150 Part Two: Epigrams in Context
seem somewhat surprising, but this sort of second-hand use of epigrams is not
without parallel in Byzantium^4. However, the problem is that we hardly ever
know by which devious paths an epigram may unexpectedly turn up centuries
later as a verse inscription. As for the verse inscription in the Panagia Phorbi-
otissa, there are basically two possible avenues of transmission. Either Nike-
phoros Magistros, thumbing through his copy of Geometres’ collection of
poems, spotted a suitable literary epigram on the Forty Martyrs and copied it,
or alternatively, he derived the epigram from a specific late tenth-century
work of art, for which Geometres had been commissioned to write an appropri-
ate caption and which served as the direct model for the fresco at Asinou.
Neither of these two possibilities can be ruled out; but as evidence is lacking,
neither of the two can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt.
Byzantine anthologies and poetry books contain thousands of epigrams on
well-known pictorial scenes, such as David and Goliath, the Annunciation, the
Koimesis, the Forty Martyrs, and so forth. In marked contrast to the abun-
dance of manuscript material, the number of epigrams actually found on
Byzantine works of art is rather limited^5. In Appendix VIII, where I enumer-
ate the verse inscriptions on works of art, the patient reader will find 83 entries
only; since some of the works of art bear more than one verse inscription, the
number of epigrams amounts to a total of 122. If one closely examines the
epigraphic material, one immediately notices that almost all inscriptions are
found either on stone or on luxury objects. This is only to be expected.
Inscriptions on stone do not easily wear out and luxury objects (such as ivories,
reliquaries and illustrated manuscripts) are too precious to be handled without
care and to disappear into the careless wastebasket of time. In contrast, the
number of verse inscriptions on mosaics, frescoes and paintings is limited
because these are basically perishable materials, and thus the chances of sur-
vival to the present day are fairly low. Furthermore, as the Muslim world
objects to religious images, the Ottoman Turks understandably (at least from
their viewpoint) ruined most of the Byzantine monuments in Istanbul. This
iconoclastic enterprise was particularly damaging to mosaics and frescoes,
which were either whitewashed or destroyed altogether. In the secluded prov-
ince of Cappadocia, where most of the rock-cut churches and monasteries have
survived, many murals can still be found. But what if these murals and the
inscriptions on them had disappeared, as happened in other parts of the
Ottoman Empire? And vice versa, would our view on Byzantine epigraphy not
have been different if medieval Constantinople had turned into Ottoman
Istanbul without significant damage to the monuments?
(^4) See above, chapter 1, p. 31, and see HÖRANDNER 1987: 237–238.
(^5) See MANGO 1991: 239–240.