In the Byzantine period, churches were often given a central position in residential complexes such as palaces or manor houses. For example, in the epic poem by Digenes Akritas, born of an Arab father and a Christian mother, the hero builds a palace on the bank of the Euphrates River. In the middle of the palace courtyard, he erects a church dedicated to St. Theodore, a Roman soldier martyred for his Christian faith. A similar arrangement of chapels located in the middle of residential courtyards is described in two Genoese deeds of transfer for the aristocratic residence of the Botaneiates family in Constantinople.