International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Georgi Sengalevich
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia, Bulgaria; 
[e-mail]
«Dimitrios» or «Prodromos»: 
The Case of a Popular Sgraffito Ceramics Monogram
Аn exceptionally interesting and not yet sufficiently explored feature of the Late Byzantine 
culture is the Sgraffito Ceramics with underglazed monograms. It is distinguished by quality 
manufacture, monochromacy, spare and precisely applied decoration in which the monograms, 
placed on the inner surface at the bottoms, play the major role. The vessels are of small dimensions, 
mainly cups, bowls and plates, and could be attributed to the luxurious Elaborate Incised Ware. 
Their area of distribution, together with the chronology, suggests that the ceramic group most 
probably was traded with the mediation of the Venetian and Genoese sailors. Samples are found 
mainly along the shores of Black, Azov and Aegean Sea. Concerning the chronology, the date of the 
vessels, unearthed in Constantinople is precised at the end of the 13
th
– 14
th
century. Meanwhile in 
the Northern Black Sea region and the Pryazovia the Glazed pottery with monograms appears only 
c. the middle – the second half of 14
th
century. In Bulgaria the few reliable archaeological contexts 
are dated within the 14
th
century.
Among the popular abbreviated inscriptions that are met incised on Byzantine Sgraffito 
Ceramics, we could distinguish the imperial mark of the Palaeologoi dynasty, the names ‘Michael’, 
‘John’, the letters K, A etc. In the world of symbols, that the Middle Ages represent, there is hardly any 
manifestation of the culture where the Christian faith hasn’t left its mark. So the religious attribution 
of at least a part of the sgraffito underglazed monograms seems the most logical explanation. 48 
of the monograms known from different sites in Bulgaria - Ahtopol. Sozopol, Nessebar, Varna, 
Kastritsi, Balchik, Kavarna and Kaliakra, are developed around the Greek letter Π, to which the 

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other letters are adjointed or incorporated. Due to the widely accepted in the scientific circles 
reading as «Δημήτριος», already at this stage a problem emerges: that name contains the letter „Т”, 
instead of „П”. We have to say that this particular decipherment prevails after the finding of a few 
sgraffito plates with the monogram at the crypt of the ‘Agios Dimitrios’ basilica in Thessaloniki, 
that led to the interpretation of the abbreviated inscription as the name of the patron-saint. It also 
brought the hypothesis that the vessels were used in rituals, connected with the holy spring water 
in the church, and were transferred as blessings by the pious pilgrims, just like the lead ampulae-
koutrouvia, that contained the miraculous myrrh of the Thessaloniki martyr saint. It remains unclear 
why the impractical, open form of the plates would have been selected for such a use. Furthermore, 
and considering the facts, this interpretation becomes even more problematic, due to several other 
reasons. First, the only reliable data about the production of vessels with the aforementioned 
monogram comes from Constantinople, and not from Thessaloniki. Second, the geography of 
their distribution does not support as well the Thessaloniki connection, with the most samples 
originating from Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. And third, there is no example, available to me, of an 
image of St Dimitrios, accompanied by the monogram, known to us from the Sgraffito Ceramics. At 
the same time we can find it in a plenty of holy images of St John the Baptist, where the full canonical 
inscription states: «Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Пρόδρομος» (‘Saint John the Forerunner’). Further proof for 
the sustainability of use of the monogram in the context of that inscription is the chronology of the 
samples, starting from the 11
th
century up to the 18
th
century. Its use is most common, however, 
in the Palaeologian Art of the 14
th
century. In this regard, for the same monograms, engraved on 
Glazed Sgraffito Ceramics, a reading as «Πρ(ό)δρ(ο)μ(ος)» (“Prodromos”) should be considered.