habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

PICTORIAL DECORATION OF RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES DURING THE BYZANTINE EMPIRECRHIMA-CINP projectFig. 2 Syracuse, St. Lucy’s Oratory, Forty martyrs of Sebaste.Fig. 3 Sahinefendi, Chruch of the Forty, Forty martyrs of Sebaste.Fig. 4 Göreme, Tokali Kilise 2, St Leadis and St.Claude.iconography of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, an example ofByzantine monumental painting before the Islamic conquestof the island, which started in 828 and brought to the capitulationof the city in 878 6 .A Cross with gems adorns the vault of the Oratory; a halflength portrait of Christ is in the middle of the cross, and fourcircles are on the extremities of the cross. Only three figuresare preserved: a Praying Virgin, two Archangels; the figurein the forth circle is lost. The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste arepainted in the four resulting quadrants of the vault: they arepraying, half immersed in the lake’s frozen water, and, whilethey are waiting to die, crosses with gems fall from the sky, asa reward for their martyrdom 7 . This is the same iconographyof the Church of the Forty Martyrs in Sahinefendi (Cappadocia),which was painted between 1216 and 1217 8 . Here it is representedalso the episode of the soldier that escapes the martyrdomto take shelter in a warm bath, while his jailor takes hisplaces, with great disappointment of the devil 9 .The devotion for the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste is documentedin Cappadocia since the end of the 4 th century; the fathers ofthe Church in Cappadocia (Basil of Caesarea and Gregory ofNyssa) dedicated some homilies to those facts.The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste are honoured in Cappadociaboth singularly (as in the intrados in the Tokali Kilise (newchurch) in Göreme, where the martyrs Leadis and Claudio arepainted) and in groups (as in the church of Nikephoros Phoca,the so called Great Dovecot in Çavuşin, where they escort twofamous generals: John Tzimiskes and Melias).In Apulia, nearby the Masseria Carbonelli, there was a rupestrianchurch that was dedicated to the Forty Saints, or theForty Martyrs of Sebaste. The church (nowadays ruined) iscited in the Cadastre of 1794, concerning the properties of theCommenda di San Giovanni di Monopoli del Sacro MilitarOrdine Gerolosomitano, Monopoli 1794, tab. 18 n. 20, and tab.19 10 .There are many devotional testimonies of Cappadocian Saintsin Apulia; some of these saints are patron saints of cities or villages,as St. Tryphon, or they have given their name to places,as Saint Mama, a toponym in the area of Castellaneta.Two stolen clipei contained the pictures of two Cappadocianbrothers Elasippus (EΛΑCΙΠOC) and Melesippus(ΜΕΛΕCΙΠΟC). The stolen clipei (dated 13 th century) werein the rupestrian church, called the “crypt-well” Carucci inthe area of Massafra; the two brothers were martyred withSpeusippus and Neonilla, which probably were depicted intwo other clipei that are not even reminded 11 .One of the most popular hagiographic representations of Cappadociais the Vision of Saint Eustace 12 ; the researchers debateon the place of origin, which could be Georgia 13 or Cappadocia14 .In Cappadocia, the Vision of Saint Eustace is only preserved inabout twenty churches 15 , including the church n° 11 of Göreme(10 th century), which probably was dedicated to him: the graffiti,the inscriptions and some paintings of the Saint and hissons Agapius and Theopistus 16 .The Vision in the Tavşanli Kilise (913-920 or 925) in Urgup isalmost totally ruined. It was painted right of the apse, and theeastern wall of the nave, a reserved zone for the image of thetitular Saint. Eustace was painted also on the southern wall,beside his wife Theopista and the two sons.volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 66 16/11/2012 15:01:17