In Tairia, at a distance of about 10 km from Monemvasia, is a small complex of two Byzantine churches, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin and Ag. Anna. Each has a simple one-aisled plan covered by a barrel vault with an intermediate arch. Wall paintings exist in both churches dating from the twelfth, the thirteenth century, and later. The church of the Assumption, or Theotokos, is older and could be dated to the tenth century and thus identified with the church mentioned in a contemporary source, the Life of St. Theodore of Kythira. Ag. Anna imitates the plan of the older church and seems to have occupied the place of earlier service buildings. Built in, on the top of the altar table in the church of the Assumption, is a marble slab with a completely preserved Greek inscription of the Roman period, consisting of five lines which cover the whole surface of the slab and commemorate the dedication to the deities of the Imperial cult (Θεοί Σεστοί) and to a πόλις, the name of which is not known, of a makellon by three Roman citizens out of their own funds. The most probable date for the inscription seems to be the second century AD, but, even though makella existed in few Peloponnesian cities, neither the polis where the establishment was erected is known, nor can the dedicators be safely identified.
The Siena relic of St John the Baptist’s right arm
