Cave Monasteries of Byzantine Cappadocia
Lyn Rodley
Cambridge University Press
9780521154772
0-521-15477-4
This is a fully illustrated account, first published in 1985, of the rock-cut monasteries, hermitages and other complexes in Cappadocia (central Anatolia, in Turkey). These were cut into soft volcanic rock, mostly during the ninth to eleventh centuries, when the area formed part of the Byzantine Empire. Although called 'cave' monuments, these monasteries were carefully finished to resemble ordinary built architecture. Some of the churches were decorated with wall paintings, which occasionally included portraits of their patrons or dedicatory inscriptions. Dr Rodley provides a definitive record of the monasteries and hermitages, tries to determine when, why and by whom they were established, and places them within the larger contexts of Byzantine history and Byzantine monasteries.