182 Part Two: Epigrams in Context
ular epigram, I suspect that it does not describe the Anastasis in the classic
sense of the word, but rather the late antique iconographic type of the Resur-
rection that shows the tomb of Christ blazing with light^80. St. 103 and 104 form
part of a short series of epigrams on the Great Feasts: Annunciation, Nativity,
Crucifixion, Palm Sunday, Ascension and Anastasis (St. 96–104). The text of
St. 104 is particularly interesting as it mentions most of the iconographic
elements traditionally associated with the scene of the Anastasis: “Appearing
in the grave, you have broken the gates of Hades and bound him in fetters; and
victorious you take off, bringing Adam and Eve to life again. The whole world
worships your power”. Here we have the shattered gates of Hell, the figure of
Hades lying in fetters and Christ hastily emerging from the grave (™ktr6ceiß),
and literally bringing (ó6rzn) Adam and Eve to life again. Clearly the epigram
describes the image of the Anastasis. Pisides particularly emphasizes the as-
pect of triumphant victory. Christ is victorious (nikhóöroß) and all people bow
down respectfully (proskyne¦) at the sight of His sovereign power, as they
would do before the emperor.
The epigrams by Ignatios Magistor on the decoration of the church of the
Virgin of the Source (the Pege) can be found in the Greek Anthology (AP I,
109–114)^81. The church was adorned with mosaics by Emperor Basil I between
870 and 879, when his sons Constantine and Leo were officially co-emperors:
see the dedicatory epigram, no. 109. Epigrams 110–114 describe the Ascension,
the Anastasis, the Transfiguration, the Presentation in the Temple and the
Chairete. The lemma attached to no. 111, ™n t/ aJt/ na/ eœß tën sta7rzsin,
poses a serious problem. The text of the epigram reads:
^O nekrñß æAidhß ™xeme¦ teqnhkötaß,
k1qarsin eÜrân s1rka tën to ̄ despötoy.“Dead Hades vomits up the dead, after having been purged by the flesh of
the Lord”. The unsavoury metaphor of vomiting Hades can be found in many
Byzantine epigrams on the Anastasis: see, for instance, Prodromos, Tetr. 231a,
vv. 2–3: na5, pl‰tte tën 4plhston æûdoy gast6ra / ×zß Ìn oÎß p6pzken ™xanapt7sø
(“keep on punching Hades in his insatiable stomach until he will spit out those
whom he has devoured”). So, seeing that no. 111 appears to be an epigram on
the Anastasis, how do we account for the lemma? In her book on the Anastasis,
(^80) See KARTSONIS (footnote above), 21–23.
(^81) MAKRIS 1997: 12–13, argues that epigrams AP I, 115–118 were also inscribed in the
church of the Source. But whereas 109–114 are written in dodecasyllable, 115 and 116.
3–4 [epigram 116. 1–2 is spurious] are written in hexameter and probably date from the
fifth or sixth century. Moreover, whereas the lemmata of 109–115 explicitly state that
these epigrams were inscribed in the church of the Source, the lemmata attached to the
following epigrams do not mention their place of provenance.