ABSTRACT
The information in the title, that Photios preached his sermon ote T qq © eotokou E^eiKovioSq kch\ avEKaXucpSq popcpq,2 needs to be seen in connection with the following passage from the sermon itself: toutoic; qpaq q Tqc; nap0E'vou popcpq E y x ap aT T o p E v q KaTEucppaivEi S e^ ioooeoiv, ouk oivou KpdTqpoc;, aXAa kciAo G 0EapaTO<; napEXouoa anapuEO0ai.3 Photios would like his listeners to make the association with an imperial reception (a Shipov); even if the picture does not offer wine, but rather a beautiful sight. Otherwise, the situation is the same: just as the emperor sits on high in the apse,
1 C. Mango and E.J.W. Hawkins, ‘The Apse Mosaics o f St. Sophia at Istanbul’, Dumb. Oaks Paps. 19 (1965) pp. 113-48, at p. 142f., here also all references to older literature on the subject.
