AMBO, the reading-desk of the early Christian church, orig inally movable, but by the 6th century established as an important and stationary piece of great decorative value. From the I2th century on, and earlier than that outside Italy, the ambo was more and more superseded by the pulpit and lectern, and even in Italy it has gone out of liturgical use, except in the Ambrosian rite in Milan. The normal single ambo consisted of a raised platform in three levels, reached by steps and protected by railings. Each level was consecrated to a special part of the service : the high est, reserved for the deacon who read the gospel; the middle, for the deacon reading the epistle ; the lowest, for the subordinate clergy. Later, two separate ambones were used, one on each side of the church ; the one to the south was used for reading the gospel, the other for the epistle.
These ambones were usually composed as part of the choir screen, and, like it, were, in all the finer churches, made of marble, frequently decorated with mosaics and carving. A normal type is represented by those in San Clemente at Rome which are at least as old as the beginning of the I2th century; others of great inter est, of later date, and rich with that fine-scaled geometric mosaic known as Cosmati work, are those of Sta. Maria-in-Ara-Coeli, Sta. Maria-in-Cosmedin and San Lorenzo outside the walls, all of the I2th or 13th century.
Outside of Rome, although Ravenna has early examples, it is in south Italy that the finest are found ; notably that of Ravello (1130). and that of Salerno.
In south Italy it is the rule to have the ambones supported on spiral columns; in Rome the base is usually solid.
In the Eastern Church, the ambo is slightly different. In Rus sian orthodox usage the term usually designates the, steps leading to the platform in front of the iconostasis (q.v.). In the Greek Church the ambo retains its earlier form, and is placed at one side of the church ; but in the Greek Catholic Church, the ambo is a table before the doors of the iconostasis.
See the liturgical and ecclesiastical dictionaries of Martigny, Migne, and Smith and Cheetham, sub vote.