Anthologies and Anthologists 95have been put in AP I: AP IX, 615, 787, 806–807 and 817–819. But this type
of misclassification is actually very common in the anthology of Cephalas; in
fact, it is typical of Cephalas to forget or to neglect his original design. Howev-
er, it is rather surprising that Cephalas excluded epitaphs from his collection of
Christian epigrams. Whereas AP I does not contain any epitaphs, we find in
the section of sepulchral epigrams no less than seven epitaphs that are un-
doubtedly Christian: AP VII, 667, 679–680, 689 and VIII, 1^38. Take for in-
stance VII, 689: “Here Apellianus, most excellent of men, left his body, depos-
iting his soul in the hands of Christ”^39. Perhaps Cephalas considered a poem like
this inappropriate for his collection of Christian epigrams because it honours a
specific individual at a certain point in space and time, and thus forms a
memorial of little significance compared to God’s everlasting omnipresence.
But there are scores of dedicatory epigrams in AP I that, seen in the light of
eternity, are as much a product of their time as the Christian epitaphs. So, why
did Cephalas not include epitaphs in his collection of Christian epigrams? There
is no answer to this question, but it clearly indicates that an epigram with a
Christian subject is not necessarily a Christian epigram, at least not according
to Cephalas.
Although AP I properly speaking does not belong to Cephalas’ anthology
of Hellenistic, early Roman and late antique epigrams (AP IV–VII and IX–
XIV), it directly owes its existence to it. Cephalas decided to compile the
collection of Christian epigrams as a defensive measure to clear himself before-
hand of any suspicions of “paganism” that might be aroused by the “pagan”
contents of his anthology. Part of this strategy was to begin the collection with
an iconophile statement of faith: the famous verse inscription on the bema arch
of the Hagia Sophia, above the splendid apse mosaic depicting the Holy Virgin
with Child (AP I, 1)^40. The date for the apse mosaic and consequently its verse
inscription is 867, the year in which Patriarch Photios delivered a magnificent,
but rather abstruse homily on the mosaic and its pictorial meaning^41. We may
(^38) AP VIII, 1 belongs to AP VII, not to the collection of epitaphs by Gregory of Nazianzos
in AP VIII. We owe this misclassification to the editio princeps of the Palatine Anthology.
(^39) The translation is that of PATON 1918 (as are all the translations from the Greek
Anthology in the following).
(^40) The lemma attached to AP I, 1 states that the epigram was inscribed eœß tñ kibo ̄rin.
BALDWIN 1996: 97 assumes that the word kibo7rion refers to the “cupola”: so do I, but it
must be said that the word normally indicates the “baldachin”. P. SPECK, in: Varia II
(Poik5la Byfantin1 6). Bonn 1987, 285–312, suggests that the epigram was originally to
be found on the baldachin (built shortly after 843) and that it was afterwards re-used for
the apse decoration of 867.
(^41) See C. MANGO, The Homilies of Photios Patriarch of Constantinople. Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts 1958, 282–286, and C. MANGO & E.J.W. HAWKINS, DOP 19 (1965) 113–151.