Henry Hopwood-Phillips
Sinan Contested: The Legacy of Hagia Sophia
The Roman ingredients of Ottoman architecture (codified during Sinan’s tenure as the royal architect, 1539-88) have historically been...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jun 5, 2020
- 9 min
Byzantine Rome Part V: Rome’s Byzantine Epilogue
Santa Maria in Domnica When a biographer described Pope Hadrian’s reign (AD 772-795), he didn’t stress the pontiff’s “Romanitas” in the...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jun 3, 2020
- 7 min
Byzantine Rome Part IV: The Fall of Byzantine Rome
Church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura Imperial confirmation of papal elections was formally requested until AD 731. At the Emperor’s behest...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jun 1, 2020
- 6 min
Byzantine Rome Part III: Rome's Byzantine Adolescence
View of the Ponte Nomentano by Pierre Nicolas Brisset Gregory the Great was born c. AD 540 into the Anicii family. A great-grandson of...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 30, 2020
- 6 min
Byzantine Rome Part II: Rome Under the Labarum
St. Maria Maggiore In the late fourth and early fifth century, inconspicuous house churches began to morph into large basilicas. Towards...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 28, 2020
- 5 min
Byzantine Rome Part 1: Rome Under Constantine
Arch of Constantine A cavalry battle that started at a defile on the Cassian Road at saxa rubra and continued downhill to the Tiber and...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 21, 2020
- 6 min
Renaissance Rumble: Giorgio Vasari vs Byzantine Art
Virgin & Child, Chora Monastery Istanbul I daydream about a future civilisation condemning the artistic fruits of its Latin precursor by...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 14, 2020
- 4 min
You Can’t Just Make Sh** Up: How Venice Lied to The World About its Byzantine Icon
I recently did a Zoom chat in which I was asked which Byzantine item I’d rescue in a nuclear holocaust. I started by answering that it...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 10, 2020
- 4 min
Keeping It Roman: How Roman Architecture Survived Its Medieval Competitors
The Great Palace of Constantinople is usually advertised as the last great hurrah of late antique architecture. Indeed, its style – which...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 1, 2020
- 6 min
Zoe Porphyrogenita: Theurgical Nightmare or Orthodox Bae
There’s an oft cited passage of Psellos that describes Zoe’s love of perfumes as well as her devotion to the icon of Christ...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 23, 2020
- 6 min
Post-Byzantine Constantinople: The Orthodox in an Ottoman Megalopolis
When Mehmed II entered Constantinople in 1453 he was surrounded by ruins and ghosts of the Roman Empire. A sacred landscape, the city was...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 16, 2020
- 7 min
Cover Yo Woman: The Byzantine Stance on Veiling Women
Nowhere has the link between dress and identity received more scrutiny than in recent scholarship dealing with veiling trends among women...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 9, 2020
- 7 min
Orbis Britanniae: A Dark Age Alphabet
Agilbert (d. 675) was bishop successively of Dorchester-on-Thames and Paris. A Frank who’d studied in Ireland, he left the West Saxon...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 4, 2020
- 7 min
The St Mark Ivories: The Grado Chair That Never Was
Fig.1 - The Annunciation, Museo del Castello Sforzesco, Milan. In 1899 a group of ivory carvings (figs. 1-5 provide a sample) was...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 28, 2020
- 7 min
Vortigern: The British Scapegoat
Vortigern was the most dominant figure in what remained of the Roman administration after the departure of the Roman legions. His...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 26, 2020
- 4 min
The Battle for the Venetian Soul: Byzantium vs. Francia
From the appearance of the Lombards in Venetia[1] in AD 568/9, Venice had to play a clever game to enforce any sort of autonomy in the...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 21, 2020
- 4 min
Whence St Demetrios?: The Spanish Patron Saint of Thessaloniki
There is a disturbing lack of early evidence for the cult of St Demetrios at Thessalonica. In light of this the majority of modern...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 19, 2020
- 7 min
Balkan Christianity: The Early Years
House of Dionysios, Archaeological Museum of Delos Whenever the clash of paganism and Christianity is discussed, minds jump to the easy...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 12, 2020
- 5 min
Did Byzantine Heraldry Exist?
Was there an equivalent use of distinctive motifs employed as ornament by the Byzantine nobility (to convey the same messages of...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 7, 2020
- 4 min
Christian Worship: The Early Years
At the beginning of the second century, Christian ritual was loosely organised. The congregation would assemble at sunrise on Sunday for...
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