The Symbolic Topography of Early Byzantine Christianity: the legends of Saint Andrew and Constantine I

CASAMIQUELA GERHOLD, VICTORIA ERRAIN

Estudios sobre cristianismos tardoantiguos y medievales

Universidad Nacional del Sur

Lugar: Bahía Blanca; Año: 2018;

The topography of Byzantine Constantinople, as it is well known, had a symbolic as well as a material dimension. The symbolism of this topography emerged when a certain geographical space, regardless of the material structures it may have contained, became capable of condensing and evoking memories, beliefs, hopes or values that were shared by the community. There were various ways in which space could become symbolically configured, but at least one of them was linked to the circulation of narratives that involved the city and its surrounding area. One of those narratives-legendary in character, though it would have been hardly regarded as legendary by Constantinopolitans and Byzantines at large-was devoted to the missionary activity undertaken by the Apostle Saint Andrew in the pagan city of Byzantion, which led to the foundation of the local Church. This legendary account, the origins of which were linked to the geo-ecclesiological need of investing the patriarchal see of Constantinople with an apostolic status,1 contained from its earliest versions a number of topographical references that were intended to inscribe it in the geography of the capital city. As a consequence of this, numerous areas of Constantinople and its hinterlands developed a symbolic dimension related to the memories of the Apostle Saint Andrew and the early Christianity of Byzantion. But this is not all, for the deployment of the literary narrative into the space of Constantinople also had the effect of enhancing, transforming and even reconfiguring the narrative itself. As we will attempt to show throughout this study, an analysis of the symbolic dimension of urban topography can reveal nuances, undertones, new meanings and changing perceptions that do not always become evident in the literary versions of the legends.