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Modern Description: Four well-preserved inscriptions make clear the church of the Panagia, flanked by chapels of the apostles Peter and Paul, was built to redeem the sins of Leon, a protospatharios and household chief of the emperor Basil during his co-reign with his sons Konstantinos and Leo, with a firm date of 874 CE. The inscription on the west wall, in Homeric hexameters, reads roughly: Not Envy nor long-extended Time will hide
Your works, O best of men, in Lethe's yawning depths;
Your works, albeit voiceless, will shout forth
And this song-worthy precinct you have built
For the Mother - untouched by wedlock, God-receiving, strong in rule -
Gladsome, beaming a beautiful radiance all around.
On either side of Christ an Apostle stands
The two whom Roman earth their holy dust conceals.
May you live flourishing, an unending cycle of years,
O much-praised Leon, Protospatharios, the Great,
Rejoicing in wealth and splendid children,
Ruling Orchomenos of ancient legend.

Wikidata ID: Q12882685
Trismegistos Geo: 2744

Info: ToposText editors

(JBK)

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