Religion and Daily Life: What Church Architecture Can Tell Us About Life in Byzantine Lycia

Audrey Scardina - PhD in Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, with help from the The Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations AKMED research grants.  

In this post I will discuss the results of my August/September 2014 research trip to Southwest Turkey, ancient Lycia. I will focus on one of the sites covered in my LAMPS paper given on September 15th. The trip was undertaken in order to further research on my PhD, entitled, 'Ecclesiastical Architecture and Settlement in Byzantine Lycia,' where I study the architectural developments of Byzantine churches throughout the region in conjunction with secular builds. Through the changes in this architecture over time, I aim to glean a better understanding of the history of these sites and the people that populated them.

Figure 1. Plan of Istlada

Source: Institut für Klassische Archäologie, Wien

Our focus is the site of Istlada, which is located inland about ca. 1km from the sea (Bayburtluoğlu 2004, 212). It is built up a steep hill, where the church is located at the bottom of the hill. Of the church Clive Foss, who surveyed the Lycian Coast in 1994, says nothing except for acknowledging its existence (27). The site was surveyed by Thomas Marksteiner's team from 1994 - 1998, though I have yet to be able to access their publications. In a later publication, Marksteiner (2010, 142) dates the basilica to the 6th century, the associated apsidal room to the same period, and the barrel-vaulted chapel to the middle to late Byzantine period (Fig. 1).

Figure 2. Apse of basilca, looking east.

Source: Self

The 6th century basilica is built of stone-faced rubble and mortar (Fig. 2), where the stones are often large in size, ca. 60 - 80 cm. The apse of the basilica is built of ashlar masonry. The associated apsidal room, referred to by Marksteiner (2010, 142) as a 'reliquary chapel', is also built of stone-faced rubble and mortar, including the apse. The blocks used to build this chapel are notably smaller than those used to build the basilica, ca. 40-50 cm (Fig. 3). This change in construction technique, especially due to the apse being built of stone-faced rubble and mortar instead of ashlar, suggests that the chapel should be considered a second phase of construction. 

Figure 3. Apse of apsidal room

Source: Self

 

This theory is aided when examining the relationship of the apsidal room to the basilica. As is visible on the plan (Fig. 1), the way in which these two buildings functioned together is as yet unclear from the remains on the ground. If the northern chapel wall were to extend directly southwest, as the southern wall does, it would abut the basilica's southeast corner. There is, however, no evidence for this taking place. If the structures were built in the same period, as Marksteiner has suggested, one would expect an obvious doorway between the two structures, which, again is nowhere to be found.

Figure 4. Northern doorway of western wall in apsidal room

Source: Self

The matter becomes more complicated when looking at the wall to the west of the apsidal room, which presumably would have been the back wall of the building, as well as the access point. There are three gaps in the wall; one between the southern wall extending off the apse, tone that seems central, and then one to the north. The northern gap is the most incongruous; If the wall off of the north of the apse was to follow a straight line, as the southern wall does, it would hit this western wall to the south of the northern gap. There is, however, no evidence for wall joining on this segment of wall (Figure 4). What does exist is a large block of stone ca. 1m up the wall that protrudes to the east, north, and south of the wall, and above which is the springing of an archway. The problems do not stop here, ca. 70 cm from the arch springing is another wall, which would have cut the archway almost in half. It unclear if the rubble between these two walls was purposeful walling up, or is just rubble from the collapse of the archway. 

Figure 5. Apse of later chapel, looking southwest

Source: Self 

This suggests far more layers of occupation and phases of building than originally suggested by Marksteiner. The site is further complicated by the addition of the vaguely dated middle- to late-Byzantine Chapel located inside the basilica (Fig. 5). The chapel is built of s stone-faced rubble and mortar, where the stone facing is irregular. It was then covered in a layer of mortar that would have originally been frescoed (Marksteiner 2010, 142). At some point, most likely before the chapel was built, the windows and doors of the basilica were walled up. Though, as mentioned above, it is unclear whether the doorways to the apsidal were walled up, there is no evidence for filling in the windows of the apse. This could suggest that the apsidal room was still in use while the chapel was being used. 

Though my research trip was incredibly helpful to my project, as usual it left me with more questions than answers. For Istlada, I will begin by trying to examine the different phases of the building in more detail, as well as by studying the connection of the basilica and the apsidal room. I believe this is key to understanding how the function of this church changed over time, which may help us to understand how the interaction of citizens of Istlada with the church evolved as well. 

The better dating and understanding of the apsidal room may also help to refine the date of the chapel within the basilica as well. This phenomenon, of a chapel being built inside an earlier basilica, is actually region-wide and will need to be researched at a wider scale before any strong conclusions can be drawn. Until then I am left to wonder what the state of the earlier basilica would have been while the chapel was in use. Was it ruined? If so was it the collapse of the church that merited the much smaller rebuild, or was that due to changes in liturgy? Or, was the church at some point simply too large and impractical? Next time, maybe I will have the answers. 

Works Cited: 
BAYBURTLUOĞLU, C. 2004. Lycia (Volume 1 van Suna & İnan Kırac Research Institute on Mediterranean Civilizations travel guide series). Istanbul: Homer Kitabevi ve Yayincilik Ltd.

MARKSTEINER, T. 2010. Lykien: ein archäologischer Führer. Wien: Phoibos. 

ND. Institut für Klassische Archäologie, Istlada Survey. [online] Available at < https://klass-archaeologie.univie.ac.at/forschung/istlada-survey/> [Accessed 29 September 2014].