Liturgical Elements Of Byzantine Period Found In The Surroundings Of Konya: Altar And Altar Bases

Altar on which the liturgical items such as cross, chalice, paten and censer were placed during the ritual of the Eucharist is one of the church furnishings in the bema in the churches of Byzantine Period. Altar represents different theological and symbolical meanings such as the grave of Jesus, the table the apostles gathered around with Jesus at the last supper, Golgotha and the Throne of God. It is thought that the portable altars may have been used during the masses because of being lack of religious buildings before the period of Emperor Constantine. The basic structure of the liturgy had been established since the construction of the churches in IV. century, and more substantial altars had been places in the bema in front of the apse. The altars were generally constructed of three main parts, altar base, pedestal and slab as well as being made of one piece. Altar slabs have different shapes as circular, semi-circular, rectangular, square, sigma or omega. The slabs of which edges have profiles and top-surfaces are slightly carved are supported by various stands. The slabs can be supported by four stands on the corners or more at some examples besides a square or circular one in the centre. This type of support and slab are placed on the blocks called altar bases on the floor of bema or partially below it. The top surface edges of the altar bases are generally profiled and slightly carved. There are square or circular shaped hole cuts, of which number varies according to the size of the altar, on the top surface of the altar to fix the supports. While some examples of the altar bases are plain, some of them are decorated by cross in relief or incised. An altar and seven altar bases were found during the researches we carried out to determine the liturgical elements belonging to Byzantine Period in the surroundings of Konya. An altar which consists of single block dates to the Early Byzantine Period. While the altar bases that have been found in the districts of Doğanhisar, Obruk, Beyşehir, Ilgın, Sarayönü are evaluated in the Early Byzantine Period, the one at the Complex of Koçaş Yunus Emre in Doğanhisar is dated to the Middle Byzantine Period. In this study, altar and altar bases, the liturgical elements of the churches in Anatolia during the Early and Middle Byzantine Period, which have been found in the centres and the villages of the districts in Konya (Iconium) located in the borders of the region named Lycaonia in Ancient Era, are introduced.