The Eurasian Decorative Animal Traces of Athen's Little Metropolis Church

Abstract

THE EURASIAN DECORATİVE ANIMAL TRACES OF THE ATHEN’S LITTLE METROPOLIS CHURCH During the long period of living together, Turks and Byzantines have been bilateral interaction both culturally and artistically.One example of this,isthe 12th century animal figures on the façade of the metropolitan bishop church of Athens called Little Metropolis.Among them, especially in terms of stylistic composition, lion and deer fight illustrates familiarity with the Eurasian animal style.Whilehuman face lion figure indicates the proximity to the Seljuk style its composition’s dynamic manner also recalls the Eurasia Animal Style. In this paper aforementioned figures will be discussed in comparison with Anatolian Moslem Turkish and Christian Examples