No 8H

Location: Northern gallery, northeastern pier, northern interior wall.

Material: Marble surface, 6th century.

Dimensions: Width 6.6 cm, height 9.8 cm; at eye level.

Condition: Clearly engraving, not interlaced with other graffiti.

Technique: Incised.

Description: Six small Greek crosses. Gothic shield.

Аttribution (Th. Thomov): Berta of Sulzbach, wife of Manuel I Komnenos; Henry of Flanders as Latin Emperor of Constantinople; the Hegem family (Belgium, 15th c.), Marcipagani (Venice, 16th c.) or Somernie (France, 15th–18th c.).

Attribution (M. Gorra): Indeterminable.

Publications: Gorra, Maurizio. Observations and reflections on some coats of arms graffiti in Santa Sofia in ​ Constantinople, Academia.edu

Commentary: The proposed attributions appear plausible, including Sulzbach, who also bore arms with six fleurs-de-lis (see introduction regarding variability between graffiti and original coats of arms), except for Marcipagani and Somernie, which are incompatible with the graffito’s content.
Unfortunately, the artifact offers no decisive element to confirm any of the proposed hypotheses.
Nevertheless, we should emphasize the probable presence of a curvilinear sign above the shield, which could correspond to a crest or addition akin to the garafata in the Hegem helmet or the gege (see Appendix 5).

Date: Indeterminable.