La Basilique Est de Xanthos (Lycie)

This monograph on the Eastern Basilica of Xanthos presents, in ten chapters, the results of the excavation campaigns carried out since 1970 under the direction of Jean-Pierre Sodini, and the contributions of a dozen specialists. Architecture, mosaic pavements, sculpted elements, paintings and wall mosaics, medieval tombs and the material collected (ceramics, glass, metal objects and coins) are successively studied. Excavation has made it possible to identify the main structures that succeeded one another on the site, and so to trace its history over several centuries. The first, ambitious basilica was built on the model of the basilica St. John the Baptist of Stoudios in Constantinople in the mid-5th century and probably only shortly afterwards. An earthquake towards the end of the 5th century led to a partial reconstruction of somewhat inferior quality, marked by the predominant use of local limestone instead of marble for the sculpted blocks; many of the floor mosaics have survived. The baptismal complex has been remodeled, with a baptistery tetraconch. The destruction of the complex, which certainly took place in the 7th century, was not necessarily violent: an accidental fire, perhaps associated with an earthquake, remains a possibility. As observed on many Byzantine sites, occupation of Xanthos did not cease after the 7th century, but it was not until the return to prosperity early in the 11th century that major alterations took place in the basilica: the rebuilt baptistery became the nucleus of a small medieval church, reusing part of the former north aisle as a narthex. The frescoes in this narthex and the sculpted templon of the sanctuary confirm the dating and wealth of this building. The abandonment of the site at the end of the 11th century was undoubtedly linked to the Turkish advance after the defeat of Manzikert (1071); the presence of Avlan Ware ceramics attests to the presence of Turkmen nomads, who summarily rearranged the space. The reoccupied parts of the basilica were then destroyed by fire, probably in the first half of the 13th century. Finally, in Ottoman times, what was probably a farm building was put up on the site of the basilica, before it was definitively abandoned.