Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
SANAT TARIHI DERGISI-JOURNAL OF ART HISTORY, cilt.30, sa.1, ss.661-677, 2021 (ESCI)
The excavation of the Ayasuluk Hill and the Basilica of St. John, which has a century of excavation history, beginning with the G. A. Sotiriou excavations from 1921, continues to present new data. This new data is at times obtained from new finds and is sometimes as a result of approaching finds previously unearthed from a new perspective. One of these appeared in a former olive oil workshop in a part of the western cross arm of the church, which was used as a workshop in the Turkish Period. In the east of the corridor between the west cross arm and the baptistery, the phiale, which was reused in an oil workshop, is only presented in studies in its final function. In a single publication, it was defined as a "font", and no evaluation was made regarding its original function. However, the phiale in question should originally have had a very different function from its subsequent use, referring to the holiness of water in the church before being again put to a use that excluded of its original function. Similar practice in the near vicinity is also observed in the Virgin Mary Church of Ephesus. In our study, the phiale, which was found on Ayasuluk Hill, from one of the most important religious buildings of Western Anatolia during the Byzantine Period, and which was reused as a spolia in the same building, is introduced with its original function in the building determined from the available data, including examples from the literature. These issues are discussed and a general evaluation is made concerning the use of phiales in churches, and its place among similar practices and examples.