Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 48

and the Silentiary tell us that in their time the entire gallery was
used as the women's quarter, or gynaeceum, it appears that in later
centuries most of the southern gallery was reserved for the use of
the royal family, and, on occasion, for synods of the Orthodox
Church.
Let us now return to the northern gallery, where the earliest of
the visible mosaics is located. This mosaic, the last of those in the
church to be uncovered and restored, is found high on the east face
of the north-west pier. This panel represents the Emperor Alexander,
who came to the throne in May of the year 912, succeeding his elder
brother, Leo VI. “Here comes the man of thirteen months,” said Leo
with his dying breath, as he saw his despised brother coming to pay
his last respects. his cynical prophecy was fulfilled in June of the
following year, when Alexander died of apoplexy during a drunken
game of polo. This mosaic portrait must surely have been done during
Alexander's brief reign, for so incompetent and corrupt was this mad
and alcoholic despot that no one would have honoured him other
than in the single year when he was sole ruler. Alexander's portrait
shows him standing full length, wearing the gorgeous ceremonial
costume of a Byzantine emperor: crowned with a camelaucum, a
conical, helmet-shaped coronet of gold with pendant pearls; draped
in a loros, a long, gold-embroidered scarf set with jewels; and shod in
gem-studded crimson boots. Four medallions flanking the imperial
figure bear this legend: “Lord help thy servant, the orthodox and
faithful Emperor Alexander.”
On the west face of the same pier we find one of the most elaborate
of the many graffiti which are carved on the walls of Haghia Sophia;
it shows a medieval galleon under full sail. Anyone who has ever sat
through the whole of a long Greek Orthodox service can appreciate
how the artist had plenty of time to complete this sketch. Most of
the other graffiti consist merely of names and dates, many of them
carved on the marble balustrade. On the inner balustrade of the north
gallery we find this inscription: “Place of the most noble Patrician,
Lady Theodora.” A short distance farther along there is one which
reads: “Timothy, Keeper of the Vessels.” What was Timothy doing in
the gynaeceum, we wonder?