Early Byzantine Opera Sectilia at Balatlar Church

Abstract

Archaeological excavations in the remains of the building known as the Balatlar Church first began in 2010 under the leadership of Gülgün Köroğlu. Between 2010 and 2021, work was carried out in the vestibule, frigidarium, tepidarium, caldarium and palaestra sections of the Roman Bath. Space VIII, which served as the caldarium of the Roman bath, was repurposed and converted into a church in the early 5^th or 6^th century. A door in the center and niches on both sides in the eastern part of the Latin Cross-shaped caldarium (Space VIII) were modified, and a semicircular apse was added to Space XVIII, both internally and externally. Stratigraphic examinations provided important data about the construction phases, plan features and dating of the apse. During the studies carried out in this section, it was observed that the apse and bema were originally covered with marble slabs in opus sectile style. These marble slabs were dismantled at an undetermined date, but the bedding mortar was preserved and has survived to the present day. The Opus sectile with geometric compositions consists of various panels and arrangements. The compositional layout of the opus sectile panels share similarities with examples dated to the 5^th and 6^th centuries and were likely constructed as the apse floor covering during the Bath’s conversion bath into a church, following the apse’s construction. In this study, the composition of the opus sectile flooring will be analyzed and dated, and evaluated by comparison with contemporary examples.

It is declared that scientific and ethical principles were complied with during the preparation of this study and all the works referred are mentioned in the bibliography.

The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.