Experts believe study of 700-year-old handwriting unveils leading Byzantine painter's true identity

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Crime-solving techniques applied to a medieval illuminated manuscript in Paris may have solved a centuries-old puzzle — the true identity of a leading Byzantine painter who injected humanity into the rigid sanctity of Orthodox religious art.

A contemporary of Giotto, considered the father of Western painting, the artist conventionally known as Manuel Panselinos was equally influential in a totally different tradition that's largely overlooked in the West.

But nothing is known of his life, and scholars now believe Panselinos was just a nickname that eventually supplanted the real name of the man for whom it was coined — likely Ioannis Astrapas, from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

The art of Byzantium, that decorates churches across Greece, Serbia and other Orthodox countries, stands out for the stark formalism of its elongated, glowering saints, quasi-cubist mountains and doe-eyed Madonnas.

Work attributed to Panselinos, from the late 13th and early 14th centuries, is considered the finest produced in an empire that straddled Europe and Asia and endured from the fall of Rome until the capture of the imperial capital Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Art historians had long suspected that the name — Greek for "full moon" — could have originated as a nickname for some member of the so-called Macedonian School of painting, based in Thessaloniki.

Recent research by a Greek monk and linguistics scholar linked “Panselinos” with Macedonian School painter Astrapas. Now court handwriting expert Christina Sotirakoglou has matched lettering on a manuscript tentatively attributed to Astrapas with characters on a church painting in northern Greece, long seen as Panselinos' best work.

Father Cosmas Simonopetritis, a former senior administrator in Mount Athos, the semiautonomous monastic community where the Protato church stands, says Sotirakoglou's and his own research "clearly prove" Panselinos' real identity.

“Panselinos was a real person, and (the name) was just the nickname by which Ioannis Astrapas became known,” he told The Associated Press.

Constantinos Vafiadis, a professor of Byzantine art in Athens who was not involved in the studies, said he found merit in the nickname theory and Astrapas link, even though it appeared more than one painter had undertaken the Protato project.

“I agree with attributing part of the paintings to Ioannis Astrapas," he said. “But again there remains much ground for future research into that person, because other Mount Athos monuments from the same period have not yet been sufficiently published.”

“Panselinos” — a role model for generations of painters — and his contemporaries are associated with a renaissance of kinds in Orthodox art that revived forms and techniques inherited from antiquity. Facial expressions acquired a deeper humanity, and greater attention was paid to proportion and depth of field in composition.

Father Cosmas said Astrapas was an “extremely gifted painter ... with vast knowledge who harmonically combined the ancient, classical world with Orthodox Byzantine spirituality."

“And that ... makes his work unique worldwide,” he added.

Artists' signatures were not common at the time, although some survive from members of the Astrapas family. There are none by "Panselinos."

The trail started with earlier research linking Astrapas with the artist and scholar who wrote and illustrated Marcian Codex GR 516, an early 14th century Greek handwritten text treating subjects from astronomy to music theory. Among the painted illustrations was a full moon.

“For me ... that was the main proof,” Father Cosmas said.

With a name found for the hand that produced the manuscript, the next step was to check its style against writing on the Protato painting, traditionally linked with “Panselinos.”

“Mrs Sotirakoglou, who is a handwriting expert, filled in that blank,” Father Cosmas said.

There was one problem: Women have for more than 1,000 years been banned from entering Mount Athos.

“I was forced to study the Protato paintings based on photographs,” Sotirakoglou, who works as a court consultant on identifying or authenticating handwriting in criminal cases, told the AP.

“(The work) was very difficult, because the writing on the wall paintings is in capital letters, and the painters subdued their personal handwriting to conform" with the traditional format, she said — rather like anonymous letter-writers' attempts to disguise their true style. “The Marcian codex is written in very small lower-case letters.”

The first clue came from the Greek letter Phi, the English F.

“It's a Phi that stands out, and is similar” in both the manuscript and the Protato painting, she said. “Matches also followed with other letters, T, with its proportions, which is bigger, covering the other letters and is topped with a curve, the proportions of the K.”

“But when the Phi was revealed, the code of the writing was broken and the job became much easier,” she added.

Father Cosmas said that during his administrative duties on Mount Athos he attended services at the Protato church on a daily basis.

“That's where my desire was born ... to explore the mystery around the name and the identity of Panselinos,” he said, adding that he thinks the artist "has now acquired his true identity.”

Paphitis reported from Athens, Greece.

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, prints Byzantine paintings based on photographs, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, prints Byzantine paintings based on photographs, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, prints Byzantine paintings based on photographs, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, observes Byzantine paintings based on photographs prints, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, observes Byzantine paintings based on photographs prints, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, observes Byzantine paintings based on photographs prints, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Christina Sotirakoglou a handwriting expert, observes Byzantine paintings based on photographs prints, at her office, in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Funeral ceremonies for former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be in July, the country's state-run television said Saturday, as mediators said an agreement to end the war was close.

The funeral, burial and farewell events for Khamenei will take place between July 4 and 9 during Muharram, a traditional period of mourning in the Shia Muslim calendar.

Khamenei was killed in the opening attack of the war that Israel and the United States launched against Iran in late February. He is succeeded by his son, Mojtaba, who is seen as even less compromising.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a deal aimed at ending the war was closer than “ever before” and expected to be finalized within 24 hours. Pakistan was preparing for the electronic signing of the agreement, to be followed immediately by technical-level talks next week.

In a post on X, Sharif said: “We would like to thank United States of America and Islamic Republic of Iran for their ongoing commitment during the negotiations, and we extend our sincere appreciation to our brothers in the region for their support."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment, and Iran signaled caution.

“Although it will not happen tomorrow, the possibility that it could take place in the coming days cannot be ruled out,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a statement carried by state TV.

Baghaei added that the Islamabad memorandum under discussion was focused on ending the war and "at this stage, it has been decided that there will be no discussion of the nuclear issue.”

Iran's nuclear program and highly enriched uranium have long been at the center of tensions with the U.S. and Israel and an international source of concern.

Three regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said Friday they expected a signing ceremony in the coming days after officials in Washington and Tehran approve the agreement.

The apparent breakthrough came after Iran exchanged fire with the U.S. and Israel earlier in the week, threatening to rupture a fragile ceasefire and push the Middle East back into full-scale war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X Friday that an agreement “has never been closer.” U.S. President Donald Trump, who has asserted multiple times in recent weeks the countries were on the cusp of a deal, shared Araghchi’s post on social media.

Trump on Thursday claimed significant progress in negotiations, hours after he threatened to seize Iran’s oil industry.

The war has rattled the Middle East. Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for attacks virtually shut down oil and natural gas shipments from the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports. The ceasefire has been in place since April 7.

The funeral ceremonies for Khamenei are expected to begin in Tehran, and the procession will move to Qom, a stronghold of many senior Shiite clerics, and then to Mashhad, his birthplace. He’ll be buried there at the Imam Reza Shrine, considered the holiest place among Shiite devotees.

Funerals for Khamenei's daughter and son-in-law, also killed in the February strike, will be on the same day.

Khamenei remolded the Islamic Republic after taking the reins following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. Khomeini was the fiery, charismatic ideologue who led the overthrow of the shah and installed rule by Shiite Muslim clerics.

Khamenei ruled far longer than Khomeini. He greatly expanded the Shiite clerical class and built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the most important body underpinning his rule. The Guard became a military and business behemoth, the country’s most elite force and head of its ballistic missile arsenal.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Aamer Madhani in Washington and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

A woman walks past an anti-American mural on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy, now a museum, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance, left, talks to Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, right, and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, center, before boarding Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, File)

President Donald Trump is pictured during an event where he signs a proclamation about the fishing industry, in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Residents swim and play in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz while cargo ships and commercial vessels lie anchored in the distance off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, June 10, 2026.(Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)