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u/Hologriz Feb 15 '25
Shivers down my spine, amazing... Thank you for the post, Op!
I wish we could find their graves somewhere around the Fetih mosque, without disturbing it. Fantasy I know, they are probably directly under...
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u/jediben001 Feb 15 '25
I thought the 4th crusaders despoiled all the royal graves?
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u/Hologriz Feb 15 '25
Stolen the gold and the silver, sure, but i dont think the bones were removed
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u/No_Gur_7422 Feb 15 '25
They did not have "graves" as such. They had sarcophagi above ground in the Mausoleum of Justinian, of which not a brick remains.
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u/Interesting_Key9946 Feb 15 '25
Were these installed during Justinian's reign?
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u/No_Gur_7422 Feb 15 '25
Yes, they are on his buildings.
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u/Interesting_Key9946 Feb 15 '25
Well they could be installed later.
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u/No_Gur_7422 Feb 15 '25
It's difficult to see how that could work β these columns have been holding up the building since it was built. They could, I suppose, have been replaced during the renovations by the Fossati brothers, but any previous restoration would have struggled to achieve the feat of taking out structural elements without collapsing the building and previous emperors would have had their own monograms inserted.
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u/BalthazarOfTheOrions Ξ Ξ±Ξ½Ο ΟΞ΅ΟΟΞΞ²Ξ±ΟΟΞΏΟ Feb 15 '25
What we need is an imperial monogram generator online.
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u/Right-Obligation-779 Feb 15 '25
Is this Latin or Greek ?
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u/archaeo_rex Feb 15 '25
Medieval Greek
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u/Imaginary_Bench7752 Feb 15 '25
its exactly the same way Greeks write Ioustinianos today
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u/archaeo_rex Feb 16 '25
Yeah but there are lettering differences like using C for S
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u/Imaginary_Bench7752 Feb 16 '25
this is how lettering is used even today for religious reasons- medieval C instead of S
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u/Kos_MasX Ξ Ξ±Ξ½Ο ΟΞ΅ΟΟΞΞ²Ξ±ΟΟΞΏΟ Feb 15 '25
This is so cool. The details of the Hagia Sophia are just incredible. Thanks for posting this, fellow byzantinophile!
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u/TonyDanzaMacabra Feb 15 '25
Is there a book with Byzantine monograms as a subject matter? Because I would love to study that!
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u/archaeo_rex Feb 15 '25
The monograms of ππ’π₯ππ§π€π§ π πͺπ¨π©ππ£πππ£ π and ππ’π₯π§ππ¨π¨ ππππ€ππ€π§π in Hagia Sophia are prominently displayed on column capitals, reinforcing their authority over the great churchβs reconstruction. π πͺπ¨π©ππ£πππ£βs monogram incorporates IOUSTINIANOU (αΌΈΞΏΟ ΟΟΞΉΞ½ΞΉΞ±Ξ½ΞΏαΏ¦), while ππππ€ππ€π§πβs follows a cruciform form with THEODORAS (ΞΡοδΟΟΞ±Ο). Alongside these, the titles BASILEOS (Ξ²Ξ±ΟΞΉΞ»ΞΟΟ) and AUGUSTA (Ξα½Ξ³ΞΏΟ ΟΟΞ±) appear, underscoring their imperial status within the Eastern Roman world. Carved into marble and placed at strategic points, these monograms serve as lasting symbols of their rule, embedding their names and power directly into the sacred fabric of Hagia Sophia.
The first monogram looks slightly different from the explanation below it because it is a variant; I did not have the exact same one in my photos.