880, p. 14;
Ο ἐν Κωνστανινουπόλει Ηλληνικός Φιλολογικός Σύλλογος, VI, Istanbul 1871-72, pp. 245-246.
Published
2024-10-23
How to Cite
Amendola, R. (2024). A lost church and its client in Palaeologan Byzantium: St. John in Selymbria and the parakoimomenos Alexios Apocaukos. ABside, 6, 3-22. https://doi.org/10.13125/abside/6356
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