Myths Transformed: Perceptions of Ancient Sculpture in Byzantine Liminal Spaces

Mythological images have always played a crucial role in the visual realm of Byzantium, in all artistic media. However, when works of art bearing mythological—or more generally pagan—images are reused in public monuments, they convey a special message to the viewer. This chapter aims to investigate the presence of figural spolia representing myths in the liminal spaces of Byzantine cities, including their role as markers of meaning for such spaces and their own identity as agents within contexts creating “liminal” psychological contexts. Does the intended message—and its reception—change according to different audiences? Did the presence of ancient pagan sculptures bring about some kind of estrangement, in other words, the perception of a distance from the past? Were specific myths chosen to appear in specific places? And, if intentionality can be proved, was it their meaning or, rather, their antiquity, that determined the choice? Can a new meaning be implicit in the selection or is it something that emerges later, for example, in the popular imaginary, regardless of the intentionality of the builders/patrons? This chapter considers the mythological figure of Herakles as a case study, in an attempt to trace his ‘fortune’ in the Byzantine world, from Late Antiquity until the Palaiologan period, focussing specifically on ancient sculpture depicting this hero (himself in many respects ‘liminal’) that was reused or re-staged in public spaces. Through the analysis of monuments such as the gates at Ephesos, the citadel walls of Ankara, and various spolia installations in Constantinople—and, whenever possible, with the help of literary sources—it addresses some of the many questions posed here, in order to begin to understand the (new) narratives, reception, and perception of ancient myths in the medieval eastern Mediterranean.