No 1D

Location: Into the marble plate on the north side of the northwest pylon in the north aisle at about 140 cm above floor level.

Material: Marble surface, 6th century.

Dimensions: The area of the drawing is 19 cm in width and 18 cm in height. The whole length of the inscription is 41 cm and the height of the letters varied from 1 (05,8) cm to 3.5 cm (K). Letters in a tetragram vary in size, from 1 cm (C) to 4.3 cm (K).

Condition: Lightly engraved, with imprecise letter contours, not intersected by others.

Technique: Incised.

Description: The drawing depicts a cross with unequal arms resting on a rectangular base and three arms with pairs of teardrop-shaped terminals at their corners. The cross bears a tetragram - IC XC NI KA - filling the spaces between the arms. In addition, four X’s are placed within the quadrants of the cross. The decoration consists of medallion-like circular frames within the arms and at the center, each enclosing small irregular crosses. A semicircular ending closes the gaps between the arms at the center, thus forming a quatrefoil. At the upper end, written horizontally in unevenly incised letters, is an inscription that reads: MAPKOΣ MONAXOΣ ΘHBEOΣ (Mark the Monk from Thebes). It should be noted that, due to the natural colors of the marble, some letters at the end of the inscription are legible only when illuminated by strong light from various angles.

Аttribution: Liturgical cross on a platform, carried in processions.

Publications: Thomov. Th. Mark The Monk from Thebes and His Graffito of the Cross at the Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Études Balkaniques LV/2 (2019), 334-351.

Commentary: Thomov. Th. Mark The Monk from Thebes and His Graffito of the Cross at the Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, Études Balkaniques LV/2 (2019), 334-351.

Date: Approximately Middle Byzantine period.