Istanbul: Places
Photos & Words: Salina Christmas

A mosaic depiction of Prince Alexius, son of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus and Empress Zoe, on the wall of Aya Sofia.

Monochamus means "the one who fights alone", sadly, an apt description of the turmoil the family faced in Constantine IX's reign (maybe that's why the prince looks like a lemon here).

The Muslim problem was one thing; the bickering Eastern and Western churches were quite another.

Things got quite bad on the religious front that both heads of churches excommunicated each other.