A Short History of the Middle Ages Fourth Edition

Plate 2.2: Cross at Hagia Sophia (orig. mosaic 6th cent.; redone 768/769). In this section of a mosaic just
off the gallery at Hagia Sophia, the original mosaicist depicted a holy figure in a medallion. Beneath the image
was an inscription identifying the saint. During the iconoclastic period, the figure and inscription were
hacked out. The saint was replaced by a gold cross with flared arm tips; it was surrounded by a rainbow of
colored tesserae (the bits of glass or stone used in mosaics) to make the cross seem to glow. Below the
cross can be clearly seen the rectangular space in which the original inscription was replaced by tesserae to