JAMES, Liz

Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 30/1

Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 2006, p. 29-47

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/byz

fouilles excavations in situ in situ

[401, 1300]

tesselle tessera

• Question with regard how widely glass mosaics might have been employed (both space and time) in the Byzantine World.

• Deals with the issue of the manufacture of glass during the Roman, Late Roman and Medieval periods in the Eastern Mediterranean:

• Limited evidence for the making of glass tessarae:
– Sardes ?
– Jerash (Gerasa),
– Petra,
– Beth Shean.

• Problem in making colour glass tesserae:
– easy enough to produce: pale transparent blues and greens;
– more complex to produce: opaque colours (yellow, green, dark blue, dark red);
– the heat of the furnace, the base composition of the glass, the temperature reached in the furnace and the duration of that temperature were all additional factors affecting the colour of the finished product;
– manufacturing of glass tesserae: from raw or second-hand glass; glass alrady coloured (easier) or couloured during the melting-down process (more difficult).

• Chemical analyses of Byzantine mosaic tesserae: specific study of tesserae from Shikmona (5th century), San Vitale in Ravenna (6th century), San Vincenzo al Volturno (9th century), Hosios Loukas (10th century), Daphni (11th century), San Marco in Venice (11th-13th centuries), Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome (13th century):
– tesserae match the production patterns apparent in vessel glass;
– glass for mosaics was made on one site and exported to other sites to be worked;
– glass was a contemporary product in each case;
– at each site the chemical fingerprints of the glass indicated a single source for each group of tesserae;
– nature of opacifiers added to glass to make it more opaque changes over time.
– there is no evidence to suggest that the makers of Byzantine mosaic glass employed Roman tesserae as colorants.

• Trading and pricing of glass tesserae:
– exemple of tresserae trade according to the written sources: question with regard about the credibility of Muslim sources:
- mosaic cubes and workmen exported from Byzantium for the decoration of the Great Mosque in Damascus and the mosque at Medina (8th century),
- tesserae from Byzantium send to add the mosaics to the Great Mosque in Córdoba,
- me rchants selling tesserae in Kiev (11th century).
– no information in the written sources about the the cost of the transportation of the mosaic glass;
– some calculations of the weight and the cost of gold glass tesserae (according to Mundell Mango, Cutler, Nesbitt, Verità).

analyses chimiques chemical analyses

sources écrites written sources

lieux de pratiques religieuses
places of religious practices   église
church  monastère
monastery

Albanie Albania		Durrës	consommation
Byzance Byzantium		Constantinople	consommation
Chypre Cyprus		Kiti	consommation
		Livadia	consommation
		Lythrankomi	consommation
Grèce Greece		Athènes Athens	consommation
		Corinthe Corinth	consommation
		Amphipolis	consommation
		Daphni	consommation
		Hosios Loukas	consommation
		Nea Moni	consommation
		Philippi	consommation
	Crète Crete	Knossos	consommation
Israël Israel		Bet Sheʾan (Nysa - Scythopolis)	production
		Khirbet el-Karak	consommation
		Shikmona	consommation
Italie Italy		Ravenne Ravenna	consommation
		Venise Venice	consommation
		Rome	consommation
		Salerno	consommation
		San Vincenzo al Volturno	consommation
Jordanie Jordan		Jerash	production
		Petra	production
Palestine Palestine		Mt Gerizim	consommation
Turquie Turkey		Colonée Koloneia	consommation
		Qartmin Kartmin	consommation
		Sardes Sardis	consommation production
		Trabzon Trebizond	consommation
		Anazarbus	consommation
		Aşağı Akçale	consommation
		Corycus	consommation
		Dağ Pazarı	consommation
		Dereağzı	consommation
		Hisarköy (Amorium)	consommation
		Meryemlık	consommation
		Yemişküm	consommation
		Çiftlik	consommation