1. General remarks
Numerous examples of sculpture from the Byzantine period have survived in the region of Boeotia. The sculpted architectural members come mostly from churches and monastic complexes and date from the Early Christian until the Late Byzantine period (330-1453 A.D.). There are mostly parts of temple entablatures, marble icons, small piers and columnettes, altar screen panels and slabs, parts of door and window frames, imposts and mullions, capitals, cornices, sarcophagi slabs, phiales, waterspouts and so on.
Numerous architectural members are preserved in situ in churches, others have been embedded on later churches and constructions, many have been located after archaeological research or lying scattered in the surrounding area of existing churches, while a large number has been collected and kept in storage areas and collections in the prefecture of Boeotia (Archaeological Museum of Thebes, Archaeological Museum of Chaeronea, Collection of sculpture of the monastery of Hosios Loukas, and so on).
A major hallmark in the evolution of medieval sculpture in Boeotia was the erection of churches of grand proportions, with rich sculptural decoration reflecting elements of the art of Constantinople. Thus, in 872/3 A.D. basilikos kandidatos Vasileios erected in Thebes the church of Saint Gregory the Theologian and a year later, in 873/4, protospatharios and strategos of the theme of Hellas Leo in Orchomenos the monastery of the Dormition of Theotokos (Skripou). The sculptural decoration of both these monuments (fig. 1 and fig. 2) is considered as very important for the study of Middle Byzantine sculpture in Greece, due to its precise dating through inscriptions. It is considered also a product of the same workshop of marble-workers, because of the stylistic and iconographic relation among the sculpted pieces. The workshop seems to have had its seat in Thebes and to have been active in Thebes and its wider region, providing a great production of sculpture.
After 961 A.D. the church of Theotokos was built in the monastery of Hosios Loukas and in the beginnings of the 11th c. the monastery katholikon, dedicated to Hosios Loukas, which was probably built thanks to a combined imperial and local patronage. The erection of both these monuments gave an impetus on the erection of other churches in Boeotia and in the wider region as well, which constituted dependencies of the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Euboea (Saint Loukas near Aliveri, Saint Nicholas at Attali, Perivleptos at Politika).
It is possible that from Thebes came some of the marble-workers that were active in the construction of the sculptural decoration of the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas (fig. 3), as well in the production of other pieces of the monastery in the beginning of the 11th c. To this direction point the architectural members which were located in the city’s archaeological museum and present similarities in iconography, style and technique with sculpture from the monastery.
The influence of the sculpture from the monastic complex of Hosios Loukas was significant and of a wide time-range (10th-12th c.) and is obvious on other churches of Boeotia (e.g. St. Nicholas at Kambia, second quarter of the 12th c.) as well on single pieces of unknown origin, kept in collections (e.g. Archaeological Museum of Thebes).
Architectural members – mostly pieces of altar screens and others – connected with buildings of a western character, such as churches or monasteries of the Latin rite, dated to the period of Frankish occupation (13th c.) can not exclude the activity of foreign (western) masons in Boeotia
2. Building material and cutting techniques
The lack of marble in the land of Boeotia was already counterbalanced in Antiquity by the use of local limestone, which resembles marble in structure and appearance. At the same time, the geographic location of Thebes favored the import of marble from nearby regions, e.g. Attica (Pentelic marble) since ancient times. According to a usual practice from early Christian times – mainly from the 6th c. onwards – ancient and Roman members were cut anew in order to be used in churches. Thus, for example, altar screen entablatures came from the reuse of Roman columns. In addition, members that came from older Christian churches may have been reused in later ones, a practice common during the Byzantine period, too.
During the Early Christian period (330-640 A.D.) the material from which sculptured members were cut varies: apart of white marble, the use of other materials is attested, such as granite, porphyry, conglomerate stone, limestone and so on. The use of Boeotian limestone, simultaneously with white marble, is observed in architectural members of churches during the second half of the 9th c., when the Theban workshop was active. From the end of the 10th until the 12th c. a gradually growing use of white marble is attested. Although Byzantine members of white marble that survive in Boeotia are numerous, we must take into consideration the possibility that many of them must have been destroyed in later times to become lime.
The sculpted architectural members preserved until today from various places of Boeotia are instructive concerning their cutting technique, namely the methods and phases of all known cutting techniques of Byzantine sculpture, such as relief, engraved technique, champlevé technique, two-level technique (fig. 4), perforated technique, technique of sculpture in the round, which are often found together on the same piece of stone. Sometimes observations can be made concerning the use of color or inlaid colored materials. Color, for example, is preserved on the capitals of the church of Theotokos and the entablature of the altar screen from the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas.
In many sculpted architectural members traces are found concerning the use of tools, such as chisels, for trimming surfaces to smoothness, cutting and decorating. In general the names and the shape of marble-cutters’ tools from the Byzantine period remain unknown. It is often observed that some members remained purposely unfinished by marble-cutters. The incomplete sculpted architectural members which increased in number during the 12th c., testify the current fashion, as well the demands for a fast, mass production.
3. Repertoire
The sculpted architectural members surviving in Boeotia (at the Archaeological Museum of Thebes and Chaeronea, collection of sculpture of the monastery of Hosios Loukas, Platanaki etc), including mainly Ionian and Corinthian capitals as well imposts, column bases and so forth, bear similar decoration, involving acanthus leaves mixed with aquatic leaves, laces, blossoms, cross within medals (circular discus), christograms etc. This decoration motive, with aquatic leaves alternated with laces and crosses, is encountered this period in other nearby regions as well, such as Athens, Amphissa and the Peloponnese and is not a local phenomenon.
The repertoire used to decorate the sculpted architectural members the following centuries, is divided into categories, such as: floral [blossoms, branches, leaves etc. (fig. 3)], geometrical and abstract (rosettes, star-shaped, complexes, circles etc.) subjects, depictions of mythological creatures, imaginary and real animals [griffons, sphinxes, tritons, dragons, felines, birds, snakes, quadruped animals (fig. 4, fig. 2)], rarely depictions of holy figures and human figures (Christ, Theotokos, Apostles, Alexander the Great), architectural ornaments (arches based on columns) and various types of crosses (Greek, Latin, crosses bearing leaves).
Scenes and subjects that decorate Byzantine architectural members from Boeotia are attested in Constantinople, in other regions of mainland Greece, as well in the wider Mediterranean region (e.g. Asia Minor, Italy, Spain). The trade (of textiles, minor arts, ceramics and metal objects etc.), the presence of Orthodox monks in the West and of westerns in Constantinople and the Greek world, and generally the contacts and exchanges among artists were factors that contributed to the formation and spread of a common repertoire which is also attested in other forms of art besides sculpture during the Middle Byzantine period (especially from the 10th c. onwards), in those regions of the Mediterranean basin depended from Constantinople.