ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΑ ΜΝΗΜΕΙΑ Ι.Μ.Ι.Σ. ENG

he wall painting decoration of the single-nave church of the Saviour Christ at
Panteli (Chandras), which is dated to the middle of the 15th century, is chara cterised
by the variety of its iconographic cycles. Apart from the established Twelve Great Feasts,
the cycle of the Passions is depicted and Old Testament scenes from Genesis. The
particularly developed cycle of the Passions, composed
THE SAVIOUR CHRIST
AT PANTELI
of eighteen scenes, includes two extremely rare, for
Cretan iconography, scenes on the north wall: the Return
of the Thirty Pieces of Silver to the High Priests and
the Hanging of Judas. The large cycle of Adam and Eve also demands special reference,
a subject that is only found in four Cretan churches of the period. The cycle of Adam and
Eve at the Saviour includes eleven scenes, beginning with the Creation of the World and
of Adam and Eve, and ending with their Exile from Paradise.
Judas returns the pieces of silver and “then he went away and hanged himself.”
The church of the Holy Apostles on the western boundaries of the small settlement
of Kato [Lower] Episkopi, where the seat of the Diocese of Siteia may have been
transferred during the second Byzantine period, is a tripartite building with a dome. The
central, larger space is covered by an octagonal dome, which rests on alternating arches
and rudimentary squinches, while the narrower spaces,
HOLY APOSTLES
AT KATO EPISKOPI
east and west, are covered by a semi-circular barrel-vault.
In the middle of the long sides are five-sided conches with
blind arcades. The masonry is covered by off-white mortar
with incisions that imitate opus pseudo-isodomum. The arches are built with the recessed
brick technique. The ceramoplastic decoration consists of quatrefoil ceramic rosettes
that surround the arches and bricks that were positioned to form a cross or sunrays. The
building was originally a bath, similar in form to the corresponding one in Episkopi of
Ierapetra, as was discovered during the recent restoration work. During the 15th century,
the bath with small modifications was converted into the church of the Holy Apostles.
The original entrance of the bath opened in the west wall and led to the changing area
and perhaps to the “cold room” (frigidarium). The central space, where the embedded
underfloor ducts are located and from which the hot air came, was the ‘hot house’
(caldarium) of the bath. The side conches, where there were built seats, appear to have
been used as individual bathtubs. The
eastern annex, in the lower section of
which were found an arched opening
and traces of fire, was probably the
cistern and the heating area for the
water. The architectural elements,
which can be connected to the
tradition of Constantinople, lead to the
dating of the monument to the 11th
century. The existence of crosses on
the external surfaces in conjunction
with the fact that the settlement was
the seat of the diocese lead to the
suggestion that the existence of the
bath is connected to the bishop’s
palace as also happened in the
corresponding case of Ierapetra where
it was built opposite the cathedral
church. [M. A.]
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