Constantinople No. 4 / Constantinopolis / Istambul / Istanbul / Kostantiniyye / Kōnstantinoúpolis / Κωνσταντινούπολις / Nova Roma

A large chalice-shaped font-like object located in the outer narthex of Hagia Sophia; it has a round basin decorated with a moulding at the upper rim, and with a pair of snakes [?] the bodies of which slither around the basin sides, coiling occasionally, the heads going over the rim and, uncharacteristically in baptismal fonts, leaning into the inner well; there is a large roll moulding where the underbowl meets the round stem of the base, then the stem is conical in shape; the lower section of the base is made of a squat cylidrincal volume with a splaying lower part; raised on a square plinth. [A recent photograph of this object by Holly Hayes is found at the Sacred Destinations web site [http://www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/hagia-sophia-photos/narthex-outer-font-cc-Lilbenne.jpg.html] [accessed 18 September 2007]. [cf. Index entry for Constantinople No. 5 for a recently [2010] discovered font of the 6th century from Hagia Sophia]