The city
In the 1st and 2nd century Athens was a wealthy city and one of the
empire’s major intellectual centres, which frequently attracted the attention
and patronage of emperors and wealthy civilians. Hadrian increased the
perimeter of the walls and almost doubled the city’s area. Herod Atticus
adorned it with groups of monuments that have survived in part to this day.
That being said, serious damage was done when the one-time glorious city was
taken by the Heruli in 267, and raided by the Goths under Alaric in 396. The
Acropolis, the Roman agora and Hadrian’s Library were surrounded by a wall,
which became Athens’
main fortification. Plato’s Academy was revitalized from the early 4th
to the early 6th century by the neo-platonic philosophers, who
taught rhetoric and philosophy to promising Christian and pagan youths from all
over the empire; three of its students were Basil the Great, Gregory of
Nazianzus and Emperor Julian. Empress
Pulcheria
was so impressed by the education received by Athinaïs, daughter of the sophist
Leontius, that in 421 she had her forcibly christened Eudocia and wed her to her brother, Emperor
Theodosius
II. The so-called Palace of Giants, founded in the ancient agora in
this period, may have belonged to Eudocia and her family.
Christianity began to make its presence felt in the
city in the early 5th century. A tetraconch which may from the
outset have been a Christian church was erected inside Hadrian’s Library, in
addition to a three-nave basilica on the island in the middle of the Ilissos River, which may have been dedicated to
the memory of Leonides, bishop of the city.
Shortly before the middle of the
same century, the Parthenon was converted into the city’s cathedral church and
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The inhabitants who remained
faithful
to
the idols
seem
to have lived in
fear.
Although the
Panathenaic
procession continued to be
celebrated up until the 5th
century, offering a sense of
respite, it was
stripped of
pagan
rituals. In 529 the Academy and the remaining schools were
closed by decree of Justinian, though whether this was ever
enforced remains a subject of debate. This sealed the economic decline
of a city that had once and for all lost its role as a centre of learning. The
opulent residences unearthed in the vicinity of the Areios Pagos were abandoned
by their occupants, either because they were unable to maintain them in times
of recession or because the Slavs appeared in the late 6th century.
In the following centuries
written sources mentioning Athens
are sporadic. Emperor
Constans
II, his army and court
wintered
in
Athens
in 662-663 while preparing a
campaign
against Sicily.
Relations between the local
nobility
and the palace of Constantinople
probably began at this time. Two
Athenian
women became
empresses: Irene, who
was on the throne from 780 to 802; and her niece
Theophano, who ruled
for
a few
months in
811. In the early 9th century the city was promoted from a
diocese to an archdiocese, in accordance with the palace’s wishes rather than
on account of any increase in the population. Private houses were located in
neighbourhoods to the north, west and south-west of the Acropolis, within and
beyond the Late Roman wall. They were generally of makeshift construction, with
rooms arranged around a courtyard, next to workshops and small factories.
Excavations have mainly brought to light house basements full of storage jars.
From the late 10th century, small churches were built in the area
north of the Acropolis. These had clearly defined outlines and were strongly
built of cloisonné masonry, with
domes surrounded by small marble columns. Such churches include Agioi Theodoroi
in Klafthmonos Square
(1049); the oldest surviving church is most probably the catholicon in Asomatoi
Monastery (dedicated to the Incorporeal Saints), better known as Petraki
Monastery, from the late 10th century. Agios Eleftherios (the Small
Metropolis or cathedral) can be placed in the late 12th century. It is not
known whether these churches were privately owned or served as the catholica of
small monasteries.
Basil II the Bulgar Slayer arrived in 1018 to pray in
the Church of the Virgin Mary at Athens,
as the Parthenon was then called. His visit ushered in a period of growth for
the city cathedral as a pilgrim shrine. However,
letters written by the scholar
Metropolitan
Nicetas
Choniates
in the late 12th
century
express sadness at the poverty and
illiteracy
of the people, the
destruction of houses,
the
poor state
of the walls, the
greed
of government
officials
and
pirate raids.
In 1204
Choniates
held
out against
Leo
Sgouros by
gathering
the population
in the Acropolis.
Shortly afterwards
he was forced to
surrender the
city
to
Boniface
of Montferrat,
who appointed Guy
de la Roche as its first Great Lord; in 1259 the city formed part of the Duchy
of Athens, which stretched from Lokris to the Corinthian Gulf and from Evia to
Doris. The de la Roche Burgundians erected the Rizokastro, a new wall around
the Acropolis incorporating a large part of the Late Roman one. This period
of adjustment under the rule of the de la Roches, including the appointment of
a Latin bishop in the cathedral in 1204, favoured the founding or renovation of
new churches in outlying areas only; in the late 13th century
additions were made to the wall paintings in the so-called Omorphe Ecclesia (“Beautiful Church) in Galatsi. Daphni Monastery was
ceded to Cistercian monks and its catholicon became the burial place of the
Dukes of Athens.
From 1311 to 1388 the city passed into the hands of
the Catalan Company, which was notorious for the cruelty of its administration,
while in 1385 the Catalans gave it to Nerio Acciaioli, scion of the renowned
Florentine family that held the sovereignty of Athens until 1456, apart from a
brief period from 1394 to 1403 when it was under the control of the Venetians.
Under the Acciaioli the capital of the duchy was transferred from Thebes to Athens, the palace at the
Propylaea and the Parthenon were renovated, roads were built and a tall tower
was erected at the entrance to the Acropolis fortifications. In 1456 the last
Florentine duke handed Athens
over to the Turks. Two years later this led Mehmed the Conqueror to grant the
Athenians privileges, including the right to retain all churches except for the
Parthenon, which was converted into a mosque.
Glossary (6)
tetraconchs:
buildings with four apses, one in each side
three nave basilica:
a basilica with three naves.
Parthenon:
temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, built on the Acropolis on the site of an earlier temple destroyed by the Persians during the Persian Wars. Construction began in 448 or 447 BC, and the inauguration was held during the Great Panathenaic festival of 438 BC. The temple was converted into a Christian church at end of the sixth century AD.
cloisonne masonry:
elaborate church masonry style, in which rectangular stones are framed by one or two plinths (bricks) laid horizontally and vertically in single or double rows within the mortar of joints.
dome:
hemispherical vault resting on a cylindrical or polygonal drum. Widely used in Christian church architecture.
catholicon:
the main church
of
a monastery.
As a rule
it
was the most imposing one, located in the center of the courtyard
Information Texts (4)
Goths:
German tribe that
probably came from Scandinavia. Around the 1st
century they migrated south along the Vistula River
to settle in Scythia (modern Ukraine). In
the 3rd century they were divided into the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths.
Several Goth generals seem to have gained considerable influence in the Byzantine
imperial court, to the discontent of the aristocracy and the people. Early in
the 5th century a large-scale massacre of soldiers in Constantinople
aimed to exclude the Goths from army ranks. This eventually cost the empire dearly,
as it was deprived of particularly skilful military personnel.
Julian:
Roman emperor from
361 to 363. Also known as Julian the Apostate, he ruled as Caesar along with
Constantius II from 355 to 360, and alone as
Augustus from 361 to 363. Julian was the last emperor in the Constantine dynasty and the only pagan. He
received an extensive classical education at Nicomedia and Athens. As emperor, he attempted to restore
traditional Roman society. His policy was essentially an attempt to revive the
national religion and neutralize the influence exercised by Christianity in the
social strata of the empire; hence the designation Apostate, which was
subsequently given to him by the Christian Church. Julian’s reign only lasted
two years, since he was killed in battle against the Persians in 363.
Justinian I:
Byzantine Emperor
(527-565), nephew and successor of Justin I. One of his first acts was to
reform the tax system and recode Theodosius’ laws. He was personally involved
in religious conflicts and convened the 5th Ecumenical Council
(553). Justinian considered himself primarily an orthodox emperor and took
harsh measures against the remaining pagans. Many of his political and fiscal
actions provoked strong reactions on the part of the senate and the factions
and led to the Nika Riots. Justinian instigated numerous building projects,
erecting approximately 30 churches in Constantinople,
including the famous church
of Agia Sophia.
Regarding foreign policy, he successfully confronted the Persians and the
Vandals in the East and focused on the recovery of the West. This he temporarily
achieved, but at such cost that the Empire was left exhausted; the barbarians in
the Balkans plundered the Greek peninsula as far as the Isthmus and barbarian
tribes settled at the borders. His military operations exhausted Byzantium financially and
militarily and had no real effect, as Italy and other areas he conquered
were soon lost again. After his death, the weakened empire had to face new
attacks, culminating in the Arab conquests, which negated the majority of
Justinian’s conquests beyond the borders.
The monastery of Daphni :
Daphni Monastery
is built on an exceptional site at the western entrance to the Attica Basin,
on the edge of the forest at Chaidari. It is situated approximately halfway along
the Sacred Way
leading from Athens
to Eleusis, probably
on the site of the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios. The monastery is protected by
a strong, square defensive wall with battlements, square towers and two gates.
The surrounding wall encloses the catholicon, which is dedicated to the Dormition
of the Virgin Mary, as well as the remains of the cells and the other
buildings, such as the kitchens and refectory.
As a large and
wealthy institution, the monastery may owe its foundation to circles in the
imperial court. That being said, the donator’s identity and the precise
foundation date remain unknown, since no inscription or other evidence yielding
definitive information has yet been found. The catholicon or principal
monastery church dates to the second half of the 11th century, and
is of the octagonal type found in mainland Greece, without galleries, but with
a narthex and more recent two-storey portico to the west. Sixteen single-lobed
windows in the drum of the dome cast light evenly into the church interior.
Thanks to the absence of galleries, from the outside the building appears to
rise like a pyramid to the top of the dome. The walls were built of cloisonné
masonry; large white blocks of stone were used from the ground up to window
level, laid in a cross formation typical of the mid-Byzantine tradition in Greece proper. The ceramoplastic decoration is limited to a
band of meanders in the upper section of the sanctuary apse, dogtooth bands
around the window arches and above the cornice, and limited use of kufic
ornaments.
An open
portico added to the western part of the church in the early 12th century
was later built up and converted into an exonarthex. Its appearance was altered
by Cistercian monks, to whom Otto de la Roche, Duke of Athens, granted the
monastery in 1207. Lancet windows typical of western architecture have thus
survived in the facade, probably in place of what were originally Byzantine
arches. At the same time, the crypt below the narthex was converted into a
mausoleum for the dukes of Athens,
and a western-type monastery cloister consisting of a square courtyard with
galleries was built to the south. When Athens
was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1458 the monastery was returned to Orthodox
monks. In Late Byzantine times a peculiar north-oriented chapel was constructed
to the west of the exonarthex.
In 1840, following
the Greek revolution, the monastery lost its community and was abandoned, only
to be pressed into service as a public lunatic asylum. In the late 19th
century continuous earthquakes put the catholicon at risk of collapse. Repair work
followed, during which the dome was replaced and the mosaics repaired by
Italian restorers. Some depictions were moved from their original position
during relaying, while others were added to. The interior of the catholicon was
laid out in the manner well known in the renowned buildings of Constantinople, with (now lost) marble revetments and
sculpture decoration in the lower section of the church, and mosaics in the
upper section.
The
exceptional set of mosaics follows the iconographic programme established after
the end of the iconoclast controversy, reflecting new dogmatic beliefs centred
on the Incarnation of the Lord. The austere figure of the Pantocrator rendered
in metal thus dominates the dome, surrounded by prophets in the drum. The
sanctuary niche has a depiction of the Virgin Mary enthroned, accompanied by
archangels. Scenes from the Christological cycle are rendered on the squinches,
the arches and the surfaces of the cross arms, together with saints and prelates
at other points in the church. The iconographic programme is rounded off in the
narthex with scenes from the Passion Cycle and the life of Virgin Mary. All the
figures are represented in the right proportions, displaying restrained
movement, while the harmony and symmetry of the compositions point to art strongly
rooted in the classic tradition. Typical of this is the posture adopted by the prophets
in the drum of the dome, which is reminiscent of ancient philosophers,
as well as the graceful female figures in the narthex compositions. The
Crucifixion scene in the church’s northern cross-arm renders the grief on the
faces of the Virgin Mary and John in a unique manner. The flawless workmanship
displayed in the church decoration point to a founder of considerable means, and
artists trained in a Constantinople workshop.
These
exquisite mosaics date to somewhere between the 10th and late 11th
century rank; in terms of quality they rank among the masterpieces of Byzantine
art. Their classicistic character has recently led them to being assigned to
the reign of
Constantine VII
Porphyrogenitus
(913-959), though the general consensus is that they date to the late 11th
century.
The monument
has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) since 1990.
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