Pilgrimage Inscribed in Stone: Rupestrian Complex at Medeia, Thrace

The lack of distinctive typologies for pilgrimage monuments has been noted before for Byzantine architecture. Additionally, past pilgrimage activities do not necessarily leave archaeologically detectable traces, and in the absence of textual and epigraphic evidence, identifying a site as a pilgrimage center is often a challenge. The situation is different, though, in the rupestrian complex outside Medeia (now Kıyıköy) on the Black Sea coast of Eastern Thrace, only a hundred km from the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The pilgrimage at Medeia is inscribed on the bedrock, much like the numerous invocations that pilgrims incised on its walls, asking for help and salvation. In the earlier literature, the site is rather erroneously identified as a Late Antique monastery dedicated to St. Nicholas. Based on previously overlooked details of the spatial layout and carved decoration, as well as yet-unpublished pilgrims’ graffiti and wall paintings, I argue that it was established in the early Middle Byzantine period with a terminus post quem in the 9th century, primarily to accommodate the flocks of faithful visitors rather than a monastic community. The site is in the immediate vicinity of a well-fortified harbor city, Medeia, that occupies a prominent position in the maritime transportation network north of Constantinople; it is also well-connected to the inland Thrace with navigable rivers. In this setting, I discuss how the architecture instructed a designed movement for pilgrims to follow through the bedrock, framing privileged views and providing controlled access to the objects of pilgrimage that the complex encased. Moreover, the elaborate design and intricate sculpture indicate professional involvement and possibly a patron with considerable financial means. I suggest that the episcopal authority in Medeia may have maintained and controlled the pilgrimage activity and can also be credited for the architecture.