Birth, death, and persuasive analogies: the Nativity at Eğri Taş Kilisesi, Cappadocia

• Published in: Word & image (London. 1985) Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 254 - 280
• Main Author: Bhalla, Niamh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.10.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 10th century; analogy; Byzantine; Byzantine civilization; Children & youth; Community; God; Inclusion; Jesus Christ; Life expectancy; magic; Material culture; Medieval period; Mortality; Nativity; Persuasion; Women; Cappadocia; Turkey
• ISSN: 0266-6286; 1943-2178
• DOI: 10.1080/02666286.2024.2390214

Life was unpredictable and precarious for the people of medieval Byzantium. Life expectancies were low and mortality rates high, particularly for young children and women. Securing divine protection was imperative for medieval families, particularly in the face of childbearing, illness, death, and judgement. Very often, all that remains of the cycles of existential threat, fear, and trust in God experienced by medieval people are the objects of material culture through which they sought God's protection, and often merely fragments thereof. Here, I explore what remains of the image of Christ's nativity in the tenth-century, rock-hewn church of Eğri Taş in the Peristrema Valley, near Ihlara, Cappadocia, in rural Turkey as an indexical trace of the community that once came to secure God's protection assisted by the potent imagery there. The palpable emphasis on Christ's infancy in this funerary church, which hosted many graves, including those of women and children, through a highly unusual and extended cycle concerning His birth, along with the inclusion of powerful written elements such the elusive Sator palindrome within the nativity, will be interpreted as the employment of persuasive analogies in response to the struggles families faced in the community.