ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the absence and meaning of monograms in post-iconoclastic Byzantine art. The notion of frequently missing names labelling holy images in the art of Late Antiquity was initially addressed by Henry Maguire in his book The Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium. This chapter expands the discussion by presenting the ninth- and early tenth-century mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, which include both Christ and the Virgin without monograms (‘IC ΧC’ and ‘ΜP ΘΥ’, respectively) alongside their nimbi. It further discusses why monograms were not included in these images as well as in other works of art in Constantinople in the period following iconoclasm. Its conclusion conceptualizes the trend and suggests that after iconoclasm the church intended to reinstate the old pre-iconoclast tradition by not including monograms of Christ or the Virgin especially in the patriarchal cathedral of Hagia Sophia in order to authenticate the image, as stated by the patriarch Nicephorus during debates on the legitimacy of holy images of Christ.
