A Ricci Rediscovery of The Patriarchal M

Bizantinistica
Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi
SERIE SECONDA
Anno XIX - 2018
Direttore scientifico e responsabile: ANTONIO CARILE
Comitato scientifico: STEFANO CARUSO, GUGLIELMO CAVALLO, SALVATORE

COSENTINO, GÉRARD DÉDÉYAN, GIUSEPPE GHINI, SERGEJ P. KARPOV,
CHRYSSA MALTEZOU, ENRICO MORINI, ALBA MARIA ORSELLI, ANTONIO
PANAINO, EUGENIO RUSSO, MARIA DORA SPADARO, GIORGIO VESPIGNANI,
Segreteria: GIORGIO VESPIGNANI
ISBN 978-88-6809-253-5
 Copyright 2019 by « Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioe-

vo », Spoleto and by « Antonio Carile - Dipartimento di Beni Culturali »
Periodico pubblicato con il contributo dell’Alma Mater Studiorum -

Università di Bologna, sede di Ravenna, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali
Manoscritti e pubblicazioni al Direttore: Antonio Carile, C.P. 112, 48122

Marina di Ravenna
Abbonamenti e vendite alla Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto
medioevo, palazzo Ancaiani, piazza della Libertà 12, 06049 Spoleto
Autorizzazione n. 5210 del 26 ottobre 1984 del Tribunale di Bologna.
SOMMARIO
JOSEP VILELLA, El Reichskonzil de Nicea I: un hito en la po-

lítica constantiniana ................................................. pag. 1
ANTONELLA CONTE, Paideia greca e tradizione retorica nelle
epistole 44 e 45 di Firmo di Cesarea: una ipotesi inter-
pretativa .................................................................. » 037
ANTONIO PANAINO, Sul confronto tra Dio ed il μέγας βασι-
λεύς nel Περὶ κόσμου attribuito allo (Pseudo[?])-Ari-
stotele nella ricezione siriaca ed orientale .................. » 063
ALBERTO BERNARD, Il Filosofo, lo Šāh e i Magi: l’amba-
sceria di Eustazio di Cappadocia a Šābuhr II (Eunapio,
Vite dei filosofi e sofisti, VI, 5, 1-10) ........................... » 085
RICCARDO LOCONTE, I Persiani nel VI libro della Storia Ec-
clesiastica di Giovanni di Efeso: alterità, specchio, Kai-
serkritik ................................................................... » 119
BEATRICE GIROTTI, Ancora sull’elemento femminile nella
Tarda antichità: il genere come elemento di inclusione,
esclusione e partecipazione da una lettura dei Parenta-
lia di Ausonio ........................................................... » 149
SERGIO BASSO, Il nome cinese di Bisanzio ......................... » 165
EUGENIO RUSSO, Sulla lastra tombale dell’apostolo Matteo
nella cripta della cattedrale di Salerno ....................... » 181
VI SOMMARIO
PAOLO OGNIBENE, Eclissi di Sole, di Luna ed altri fenomeni

astronomici di rilievo nelle cronache russe antiche.
I: secoli X e XI .......................................................... pag. 195
GIANNANDREA POESIO, Theatre practices and meta-narrati-
ves: a reading of the illustrated gestures in the Chludov
Psalter ..................................................................... » 243
FRANCESCA ROMOLI, Lo Slovo o snjatii tela Christova
s kresta di Kirill Turovskij: Scritture e tipologia
omiletica ................................................................. » 271
ANDREA SPIRITI, Ut unum sint: dal chiostro verde di Santa
Maria Novella alla chiesa del Corpo di Cristo a Casti-
glione Olona ............................................................ » 289
GIORGIO VESPIGNANI, Venezia e Bisanzio nei Commentarii
di papa Pio II ........................................................... » 307
NOTE E DISCUSSIONI
EUGENIO RUSSO, L’evangeliario di Monza è un dono di papa

Gregorio Magno ....................................................... » 319
MASSIMO BERNABÒ, I libri di Pavel Muratov in italiano
sull’arte russa antica (1925) e sulla pittura bizanti-
na (1928) ................................................................. » 331
ARCHEOLOGIA BIZANTINA A ISTANBUL
ALESSANDRA RICCI, Tracing Constantinople’s Asian Suburbs:

Nineteenth Century Rediscovery and Present-day
Archaeology ............................................................. » 339
ALESSANDRA RICCI, Rediscovery of the Patriarchal Monas-
tery of Satyros (Küçükyalı, Istanbul): Architecture,
Archaeology and Hagiography ................................. » 347
SILVIA PEDONE, The Sculptures from Küçükyalı and Their
Archaeological Context .............................................. » 377
RICK WOHMANN, The Ceramics Found at Küçükyalı:
Preliminary Considerations ...................................... » 391
SOMMARIO VII
RECENSIONI
Sasanian Coins, Middle-Persian Etymology and the Tabarestān Archive (Pierfrancesco Cal-
lieri), p. 403; N. B. TETERIATNIKOV, Justinianic Mosaics of Hagia Sophia and Their Aftermath
(Miguel Cortés Arrese), p. 405; M. BUSSAGLI, Arte e magia a Siena, a cura di M. BUSSAGLI,
con una Prefazione di F. CARDINI ed una Postfazione di V. SERINO (Antonio Panaino), p. 409;
Lo « Strategicon adversum Turcos » di Lampugnino Birago, a cura di I. M. DAMIAN (Giorgio
Vespignani), p. 411; M. CORTÉS ARRESE, Constantinopla. Viajes fantásticos a la capital del
mundo (Giorgio Vespignani), p. 420; G. DÉDÉYAN, Les Arméniens en Chypre (577-1211), de
Justin II à Hugues de Lusignan (Antonio Carile), p. 423; Abū Ma῾šar (Albumasar), La Piccola
Introduzione alla Scienza degli Astri. Introduzione, traduzione del testo arabo e note di F.
MARTORELLO (Antonio Panaino), p. 426; J. A. BUENO DELGADO, El edicto justinianeo de los
“Tres Capítulos” en el marco de la disputa cristológica sobre la doble naturaleza de Cristo
(Giorgio Vespignani), p. 429.
ALeSSANDrA riCCi
rediscovery of the Patriarchal Monastery of

Satyros (Küçükyalı, istanbul): Architecture,
Archaeology and Hagiography *
Scope of this study is to present preliminary results of archaeological

investigations conducted at one of the sites that prominently marked the
Asian suburbs of Constantinople in middle Byzantine times and
represented a distinctive ancient feature of the pre-and modern
countryside of istanbul, the complex located at present-day Küçükyalı 1
[fig. 1]. While, the current study outlines and gives centrality to the
novelty of archaeological discoveries, to the architectural and
archaeological interpretation of the surviving features, and to the
preliminary results of textual and historical analysis, positioning of the
* The current study follows and expands on previous studies that, over the course of recent
years, have reported on and interpreted results of fieldwork carried out at Küçükyalı. It also
represents the introduction to my forthcoming monograph on the site and the Asian suburbs of
Constantinople in Byzantine times. Work and research carried out at Küçükyalı are also based on
team efforts by a research group established in 2016, this article and the studies presented in this
volume represent the initial research outcomes of some of the group’s members, with a view toward
a comprehensive final report on the excavations. The survey campaigns (2001-2004) were directed
by the author with permission of the General Directorate for Museums and Antiquities (Ministry of
Culture and Tourism); the excavation campaigns (2008-2010 and 2014-2017) followed the formula
of “ortak kazı” under the direction of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums and the author. The
author wishes to extend thanks to the institutions that have made field research at Küçükyalı
possible: the Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA), Koç University, Koç University-The Stavros
Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and Dumbarton Oaks (Trustees
of Harvard University). Post-excavation research was carried out by the author during a Stanley
J. Seeger Visiting research Fellowship in Hellenic Studies (Princeton University) and a Alexander
S. Onassis Foundation Research Fellowship (Athens).
1
Coordinates of the archaeological area: LAT 40.94353827; LONG 29.11546377; MAMSL
15 m. Cadastral references: 10 pafta; eski 1328; yeni 2275 ada; parcel 34. The main core of the
archaeological site survives within the boundaries of parcel 34, property of the Ministry of Treasury
and is a First Degree Protected Archaeological Area, the highest level of protection.
348 ALESSANDRA RICCI
site within the larger dynamics and organization of Constantinopolitan

suburbs represents one of the main concerns of a wider line of enquiry,
which is here addressed in the form of a preliminary note. it is worth
remarking how the ancient material environment at Küçükyalı did, at the
beginning of this research in 2001, lay in a condition of desolate neglect
-one that did entail neither curiosity nor even interrogation and hardly
any collective consciousness about its existence, thus illustrating a case
of divisibility between human presence and a physical landscape
devoided of cultural memory 2.
LOCATiON, LANDSCAPe AND TrAveLOGueS
The site at Küçükyalı is located on the Asian side of the modern city of
istanbul at a distance of circa 11 km west of the ancient city of Chalcedon
(modern Kadiköy), an ancient topographical point of reference no longer
perceptible in the modern city. More specifically, the site is within the Çinar
district (immediately to the north of Çınar Camii), part of the densely
populated neighbourhood of Küçükyalı in the Municipality of Maltepe
(Greater Municipality of istanbul), with the archaeological remains object
of investigation, taking their name from the district to which they belong.
Although, not much is known about the toponymic origins of the site,
it is likely that the name of Küçükyalı may have originated not earlier
than the second half of the 19th century or, at the beginning of the 20th
century. The geo-topographical map by Colmar von der Goltz (produced
between 1888 and1895) indicates the toponym of ‘Monastir’ with, to its
east, a ‘Taschköprü’ (stone bridge) and “Büyükdere” (large river) in a
locality between “Karabasch Jally” and “Büyük Jally” 3 [fig. 2]. This
corresponds with the location of the archaeological remains at present-
day Küçükyalı and confirms that the neighbourhood must have been
named in the 20th century.
2
On cultural memory in the Asian suburbs, see ricci in this volume. For a summary of actions
undertaken to foster public awareness about the site and Byzantine heritage, A. riCCi, A. YiLMAz,
Urban Archaeology and Community Engagement: the Küçükyalı ArkeoPark, in Heritage Tourism
Destinations: Preservation, Communication and Development, ed. M. ÁLvArez, A. YuKSeL, G. GO,
Oxon, 2016, pp. 41-62.
3
For a discussion of the map by von der Goltz, see ricci in this volume. The toponymic
“Büyükyalı” is no longer existent.
REDISCOVERY OF THE PATRIARCHAL MONASTERY OF SATYROS 349
At present, the remains at Küçükyalı are physically and visually

removed from the sea, whereas in antiquity and even in more recent
times, the complex stood much closer to the Marmara coastline, though
set somewhat inland and overlooking the islands of the Prinkipo
archipelago (modern Princes’ islands) 4. The island of Proti (modern
Kınalıada) lays within close range and is therefore visible from both the
shoreline and the northern sections of the other islands of Halki (modern
Heybeliada) and Prinkipo (modern Büyükada). To the northeast, the
complex at Küçükyalı was protected by the mountainous landscape
dominated by Mount Oxeia (modern Başibüyükdağı) with the plateau of
ancient Damatrys (modern Samandira) unravelling to the west and
Mount Auxentios (modern Kayışdağı) further to the east 5. A water supply
network likely originated from the rich water springs on the plateau at
Damatrys, supplying the nearby coastal areas, Küçükyalı being one of
the beneficiary sites 6.
in Byzantine times, the areas around the site at Küçükyalı, may have
displayed pastoral traits on the slopes, with a more markedly agrarian
dimension around the site, which was framed, more or less, by two rivers:
the modern Büyükdere further to the east of the complex, and whose
spring was on the plateau of Damatrys, and another stream some 500 m
to its west 7. The complex was visually inaccessible from the capital
4
The coastline underwent two major landfill transformations in the 20th century, the first one
in the 1980s and the second one in 2013 with the construction of a coastal road first and of circa
28.000 sm. For coastal roads in istanbul, M. GüL, Emergence of Modern Istanbul. Transformation
and Modernisation of a City, London-New York 2009, pp. 150-162.
5
For a detailed account of Byzantine-period sites in the mainland behind the site at Küçükyalı,
r. JANiN, La banlieue asiatique de Constantinople. Étude historique et topographique, (Suite. [I].),
in « Échos d’Orient », XX,131 (1923), pp. 281-298.
6
remains of large-sized water channels were noticed during the 2001-2004 survey seasons
within the premises of the military area along the Başıbüyük dorsal. They consisted of rather large
sized channels with barrel vaulted brick tops and masonry spandrels, resembling the water channels
of the Constantinopolitan water supply line, see J. CrOW, J. BArDiLL, r. BAYLiSS, The Water Supply
of Byzantine Constantinople, London, 2008, p. 46, fig. 3.21; p. 51, fig. 3.28; p. 68, fig. 3.55. A
systematic investigation of the water supply system of the Asian side of Late Antique and Byzantine
Constantinople is still missing.
7
A preliminary archaeozoological study of animal bones retrieved during excavations at the site
in 2010, conducted by Dr. Canan Çakirlar (university of Groningen) identified small percentages
of wild animals and larger ones of unbutchered domestic animals; preliminary results of
archaeobotanical research, B. uLAş, Küçükyalı: Istanbul’da bir Bizans Manastırinin Tarımsal
Ekonomisi, in Atti dell’Ottava edizione del Convegno “Contributo italiano a scavi, ricerche e studi
Constantinople and the peninsula, obscured by the distance that separated

it from the city, yet linked to it by means of land and sea routes 8.
The rapid and irreversible phenomenon of urbanization of istanbul’s
Asian side did also extend into Küçükyalı, transforming the
neighbourhood into a populous section of the Municipality of Maltepe 9.
A multitude of residential buildings begun to be built around the
emerging parts of the complex in the 1980s, with construction constantly
endangering and, at times concealing, the historic remains. For example,
the new mosque of Çınar Camii was built in 1988 on the southwestern
edge of the site; in the 1980s or, earlier, two asphalt roads were built.
One went through the Byzantine period walls on the northwestern side
of the remains and the second one some meters away from the complex’s
western wall 10. As a consequence, several parts of Küçükyalı’s
archaeological identity vanished with the disappearing of the area’s
historical landscape. in contrast, the built environment grew sharply with
newcomers populating the former countryside; green spaces lost to the
point that the surviving portions of the archaeological site now serve as
the only existing green space in the neighbourhood.
Brief accounts of the remains appear in travelogues that, following
itineraries from Constantinople or, from Bithynia, opted for land routes
instead of the more common crossing of the gulf of Nicomedia (modern
izmit) 11. interestingly, Hans Dernschwam von Hradiczin in 1555 favours
the land route and, over the course of his journey from Scutari (modern
üsküdar) to the village of Chartophilon (Kartal in Turkish), notices along
the way, before Kartal and not too far from the Marmara seashore, a
nelle missioni archeologiche in Turchia”, ed. A. riCCi, in « Arkeoloji ve Sanat », CLiv (2017), pp.
192-195. in 1555 H. Dernschwam mentions the presence of vineyards, fruit trees and orchards in the
region of Maltepe, further east from Küçükyalı see, J.-P. GrÉLOiS, Hans Dernschwam, voyage en Asie
Mineure (1555), in La Bithynie au Moyen Âge, ed. by B. GeYer and J. LeFOrT, Paris, 2003, p. 115.
8
For the land routes, see J. LeFOrT, Les grandes routes médiévales, in La Bithynie au Moyen
Âge cit. (note 7), pp. 461-472 with discussion of the coastal road.
9
C. erGuN, A Look at the Urban Renewal Process from Renewal Areas. The Cases of Bașibüyük
and Gülsuyu Districts, Istanbul, isparta, 2011.
10
N. zereN GüLerSOY, A. riCCi, H. AKArCA, O. KArGüL, Küçükyalı ArkeoPark Alan Yönetim
Planı (Taslak)/ Küçükyalı ArkeoPark Site Management Plan (Draft), unpublished report submitted
to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, istanbul, 2015, pp. 44-56.
11
A summary on the land road in, LeFOrT, Les grandes routes cit. (note 7), pp. 461-472; J.-P.
GrÉLOiS, Du golfe de Nicomédie au lac de Nicée. L’apport des voyageurs (XV-XX siècle), in La
Bithynie cit. (note 7), pp. 509-534.
series of ancient remains: two stone bridges over respective water

streams, three fountains with ancient stones and the remains of a
Christian church in ruins 12. The landscape crossed by Dernschwam von
Hradiczin had appeared, some years earlier, in the miniature of Nasu
Matrakçı depicting his itinerary from üsküdar to Maltepe, a route
covered between June 14 and 29, 1534 when the Bosnian born artist,
accompanied sultan Süleyeman the Magnificent and his army, to a
military campaign in iraq [fig. 3]. The set of miniatures documenting the
stations passed during the army’s march eastwards, despite an inevitable
conventionality in the representation of inhabited places, localities and
buildings, have been credited with topographical authenticity 13. The
folio shows on the upper section a rocky mountain surrounded by lower
hills and identified by Lefort as the Kayışdağı or, the mountain known in
Byzantine times as Mount Auxentios 14. From its concealed back a river
flows down, we may surmise, towards the Marmara seashore, which does
not appear on the miniature. Lefort suggested that the plentiful vegetation
seen on the miniature and touched by the course of water, may represent
fields similar to the vineyards and similarly described by Dernschwam 15.
Collectively, the account and the visual rendering represent different
approaches in narratives, giving centrality to landscape and physical
geography; yet while authenticating one another, they also represent
valuable testimonies of cultural memory. Whereas Dernschwam lingers
on the “ruin” by placing emphasis, where possible, on its identification
and weaves it with the physical settings, Matrakçı’s representations of the
built environment do not have the same focus. Matrakçı, instead,
produces a visual balance encompassing the Byzantine past, including in
the next folia the fortress of Hereke, the city walls of izmit or the many
bridges he meets not too far from Maltepe, along with the Ottoman built
environment – when present – and with a landscape that is methodically
12
GrÉLOT, Hans Dernschwam cit. (note 7), p. 115, the sites are listed following the itinerary
Dernschwam covers from Scutari to Kartal; H. DerNSCHWAM vON HrADiCziN, Tagebuch einer Reise
nach Konstantinopel und Kleinasien (1553-1555), München-Leipzig, 1923.
13
F. TAeSCHNer, The itinerary of the first Persian campaign of sultan Süleyman 1534-36,
according to Nasūh al-Matrāki, in «imago Mundi. The international Journal for the History of
Cartography », Xiii.1 (1956), pp. 53-55.
14
Folio 9b in J.-P. LeFOrT, Les miniatures dans Matrakci, in La Bithynie cit. (note 7), pp. 99-
112, in part. pl.1, p. 105.
15
ibid., p. 101.
characterized as harmonic in terms of all its natural elements. The two

travellers offer modes of representation mirroring diverse cultural
memories that shaped perceptions and rendering of a diachronic
articulated landscape.
eArLY iDeNTiFiCATiONS
Later travelogues dating to the beginning of the 19th century, portray

a material environment in which some of the landmarks prominent in
earlier accounts still seem to define the setting, which by now has
acquired the full attributes of old buildings, embedded as they were in the
landscape. von Hammer’s travelogue mentions: « die ruinen eines alten
Klosters, rechts von der steineren Brücke, auf dem Weg von Maldepe
nach Skutari [the remains of an old monastery to the right of an old stone
bridge on the road from Maltepe to Skutari] » 16. Although, details
contained in von Hammer’s travelogue may not suffice to propose exact
identification of the « alten Kloster [old monastery] » with the locality
of modern Küçükyalı, the remains in question were likely to be in the
vicinities, in a state of abandonment but likely visible from the road he
travelled. The description, however, matches with data contained in the
map by Colmar von der Goltz compiled some decades later 17.
A few decades after van Hammer’s account, the first known drawing
of the remains was published by Lehmann-Hartleben in the form of the
floor plan to scale of a cistern, thus marking a radically different
approach in the representation of the old, of the ruin 18. The structure is
described as a lower-level rectangular-in-plan cistern. The cistern
comprised a western section, at that time with a collapsed roof but
originally consisting of four parallel rows of brick domes, and a
continuation to the east with a central brick dome that was still standing.
According to Mamboury, who visited the site in the early decades of the
19th century, above the section of the cistern that had not collapsed, on an
apparently elevated platform, were the remains of an « église à plan carré
16
J. vON HAMMer, Constantinopolis und der Bosporus, örtlich und geschichtlich, ii, Pesth,
1822, pp. 356-357.
17
For a discussion of the map by Colmar von der Glotz, see ricci in this volume.
18
K. LeHMANN-HArTLeBeN, Archaeologisch-Epigraphisches aus Konstantinopel und Umgebung,
in « Byzantinisch-Neugriechische Jahrbücher », iii (1922), pp. 103-110, fig.1, p. 104.
à quatre piliers massifs soutenant la coupole [a square-in-plan church

with four massive piers supporting a dome] » 19 [figs. 4-5]. As for the
identification of the remains, Mamboury assumed, with a great
conviction, that the best candidate was the monastery of Satyros 20. The
assumption Mamboury put forth relied also on the studies of the
Constantinopolitan countryside conducted by Pargoire, specifically that
published in 1901, an historical research on the monasteries built by
patriarch ignatios (847-858 and 867-877 Ce) on the Princes’ islands and
the mainland 21. in the research, Pargoire focused on the mainland
location of the monastery of Satyros, the most lavish of the complexes
built by ignatios and said to be visible from the Princes’ islands.
Although, Pargoire did not come to a definite conclusion, the
significance of his research resides in the historical and textual analyses
carried out, which – without entering in a discussion of specific elements
forming the architecture and archaeology of the site – associated for the
first time the remains at Küçükyalı with the monastery of Satyros 22.
in 1959, further to a field survey, eyice published a more
comprehensive plan of the complex at Küçükyalı that significantly
expanded on the scale drawing of the cistern by Lehmann-Hartleben 23
[fig. 6]. The novelty of this work was represented by the identification
of a distinct rectangular perimeter defined by walls marking the western
19
These details are part of an accurate description of the site in a lecture e. Mamboury delivered
on March 30, 1919 at the Hellenikos Philologikos Syllogos in istanbul and which was only in part
reproduced without illustrations in e. MAMBOurY, Ruines Byzantines de Mara entre Maltépé et
Bostandjik, in « Échos d’ Orient », XiX (1920), pp. 322-330, in part. 326.
20
ibid., pp. 327-330.
21
v. PArGOire, Les monastères de Saint-Ignace et les cinq petit îlots de l’archipel des Princes,
in « Bulletin de l’institut archéologique russe de Constantinople », vii (1901), pp. 62-78. Niketas,
son of the emperor Michael the First rangabes took the monastic name of ignatios after he and his
two brothers were castrated in the aftermaths of their father’s deposition in 813 and sent to monastic
exile to the island of Proti (modern Kınalıada on the Prince’ islands). For ignatios, see Ignatios
(#2666), in Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit. ii. Georgios (#2183) - Leon (#4270),
hrsg., F. WiNKeLMANN, r.-J. LiLie, C. LuDWiG, T. PrATSCH und i. rOCHOW, Berlin-New York, 2000,
pp.173-179. For the monastery of Satyros, r. JANiN, Les églises et les monastères des grands centres
byzantins. Bithynie, Hellespont, Latros, Galèsios, Trébizonde, Athènes, Thessalonique, Paris, 1975,
pp. 42-43.
22
PArGOire, Les monastères cit. (note 21), pp. 69-71.
23
S. eYiCe, Istanbul’da Abbâsi saraylarinin benzeri olarak yapilan bir bizans saray, in
« Belleten », XXiii (1959), pp. 79-114; iD., Contributions à l’histoire de l’art byzantin: quatre
édifices inédits ou mal connus, in « Cahiers Archéologiques », X (1959), pp. 245-250.
and northern sides of the complex’s rectangular plan. This plan contained
the rectangular structure previously identified as a cistern as well as the
well-preserved monumental brick dome to the east of the rectangular
construction. According to eyice, the western portion of the cistern – the
area now without a roof – showed an ancient opening through the
western wall. The previously noted remains on the upper level were
generically defined as “superstructures” 24. eyice reversed earlier
interpretations of the site, suggesting that the complex be read as the
palace of Bryas, erected by the emperor Theophilos before his death in
843 Ce in apparent imitation of umayyad – and Abbasid – palatial
counterparts observed by his envoys in the city of Baghdad and
vicinities. The identification was based on comparisons of plans of
umayyad and Abbasid period palaces with the newly produced plan of
Küçükyalı. This thesis drew further support from Byzantine-period
textual evidence, particularly the Continuator of Theophanes, which
described the existence of such an imperial residence in the outskirts of
the capital city 25. However hagiographical texts – such as the vita
Ignatii, which had already been considered some decades earlier by
Pargoire with regard to the identification of patriarch ignatios’
monasteries, Satyros included – were not included in the analysis of
sources. Moreover, the remains above the cistern that were noted by
Mamboury in the 1920s, and identified as those of a centrally planned
church with four massive piers were neither included in the newly
published plan nor considered in the site’s analysis 26. The toponymic
“Monastir” or, monastery associated with the remains at the site by
earlier travellers is not addressed either. Hence, the combination of
references to the palaces in the passage in the Continuator of Theophanes
and of the site’s new floor plan favoured, in eyice’s opinion, a palatine
reading of the complex. With no subsequent fieldwork or research carried
out at Küçükyalı, the site’s identification with an islamicate, iconoclastic-
period imperial residence received greater credit until beginning of
fieldwork 27.
24
ibid., fig. 2.
25
ibid., p. 248.
26
The physical remains above the cistern are not discussed by eyice in his two articles.
27
C. MANGO, Byzantine Architecture, New York, 1976, pp.194-196; iD., Notes d’épigraphie et
d’archéologie: Constantinople, Nicée, in « Travaux et Mémoires », Xii (1994) pp. 343-358; C.
BArBer, Reading the Garden in Byzantium: Nature and Sexuality, in « Byzantine and Modern
REASSESSING THE SITE: FIELD SURVEYS
A short and preliminary survey at the site of Küçükyalı, the first one
since Eyice’s publication of the 1959, took place in 1995 and 2001-2004 28.
The main purpose was to determine if, in light of the radical urban
transformations that affected the city of Istanbul, any changes to the site
had occurred since Eyice’s work. The survey revealed an entirely
transformed setting for the archaeological area, now fully entrenched by
modern apartment buildings and surrounded by an intensely developed
urban infrastructure [figs. 7 -8]. Moreover, construction of Çinar Camii
led to the exposure of additional sections of the ancient site on its
southern side. It seemed that circumstances called for a new appraisal of
the remains as well as for an up-to-date plan of the complex, inclusive
of its recently emerged sections. The main results of the brief first
campaign at Küçükyalı, although already presented within other
contexts, will be here considered and expanded upon for the aspects that
are relevant to the fieldwork that followed and for the interpretation of
the site. The survey produced preliminary surface-data recording that
resulted in a new plan, that substantially extended the surveyed area
from the late 1950s investigation; elevation data of the cistern and 3D
rendering of the space; information on building techniques and erratic
architectural sculpture 29.
Greek Studies », XVI (1992), pp. 1-19; more recently, H. HELLENKEMPER, Anatolische Riviera:
Byzantinische Kaiserpaläste in Bithynien, in Neue Funde und Forschungen in Bithynien: Friedrich
Karl Dörner zum 100. Geburtstag gewidmet, hrsg. von E. WINTER und K. ZIMMERMANN, Bonn, 2013,
pp. 61-81 with no additions to earlier arguments pre-dating beginning of fieldwork and excavations.
28
A. RICCI, The Road from Baghdad to Byzantium and the Case of the Bryas Palace in Istanbul,
in Byzantium in the Ninth Century: Dead of Alive, Papers of the Thirtieth Spring Symposium of
Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 1996, ed. by L. BRUBAKER, Aldershot, 1998, pp. 131-149 ;
EAD., Palazzo o Monastero: Islam o Occidente; il complesso mediobizantino a Küçükyalı (Istanbul),
in III Congresso nazionale di archeologia medievale (Castello di Salerno, Complesso di Santa Sofia,
Salerno, 2-5 ottobre 2003), a cura di R. FIORILLO e P. PEDUTO, Firenze, 2003, pp. 515-519; EAD.,
Quattro anni di indagini archeologiche (2001-2004) ed impegno per la salvaguardia del sito medio-
bizantino di Küçükyalı di Istanbul, in, Dall’Eufrate al Mediterraneo. Ricerche delle Missioni
Archeologiche Italiane in Turchia, ed. A. TANGIANU, Ankara, 2005, pp. 171-176; EAD.,
Reinterpretation of the “Palace of Bryas”: a Study in Architecture, History and Historiography,
PhD Dissertation Princeton University, Princeton, 2008 (Ann Arbor, 2018); EAD., Bizans’ta Kır
Sevgisi: Konstantinopolis’in Asya Kıyısındaki Banlyösü, in Bizans. Yapılar, Meydanlar, Yaşamlar,
ed. A. PRALONG, Istanbul, 2011, pp. 71-88.
29
RICCI, The Road cit. (note 28), Fig.11.4 and 11.5.
The surveyed complex is laid out on a southern slope of the terrain,

descending gently toward the Marmara seashore [fig. 9]. The main
surviving portions of the complex still preserve an area forming a
rectangular shape, with shorter ends to the west and east and retaining
walls on all sides supporting a flat earth platform that measures
approximately 54 x 66 m. The detected remains in this area are organized
on two levels, with the upper one henceforth referred to as the elevated
platform. The lower level is largely underground; rectangular in shape
it contains an underground cistern smaller in size than the platform
above it. The elevation of the underground space consists of a collapsed
roofing system to the west, already noted by earlier observers of the
complex, and a shorter eastern section of the same with its roofing
system still in place and dominated by a perfectly preserved central brick
dome. The cistern’s western end coincides with the platform’s western
wall. On the elevated platform visible and previously noted, but not
surveyed traces of a built environment emerged over the cistern’s domed
area of the lower level.
By extending the survey beyond the already noted rectangular-in-plan
area, it was possible to document the extensions of the complex. The
most remarkable and better preserved was in part seen by eyice and is
represented by the continuation of the western wall beyond its point of
intersection with the platform’s structure and its long northern side. At
the end of a 4 m-long that accommodated the passage of an illegally built
road, it was possible to document continuation of the same wall for some
10 m 30. A further length, lost into a nearby road, and buildings clearly
demonstrating an extension, which, in this area went well beyond the
limits of the elevated platform. Other noted structures included wall
facings by the Çinar Mahallesi Muhtarlik building (the neighbourhood’s
governmental office) at a distance of some 80 m southwest from the
complex’s inner perimeter, with additional structures to the immediate
west. Data collected beyond the platform area led to strengthening of the
30
The road was removed, with the support of the Direction of the istanbul Archaeological
Museums during the 2010 excavation campaign, preliminary results in A. riCCi, Archeologia
Urbana ad Istanbul: Il Küçükyalı ArkeoPark/Kent arkeolojisi, Istanbul: Küçükyalı ArkeoPark’i
in « Arkeoloji ve Sanat », CXXXiX (2012), pp. 202-216. On behalf of all participants
to the 2010 excavation season, i would like to extend sincere thanks to the Director of the
istanbul Archaeological Museums, Mrs zeynep S. Kızıltan for the support towards removal of the
road.
hypothesis that the complex originally extended well beyond the earlier
documented perimeter.
Finally, it seemed possible that the complex’s alleged central core,
represented by the elevated platform and the ecclesiastical building
(regardless of its elevated position), did not necessarily mark its
topographical center, and that a supposed centrality within a general
symmetrical layout did not necessarily exist. Yet, the built environment
on the platform, due to its elevated position, likely visually defined the
surroundings, including some parts of the coastline. The working
hypothesis was, therefore, that conception of the elevated platform must
have been intended also in order to also accommodate architectural
elements that, through their location, were meant to carry a visual impact
and blend with the surrounding landscape.
As for the lower level, which was designed to be underground, it was
possible to ascertain that it was planned to function as a water reservoir
from the outset [figs. 5, 10, 11]. The cistern is the architectural element
of the complex at Küçükyalı that, due to its relatively fair state of
preservation, appeared to be better documented and has received greater
attention 31. However, its characteristics of construction, methods of
function and abandonment phases remained obscure. Only the western
wall of the cistern corresponds to the elevated platform’s perimeter, a
fact that, together with detected bonds of the walls, indicates the two
structures were built concurrently.
Another relevant observation emerged during the survey season
concerns a previously identified western access into the underground
rectangular space [fig. 10]. The wall here shows an opening that bears all
signs of being a later piercing; an irregular cut that was never regularized,
it was designed to provide access to the underground space rather than
to serve as a proper entrance, or to represent a reverberation of an upper-
level arrangement 32. it is also relevant to note how the alleged opening
is by no means positioned in a central thus symmetrical position, but
31
LeHMAN-HArTLeBeN, Archaeologisch cit. (note 18); eYiCe, Istanbul’da cit. (note 23); iD.,
Quatre cit. (note 23); MANGO, Byzantine cit. (note 27). More recently, J. CrOW, The Imagined Water
Supply of Byzantine Constantinople, New Approaches, in « Travaux et Mémoires », XXii,1 (2018)
(= Constantinople Réelle et Imaginaire. Autour de l’œuvre de Gilbert Dagron, ed. C. MOrriSON et
J.-P. SODiNi), pp. 211-235, with an accurate discussion of the cistern at Küçükyalı, pp. 229-231 with
comprehensive bibliography on Byzantine cisterns in Constantinople.
32
eYiCe, Istanbul’da cit. (note 23), pp. 82-86.
rather to the north of the cistern’s short side. it follows that, at the time
of its usage, the cistern may have had other forms of access for inspection
that need to be identified 33.
That the rectangular space was conceived and functioned as a cistern
from the very outset was further demonstrated by the presence of an
inflow channel at the eastern end of the space, coherently built within
the main body of the cistern and not added at a later time. Furthermore,
waterproof mortar revetment appears to cover consistently all cistern
walls to the springing of the brick domes that marked the western portion
of the space. This is a feature common to most Byzantine period cisterns
in Constantinople with waterproof revetments not covering the roofing
systems, particularly when in presence of brick and mortar domes 34. The
cistern’s walls and its waterproof revetment appeared consistent with one
another and were likely to have been part of a building project that saw
their construction take place within a relative short amount of time.
Finally, an overflow hole coherent with the construction of the cistern
was recorded in the western wall right above the end of the waterproof
mortar revetment 35.
The lower level of the complex at Küçükyalı as well as all of its newly
detected extensions are executed in a characteristic Constantinopolitan
building technique, consisting of bands of five brick courses alternating
with bands of ashlar courses with mortar and a rubble core. The brick
bands span the entire section of the walls. Observation of the building
technique, while consistent with Constantinopolitan traits, provided
evidence for the usage of local materials as for the ashlar stone, likely
locally quarried and similar to the nodular limestone, common in the
geological formations of the Asian side 36. The building technique
changes in the upper level of the complex depending largely, if not
exclusively, on brick and mortar. The survey did not find evidence for
recessed brick technique or, concealed-course, a method of construction that
emerged in the city of Constantinople around the second half of the 10th
33
Some Byzantine period cisterns in the city of Constantinople have revealed the presence of
access ramps for inspection purposes, CrOW, The Water Supply cit. (note 6), pp. 125-143.
34
ibid., pp. 137-139.
35
inflow and outflow channels appear scarce among the otherwise vast number of Byzantine
period cisterns documented in the city of Constantinople: ibid., pp. 139-143.
36
Executive Report. Production of Microzonation Report and Maps for Asia Side. Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality, istanbul, 2009, p. 32.
century, pointing therefore to an earlier dating of the construction

activities at Küçükyalı 37.
A broader consideration the survey addressed was how the
construction of a cistern like the one at Küçükyalı does represent an
integral component of a comprehensive design project that sees cisterns
functioning as water reservoirs, as well as functional platforms on which
structures are displayed, with the intention of conferring to those
buildings a definite degree of visual prominence. Whereas this
consideration at Küçükyalı was further validated by a building program
that, as the survey progressed, continued to prove that the site at large
was the result of a coherently programmed project, one of the immediate
outcomes lead to the challenge of a dominant methodological approach:
one that reconstructs plans of no longer existing buildings exclusively on
the basis of the plan of their substructures, something that seemed to be
at the base of eyice’s interpretation of his survey 38.
As mentioned, at the time of the survey architectural remains emerged
rather visibly over the uncollapsed eastern portion of the cistern [fig. 7].
Therefore, one of the main priorities was a preliminary analysis and
mapping of what visible on the platform. in particular, the area above
the eastern portion of the cistern displayed Byzantine-period brick
masonry walls that emerged from the terrain as much as 0.60 to 1.00 m.
These took the form of a long polygonal wall running above the cistern’s
eastern limits. A partial aerial reading of the platform obtained from the
minaret of the nearby Çinar Camii facilitated identification of the
structures. Specifically, above the cistern it was possible to clearly
distinguish the presence of three apses, polygonal on the exterior and
semicircular on the interior facing east; the traces of two large-sized
piers, respectively to the northwest and to the southeast of the circular
apses and thus marking a central space; the remains of likely side
entrances to the north and south which, in turn appeared aligned with the
piers and the central space. A bird’s-eye view taken from the west of the
platform, allowed to detect traces of a semicircular wall above the
cistern’s northeastern corner. These elements together provided strong
indicators that pointed to the likely presence of an ecclesiastical building
37
For a summary on this building technique, r. OuSTerHOuT, Master Builders of Byzantium,
Princeton, 1999, pp. 174-179 with extensive bibliography.
38
eYiCe, Istanbul’da cit. (note 23), pp. 91-95.
the retrieval of whose full plan seemed possible through a systematic

clearing of the area, followed by archaeological investigations 39.
At the same time, data collected pertaining to the ecclesiastical
building seemed for the most part, to reverberate what noted on the
terrain several decades but, unfortunately not visually documented, by
Mamboury: « une église s’élevait au-dessus de la substruction carrée »
followed by « on distingue très bien le départ de toute l’architecture
supériore. L’église a plan carré à quatre piliers massifs soutenant la
coupole, les deux bas-côté séparée de la nef par deux colonnes, un
narthex donnant sur la place dallé » 40.
On-site observations and measurements, allowed further elaboration
on the building’s floor plan 41: a centrally planned building, marked by
a large sized dome, equipped with three apses displaying a distance
between the central apse and the lateral ones, supposing the presence of
lateral chambers as pastophoria not connected with the lateral apses
[figs. 9-10]. The building was evidently provided with side entrances;
a semicircular-in-plan narthex, though largely collapsed, was hypothesized,
as was the presence of an atrium. The building’s vanished central dome
resting on the noted large-sized piers had structural reverberations in the
cistern’s eastern dome’s piers.
The relevance of the built environment on the platform seemed central
in the quest for a clearer identification of the complex. it became evident
that the cistern functioned also as a substructure, following a pattern that
reached consolidation in Constantinople from the middle Byzantine
period onwards, when the engineering of several building projects
included the presence of cisterns in the buildings’ foundations 42.
Consequently, the living space at Küçükyalı, as in other Constantinopolitan
counterparts, shaped itself on the extended platforms that such
substructures produced. in most instances, surviving evidence from
Constantinople indicates that most substructures containing cisterns were
39
riCCi, The Road cit. (note 28), pp. 146-147, fig. 11.1. MANGO, Notes cit. (note 27), p. 38
about the platform`s remains: « Quant à la superstructure, il n’en reste que très peu de traces ».
40
MAMBOurY, Ruines Byzantines cit. (note 19), p. 338.
41
A preliminary plan of the building was published in riCCi, The Road cit. (note 28), p. 141,
fig. 11.4.
42
For discussion of this structural relationship, see r. OuSTerHOuT, Master Builders cit. (note
37), pp. 165-169. All examples cited by Ousterhout date from the middle Byzantine period onwards,
also CrOW, The Water Supply cit. (note 6), p. 137.
occupied in large part by monastic establishments, with the katholikon

taking a somewhat dominant position above the substructure 43.
FrOM SurveY TO eXCAvATiON
The survey’s main objectives included systematic cleaning of all

emerging architectural features and their documentation and a limited
number of archaeological soundings in order to assess the potential for
a systematic excavation program. Data collecting was also carried out
for the purpose of assisting in determining the location and entity of
future archaeological interventions at the site, conservation and site
management. Although, the question of the conservation and public
management of the site will not be given centrality within the current
study, it is nevertheless relevant to the general circumstances of urban
archaeology and of archaeological sites in istanbul. Conservation and
public management were addressed in a systematic fashion during the
2014-2017 excavation seasons 44.
THe PLATFOrM’S reTAiNiNG WALL
extension of the platform’s retaining wall was measured circa 50-51 x 62

m, functioned also as an elaborate retaining wall both for the platform
and the cistern [fig. 9]. The four sides, although not fully exposed, are
coherently linked and were built simultaneously.
43
Of the examples listed by Ousterhout, parts of the Myrelaion with the substructure for the
palace of romanos Lecapenos and the Mangana substructures for the homonymous complex, seem
to represent the only two surviving sites with an ascertained palatine identity see OuSTerHOuT,
Master Builders cit. (note 37), pp. 165-167.
44
A. riCCi, Archeologia urbana, cit. (note 30), CXXXii (2012), pp. 202-213; eAD, Interpreting
Heritage: Byzantine Period Archaeological Areas and Parks in Istanbul, in Heritage in Context.
Conservation and Site Management within Natural, Urban and Social Frameworks, eds. M.
BACHMANN, Ç. MANer, S. Tezer, D. GöÇMeN, in « MirAS », ii (2014), pp. 367-382; A. riCCi, i.
BiLGiN, B. POLAT, A. B. MeTiN, e. eKși, Geçmișten Geleceğe Miras. Küçükyalı ArkeoPark. Kültürel
Miras Eğitim Kitapçığı (8-12 yaş)/ Heritage from Past to Future. The Küçükyalı ArkeoPark. A
Cultural Heritage Educational Booklet, istanbul, 2015; A. riCCi, B. ALTAN, Sustainable Cultural
Routes in Istanbul: The Küçükyalı ArkeoPark and Its Vicinities, in City-Ports from Aegean to the
Black Sea. Medieval-Modern Networks, eds. F. KArAGiANNi and u. KOCABAș, istanbul, 2016, pp.
207-217; riCCi, YiLMAz, Urban Archaeology, cit. (note 2), pp. 41-62.
The western side of the retaining wall appears to be preserved at its

full height. it presents a regular system of arcaded buttresses, fifteen of
which were identified and documented. The best-preserved portions are
located in the central section, where the walls at points extend to 6 m. it
was possible to identify the point of intersection with the corresponding
north side, marked by buttresses intersecting at a 90-degree angle. From
there the western wall extends some 15 m beyond the so-called
perimeter. To the south, the wall is likely to have had a similar
arrangement, though construction of Çinar Camii has obliterated all
evidence. remains of a wall running parallel to the main western arcaded
system were documented and are embedded in the modern access ramp
to Çinar Camii.
Prior to our survey, location of the eastern retaining wall was based on
the hypothesis formulated by eyice, but since his study, traces of the wall
had become visible. A stretch of circa 30 m was documented largely in the
southern side, with traces of six arcaded buttresses. The latter have
architectural and structural resemblances to those documented on the
western side of the complex. Between the fifth and sixth buttresses, a
patched opening was identified that marks the top of the underground water-
feeding channel into the cistern. The water conduit was built simultaneously
with both the cistern and the retaining wall. This information represents a
further indicator of a carefully programmed building project.
The southern retaining wall appears at present to be the best preserved
of the group, as it was exposed as recently as 1988 when Çinar Camii
was built. On that occasion, earth to a depth of several meters was
removed without proper documentation of the procedures. The double-
tiered southern wall must have had an original length of circa 69 m. The
outer tier of the southern wall bonds with the western side of the retaining
wall. About 2 m behind the outer wall, it was possible to document an
inner arcade with wide-open brick arches resting on side spandrels and
with vertical buttressed walls. Nine surviving arches extending a length
of 46 m rest against the earth fill of the platform.
in this area during modern times, a substantial amount of architectural
sculpture was relocated: three Proconnesian marble columns, a 6th
century Proconnesian marble panel capital, an egg-and-dart moulded
cornice, a late Theodosian capital and a Justinianic impost capital of
rather modest execution 45.
45
For a discussion of these finds, see Pedone in this volume.
In 2004 it was also possible to carry out a series of geomagnetic and

geoelectric investigations that produced interesting results for the
southern and northern sections of the retaining walls 46. In these areas
were identified traces of access ramps to the platform. Each side
presents traces of one such ramp running over the span of a single
arcaded system of the retaining wall. Survey of the platform
demonstrated that the ramps were placed axially to the church’s lateral
entrances. No other form of access to the platform was noted during the
survey. Excavations did subsequently confirm the existence of the access
ramp on the northern side of the platform, aligned with the lateral
entrance to the church.
THE CISTERN
Work at the water reservoir was intended to better identify its

component features, system of usage, and chronological phases, with
special emphasis placed on its date of construction and abandonment 47.
Furthermore, the cistern’s physical relationship with the previously
undocumented remains of the church noted on the platform above it was
carefully investigated [figs. 9, 11].
The structure presents a rectangular plan measuring circa 43 x 17 m,
with its eastern portion surviving perfectly in its entire height, and its
western and longer portion, measuring circa 26 m in length, conserving
faint traces of the twenty-eight brick domes organized in four parallel
rows that formed its original roof. Despite the differences in the
development of the roofing systems of the cistern’s two sections, the
survey concluded that all of the domes were meant to be parts of the
same water reservoir and that the eastern one was designed to correspond
with the architecture on the platform above.
46
We are most grateful to Dr. Sandro Veronese (Studio Professionale GEO-LAND) for his
georadar and geoelectric investigations. For an on-line report, S. VERONESE, Indagine geoelettrica
realizzata ad Istanbul (2004), accessed on January 2, 2019: http://geo-land.it/?page_id=202.
47
Prof. Paolo Bono, Dipartimento di Geologia e Scienza della Terra, Università degli Studi
“Sapienza” Rome, carried out the hydrogeological survey. Paolo’s premature passing away did not
allow for continuation of the research and of a publication. Data used here is drawn from Paolo’s
detailed notes. I remember him here as an enthusiastic scholar of hydrogeology, a warm human
being and a loyal colleague.
The water-feeding channel was documented earlier. The survey

calculated its surviving length to 12.5 m. Prior to its entrance into the
cistern, the channel expands into a water-settling chamber, the equivalent
of a piscina limaria (or, settling chamber) whose floor level, though not
entirely exposed, appears to be lower than that of the channel itself. Both
the settling chamber and the inflow channel are covered by a barrel-
vaulted roof; thick waterproof mortar is preserved on the side walls as are
notable traces of sinter deposits. The floor levels are still buried by earth
fill. Clearing waste from the channel was necessary in order to gain
access to the space itself. From the top of the channel, water plunged into
the eastern wall of the cistern at a height of 2.2 m above the present fill.
The cistern’s eastern area conserves a brick dome defined by an
internal diameter of circa 8 m, resting directly on four massive piers
whose internal faces are concave [fig. 12]. No transitional elements such
as a drum were used in the construction, which features a circular load-
support system for the dome, an element that is uncommon in Byzantine
architecture of a non-utilitarian nature 48. Four openings between the
piers lead to corridors that frame the central dome. in the northern
corridor it was possible to identify small traces of the cistern’s floor. A
small patch of a waterproof brick revetted floor was detected by the
northwestern wall of the cistern. The earth fill in this area, therefore,
varies between 0.30 and 0.50 m. At a height of 0.80 meter from the floor,
a thick sinter concretion runs around the sidewall, indicating the level
reached by the water on a more or less regular time.
Two arched openings connect the square, compact arrangement of the
cistern’s eastern section to the much larger, elongated rectangular
western end. in 2002 we were given permission to carry out two small-
scale archaeological soundings near these openings in order to install
two iron gates that would have prevented squatters from occupying the
cistern 49. The cistern’s brick floor level emerged at a depth of 3.30 m
below the current earth fill, a substantial disparity with the height of the
floor level registered in the northeastern corner. This resulted in a gap of
2 to 2.5 m, an indicator, in my opinion, of the presence of a system of
degrading floor levels, infrequent in the Byzantine period but rather
48
riCCi, Reinterpretation cit. (note 28), pp. 41-49.
49
Permission for the sounding was granted by the General Directorate for Museums and
Antiquities whereas permission for the installation of the gates was granted by the istanbul ii Kültür
ve Tabiat Koruma Kurul (Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board).
common in antiquity 50. The archaeological soundings followed a

stratigraphical sequence, based on evidence from pottery, with phases of
abandonment ascribable to the late 13th - early 14th centuries. Material
collected consisted largely of glazed wares, jars, and amphorae, and
small percentages of marble architectural sculpture. Little, if any,
Ottoman period material was extracted from the fills, further evidence
supporting the hypothesis that no Ottoman occupation followed the
abandonment of the site.
The eastern part of the cistern shows, to the west inside one of the
blind arches supporting the brick domes, a rectangular hole similar to a
loophole. The hole is placed above the end of the waterproof mortar and
may have served as an overflow opening for the cistern, though it lacks
the details of a proper water conduit. No specific evidence of an entrance
into the cistern, something equivalent to an inspection opening, was
detected during the survey. Such an entrance must have been an
important element of the water reservoir, and it is hoped that future
archaeological excavations will be able to identify it.
Already in the 1920s, Lehmann-Hartleben had documented the cistern
with a collapsed section that was filled with earth 51. it is therefore difficult
to ascertain if the parallel rows of brick domes that formed the roofing
system in the western area were supported by piers or by columns. in the
future, archaeological soundings may clarify the question.
The survey concluded that the cistern at Küçükyalı, just as other later
Byzantine period cisterns, also functioned as a substructure for buildings
above it 52. The disappearance of the roof on the western portion of the
cistern at Küçükyalı removed evidence of traces of structures. Yet
systematic excavation in the cistern as well as the platform along the
cistern’s edges may yield interesting results. Our survey focused on careful
analysis of the cistern’s northern edges, concluding that a wall may have
run on both the northern and southern sides. Hypothetically, this section of
the cistern may have been topped by a structure similar to that of an atrium,
something that would justify the arrangement at the lower level.
50
riCCi, Reinterpretation cit. (note 28), pp. 50-51.
51
LeHMANN-HArTLeBeN, Archaeologisch cit. (note 18) p. 104, fig. 1.
52
See for example buildings in the Mangana district of ancient Constantinople, in particular
the substructures of the palace (9th century) and of the monastery of St. George (1042-1045), r.
DeMANGeL, e. MAMBOurY, Le Quartier des Manganes et la Première Région de Constantinople,
Paris, 1939, pp.19-37, 39-47.
THe PLATFOrM
The elevated platform, 50-51 x 69-70 m, is at first sight defined by a

flat surface with walls emerging from the terrain above the eastern end
of the cistern. excavations conducted in 2014 along the northwestern
portions of the platform aimed at clarifying the nature the earth fill and
of the platform’s northern retaining walls. The earth fill represents a
secondary addition to the natural topography of the terrain. The man-
made fill was likely produced in order to place the platform`s cistern in
this specific topographical location. The earth fill contained small
percentages of ceramic shards. Their chronological range is between the
4th/5th and late 7th century 53. it is therefore likely that the earth removal
might have taken place from a location nearby and whose chronology
did not extend beyond the late 7th century. Work along the northern side
of the platform yielded a column base with vertical grooving on the sides
for the placement of slabs. it is possible the column was part of a portico
feature. That the cistern, the platform’s retaining walls, and church were
all built simultaneously received further confirmation by 3D laser scan
conducted in 2014-2016.
in 2004, the geoelectric survey also revealed a high-resistivity zone
at the southeastern corner of the same, leading to a hypothesis of the
presence of a structure likely to be placed at the corner, possibly a tower.
excavations carried out from 2008 to 2010 in this area of the platform
confirmed the presence of a corner structure [fig. 13]. This was a square-
in-plan buttressed tower (measures 6.5 x 6.5 m) whose southern and
eastern walls form the corner of the platform’s retaining walls 54. it is
likely that a portico-like structure run around the tower on its western
53
A. riCCi, Infrastruttura, Produzione e Riutilizzo: il cantiere medio Bizantino a Küçükyalı
(Istanbul)/Küçükyalı’da (Istanbul) Orta Bizans yerleşmesi: Üretim, altyapı ve yeniden kullanım in
« Arkeoloji ve Sanat », CLiv (2017), pp. 135-146, in part. 139; A. riCCi, r. WOHMANN,
Constantinopolitan Contexts: Preliminary Remarks on the Ceramics and Archaeology at the Küçükyalı
ArkeoPark Project, in XI Congress AEICM3 on Medieval and Modern Period Mediterranean
Ceramics Proceedings, ed. by F. YeNişeHirLiOğLu, i, Ankara, 2018, pp. 453-458, in part. 455.
54
A. riCCi, Left Behind: Small Sized Objects from the Middle Byzantine Monastic Complex of
Satyros (Küçükyalı, Istanbul), in Byzantine Small Finds in Archaeological Contexts, eds. B.
BöHLeNDOrF-ASLAN, A. riCCi, in « BYzAS », Xv (2012), pp. 147-162; riCCi, WOHMANN,
Constantinopolitan cit. (note 53), pp. 151-153; N. GüNSeNiN, A. riCCi, Les amphores Günsenin IV
a Küçükyalı: Un voyage entre monastères?, in « Anatolia Antiqua », XXvi (2018), pp. 125-139, in
part. 455-557.
and northern sides. regularly spaced square-in-plan mortar (and rubble)

foundations were detected. it is interesting to note that the same continue
along the eastern wall of the platform. The presence of a portico in this
area of the platform as well as on the northern wall should not be
excluded.
excavations in the area of the corner tower did also allow for
identification of a new chronological context for the site. A small-sized
and rectangular-in-plan chamber (dimensions: 1.30 x 5.00 m circa),
added at a substantially later time between the tower’s northwestern and
the platform’s southwestern walls, was excavated during the 2010 and
2016 seasons 55. The walls of the chamber cut into the platform’s earth
fill and into one of the portico’s foundations bases. The building
technique consisted of stone blocks, probably reemployed from the site,
and of a poorly executed whitish mortar with no presence of crushed
bricks. The chamber was deliberately built in a concealed location, with
its narrow rectangular layout placed in between the tower and the
platform’s wall, and appeared to be “accessed” only from the platform’s
former floor level. it is thus plausible that it might have served as a
concealed storeroom. in a second phase of life the chamber received
large quantities of discharged objects, ranging from table – and
kitchenware to animal bones and other residues. This phase corresponds
to the usage of the space as a discharge area. it follows a collapse of the
chamber’s roof with a well-preserved and homogeneous layer of roof
tiles retrieved in the chamber itself. The final phase of life of the space
sees the systematic practice of finds deposition, stacked in “typological”
layers of architectural sculpture, fresco fragments, opus sectile floors
fragments regularly cut off from their original location, a late-Byzantine
ceramic pitcher filled with wheat seeds, and at least one Günsenin iv-
type wine amphora 56. This last layer of life of the chamber was sealed
by carefully laid bricks and tiles aimed at concealing its presence. Two
silver basilicon of Andronicos ii (1282-1328) and Andronicos iii (1328-
1341), respectively, were inside the bricks and tiles 57. While the last phase
of the chamber cannot be dated earlier than the reign of Andronicos iii,
other phases of the space were dated on the basis of the archaeological
55
Sections of the evidence's following analysis presented in earlier studies, see note 54, p. 455.
56
riCCi, WOHMANN, Constantinopolitan cit. (note 54), p. 457.
57
riCCi, Left Behind cit. (note 54), pp. 157-158.
context. The finds deposit favours an early 13th century dating on the
basis of ceramic finds, with architectural sculpture and opus sectile floor
fragments representing a spoliation or, better, removal from an earlier
building 58. The nearby ecclesiastical building represents a likely
candidate. Finally, for the discharge phase a 12th century dating was
proposed on the basis of ceramic analysis. A 12th century phase of life at
the site and its continuation into the early decades of the 14th century
represent a novelty in the chronological life-span of the site.
THe CHurCH
Work on the platform did also focus on the remains of the

ecclesiastical building. During the 2001 and 2002 seasons, it was
possible to clean the church area and crests of its walls that emerged from
vegetation, thus allowing the plan of the building to become more readable.
A first measured plan of the emerging structures was completed during the
survey season 59. This allowed for a better-informed excavation program,
which begun in 2014. At the end of the 2017 excavation campaign, large
portions of the northern part of the building – including faint traces of the
narthex and the northern entrance; the naos; limited parts of the tripartite
bema and of a funerary chapel to the southeastern side of the building – had
been excavated and documented 60 [figs. 9 -10].
The church’s main body rests on top of the eastern area of the cistern
and constitutes the only part of the building that has survived. its western
section was marked by a narthex and likely by an atrium. The northern
and southern sides were equipped with emphatic lateral entrances, each
projecting some 3 m, with walls lower than the church’s main body and
built leaning against the church’s external walls. The northern lateral
58
A preliminary discussion of the sculpture from the chamber in, Pedone in this volume.
59
Specifically, the area was covered with geotextile, on top of which layers of sand and earth
were poured. This compact surface has created a safer environment for the remains while also
facilitating excavation procedures in the future. As a result, at present the church remains are less
visible than they were at the beginning of our survey.
60
A. riCCi, Contesti funerari bizantini e loro archeologia a Küçükyalı (Istanbul): considerazioni
preliminari/ Küçükyalı’da Bizans mezar kontekstleri ve arkeolojisi: ilk değerlendirmeler, in
« Arkeoloji ve Sanat », CXLviii (2015), pp. 177-190, in part. 183-185; eAD., Infrastruttura cit. (note
53), pp. 143-146; eAD., The Küçükyalı ArkeoPark (Istanbul), 2014-2015: Excavation, Conservation
and Public Archaeology, in « Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı », XL (2019), vol. 1, in press.
entrance appeared to be the best preserved of the two [fig. 14]. its
external corners were built using a system of two half-cylindrical brick
engaged columns at a 90-degree juncture and forming an L-shaped pier.
Between the two buttresses, a triangular brick marked the corner. The
Myrelaion church (presently Bodrum Camii) displays similarly arranged
façades and corners. The church was part of a monastic and palatine
complex built around 920 Ce by romanos Lecapenos i 61.
Noteworthy was discovery of the church’s narthex during the 2014
excavation campaign. The detected remains stand above the cistern’s
northern perimeter walls and show a solid brick-and-mortar corner wall
defined by two half-cylindrical engaged columns, with a triangular brick
element between them and of the same dimension as those at the external
corners of the northern entrance. in this instance too a similar
architectural arrangement of the narthex’s corner is seen at the church
of the Myrelaion 62. The northern narthex wall appears to have undergone
redesign at a later time, leaving the corner feature intact and replacing the
original wall with a straight one made of stone and rubble with whiter
mortar 63. On the interior of the secondary-phase wall, an in situ marble
box with fragments of a marble lid was found embedded in the floor. A
roof-tile collapse covered this area. The lower level of the roof collapse
in the vicinity of the marble box revealed fragments of human bones,
including cranial parts. The location of the marble box, size and the
nearby presence of human bones encourage identification with an ossuary.
The upper layer of the roof collapse yielded a gold hyperpyron Andronicus
ii and Michael iX 64. Discovery of the narthex allowed to calculate the east-
west axis of the church at a length of approx. 20-21 m. The presence of an
atrium to the west of the narthex and resting above the cistern should not be
excluded. However, the width of the church is currently calculated based on
survey data as circa 17-18 m. At Küçükyalı, the building’s external facade
presented remains of painted plaster revetment, more notable by the apses
on the northern and southeastern sides.
On the interior the building is defined by a central octagon bay [fig.
15]. Four massive piers with slightly angled corners mark the central
61
C. L. STriKer, The Myrelaion (Bodrum Camii) in Istanbul, Princeton, 1981, pp. 6-9.
62
ibid., p. 17, ill. 19.
63
The building technique of this second phase bears resemblances with the walls of the middle-
Byzantine chamber to the southwest of the platform’s southeastern corner tower.
64
riCCi, Contesti funerari cit. (note 60), p. 188.
space. Although no traces of the collapsed dome were identified, the

working hypothesis is that the dome rested on angular or convex
squinches linked to a circular corona at the base of the dome itself. The
dome had an estimated diameter of circa 8 - 8.5 m making it one of the
largest domes in middle Byzantine Constantinople. As cleaning of the
northwestern pier was in progress, a marble fragment of a corner cornice
was retrieved. The piece had clearly fallen from one of the pier’s corners
[fig. 2, Pedone in this volume]. Decorated with a pseudo-palmette motif
alternating with a double incised cross, it compares with a group of
architectural sculptures from the northern church at Constantine Lips in
istanbul, the church of the Theotokos at Lips, which was dedicated in
907 Ce and was the katholikon of the monastic complex 65. At
Küçükyalı, the central apse is flanked by pastophoria, symmetrically
arranged, both rectangular in plan and communicating with the main apse
thus leaving the side apses in greater isolation.
excavation of the area inside the church, although contiguous to the
newly discovered narthex, revealed a very different stratigraphic sequence.
The space corresponding to quadrant G7, the east of the narthex,
corresponds to one of the four corner rooms originating from the massive
piers in the central bay. The ones to the east functioned as side apses to the
bema and the one discovered revealed the plan of an apsidal chapel 66 [figs.
16-16a]. The chapel preserves traces of marble flooring and, on the lower
level of the walls, traces of marble slab revetments. in the center of the
space, a rectangular-in-plan floor opening (1.60 by 0.80 m circa) contained
a marble slab with a circular hole for an opening in its fill. The fill also
yielded a spade-shaped leaves decorated marble corner cornice with the
Greek inscription +λειψ (might be read as: λείψανον [relics]) [figs. 12a,
12b, 14a, 14b, 13 Pedone in this volume]. The wall cornices retrieved in this
space amounted to twenty-three fragments and all show the same decorative
pattern of spade-shaped leaves. Other decoration of the space included
notable amounts of mosaic tesserae, many of them heavily corroded and
small sized fragments of wall mosaics. Among them was a mosaic fragment
with the representation of a human eye in micromosaic.
65
T. MACriDY, A. H. S. MeGAW, C. MANGO, e. W. J. HAWKiNS, The Monastery of Lips (Fenari
Isa Camii) at Istanbul, in « Dumbarton Oaks Papers », Xviii (1964), pp. 249-315, in part. 304-305,
Fig.45; for a discussion of this fragment, see Pedone in this volume.
66
Full archaeological report in riCCi, The Küçükyalı ArkeoPark, cit. (note 64); the decoration
of the chapel is also discussed by Pedone in this volume.
The decorated inscription’s fragment discovered in the chapel adds to

a growing number of rather fragmentary inscribed cornices retrieved
during the survey and the excavation campaigns. They were part of what
appears to be a program of dedicatory inscription/s on cornices placed in
the building. They join two similar fragments documented earlier. The first
one, published by eyice read ονιερο was read as του Ιερού or, similar 67.
The second one, a corner cornice, is known only through a drawing
recorded by Mamboury, subsequently published by Feissel with no further
hints about it. Mamboury’s drawing shows εβρʊ preceded by a much
eroded letter which Mango suggested be read as Φ, hence Φεβρωνια or,
Febronia 68. Mango also interpreted the name as Saint Febronia or, one of
the “woman martyrs” to whom was dedicated, according to Theophanes:
« a church with three apses (-τρίκογχον ναόν-) most beauteous in beauty
and surpassing many others in size, the middle in the name of the
Commander-in-chief Michael and each of the two sides in the names of
women martyrs’ at the palace of Bryas » 69. Mango therefore concluded
that it was likely the inscription belonged to the triconch church of the
palace itself, hence the identification of the site with that of the emperor
Theophilus’ islamicate palace 70. The question of the plan of the building
and the incongruity with a triconch identification of the remains has
progressively become apparent as excavation and documentation of the
church progressed. Should the reading of the inscription prove to be
correct, this associates Saint Febronia with the text by Theophanes who
refers to « two sides in the names of women martyrs ». The role of the
female saint from Nisibis in Constantinopolitan churches, together with
the movement of her cult from the east to the West through the capital city
in Byzantine times, been recently discussed by Kaplan 71. However, the
67
eYiCe, Istanbul’da cit. (note 23), p. 87; MANGO, Notes d’ épigraphie cit. (note 27), p. 349;
D. FeiSSeL, De Chalcédonie à Nicomédie. Quelques inscriptions négligées, in « Travaux et
Mémoires », X (1987), pp. 405-436, pl. 2, fig.2; a discussion of the inscribed fragments also in
Pedone in this volume, fig. 11.
68
The marble cornice was seen by Mamboury at the site of Küçükyalı and published in 1920, for a
summary of Mamboury and Feissel’s discussions, see FeiSSeL, De Chalcédonie cit. (note 67), p. 419.
69
THEOPHANI CONTINUATI Chronographiae que Theophani Continuati Nomine Fertur, Libri I-
IV, ed. M. FeATHerSTONe, J. S. CODOñer, Berlin, 2015, Book 3, Chapter 9. i am grateful to Jeffrey
Featherstone for the translation of this passage.
70
MANGO, Notes d’épigraphie cit. (note 27), pp. 349-350, « il est donc très probable que
l’inscription appartenait à l’église triconque du palais de Bryas ».
71
M. KAPLAN, Une hôtesse importante de l’église saint-Jean-Baptiste de l’Oxeia à
existence of the saint remains somewhat dubious, according to Kaplan,

as her celebrity resides in the passio, the translatio and other texts. One
of them is letter 85 of the iconodule monk Theodore abbot of the Studios
monastery. in it, Theodore cites Febronia as a model for all other women
to resist iconoclasm. it would be hard to imagine that the iconoclast
emperor Theophilos and his advisors, during the second iconoclasm,
would have felt encouraged to dedicate a portion of the church of the
islamicate palace of Bryas to one of Theodore’s elected female defenders
of iconodule believes.
Outside the church’s southern facade, between the entrance and the
apse wall, a small rectangular chamber – 2.80 x 2.10 meters – with a
projecting eastern apse was added at a slightly later time [figs. 17- 17a].
This space communicated only with the church’ southern space of the
tripartite bema, by means of a window or small door. The church’s wall
was pierced in order to accommodate this opening and the building’s
external plaster revetment had been recently completed when the small
side-chamber was added. The construction of the chamber was hastily
executed. On its interior, the space showed an ‘anthropoid’ shape (1.80 m
in length) and was revetted with marble slabs, with one of the bottom
slabs showing a circular hole for the passage of liquids. As for its function,
it is possible to postulate it was a funerary chamber for a single individual
and added at a slightly later date than the completion of the church 72.
The building at Küçükyalı appears to belong to the cross-domed type
with a tripartite sanctuary, with the addition of lateral entrances whose
existence is scarcely documented in other buildings 73. A surviving cross-
domed type in Constantinople is the Atik Mustafa Paşa Camii, located in
the northwestern corner of the city not too far from the Golden Horn
Walls and the Land Walls. The building underwent several alterations,
with proposals for its dating now centering on the second half of the 9th
century 74. A later cross-domed building in Constantinople is the
monastic church of Saint George ton Manganon (a foundation of
Constantine Monomachus, 1042-1054) built above a cistern functioning
Constantinople: Fébronie in, Byzantine Religious Culture. Studies in Honor of Alice-Mary Talbot,
ed. D. SuLLivAN, e. FiSHer and S. PAPAiOANNOu, Leiden-Boston, 2012, pp. 31-52.
72
riCCi, Contesti Funerari cit. (note 60), pp. 183-185, figs. 5-6.
73
This does not exclude their presence. v. MAriNiS, Architecture and Ritual in the Churches
of Constantinople. Ninth to Fifteenth Centuries, Cambridge, 2014, pp. 77-99 with earlier bibliography.
74
A summary in ibid., pp. 123-124.
also as substructure for the church above it 75. The church was framed by
a portico on its north side; a rectangular-in-plan atrium with an
octagonal-in-plan fountain marked its center, while the southern areas
around the church have shown traces of buildings above the
substructures. Prominently positioned in the Mangana district, facing the
mouth of the Bosphorus, its scanty remains were summarily published by
Demangel and Mamboury. The building at Küçükyalı does not show the
same monumentality and visual display as St. George’s, though it was
larger than Atik Mustafa Paşa Camii.
iNTerPreTATiON OF DATA
The survey, followed by excavations, indicated beyond doubt that the

main surviving parts of the complex at Küçükyalı were built
simultaneously. Hence, the cistern, the platform’s retaining walls, the
access ramps to the platform, the corner tower and the church were
conceived, designed, and executed as part of a coherent building
program. excavations allowed the identification of some architectural
features added after the complex’s completion and not visible before.
One of them was the funerary space added along the southeastern flank
of the church, as the building’s external plaster revetment was still in
good condition. Later additions are dated on the basis of archaeological
evidence and include the small-sized deposit chamber to the southwest
of the corner tower, with a chronological life span from the 12th into the
early decades of the 14th century. in addition, the comparison of building
techniques, finds and numismatic evidence suggests that the remaking
the church’s narthex, with the addition of a marble ossuarium, may have
taken place between the 12th and the late 13th / early 14th centuries.
For the construction phase of the complex, comparisons with
Constantinopolitan counterparts seem to point toward a late 9th – to early
10th century dating of the complex. Archaeological evidence suggests
usage of the site well into the 12th – and early 13th centuries, with
subsequent abandonment and spoliation of the area starting at the
beginning of the 14th century. it is interesting to note how all comparisons
with either the architecture or movable objects at Küçükyalı point toward
churches that were part of monastic complexes.
75
DeMANGeL, MAMBOurY, Le Quartier cit. (note 52), pp. 19-37; MAriNiS, Architecture cit.
(note 73), p. 152 with earlier bibliography.
results of the survey and of the excavations at Küçükyalı did encourage

critical evaluation of the earlier identification of the site with the monastery
of Satyros. Specifically, the outlining of an ecclesiastical building taking
a dominant position within the layout of the elevated platform, together
with the newly sketched plan of the complex, recalled an iconographical
comparison with a Byzantine-period visual rendering of the monastery of
Satyros, specifically with a miniature in the Menologion of Basil ii (vat.
gr. 1613) 76. This illuminated book, produced in Constantinople around
the end of the 10th-early 11th century, preserves vellum with tempera and
golden-leafed miniatures and a visual commemoration, at page 134 under
the calendar date of October 23, of the feast day of patriarch ignatios and
his deposition at the monastery of Satyros [fig. 18]. in it, the architectural
backgrounds are prominent and span the entire miniature, with the left of
the composition dominated by a circular building with a dome resting on
a windowed drum and a smaller structure adjoining it. Other buildings
mark the composition including a long, arcaded structure with the
elongated body of the eunuch patriarch reclining in front, and a rectangular
court whose short end is marked by a tall building. Already, Barsanti had
proposed, on the basis of on-site observations at the site in the 1970s, that
the architectural backdrops in the Menologion may bear reverberations
with the layout of what survived at Küçükyalı at the time 77. undoubtedly,
the newly ascertained monumental size of the ecclesiastical building’s
dome, the physical layout of what appears to be an arcaded court or
portico, the presence of one if not two taller tower-like buildings, and the
existence of a court are elements that seem to bear close reverberations in
the miniature of the Menologion of Basil ii. it also points to some middle
Byzantine monasteries with the katholikon enclosed by a distinctive
courtyard. These are forecourts (or proaulia) that allowed the community
to gather prior entering the church 78.
76
i. ŠevčeNKO, The Illuminators of the Menologium of Basil II, in « Dumbarton Oaks Papers »,
Xvi (1962), pp. 243-76; El “Menologio” de Basilio II, Emperado de Bizancio (Vat. gr. 1613), Città
del vaticano. 2005, facsimile; a cura di F. D’AiuTO, El Menologio de Basilio II, Città del vaticano,
2008 with earlier bibliography; for a discussion about the authenticity of the images in the
Menologion, v. CANTONe, Sull’immagine di Simeone lo Stilita il Vecchio nel Menologio di Basilio
II, in « rivista di Storia della Miniatura », XX (2016), pp. 46-56.
77
C. BArSANTi, Le architetture ad limitem del Menologio di Basilio II (Cod. Vat. gr. 1613) e
la miniatura con la commemorazione del patriarca Ignazio, in « Commentari. rivista di critica e
storia dell’arte », XXviii (1977), pp. 3-25, in part. 20.
78
K. POPKONSTANTiNOW, r. KOSTOvA, Architecture of conversion: provincial monasteries in the
Support for a reinterpretation of the site at Küçükyalı with the

monastery of Satyros is offered not only by the evidence collected during
the survey and the excavation campaigns but also by the hagiographical
text of the vita Ignatii 79. The text, composed by David Niketas
Paphlogo in the early 10th century, is frequently criticised for its anti-
Photian attitudes and biases in terms of ecclesiastical politics. However,
the text describes the life, deeds and architectural patronage of the
patriarch ignatios with the insights of a direct observer, or someone
showing familiarity with specific localities in Constantinople. The vita
informs that the monastery of Satyros and the church dedicated to
Michael were built during ignatios’s second patriarchate (867-877 Ce),
a date that seems to match the data on the terrain. The text reads: « So
then, Plate and Hyatros and Terebinthos, the so-called Princes’ islands,
were at this time re-occupied and settled as a result of his care and
attention and turned into churches of the Lord and holy monasteries; and
the one situated on the coast of the mainland opposite, that is the pre-
eminent monastery of the Great Archangel Michael, was last to be
established and was consecrated to God by the blessed ignatios at the
end of his life. The nobility and splendor of this monastery, the exceeding
beauty and magnificence of the church and all its sanctity and majesty,
i must leave for the eyes to see, since no words can describe it » 80.
Moreover, the vita states that the patriarch himself was buried to the
southern side of the church, or to the right of the apse, in a hastily
prepared chamber: « And they brought (him) to the holy and beautiful
church of St. Michael, leader of the heavenly host and most faithful
servant and they buried him there reverently on the right-hand side of
the church in a marble coffin… » 81. The funerary chamber discovered
to the southeast of the apse appears to match the description by David
Paphlago. Moreover, the miniature in the Menologion of Basil ii shows
a lower chamber annexed to the main church.
9th-10th centuries, Bulgaria, in « Arhitektura vizantii i Drevney rusi. Trudy Gosudartvenngo

ermitazha », Liiii (2010), pp. 118-132, in part. 118-120, Fig. 2, p. 118 in which the newly excavated
monastic complex at ravna in the hinterland of Pliska is presented.
79
NiCeTAe DAviDiS, Vita Ignatii Patriarchae / The life of Patriarch Ignatius, Text and Translation
by A. SMiTHieS, with Notes by J. M. DuFFY, Washington (D.C,), 2013 (Corpus Fontium Historiae
Byzantinae, 51); iD. Vita Ignatii archiepiscopi Constantinopoliani, in P.G., Cv, coll. 488-574.
80
NiCeTAe DAviDiS, Vita cit. (note 70), 11: 25-35.
81
ibid., 76: 19-27.
Archaeological excavations along with research on architectural

sculpture, ceramics and amphorae revealed a chronological phase of life
and usage of the complex now dated to the 12th century with continuation
in the 13th, with the early decades of the 14th century marking the end of
life at the site with no subsequent Ottoman presence. identification of
the complex with the monastery of Satyros is further supported by textual
evidence indicating that the complex became an autonomous dependency
of the Pantokrator monastery. The typikon dated to October 1136 lists in
the inventory of proprieties, « The monastery of Satyros together with all
conditional and unconditional rights belonging to them » 82. The remains
at Küçükyalı can be now identified with the most lavish of the
monasteries built by ignatios, son of the deposed emperor Michael the
First rangabes. The palace of Bryas might, for the time being, be
identified elsewhere.
82
28. Pantokrator: Typikon of Emperor John II Komnenos for the Monastery of Christ 725
Pantokrator in Constantinople, ed. by J. THOMAS and A. CONSTANTiNiDeS HerO, in Byzantine
Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders’ Typika and
Testaments, ii, Washington (D.C.), 2000 (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 35), pp. 725-780, 771.
A. RICCI TAB. I
Fig. 1 - Plan of the Asian suburbs of Constantinople in Byzantine times

(after: Janin 1964, pl. XIII, redrawn by author).
TAB. II A. RICCI
Fig. 2 - Colmar von der Goltz, plan of the Marmara seashore and Princes’ Islands, 1888-1895, detail with
indication of remains of “monastery” and “stone bridge” (C. von der Goltz, Karte der Umgegend von
Constantinople, Berlin, 1897; courtesy: British School at Athens).
Fig. 3 - Nasu Matrakçı, view of the Maltepe region from south,

in Fetihname-i Karabuğdan (after: Lefort, 2003, pl. 1).
A. RICCI TAB. III
Fig. 4 - The remains at Küçükyalı in 1936: cistern, walls above eastern portion of cistern and
surrounding landscape (Ençumen Arşivi, no. 14-12, permission by: Istanbul Archaeological Museums).
Fig. 5 - Küçükyalı, inflow channel to cistern in 1936 (Ençumen Arşivi, no. 14-11,
permission by: Istanbul Archaeological Museums).
TAB. IV A. RICCI
Fig. 6 - Plan of the complex at Küçükyalı (after: Eyice 1959, fig. 1).
Fig. 7 - General view of the complex at Küçükyalı from southwest (after: Ricci 1998, fig. 11.1).
A. RICCI TAB. V
Fig. 8 - Drone image of the complex at Küçükyalı and of its surroundings,

from west, 2017 season (KYAP archives).
Fig. 9 - General plan of the complex at Küçükyalı with indication of excavated areas,
2017 season (KYAP archives).
TAB. VI A. RICCI
Fig. 10 - Drone image of the archaeological area at Küçükyalı

at the end of the 2017 excavation season, from north (KYAP archives).
Fig. 11 - Cross section of the cistern’s eastern portion, the church above it and inflow channel (KYAP archives).
A. RICCI TAB. VII
Fig. 12 - Interior of cistern from south: dome, piers and sinter concretion
on the northern wall (KYAP archives).
Fig. 13 - Orthoimage of southeastern tower from northwest: portico on eastern platform

and around the tower and adjoining chamber to the southwest, 2010 season (KYAP archives).
TAB. VIII A. RICCI
Fig. 14 - Church: north entrance with foundations, external corner and church remains,
seen from northwest, 2016 season (KYAP archives).
Fig. 15 - Church: excavation phases of central octagon bay, 2017 season (KYAP archives).
A. RICCI TAB. IX
Fig. 16 - Church: reliquary (?) chapel, excavation phases, 2015 season (KYAP archives).
Fig. 16a - Church: view from west of reliquary (?) chapel and inscribed marble cornice,
TAB. X A. RICCI
Fig. 16 - Church: reliquary (?) chapel, excavation phases, 2015 season (KYAP archives).
Fig. 17 - Church: funerary chamber added to southeastern façade, seen from east,
A. RICCI TAB. XI
Fig. 18 - The deposition of the Patriarch Ignatius outside the monastery of Satyros (Menologion of Basil
II, Vat. Gr. 1613, p.134, after: El Menologio, 2005).

A Ricci Rediscovery of The Patriarchal M

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Bizantinistica

Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Slavi

Comitato scientifico: STEFANO CARUSO, GUGLIELMO CAVALLO, SALVATORE

Segreteria: GIORGIO VESPIGNANI

 Copyright 2019 by « Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioe-

Periodico pubblicato con il contributo dell’Alma Mater Studiorum -

Manoscritti e pubblicazioni al Direttore: Antonio Carile, C.P. 112, 48122

JOSEP VILELLA, El Reichskonzil de Nicea I: un hito en la po-

PAOLO OGNIBENE, Eclissi di Sole, di Luna ed altri fenomeni

EUGENIO RUSSO, L’evangeliario di Monza è un dono di papa

ARCHEOLOGIA BIZANTINA A ISTANBUL

ALESSANDRA RICCI, Tracing Constantinople’s Asian Suburbs:

rediscovery of the Patriarchal Monastery of

Scope of this study is to present preliminary results of archaeological

site within the larger dynamics and organization of Constantinopolitan

LOCATiON, LANDSCAPe AND TrAveLOGueS

At present, the remains at Küçükyalı are physically and visually

Constantinople and the peninsula, obscured by the distance that separated

series of ancient remains: two stone bridges over respective water

characterized as harmonic in terms of all its natural elements. The two

Later travelogues dating to the beginning of the 19th century, portray

à quatre piliers massifs soutenant la coupole [a square-in-plan church

REASSESSING THE SITE: FIELD SURVEYS

The surveyed complex is laid out on a southern slope of the terrain,

century, pointing therefore to an earlier dating of the construction

the retrieval of whose full plan seemed possible through a systematic

occupied in large part by monastic establishments, with the katholikon

FrOM SurveY TO eXCAvATiON

The survey’s main objectives included systematic cleaning of all

THe PLATFOrM’S reTAiNiNG WALL

extension of the platform’s retaining wall was measured circa 50-51 x 62

The western side of the retaining wall appears to be preserved at its

In 2004 it was also possible to carry out a series of geomagnetic and

Work at the water reservoir was intended to better identify its

The water-feeding channel was documented earlier. The survey

common in antiquity 50. The archaeological soundings followed a

The elevated platform, 50-51 x 69-70 m, is at first sight defined by a

and northern sides. regularly spaced square-in-plan mortar (and rubble)

Work on the platform did also focus on the remains of the

space. Although no traces of the collapsed dome were identified, the

The decorated inscription’s fragment discovered in the chapel adds to

existence of the saint remains somewhat dubious, according to Kaplan,

The survey, followed by excavations, indicated beyond doubt that the

results of the survey and of the excavations at Küçükyalı did encourage

Support for a reinterpretation of the site at Küçükyalı with the

9th-10th centuries, Bulgaria, in « Arhitektura vizantii i Drevney rusi. Trudy Gosudartvenngo

Archaeological excavations along with research on architectural

Fig. 1 - Plan of the Asian suburbs of Constantinople in Byzantine times

Fig. 3 - Nasu Matrakçı, view of the Maltepe region from south,

Fig. 8 - Drone image of the complex at Küçükyalı and of its surroundings,

Fig. 10 - Drone image of the archaeological area at Küçükyalı

Fig. 13 - Orthoimage of southeastern tower from northwest: portico on eastern platform

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