MAMA XI 152 (Pentapolis) 
Banister of ambo stair
- Type of monument:
- Banister of ambo stair.
- Location:
- Menteş (Pentapolis): in a yard; said to be from the ‘ören’ (probably the ‘ruins’ of Kocahüyük).
- Description:
- Μarble banister of ambo stair, broken above and right; decorated with moulded panels and a peacock in relief.
- Dimensions:
- Ht. 1.04+; W. 0.57+; Th. 0.07.
- Record:
- MB notebook copy, photograph (1955/78).
- Publication:
- None.
- Date:
- Sixth century AD.
Illustrations:
MAMA XI 152 (Pentapolis 20: 1955-78)
This ambo banister is of a type well-known in sixth-century Asia Minor; for a comprehensive catalogue and discussion, see Niewöhner 2007: 110-13, 196-7. This particular example appears to be unpublished elsewhere. For the relief depiction of a peacock in the lower polygonal field, compare e.g. Niewöhner 2006: 450, no. 72 (Domaniç: Kotiaion); Peschlow 1994: Taf. 150, no.16 (Afyon Museum, stylistically extremely close to our example); Niewöhner 2007: 253, Cat. 307 (Ilicikören); 276, Cat. 381 (Aizanoi); 282, Cat. 411 (Sıcaeddin); 294, Cat. 477 (Seyitgazi). For depictions of peacocks on middle Byzantine architecture, cf. also MAMA XI 60 (1954/8a: Eumeneia) and 88 (1954/27: Sebaste).
Ballance’s photograph of this banister also shows a Byzantine architectural fragment with guilloche-decoration in relief (Ht. 0.61; W. 0.17; Th. 0.12), apparently also deriving from the site at Kocahüyük. For a similar, but not identical, fragment with guilloche-decoration from Menteş, see TIB Phrygien Taf. 134.