The Church of Virgin at Amida and the Martyrium at Constantia: Two Monumental Centralised Churches in Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia

Abstract

Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia, which was situated at the eastern edge of the Byzantine Empire, was dotted with important cities such as Edessa (Urfa), Anastasiopolis (Dara), Amida (Diyarbakir), Martryropolis (Silvan), Constantia (Viranşehir) and Nisibis (Nusaybin). These cities were wealthy and highly cosmopolitan. As a result, the region had a sophisticated architecture which was by no means inferior to that found in other parts of the Byzantine Empire. This article deals with two monumental centralised churches in Northern Mesopotamia, namely the Church of the Virgin at Amida and the Octagon at Constantia. It concentrates firstly on the Church of the Virgin, which is an aisled-tetraconch church, a familiar plan type repeated in different parts of the Empire, and secondly on the Octagon at Constantia which has some unique features but shares the ambulatory design, long eastern chamber, use of materials and the monumentality with the aisled-tetraconch at Amida. By contextualising these two churches together, which has not been done in the past, this paper sheds further light on these neglected structures and reconsiders their reconstructions, dating, dedications and possible prototypes.