Great Church

The Great Church of Miletus is located on the ancient avenue in the city center. It was built in the second half of the sixth century CE. The vestibule (propylon) of an earlier structure, namely, an apse building dedicated to the Roman Imperial Cult, was preserved and used as a facade of the Great Church. An additional wall was built around the area in front of the vestibule, turning it into a forecourt. A column hall stood in the southern part of the courtyard. Behind the propylon, there was a central, column-flanked and open-air atrium, which granted access to the 3-nave galleried basilica from the west. A 3-door barrier system (templon) separate the central nave from the altar area. The northern nave was flanked by barrier screens and seating steps, with the possible exception of an intercolumnar space in the west. Stairwells in the south of the eastern hall provided access to the galleries. In addition, the church could be accessed from the south via a public basilica, but this entrance was later blocked by the Byzantine city wall. The southeastern section of the main building contained a central niche that may have been used as a sacristy and for storing reliquia. A baptistery (baptisterium) to the north of the atrium was partially built from stone blocks with ancient ritual inscriptions and other repurposed building materials (spolien) and decorated with figurative mosaics. While the double half columns and fluted capitals used in the basilica are also spolia, the Corinthian capitals and impost capitals in the atrium and the barrier system were probably purpose-built. The structure of these capitals and the layout of leaves suggest that the church dates to the post-Justinian period.

Text: Silas Munnecke