The Byzantine name for the raised platform in a church where scripture was proclaimed is ambo.
An ambo was a raised liturgical platform used for readings, preaching, and sometimes the proclamation of important announcements. In early Byzantine churches it could stand in the nave, often near the center, and was reached by steps. Its elevated position allowed the reader or preacher to be heard and seen by the congregation.
The ambo was not the same as the bema. The bema designated the sanctuary or raised eastern area associated with the altar and clergy, whereas the ambo served the proclamation of scripture. Later church layouts changed, and the ambo’s functions were increasingly associated with the pulpit or with the solea in Orthodox churches.
Surviving ambos can be architecturally elaborate, made from marble and decorated with carved panels. They provide evidence of how worshippers moved through and experienced large Byzantine interiors, not merely how those interiors looked from above.