The Loss Omphalion of St. Sophia Church in Trebizond

The invasion of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, by the Crusaders in 1204 necessitated the administration of the state from a new center. In Trebizond, one of these centers, the foundation of a new state was laid by two members from the Comnenian dynasty, Alexios and David Comnenos. As a part of the construction activity that ongoing in the 13th century in Trebizond, several churches with rich decoration including mural painting, stonework and pavement were built. These buildings and their decorations are a continuation of the architectural and artistic style of the capital. The geometric compositions draw attention on the pavements of the Trapezuntine monuments reflecting the metropolitan style that occur both in the capital and the buildings reflecting the Constantinopolitan style. In this context, the pavement of St. Sophia Church in Trebizond is the one of the high quality examples reflecting the capital‟s style. The pavement placed in the naos of the church is in the 6.20 square meter section between the four columns carrying the main cuppola. There was a round omphalion in the center of the floor. This plate was removed from its place in the 1860s and was kept in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Kromni for a while. In 1924, the omphalion was carried to Thessaloniki by the Pontic Greeks who left the Black Sea region; the work, which was kept in the archaeological collection of the Rotunda of St. Georgios for a while, was later brought to its current location, the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki. The aim of this study is to mention that the omphalion is not lost, but dismantled from its original place, and to address the iconography and the origin problem of “the eagle hunting a hare” on Byzantine pavement, which we have not seen elsewhere. In this context, in this study, a general evaluation is made with the help of parallel depictions of eagle and hunter eagle in different artifacts from both the Ancient and Byzantine period.