184 Part Two: Epigrams in Context
appears to have been the standard iconographic formula, there are very few
churches that have all twelve. Furthermore, there are considerable variations
even in the selection of the twelve feasts that are depicted. Every church will
have an Anastasis or a Crucifixion, but the inclusion of the Incredulity of
Thomas, for instance, is merely an option^86. Epigrams on the Great Feasts
usually follow a purely chronological order: say, from the Annunciation to the
Koimesis. This is not the case in AP I, 110–114, where we first have the
Ascension, and then various scenes from the life of Christ before He ascended
to heaven. The reason for this is obvious. Gregory of Kampsa, the epigrapher
who collected these verse inscriptions, copied the epigrams in the exact order
in which he first saw them. On entering the church he noticed the dedicatory
verse inscription above the main gate or above the narthex entrance to the
nave: no. 109. Inside the church, the magnificent cupola adorned with a mosaic
of the Ascension was the first thing to attract his attention: no. 110. Only then
did he turn his eyes to the mosaics on the walls of the church: the Crucifixion,
the Anastasis, the Transfiguration, the Hypapante and the Chairete (nos. 111–
114). It is not known whether Gregory of Kampsa copied all the verse inscrip-
tions found in the church, nor whether the scribe of the Palatine manuscript
omitted only the epigram on the Crucifixion. Since either of the two, the
epigrapher or the scribe, may possibly have overlooked some vital evidence, we
cannot be absolutely certain that the walls of the church were adorned only
with these five major pictures of the Great Feasts. Nor can we establish on
which walls the five pictures were to be found. In churches the chronological
sequence of the pictures of the feast cycle is normally from the south-east to the
north-east squinch of the naos, but there are so many exceptions to this rule
that it is simply impossible to follow Gregory of Kampsa in every move he
made. Did he first look at the northern church wall where he spotted the
Crucifixion and the Anastasis, or were these two pictures in fact to be found at
a different spot in the church? We simply do not know. But what we know for
certain is that the order of the epigrams at AP I, 109–114 by and large
corresponds to Gregory’s first impressions. It is through his eyes that we
decipher the original context of these epigrams.
The Anonymous Patrician (c. 940–970) is the author of a group of nine
epigrams on various christological scenes: Transfiguration, Nativity, Hypa-
pante, Baptism, Pentecost, Washing of Feet, Anastasis, Crucifixion and
Descent from the Cross^87. These pictures were in mosaic: pagcrysomoysöstikta
(^86) See E. KITZINGER, Cahiers Archéologiques 36 (1988) 51–73.
(^87) The last three were edited by LAMBROS 1922: 49, 13 – 50, 6 (=L.) [unfortunately, with
some errors, see the corrections by MERCATI 1927: 416–417]; the first six were edited by
MERCATI 1927: 415, 7 – 416, 48 (=M.). The manuscript of the poems and epigrams of the
Anonymous Patrician, Vat. Pal. gr. 367, quite often offers dubious readings and skips