A tenth-century inscription from Syngrasis, Cyprus

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Byzantine and Modem Greek Studies 26 (2002) 42-64

A tenth-century inscriptionfrom Syngrasis Cyprus

TASS OS C PAPACOSTAS

AbstractA hitherto unpublished 10th-c funerary () painted inscription from a ratherremote middle Byzantine church in rural Cyprus provides unambiguousevidence of the impact of Bardas Skleros revolt in areas not directly affectedby the rebels activities It also yields information on the floruit of EpiphaniusIV a little known metropolitan of the island Finally and most importantlyit furnishes the earliest and most secure terminus ante quem for any medievalbuilding on Cyprus and for the introduction of the cross-in-square churchtype and the elaboration of its local variant

IntroductionTo claim that archaeology and the written record fail to provide

much information on early medieval Cyprus would be anunderstatement After three centuries during which it was a no mansland between Caliphate and Empire Cyprus came again under firmByzantine control in the early years of Nicephorus Phocas reign(963-69) Yet even this the main development of that period as faras the islands history is concerned is treated very summarily bycontemporary and later sources All we are told is that the patricianand strategos Nicetas Chalkoutzes drove out the Arabs subjectingthe island to the empire According to the Escurial taktikon (c971-75)

1 John Skylitzes Synopsis Historiarum ed H Thurn (Berlin-New York 1973) 270George Kedrenos although copying Skylitzes omits the reference to Chalkoutzes asstrategos [Historiarum Compendium ed 1 Bekker 2 vols (Bonn 1838-39) vol2363] while John Zonaras is even more laconic Epitomae Historiarum ed M Pinder3 vols (Bonn 1841-97) vol3 503 see also F Halkin Inedits byzantins dOchridaCandie et Moscou (Subsidia Hagiographica 38 Brussels 1963) 256 and AGc SavvidesIIpoounroypalttgtlKO OTllElWlCXYHX rov (brEAEtJeEpwr~ rfic= KurrpotJ NIK~rcxXCXAKOUrTl KCXtYI(Xr~ XPovoAoyicx avcxKcxreXATltllTlC=rfic= lEYCXAOV~OOtJ(965lX) ElT6TTJplOa TOV KivTPOV M6A6TWV Trfe I6pae Movrfe KVKKOV 2 (1993)371-78 the remarks of P Lemerle in Seance de cloture de la Section MedievaeIIpaKTlKeX TOV IIpwrov LildJvove KVlTPOAOYlKOV LVV60PlOV vol2 (Nicosia 1972)151-56 are most pertinent

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A TENTH-CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

Cyprus was ruled thereafter by a strategos ranking below that of theKibyrrhaiotai and above that of Crete2 whose reconquest a few yearsbefore Cyprus (961) is incidentally much better documentedChalkoutzes was perhaps the first governor of Cyprus3 and possiblythe donor of a bronze plaque found on the island and depicting astanding figure of Saint Gregory4

A rare snippet of information on Cyprus in the immediate aftermathof its annexation comes from a manuscript colophon (Pargr497) thevolume containing homilies of Basil the Great was copied in 966by the protospatharios and commander of the fleet Nicetas (not tobe confused with Chalkoutzes) while in jail in Tunis following thefailed Sicilian expedition of 964 against the Arabs In 97172 Nicetasoffered his manuscript to the Cypriot church of Saint George Oriatesnear Morphou His choice of shrine is rather puzzling Saint Georgewas perhaps a monastery although surely not a particularly prominentone it is not known to have been a pilgrimage shrine and is notattested again until the 16th century What is more it lies in a ratherremote area on a low plateau to the south of the western Pentadaktylosfoothills Nicetas choice may be due either to his career havingspent time on the island at some earlier date or possibly to his originbeing perhaps a native of the regions

This is more or less all the information available concerning Cyprusin the first years following the successful campaign of Chalkoutzes

2 N Oikonomides Les listes de preseance byzantines des [Xe et Xe siecles (Paris1972) 2653 As suggested by H Ahrwei1er in Byzance et Ia mer La marine de guerre Ia

politique et Ies institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe-XVe siecles (Paris 1966)119 n54 The bronze plaque thought to be of 10th11th-c date was acquired by the Cyprus

Museum in 1940 and forms now part of the medieval collection displayed in the castleof Limasso1 it was published very summarily without a photograph in P DikaiosA guide to the Cyprus Museum (Nicosia 1947) 116 and in LArt Byzantin art europeenneuvieme exposition sous Iegide du Conseil de IEurope (Athens 1964) nO562 theinscription on the vertical borders reads K(vpde l3orJ8et Tltlaltlbovi19 NtKrJTltXaTpaTTJYltl5 As suggested by C Hadjipsaltis in Bv~avTtvcx Kat KV1fPWKCX TOU 100v lX

aiwvoe ErETl1pfba TOV KivTPOV MEAeTWV Trfe 1ep(k Movrfe KVKKOV 2 (1993)245-56 where the issues raised by this colophon are discussed

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TASSOS C PAPACOST AS

During the reign of Basil II (976-1025) we hear once more of theisland as the dwelling place of Moses a renowned Jewish doctorwho was summoned to Constantinople by the emperor in order tooffer his expertise concerning the issue of the date of Easter uponwhich the court scholars had failed to agree6

Despite the change in the islands political status the archaeologicalrecord does not betray any significant shift in the later 10th and early11th centuries there is no evidence for any increase in buildingactivity until the remarkable construction boom of the Comnenianperiod and very few among the surviving structures on the islandcan be dated to the intervening decades The same picture emergesfrom the examination of the numismatic and ceramic finds8

Sigillography is hardly more helpful with only a couple of seals

6 AE Dostourian Armenia and the Crusades Tenth to twelfth centuries Thechronicle of Matthew of Edessa (Lanham-New York-London 1993) 43 although thisincident is not given a date in the Armenian chronicle it is preceded by entries for10001 and 10067 and followed by events ofmiddot10034 and 101112 a date in c1007for the Moses story is suggested in F D61ger Regesten der Kaiserurkunden desostromischen Reiches 1 Teil Regesten von 565-1025 (Munich-Berlin 1924) nO798incidentally this is the earliest reference to Jews living on Cyprus in the medievalperiod

7 AHS Megaw Byzantine architecture and decoration in Cyprus metropolitan orprovincial DOP 28 (1974) 59-88 at 80-81 the dating of the pentagonal towers atthe castle of Kyrenia to this period suggested by AW Laurence in A skeletal historyof Byzantine fortification Annual of the British School at Athens 78 (1983) 171-227at 215 is based solely on historical arguments and remains questionable for a morelikely 7th or 9th-c date see AHS Megaw Le fortificazioni bizantine a CiproCorso di cultura sullarte ravennate e bizantina 32 (1985) 199-231 at 210-14 thegroup of vaulted basilicas also ascribed to the late 10th c by AHS Megaw in Threevaulted basilicas in Cyprus JHS 66 (1946) 48-56 is now thought to be earlier AHSMegaw amp EJW Hawkins The church of the Panagia Kanakarid at Lythrankomi inCyprus (Dumbarton Oaks Studies 14 Washington DC 1977) 31

8 AG Pitsillides amp DM Metcalf Islamic and Byzantine coins in Cyprus duringthe condominium centuries E7TETTJPk TOV KivTPOV EmaTTJPOVlldJv EpEVVWV 21(1995) 1-13 J Hayes Problemes de la ceramique des VIIeme-IXeme siecles aSalamine de Chypre in M Yon (ed) Salamine de Chypre Histoire et archiologieEtat des recherches (Colloques internationaux du CNRS 578 Paris 1980) 375-88 at379-80 and T Gregory Circulation of Byzantine and medieval pottery in southwesternCyprus in DW Rupp (ed) Western Cyprus Connections An archaeologicalsymposium held at Brock University St Catharines Ontario Canada 1986 (G6teborg1987) 199-213 at 200

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A TENTH-CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

datable to the immediate post-reconquest period9 Even the earliest(published) seals of kouratores managers of imperial estatesestablished on newly acquired lands after the empires expansion tothe east do not appear until the 11th century 10

Saint ProcopiusIt is this ill-documented period that a hitherto unpublished and

rather intriguing painted inscription comes to illuminate if onlydimlyll It is preserved in a medieval church to the north of SalamisConstantia outside the village of Syngrasis near Trikomo in theMesaoria plain Skm (3 miles) inland from the islands east coastThe church is dedicated to Saint Procopius presumably of Scythopolisa native of Jerusalem beheaded at Caesarea during Dioc1etianspersecutions12 Although we cannot be absolutely certain that this wasalso the dedication of the shrine in the medieval period there is someevidence for the cult of Procopius on Cyprus in middle Byzantinetimes part of his relic was placed beneath the altar of the katholikonat the monastery of Koutsovendis when this was dedicated in December1090 while his portrait in a medallion appears among the frescoesof the adjacent chapel of the Holy Trinity at the same monasterydating from cll00Y

9 Among the published non-ecclesiastical lead seals very few belong to officialsof the pre-Comnenian era see for example J Nesbitt amp N Oikonomides Catalogueof Byzantine seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art voI2 (WashingtonDC 1994) nos383 amp 391

10 TC Papacostas Secular landholdings and Venetians in 12th-century CyprusBZ 92 (1999) 479-501 at 481-82 with further bibliography

II I am most grateful to Dr Sophocles Hadjisavvas Director of the Department ofAntiquities (Nicosia) for granting me a permit to publish the inscription it is remarkablethat this important document has never been published or even commented upon inthe past a brief mention in the MpoundyaAT] KVlTpzataf EYKvKAOlTaiampza vo1l2 (1990)39 claims that it pertains to a rebuilding of the church after its destruction by fire

12 The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium ed by A Kazhdan et aI (New York-Oxford1991) voI3 1731 with bibliography

13 The information on the relic is given in the monasterys typikon (PargrA02foI56v) partly published in A Dmitrievskij Opisanie liturgiceskich rukopisej vol3(St Petersburg 1917) 121-27 at 121 the monastery of Kykko is said to possess partof Procopius relic O Meinardus Relics in the churches and monasteries of CyprusOstkirchliche Studien 19 (1970) 19-43 at 39 for the Koutsovendis frescoes see C

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TASSOS C PAPACOSTAS

There is no evidence concerning the function of the church atSyngrasis in medieval times No monastery is ever attested on thesite nor are any ruins belonging to a monastic complex preservedThus although a monastic function cannot be ruled out it wouldseem more likely that Saint Procopius was built to serve the needsof the local village community14 That Syngrasis existed as a settlementin early medieval times is shown as we shall see below by itsmention in our inscription where it is recorded for the first time15

Saint Procopius is a domed cross-in-square structure built in roughlycut ashlar blocks Its architecture is typical of middle Byzantinechurches on Cyprus the irregular dome is carried on heavy piersthe sanctuary occupies the eastern bays of the elongated cross-in-square the rectangular corner compartments are barrel-vaulted alongthe east-west axis and the large main apse is flanked by smaller sideapses inscribed within the eastern wall Some of these peculiaritiesand in particular the marked elongation of the plan are surely atleast partly due to the existence of an earlier late antique basilicaon the site parts of which were incorporated in the medieval churchin a process often encountered both on Cyprus and elsewhere Theearly buildings marble opus sectile floor was uncovered during repairsin the 1950s in the central part of the church (corresponding to thenave of the basilica) and has been ascribed on stylistic grounds to

Mango The monastery of St Chrysostomos at Koutsovendis (Cyprus) and its wallpaintings - Part I Description DO 44 (1990) 63-94 at 89 a 13th-c Sinai diptychdepicting St Procopius and the Virgin Kykkotissa may also have Cypriot connectionsM Vassilaki Mother of God Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine art(Athens-Milan 2000) 444-46

14 Only excavation can of course elucidate this point it is unclear on what evidencethe description of St Procopius as a pretty little monastery by George Jeffery whodoes not seem to have visited the place is based A description of the historic monumentsof Cyprus (Nicosia 1918 repro London 1983) 241

15 Syngrasis is recorded again in the 15th and 16th c R de Mas Latrie Chroniquede lfle de Chypre par Florio Bustron (Paris 1886 repr Nicosia 1998) 423 and GGrivaud Villages desertes a Chypre (fin XIIe-fin XIXe siecle) (MEAETat KatT1TOIJV~lJaTa 3 Nicosia 1998) 455

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A TENTH~CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

the mid-6th century16The early synthronon was also preserved whilethe main apse wall with its external string course forming a hood-mould over the window perhaps belongs to the late antique phasetoO17

Various dates for the construction of the medieval church havebeen suggested based on stylistic considerations and ranging fromthe 11th12th century to the early Lusignan period18 The only elementin its architecture that can serve for dating purposes is the semi-circular form of arches and vaults from the later 12th century thesetend to be pointed suggesting that Saint Procopius is probably earlier 19The fresco decoration that is very often used to provide a terminusante quem for medieval churches on Cyprus has almost disappearedfrom Saint Procopius although a few traces have been reported andat least one panel has been ascribed to the 14th century20As we shallsee shortly the most unambiguous evidence for the buildings

16 Ph Chatzechristophe To 5cfJrE50 TOU aYlou IIpoKonlou OTTJLUYKpaOTJReport of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus (1997) 277-83 with plan on p279during these repairs the later north porch was removed and the west door was enlargedto its original size although the obviously later large windows were not altered AnnualReport to the Director of Antiquities (1954) 12 amp (1955) 12 views of the churchbefore and after its restoration in G Soteriou Ta Bviavnva fJvl]fJlia rfje KV1TPOVA AcVKWfJa (Athens 1935) p139a and S Hadjisavvas Kara3oAit 1 ApXaLOAOYZKr]cmOKOmOI]20 KarcxofJivwv or]fJEpa xwpzwv rr]e E1TapxiaeAfJfJoxworov (Nicosia1991) 9417 The western fa~ade also preserves a similar string course over the doors relieving

arch indicating that this may also be part of the early basilica whose length wasidentical to that of the present church as the layout of the opus sectile panels suggeststhe area being inaccessible to the author these observations are based on photographsheld at the archive of the Department of Antiquities in Nicosia

18 The earlier date is implied in G Soteriou Ta natltXtOXPWTWV1Ka KatBtJ~avnva lvTJlEla Tile Kunpou IIpaKTlKa rfjeAKa(Jl]fJiaeA(Jl]vwv (1931)477-90 at 484 and suggested in the MEyaAI] KV1TpzaKr] EYKvKAo1Ta(ampw vo1l2(1990) 39 while a 13th-c date is given in R Gunnis Historic Cyprus A guide to itstowns amp villages monasteries amp castles (Nicosia 1936 repr Nicosia 1973) 434

19 On the introduction of the pointed arch in the Byzantine architecture of Cyprussee AJ Wharton Art of Empire Painting and architecture of the Byzantine periphery(University Park-London 1988) 56 amp 81 for a more extensive discussion of the issuesee also Te Papacostas Byzantine Cyprus The testimony of its churches 650-12003 vols (thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University ofOxford 1999) vol2 167-7520 St George panel MEyaAI] KV1TPWKr] EYKvKAo1Ta((JEwvo1l2 (1990) 39

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TASSOS C PAPACOSTAS

chronology is provided by the painted inscription furnishing a secureand rather early terminus ante quem

The inscriptionThe literature on epigraphic evidence from the village of Syngrasis

is rather confusing Ludwig Ross who visited the wider region (butnot the village itself) in late February 1845 was told by a priest fromnearby Trikomo that there was a Latin inscription in the church ofSyngrasis 21 The same information is repeated by AthanasiosSakellarios and George Jeffery neither of whom seems to have checkedits accuracy22Today three old churches stand in and around SyngrasisSaint Procopius Saint Nicholas and the Virgin Aphendrika In thelatter the remains of an illegible inscription were reported in the1930s23 In Saint Nicholas a Roman cippus re-used as an altar-tablebase bears a Greek funerary inscription published in 187024At SaintProcopius apart from the medieval painted inscription examinedbelow there is also a fragment of an ancient finely carved Greekinscription25 this is surely what Rupert Gunnis misleadingly referredto as a small portion of a well-cut inscription of the Byzantineperiod kept at the time in the bema of Saint Procopius26

21 So traf ich den Priester aus Trikomon der mir sagte daB in Synkrasisin der Kirche eine lateinische Inschrift sei L Ross Reisen nach Kos HalikarnassosRhodos und der Insel Cypern (Halle 1852) 137 English translation in CD CobhamA journey to Cyprus (February and March 1845) (Nicosia 1910) 53 on Ross see OMasson amp A Hermary Le voyage de Ludwig Ross it Chypre en 1845 et les antiquiteschypriotes du Musee de Berlin Cahiers du Centre dEtudes Chypriotes [Universitede Paris X-Nanterre] 91 (1988) 3-10

22 A Sakellarios Ta KV7TplaKa 2 vols (Athens 1890-91 repro Nicosia 1991)voU 181 and Jeffery Historic monuments of Cyprus 241 Sakellarios reference isclearly derived from Ross whose work he included in his bibliography although it isnot specifically mentioned concerning Syngrasis Jeffery on the other hand doesacknowledge his source

23 Gunnis Historic Cyprus 43524 [M]fAlTWV [XP]T]UTeuro[xaJipg P Le Bas amp WH Waddington Inscriptions

grecques et latines recueillies en Grece et en Asie Mineure 3 vols (Paris 1870) vol3part 1 630 [illustration] amp part 2 637 nO2762 [text] on the chapel see HadjisavvasKara[3oJok94

25 This inscription appears to be unpublished the archive of the Department ofAntiquities in Nicosia holds a (1950s) photograph (113111) that shows the looseinscription lying outside of what seems to be the east wall of St Procopius

26 Gunnis Historic Cyprus 434

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A TENTH-CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

What the Trikomo priest in 1845 had in mind remains uncertainno Latin inscription is known to survive at Syngrasis today27Assumingthat he was not referring to the illegible Aphendrika inscription (whosefate remains unknown) it is possible that he identified the text ofone of the surviving Greek inscriptions as Latin Nevertheless sucha mistake would be difficult to comprehend in the case of the cippusfrom Saint Nicholas or the loose fragment at Saint Procopiuspresupposing that our priest was unable to distinguish the clearlyincised Greek letters of both inscriptions the carelessly executed anddamaged medieval painted inscription high up on the walls of SaintProcopius on the other hand would be a much more likely candidate(fig I)

This long but fragmentary inscription was painted in the easternpart of the soffit of the arch linking the south-western pier to thewest wall of the church There is no doubt that pier and arch belongto the buildings medieval phase for the earlier church would havealmost certainly been a columnar basilica28 This is also suggestedby the burial uncovered under the inscription-bearing arch29 it isclearly later than the 6th-century opus sectile floor which was destroyedin order to open the grave after the abandonment of the basilicaaccording to the floors publisher30 What is more the inscription

27 On the relatively widespread use of Latin in the epigraphy of the Roman periodsee TB Mitford Roman Cyprus in H Temporini amp W Haase (ed) Aufstieg undNiedergang der Romischen Welt II vol7 (Berlin-New York 1980) 1285-1384 at 1355-57 Latin was used again during the Lusignan and Venetian periods (1192-1571) towhich the inscription may have belonged assuming of course that it did really exist28 Late antique column capitals scattered around St Procopius may belong to this

early structure the overwhelming majority of basilicas from that period on Cypruswere columnar although exceptions (with piers) however rare do occur APapageorgiou l H ~aatAl KI)Mapa8o~ot5vov Report of the Department of AntiquitiesCyprus (1963) 84-10129 Photographs B6382 amp B6383 (probably taken at the time of the buildings

restoration in 1954-55) Archive of the Department of Antiquities Nicosia althoughburials in medieval Byzantium occur mostly in the narthex and in funerary chapelsattached to churches they do occasionally appear in the naos too NB TeteriatnikovBurial places in Cappadocian churches The Greek Orthodox Theological Review292 (1984) 141-74 for a burial in the sanctuary of a (Greek Orthodox) church inNicosia recorded in an epitaph of 1235 see J Darrouzes Textes synodaux chypriotesREB 37 (1979) 5-122 at 30-3130 Chatzechristophe To BamBo TOU aYlov IIpoKonlov OTll rUYKpaoll 280

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TASSOS C PAPACOSTAS

would appear to be related to the burial for it lies directly over thegrave pit

Originally the text extended towards the edges of the soffit (atleast on the left) but both the right and left-hand sides of the inscriptionhave been obliterated presumably as a result of maintenance workand re-plastering of the church walls carried out through the centuriesAlthough not a single line of text has survived complete theapproximate width of the inscription can be established with somecertainty a quote from the New Testament allows a partialreconstruction of 131-32 (see below) and it is on this basis that thenumber of missing letters to the right has been estimated For theleft side there is further evidence from 121 which in view of thetext of the preceding line cannot have started but with the nameEpiphanius

The upper part is also damaged and it remains unclear how manylines of text have been lost The Department of Antiquities photograph(fig I) shows thirty-five lines in uncial script by an unsteady handalthough less than 50 of their original text is preserved31 The badstate of preservation of the inscription and the extreme irregularityof the script combined with the fact that its examination is basedsolely on photographic evidence make the results of the presentenquiry provisiona132 Assuming that the inscription still survives inthe state it was when photographed in 1954-55 () a visit to thechurch would surely solve many questions regarding its transcriptionmarred by varying degrees of uncertainty concerning a great numberof letters (fig2)33

31 If an average of c47 letters is assumed for each line (cf 123) the 34 lines oftext (excluding 135) should have contained c1600 letters fewer than half this numberhowever survive more or less intact (c780) and the reading of c15 among theseremains uncertain

32 lowe particular thanks to Cyril Mango and especially to Charlotte Roueche fortheir invaluable help with this inscription

33 It would also allow to ascertain the colour of the lettering the black and whitearchive photographs show a dark possibly black paint the fate of the inscription andthe church itself after 1974 remain unknown according to a report by John Fieldingin The Guardian (The rape of Northern Cyprus May 6 1976) at Syngrasis thechurch interior [presumably of St Procopius] was smashed beyond recognition thevillage has been renamed Slmriistli

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A TENTH-CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

The surviving text (fig3) opens with mention of a storm duringwhich a ship was wrecked and lost her cargo (13-5) The island on 19is probably Cyprus mentioned on 111where the author of the inscription() presumably a survivor of the shipwreck and perhaps not a nativeof Cyprus arrived and settled () at Syngrasis34 (111-12) Then a (local)woman named Irene is mentioned (113 perhaps the authors wife)and it is probably her death that is recorded on 116 possibly ten yearsafter his arrival if this is indeed the correct transcription and meaningof the text Then we are given a series of elements concerning thedating of this event (117-22) it happened during the reign of Basil(II) and Constantine (VIII) when the empire was in a state of disorderbeing troubled by Bardas Skleros35 during the tenure of Epiphaniusour most holy father and archbishop ()36a certain Jacob is also namedin this context The author compares himself after this death to a sheepdriven out of its sheepfold he sought refuge in a shrine (a monastery)dedicated to a saint (OOlOpoundKat 8aUJlaTouPYOpound) whose name hasunfortunately not survived3 and where he spent some time (123-25)Someone sailing away is mentioned next followed by a reference tothe authors writing of this text describing himself as worthless (126-28)It is unclear whether Euthymius on 128 is his or some other personsname The quotation from the New Testament given next - Blessthem which persecute you bless but curse not (131-32 Rom1214

34 Called chora in the text for the use of this term to denote a village in the 10thC see D Papachryssanthou Actes du Protaton (Archives de l Athos VII Paris 1975)190-91 [document of 942 about Hierissos]35 It should be noted that the surname is given as LKApoundPOS-instead of the standard

LKTlPOS-the lead seals belonging to members of that family bear either the standardform or LKA1POC W Seibt Die Skleroi Eine prosopographisch-sigillographischeStudie (Vienna 1976)

36 The last word of 120 could have been 1WllpoundVCXPXOUVTOS-instead Of1WllpoundVapxovalthough the evidence provided by 131-32 on the width of the inscription would favourthe shorter word the two illegible letters following apXl- in 121 most probablyrepresent an abbreviation for -pound7TlOK07TOV(archbishop)

37 The surviving -lov ending at the beginning of 125 probably belongs to thegenitive of a saints name that could be any among innumerable saints includingProcopius the latter being a martyr however one would expect his name to bepreceded by a term like lpoundycxAOlapTVS-rather than aaws- and 8CXVlCXTOVPYOS-(holyand miracle-working) which appear in our text

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TASSOS C PAPACOSTAS

EVAoYElTE TOVs ~nuSKOVTas EVAoYElTE Kat 1111 KaTapua8E) -suggests that the author was made to feel unwelcome although we areleft totally in the dark as to where and why The text ends with aprayer to the Lord (134-35)

The fragmentary state of the inscription leaves countless questionsunanswered Who was its author and if he was indeed a survivor ofthe shipwreck and not a native of Cyprus why did he not return tohis homeland What was the nature of his connection with the churchof Saint Procopius that allowed him to appropriate a relativelyprominent place in its nave for such a long inscription which ismoreover of a private and personal character Why did he have toseek refuge in a monastery () after the death recorded in theinscription And how long after this did he actually write the text

Regardless of the uncertainty surrounding the details of the storythis inscription is still significant in many respects Its importancelies in the information it provides on the floruit of a hitherto littleknown archbishop of Cyprus and on the terminus ante quem its datefurnishes for the construction of the church at Syngrasis affectingour assessment of medieval Byzantine architecture on the islandMost importantly however it is the reference to Bardas Skleros thatmakes it exceptional We shall be examining briefly all three issuesbelow starting with that mentioned last

Bardas SklerosThe mention of Basil II and Constantine VIII in our inscription

provides a wide chronological framework during their joint reign(976-1025)38 That of Bardas Skleros (c920-99l) and the troubles he

38 Inscriptions dated to the joint reign and mentioning both emperors are not raresee G Seure Archeologie Thrace Documents inedits ou peu connus RevueArcheologique 20 (1912) 313-36 at 334 H Gregoire Recueil des Inscriptions grecqueschritiennes dAsie Mineure (Paris 1922) nos5bis 115bis amp 115ter and R JaninConstantinople byzantine Developpement urbain et repertoire topographique (Paris1964) 268 amp 276 for contemporary inscriptions on silks see A Muthesius Byzantinesilk weaving AD 400 to AD 1200 (Vienna 1997) 36 and for fresco cycles (inCappadocia at Direkli Kilise in the Peristrema valley and at Saint Barbara at Soganh)N amp M Thierry Nouvelles eglises rupestres de Cappadoce Region du Hasan Daifl(Paris 1963) 184-85 and G de Jerphanion Une nouvelle province de lart byzantinLes eglises rupestres de Cappadoce 2 vols (Paris 1925-42) val21 309-11

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A TENTH-CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM SYNGRASIS CYPRUS

caused to the empire helps to narrow this down to the years of hisrebellion Skleros rose twice against Basil and Constantine first inthe spring of 976 very soon after the death of John Tzimiskes (underwhom his career had taken off) and the accession of Romanus IIssons when he was demoted from commander-in-chief of the easterntagmata to doux of Mesopotamia The rebels defeat three years later(March 979) resulted in his fleeing to his Arab allies territoriesending up a prisoner in Baghdad In early 987 taking advantage ofBasils recent disastrous campaign in Bulgaria (summer 986) Sklerosreturned to the empire in order to claim the throne once again butwas soon arrested and imprisoned After his release in 989 he wasfinally reconciled with Basip9

Thus the death recorded in our inscription must have occurredeither between 976-79 or around 987 It seems that the date is givenon 117 although the text is too damaged to read anything but thenumber e(6) followed by troe (year) It is unlikely that this refersto the sixth regnal year (981) for during that time Skleros was inBaghdad If erepresents the last digit of the annus mundi on theother hand something that is strongly suggested by troethal followsit then this could be either 6486 (97778) or 6496 (98788) But whatappears to be a 6preceding the c cannot be part of the annus mundiit is very likely that it may form part of an abbreviation for indictionIn the period that concerns us here the 6th indiction can only beSeptember 977 - August 978 Still the occurrence of troe whichfollows and which is usually associated with the annus mundi createsa difficulty that remains unresolved

The mention of Bardas Skleros in an inscription on Cyprus issurprising to say the least The island is not known to have playedany role in the events of the 970s80s although according to theearly 11th-century history of the Armenian Stephen of Taron these

39 For a recent assessment of these events see M Whittow The making of OrthodoxByzantium 600-1025 (London 1996) 361-73 further bibliography and sources in J-CCheynet Pouvoir et contestations a Byzance (963-1210) (Byzantina Sorbonensia 9Paris 1990) 27-29 amp 33-34 detailed narrative in Seibt Die Skleroi 35-55 I amparticularly indebted to Catherine Holmes for comments and useful suggestionsconcerning this section

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