International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Anđela Gavrilović
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade, Serbia; 
[e-mail]
The Inlaid Opus Sectile Panels with Dolphins from above the Imperial Door 
in Saint Sophia in Costantinople
In the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople on the western wall above the Imperial door and 
on the other side of the famous mosaic featuring Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise (886-912), five 
inlaid opus sectile panels have been preserved, two of which bearing the representations of eight dol-
phins (6
th
century). Each of two panels depicts four dolphins heraldically arranged in pairs above and 
below the central disc of red porphyry. These dolphins have drawn attention of very few scholars and 
have been most minutely described by Paul Underwood in his report on the works in St. Sophia in 
1958. However, the meaning of these motifs and the reasons for their positioning above the Imperial 
door remained unclear and not properly covered by scholars. Therefore, we will direct focus on them. 
In ancient and early Byzantine art the dolphins have been represented in different iconographical 
contexts: as independent motifs in the scope of the larger unit or in semantic connection to other 
motifs in the scope of larger units. Thus, they could be depicted next to an anchor, a trident, a cross, 
Christ’s bust, apostles’ busts, or they could symbolically form different floral ornaments. Sometimes, 
as is the case with their representation in St. Sophia in Constantinople, the dolphins are depicted 
in semantic connection with cephalopoda – octopuses or squids. The occurrence of the motifs of 
the dolphin chasing or devouring a cephalopod (an octopus or squid) can be traced back to the 
catacomb painting (e.g. catacomb of Pretextatus, 3
rd
century).
The representations of dolphins have been executed in different art media and in different art 
techniques: on sacrofaghi, in wall painting, on floor mosaics, in the opus sectile technique, in the 
works of applied art or as bas-relieves on marble plaques.
Due to the fact that they are not mentioned in Holy Scripture, the dolphins as symbols play 
only a minor role in the works of holy fathers, who are only transmitting the data on dolphins 
already known from ancient writers. 
As concrete written sources concerning the meaning of the dolphins have not been preserved, we 
have focused in our paper on the rare visual analogies in order to decipher the meaning of dolphins. 
The conclusion that they certainly do not represent mere ornaments of the building is, thus, pointed 
out: firstly, the edifice in question where these motifs have been executed represents the greatest and the 
most important capital church of the Byzantine Empire; secondly, one must bear in mind the place in the 
church where the dolphins are positioned – they are found above the main, central door of the church. 
That is why the reasons for their placement above the Imperial door are also dealt with in the paper. In 
this sense, in accordance with the meaning which the individual motif of the dolphins with their specific 
iconographical context in this concrete case bears, we have pointed to the connection between the mo-
tifs of dolphins and the Imperial door, as the main entrance gate. This is important because the motif of 
the dolphin preparing to devour a cephalopod (an octopus or a squid) is placed in the wider context of 
the iconographical themes connected to entrances and portals in ancient and early Byzantine art. The 
conclusion is made that the motifs of dolphins in St. Sophia bear apotropaic meaning. 

---

77