It was in this church in the 10th century, Meli told us, that it was decided how Mary, Jesus, the disciples, etc., would be depicted in art. The church had gone through a 200 year iconoclastic period prior to this time, but apparently the iconoclastic position of the Muslims pushed the church to want to be different. They began to depict the Christian stories in mosaics and paintings on church walls. Art, said Meli, is culture and geography. It depicts what the eye sees.
Portraiture tries to project qualities, such as wisdom, strength, etc.
In the pictures of Jesus, the positions of arms, hands, fingers, depicts a quality. Jesus is variously represented as Son, Savior, and Christ. A cross was painted behind the head to identify Christ. A depiction of an emperor with a crown shows the Christian who built the church in 1020. Beside him is the Muslim who restored the church in 1280 - a sultan wearing a turban.