Publications/Mar 16, 2018

Soundscapes of Byzantium

Soundscapes of Byzantium lead image

Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Chris Kyriakakis, Konstantinos T. Raptis, Spyridon Antonopoulos and James Donahue. "Soundscapes of Byzantium: The Acheiropoietos Basilica and the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, volume 87, number 1 (January–March 2018): pp. 177–213.

In 2014, an international team of scholars measured the acoustical properties of eight Byzantine churches in Thessaloniki. This article examines two of the tested churches, the Acheiropoietos basilica and the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, in order to provide objective and phenomenological accounts of how sound—both chanted and spoken—was produced and received. Framing the soundscape of each church through an examination of its original shape, furnishings, decoration, liturgy, music, acoustics, and psychoacoustics raises new questions about ties between the two buildings and the streets that connected them. This study also deepens our understanding of the archaeoacoustics of Thessaloniki’s early churches.