Today was a full day here in Istanbul. Among the many sites we saw on our ten hour walking tour was the Hagia Sophia basilica built by the Emperor Justinian. It was turned in to a mosque when the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1454 and then in to a museum when the secular democratic republic of Turkey was found in 1923.One thing that really struck us was the Deesis mosaic which was rediscovered in 1931. It depicts Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist. The features on the face in this mosaic are very life like.
One thing I had a hard time making out was the last Greek word on the right . I see that altogether it says Mary mother of God, Jesus Christ, Saint John. But what is the last word? I don't see how it could be "baptist." Here is a close up.
ο πρόδρομος = the forerunner
ReplyDeleteMyrto! Lori and I love you! I have been going crazy. What was I thinking! I should have came to my Greek friend first. I see it now! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI knew word order didn't really matter for Greek, but I didn't think the same was true for the order of letters within a word.
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