ABSTRACT
In terms of architecture there are no obvious connections between Byzantine Egypt and Nicomedia. Because general works on early Byzantine architecture do not include the monumental buildings of Egypt, in particular the churches, their obvious connections to significant edifices elsewhere have been neglected. The capitals are made from the white kaolinic clay which is usually associated with the production of domestic ceramics in Constantinople. These clay beds extend geologically to the Gulf of Nicomedia and into Bithynia. The reuse of architectural materials and of capitals in particular was ubiquitous in building projects after the 6th century right across the Byzantine world. In attempting to convey the complex network of associations between religious figures and monasteries, the chapter shows that the transmission of monumental art probably owed rather more to a basic level of human exchange of ideas, ‘soft communications’, than the study of texts or individual buildings alone might suggest.
