---

Modern Description: In the narrow space between the beach and the main road to Apéri, 1.5 km northwest of the centre of Pigadia, are the standing remains of the Early Christian Basilica of ‘Aghia Phote', or Aghia Photiní, whose foundation dates from the late 4th or early 5th century AD, although the buildings have probably seen later modification. The site is beautiful and presents many unusual elements.
A number of the slender, monolithic columns in veined Rhodian marble have been re-erected with surmounting capitals; the threshold blocks both of the narthex and of the nave, in a customarily dark marble, are preserved; most striking, however, is the large and elegantly decorated marble templon screen, which is formed by two exceptionally large marble plaques fixed and held by carved posts (the left one, only recently broken). This fine marble-work contrasts with the humility of the simple terracotta-tiled floor and the general roughness of the stonework in the walls.
The overall design, though clear, is puzzling because of the marked difference in level between the central area and the two (apparently integral) aisles to north and south. The central area finishes in an apse and synthronon, with the suggestion of an episcopal throne in its centre; the south aisle has several burials in its floor at the east end, and an upturned, inscribed ancient block in the border with the sanctuary; the north aisle has an apse and an altar support composed of ancient fluted column drums, now much eroded. These ancient spolia suggest that the site was originally that of a pagan temple, possibly the temple of the Dioscuri, referred to elsewhere in inscriptions: from the north ‘aisle' the platform of an ancient building can be seen in the masonry below the main nave of the church. This may account for the marked difference in floor level between nave and aisles, but does not shed light on how the intercommunication of these spaces functioned architecturally in Early Christian times.
Trismegistos Geo: 57978

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

---