Of the Buildings of Justinian

by Procopius

BOOK II.

I. The new churches which the Emperor Justinian built in Constantinople and its suburbs, the churches which were ruinous through age, and which he restored, and all the other buildings which he erected there, are described in my previous book; it remains that we should proceed to the fortresses with which he encircled the frontier of the Roman territory. This subject requires great labour, and indeed is almost impossible to describe; we are not about to describe the Pyramids, that celebrated work of the Kings of Egypt, in which labour was wasted on a useless freak, but all the strong places by means of which our Emperor preserved the empire, and so fortified it as to render vain any attempt of the barbarians against the Romans. I think I should do well to start from the Median frontier.

When the Medes retired from the country of the Romans, restoring to them the city of Amida,[33] as has been narrated in my ‘History of the Wars,’ the Emperor Anastasius took great pains to build a wall round an, at that time, unimportant village named Dara, which he observed was situated near the Persian frontier, and to form it into a city which would act as a bulwark against the enemy. Since, however, by the terms of the treaty formerly made by the Emperor Theodosius with the Persians, it was forbidden that either party should build any new fortress on their own ground in the neighbourhood of the frontier, the Persians urged that this was forbidden by the articles of the peace, and hindered the work with all their power, although their attention was diverted from it by their war with the Huns. The Romans, perceiving that on account of this war they were unprepared, pushed on their building all the more vigorously, being eager to finish the work before the enemy should bring their war against the Huns to a close and march against themselves. Being alarmed through their suspicions of the enemy, and constantly expecting an attack, they did not construct their building carefully, but the quickness of building into which they were forced by their excessive hurry prevented their work being secure; for speed and safety are never wont to go together, nor is swiftness often accompanied by accuracy. They therefore built the city-walls in this hurried fashion, not making a wall which would defy the enemy, but raising it barely to the necessary height; nor did they even place the stones in their right positions or arrange them in due order, or fill the interstices with mortar. In a short time, therefore, since the towers, through their insecure construction, were far from being able to withstand snow and hot sun, most of them fell into ruins. Thus was the first wall built round the city of Dara.[34]

FORTIFICATIONS AT DARA.
From Texier & Pullan’s Byzantine Architecture

It occurred to the Emperor Justinian that the Persians would not, as far as lay in their power, permit this Roman fortress to stand threatening them, but that they would march against it with their entire force, and use every device to assault its walls on equal terms; and that a number of elephants would accompany them, bearing wooden towers upon their backs, which towers instead of foundations would rest upon the elephants, who—and this was the worst of all—could manœuvre round the city at the pleasure of the enemy, and carry a wall which could be moved whithersoever its masters might think fit; and the enemy, mounted upon these towers, would shoot down upon the heads of the Romans within the walls, and assail them from above; they would also pile up mounds of earth against the walls, and bring up to them all the machines used in sieges; while if any misfortune should befall the city of Dara, which was an outwork of the entire Roman Empire and a standing menace to the enemy’s country, the evil would not rest there, but the whole state would be endangered to a great extent. Moved by these considerations he determined to fortify the place in a manner worthy of its value.

In the first place,[35] therefore, since the wall was, as I have described, very low, and therefore easily assailable, he rendered it inaccessible and altogether impregnable. He placed stones which so contracted the original battlements as only to leave small traces of them, like windows, allowing just so much opening to them as a hand could be passed through, so that passages were left through which arrows could be shot against the assailants. Above these he built a wall to a height of about thirty feet, not making the wall of the same thickness all the way to the top, lest the foundations should be over-weighted by the mass above, and the whole work be ruined; but he surrounded the upper part with a course of stones, and built a portico extending round the entire circuit of the walls, above which he placed the battlements, so that the wall was throughout constructed of two stories, and the towers of three stories, which could be manned by the defenders to repel the attacks of the enemy; for over the middle of the towers he constructed a vaulted roof, and again built new battlements above it, thus making them into a fortification consisting of three stories.

After this, though he saw, as I have said before, that many of the towers had after a short time fallen into ruin, yet he was not able to take them down, because the enemy were always close at hand, watching their opportunity, and always trying to find some unprotected part of the fortifications. He therefore devised the following plan: he left these towers where they were, and outside of each of them he constructed another building with great skill, in a quadrangular form, well and securely built. In the same manner he securely protected the ruinous parts of the walls with a second wall. One of these towers, which was called the Watchtower, he seized an opportunity of demolishing, rebuilt it securely, and everywhere removed all fear of want of strength from the walls. He wisely built the outside part of the wall to a sufficient height, in due proportion; outside of it he dug a ditch, not in the way in which men usually make one, but in a small space, and in a different fashion. With what object he did this, I will now explain.

The greater part of the walls are inaccessible to besiegers, because they do not stand upon level ground, nor in such a manner as would favour an attack, but upon high precipitous rocks where it would not be possible to undermine them, or to make any assault upon them; but upon the side turned towards the south, the ground, which is soft and earthy and easily dug, renders the city assailable. Here, therefore, he dug a crescent-shaped ditch, deep and wide, and reaching to a considerable distance. Each end of this ditch joined the city wall, and by filling it with water he rendered it altogether impassable to the enemy. On the inner side of it he built a second wall, upon which during a siege the Roman soldiers keep guard, without fear for the walls themselves and for the other outwork which stands before the city. Between the city wall and this outwork, opposite the gate which leads towards Ammodius, there was a great mound, from which the enemy were able to drive mines towards the city unperceived. This he entirely removed, and levelled the spot, so as to put it out of the enemy’s power to assault the place from thence.

II. Thus did Justinian fortify this stronghold;[36] he also constructed reservoirs of water between the city walls and the outwork, and very close to the Church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, on the west side. A river runs from the suburb called Corde, distant about two miles from the city. Upon either side of it rise two exceedingly rugged mountains. Between the slopes of these mountains the river runs as far as the city, and since it flows at the foot of them, it is not possible for an enemy to divert or meddle with its stream, for they cannot force it out of the hollow ground. It is directed into the city in the following manner. The inhabitants have built a great channel leading to the walls, the mouth of which is closed with numerous thick bars of iron, some upright and some placed crosswise, so as to enable the water to enter the city, without injury to the strength of its fortifications. Thus the river enters the city, and after having filled these reservoirs, and been led hither and thither at the pleasure of the inhabitants, passes into another part of the city, where there is an outfall constructed for it in the same way as its entrance. The river in its progress through the flat country made the city in former times easy to be besieged, for it was not difficult for an enemy to encamp there, because water was plentiful. The Emperor Justinian considered this state of things, and tried to find some remedy for it; God, however, assisted him in his difficulty, took the matter into His own hands, and without delay ensured the safety of the city. This took place in the following manner.

One of the garrison of the city, either in consequence of a dream or led of his own accord to it, collected together a great number of the workmen engaged in building the fortifications, and ordered them to dig a long trench in a certain place, which he pointed out to them, a considerable distance within the city wall, declaring that they would there find sweet water flowing out of the ground. He dug this trench in a circular form, making the depth of it for the most part about fifteen feet. This work proved the saving of the city, not through any foresight of the workmen, yet, by means of this trench, what would have been a misfortune was turned into a great advantage to the Romans; for, as during this time very heavy rain fell, the river, of which I just spoke, raged outside the fortifications and rose to a great height, being unable to proceed, because when it was swollen to such a size neither the channel nor the entrances in the wall were large enough to contain it, as they had been before. It consequently piled up its waters against the wall, rising to a great height and depth, and in some places was stagnant, and in others rough and violent. It at once overthrew the outwork, swept away a great part of the city wall, forced its way through the city gates, and, running with a great body of water, occupied almost the whole city, invading both the market-place, the narrower streets, and the houses themselves, swept off from them a great mass of furniture, wooden vessels, and such like things, and then, falling into this trench, disappeared under ground. Not many days afterwards it reappeared near to the city of Theodosiopolis, at a place about forty miles distant from the city of Dara, where it was recognised by the things which it had swept away out of the houses at Dara, for there the whole mass of them reappeared. Since that period, in time of peace and quiet, the river flows through the midst of the city, fills the reservoirs with water, and passes out of the city through the outfall especially constructed for it by the builders of the city, which I described above, and, as it supplies that region with water, becomes a great boon to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. When, however, a hostile army advances to besiege the city, they close the passages through the iron gratings with what are called sluice-doors, and at once force the river to change its course and to flow into the trench and the subterranean gulf beyond, so that the enemy suffer from want of water and are at once obliged to raise the siege. Indeed Mirrhanes, the Persian general, in the reign of Cabades, came thither to besiege the city, and was compelled by all these difficulties to retire baffled after a short time; and a long while afterwards, Chosroes himself advanced with the same intentions, and attacked the city with a numerous army; but being driven to great straits through want of water, and perceiving the height of the walls, he imagined the place to be entirely impregnable, gave up his project, and straightway retired into Persia, being out-generalled by the foresight of the Roman Emperor.

III. Such were the works of the Emperor Justinian in the city of Dara. I shall now describe what he arranged to prevent any second misfortune happening to the city from the river, in which matter his wishes were manifestly assisted by Heaven. There was one Chryses of Alexandria, a clever engineer, who served the Emperor as an architect, and constructed most of the works both in the city of Dara and in the rest of the country. This Chryses was absent when the misfortune from the river befell the city of Dara; when he heard of it, he retired to bed in great grief, and dreamed the following dream: A figure of more than human stature appeared to him, and showed and explained to him a device which would protect the city from any dangerous inundation of the river. He, conceiving this idea to be divinely inspired, at once wrote an account of the device and of the vision, and sent it to the Emperor, giving a sketch of what he had been taught in his dream. It happened that not long before this a message reached the Emperor from the city of Dara, giving him an account of what had happened with the river. Thereupon the Emperor, disturbed and alarmed at what had taken place, straightway summoned those most celebrated architects, Anthemius and Isidorus, whom I have mentioned before. He informed them of what had happened, and inquired what arrangement could be devised to prevent this mischief befalling the city a second time. Each of them described what he considered to be a suitable plan for this purpose; but the Emperor, evidently acting under a divine impulse, although he had not yet seen the letter of Chryses, miraculously invented and sketched out of his own mind the plan suggested by the dream. The interview terminated without the adoption of any distinct plan, and without their deciding upon what was to be done; but three days afterwards came a messenger to the Emperor, who brought the letter from Chryses, and who explained the form of the arrangement which he had seen in his dream. The Emperor now again sent for the architects, and ordered them to recall to mind their former ideas of what ought to be done. They repeated everything in order, both their own devices and the spontaneous inventions of the Emperor; after which the Emperor brought forward the messenger sent from Chryses, and showing them the letter and the sketch of what he had seen in his dream, caused them to wonder greatly, when they perceived how Heaven had assisted our Emperor in everything for the advantage of the Empire. The plan of the Emperor accordingly won the day, and triumphed over the art and learning of the architects. Chryses returned to the city of Dara, with orders from the Emperor to carry out the work which he had described with all speed, according to the plan revealed in the dream. He carried out his orders in the following manner.

In a place about forty feet distant from the outwork of the city, across the valley in which the river runs between the two mountains, he constructed a barrier of considerable height and width, joining each end of it to the mountain on either side, in such a manner that the water of the river in its strongest flood could never force its way through it. This work is called by those who are learned in such matters a dam, or sluice, or whatever else they please. He did not build this barrier in a straight line, but in the form of a crescent, in order that its arch, which was turned against the stream of the water, might be better able to resist its violence. The upper and lower parts of this barrier are pierced with apertures, so that, when the river suddenly rises in flood, it is forced to stop there and to flow no further with the entire weight of its stream, but passing in small quantities through these apertures it gradually diminishes in violence and power, and the wall is never damaged by it; for the flow of water, collecting in the place which, as I have said before, is about forty feet in length, lying between the barrier and the outwork, is never unmanageable, but runs gently to its usual entrance, and thence is received in the artificial channel. As for the gate, which the fury of the river broke open in former times, he removed it from thence, and blocked up its site with enormous stones, because this gate, being situated on flat ground, was easily reached by the river when in flood; but he placed the gate not far off, in a lofty place in the most precipitous part of the circuit of the walls, which it was impossible for the river to reach. Thus did the Emperor arrange these matters.

The inhabitants of this city suffered greatly from the want of water, for there was no fountain springing out of the ground, nor was any water carried about the streets in an aqueduct, or stored up in cisterns; but those who lived in the streets through which the river passed could draw drinking-water from it without trouble, while those who dwelt at a distance from the course of the river had either to fetch their drinking-water with great trouble or to perish with thirst; however, the Emperor Justinian constructed a great aqueduct, by which he brought the water to every part of the city, and relieved the distress of the inhabitants. He also built two churches, that which is called the Great Church, and the Church of St. Bartholomew the Apostle.[37] Moreover, he built very spacious barracks for the soldiers, that they might not inconvenience the inhabitants.

Not long after this he restored the wall and outworks of the city of Amida, which had been built in former times, and were thought likely to fall into ruins; thus ensuring the safety of that city. I am now about to speak of his buildings in the forts which stand on the frontier of the territory of these cities.

IV. As one goes from the city of Dara towards the land of Persia, there lies on the left a tract entirely impassable for carriages or horses, extending to the distance of about two days’ journey for a lightly-equipped traveller, ending in an abrupt and precipitous place called Rhabdium.[38] The land on each side of this road to Rhabdium belongs for a great distance to Persia. When I first saw this I was surprised at it, and inquired of the people of the country how it was that a road and tract belonging to the Romans should have enemy’s land on each side of it. They answered, that this country once belonged to the Persians, but that at the request of the King of Persia one of the Roman Emperors gave a village abounding in vines near Martyropolis,[39] and received this region in exchange for it. The city of Rhabdium stands upon precipitous and wild rocks, which there rise to a wondrous height; below it is a region which they call ‘the field of the Romans,’ out of wonder, I suppose, at its belonging to the Romans, though it lies in the midst of the Persian country. This Roman field lies on flat ground, and is fruitful in all kinds of crops; one might conjecture this from the fact that the Persian frontier surrounds it on every side.

There is a very celebrated fort in Persia, named Sisauranum, which the Emperor Justinian once captured and razed to the ground; taking prisoners a great number of Persian cavalry, together with their leader Bleschanes. This place lies at a distance of two days’ journey from Dara for a lightly-equipped traveller, and is about three miles distant from Rhabdium. It was formerly unguarded, and altogether neglected by the Romans, so that it never received from them any garrison, fortification, or any other benefit, wherefore the peasants who tilled this country, of which I just spoke, besides the ordinary taxes, paid an annual tribute of fifty gold pieces to the Persians, in order that they might possess their lands and enjoy the produce of them in security. All this was altered for them by the Emperor Justinian, who enclosed Rhabdium with fortifications, which he built upon the summit of the mountain which rises there, and, taking advantage of the position of the ground, rendered it impossible for the enemy to approach it. As those who dwelt in it were in want of water, there being no springs on the top of the cliff, he constructed two cisterns, and by digging into the rocks in many places made large reservoirs of water, so that the rain-water might collect, and the garrison might use it freely, and not be liable to capture through distress for want of water.

He also rebuilt solidly, and gave their present beauty and strength to all the other mountain forts, which reach from this point and from the city of Dara to Amida; namely, Ciphæ, Sauræ, Smargdis, Lurnes, Hieriphthon, Atachæ, Siphris, Rhipalthæ, Banasymeon, and also Sinæ, Rhasius, Dabanæ, and all the others which were built there in ancient times, and which before this were constructed in a contemptible fashion, but which he made into an impregnable line of outposts along the Roman frontier. In this region there stands a very lofty mountain, precipitous, and altogether inaccessible; the plain below it is rich and free from rocks, suitable both for arable and pasture land, for it abounds in grass. There are many villages at the foot of this mountain, whose inhabitants are rich in the produce of the country, but lie exposed to the attacks of the enemy. This was remedied by the Emperor Justinian, who built a fort upon the summit of the mountain, in which they might place their most valued possessions, and themselves take refuge at the approach of the enemy. This is named the Fort of the Emperors. Moreover, he carefully rebuilt and safely fortified the forts in the neighbourhood of the city of Amida, which before were only surrounded by mud walls, and were incapable of defence. Among these were Apadnæ and the little fort of Byrthum: for it is not easy to set down all their names in detail, but, speaking generally, he found them all exposed to attack, and has now rendered them impregnable; and since his time Mesopotamia has become quite protected against the Persian nation.

Nor must I pass over in silence what he devised at the fort of Bara, of which I just now spoke. The interior of this fort was entirely without water, and Bara is built upon the precipitous summit of a lofty mountain. Outside its walls, at a great distance, at the bottom of the hill, there was a fountain which it was not thought advisable to include within the fortification, lest the part which was situated upon the low ground should be open to attack. He therefore devised the following plan. He ordered them to dig within the walls until they reached the level of the plain. When this was done in accordance with the Emperor’s order, to their surprise they found the water of the fountain flowing there; thus the fort was both constructed securely and conveniently situated with regard to water supply.

V. In the same manner, since the walls of Theodosiopolis,[40] the bulwark of the Roman Empire on the river Aborrhas, had become so decayed by age that the inhabitants derived no confidence from their strength, but rather terror, as they feared that before long they would fall down, the Emperor rebuilt them for the most part, so that they were able to check the invasions of the Persians into Mesopotamia. It is worth describing what he did at Constantina. The original wall of Constantina was so low that a ladder would easily reach the top, and in its construction was greatly exposed to attack, and seemed hardly to have been built in earnest; for the towers were of such a distance from one another, that if the assailants attacked the space between them, the garrison of the towers would be too far off to drive them back; moreover, the greater part of it was so ruinous from age that it seemed likely soon to fall. In addition to this, the city had an outwork which was more like a siege-work to enable the enemy to attack it; for it was not more than three feet in thickness, cemented with mud, the lower part of it built of rock fit for making mill-stones, but the upper part of what is called white-stone, which is not to be trusted and is very soft, so that the whole work might easily be captured. However, the Emperor Justinian rebuilt the decayed part of the walls, more especially on the west and north sides; between every two towers of the wall he placed the third, so that since his time all the towers for the defence of the wall stand close together. He also greatly raised the height of the wall and of all the towers, so as to render the place impregnable to an enemy. Moreover, he built covered approaches to the towers, each of which towers contained three stories of vaulted stone, so that each one of them was called and really was a castle in itself, for what the Greeks call ‘phrourion’ is called a ‘castle’ in the Latin tongue. Besides this, Constantina used formerly to be reduced to great straits for want of water; there are indeed wells of good water outside the walls at the distance of a mile, round which grows a large wood of very lofty trees; within the walls, however, since the streets are not built upon level but upon sloping ground, the city in ancient times was waterless, and its inhabitants suffered much from thirst and the difficulty of obtaining water; but the Emperor Justinian brought the water within the walls by means of an aqueduct, adorned the city with overflowing fountains, and may justly be termed its founder. These were the works of the Emperor Justinian in these cities.

VI. The Romans had a fort by the side of the river Euphrates on the extreme frontier of Mesopotamia, at the place where the river Aborrhas[41] effects its junction with the Euphrates. This fort was named Circesium,[42] and had been built in former times by the Emperor Diocletian; however, our present Emperor Justinian, finding that it had become ruinous through lapse of time, and was neglected and not in a posture of defence, altered it into a strong fortification, and made it into a city of eminent size and beauty. When Diocletian built the fort he did not completely surround it with a wall, but brought each end of the walls down to the river Euphrates, built a tower at each end of them, and left the side between them entirely unfortified, imagining, I suppose, that the waters of the river would suffice to defend the fort on that side. In the course of time, however, the stream of the river, continually eating away the bank, undermined the tower on the south side, and it became evident that unless prompt measures were taken it would shortly fall. Now appeared the Emperor Justinian, entrusted by Heaven with the glory of watching over, and, as far as one man can do, of restoring the Roman Empire. He not only saved the undermined tower, which he rebuilt of a hard stone, but also enclosed all the unprotected side of the fort with a very strong wall, thus doubling its security by adding the strength which it derived from the wall to that afforded by the river. Besides this, he also built a powerful outwork round the city, especially at the spot where the junction of the two rivers forms a triangular space, and thus left no place exposed to the attacks of the enemy. Moreover, he appointed a general who had the title of Duke, and who always resided there with a garrison of picked soldiers, thus rendering the place a sufficient bulwark for the frontier of the empire. He also rebuilt in its present splendour the public bath which is used by the inhabitants, which had become quite ruinous and useless by the incursions of the river; for he found all that part of it which is suspended above the solid foundation for the convenience of bathers, underneath which the fire is placed, and which is called the hypocaust, exposed to the influx of the river, by which the bath was rendered useless; he therefore strengthened with stonework, as I have said, the part which formerly had been hollow, and built another hypocaust above it, which the river could not reach, thus restoring the enjoyment of the bath to the garrison. In this manner did our Emperor restore the buildings of Circesium.

Beyond Circesium there is an ancient fort named Annucas, whose wall the Emperor Justinian found a mere ruin, and which he rebuilt in so magnificent a fashion that its defences vie with those of the most celebrated cities; and in the same manner he rendered formidable, and altogether unapproachable by an enemy, those forts situated near the city of Theodosiopolis, which before his time were either without walls, or only walled with mud and absurd heaps of stones. These are Magdalathum, with two others on either side of it, and the two forts, the Great and Little Thannurium, Bismideon, Themeres, Bidamas, Dausaron, Thiolla, Philæ, Zamarthas, and, one may say, all the rest. There was an extensive position near Thannurium, which could easily be occupied by our enemies the Saracens, by crossing the river Aborrhas, from which point they were able to penetrate in small parties into the thick and extensive forest and the mountain which is situated in that region, and make inroads upon the Roman inhabitants of that country; now, however, the Emperor Justinian has built a tower of hard stone in that place, manned it with a considerable garrison, and has altogether repressed the incursions of the enemy by the establishment of this bulwark against them.

VII. The above are the works of the Emperor Justinian in this part of Mesopotamia; I must speak in this place of Edessa, Carrhæ, Callinicum, and all the other strong places which are in that country, since they lie between the two rivers. Edessa[43] stands on the banks of a small stream called Scirtus, which collects its waters from many places, and runs through the midst of the city: from thence it passes onwards, after having supplied the wants of the city, effecting its entrance and exit through by a channel constructed by former generations, which passes through the city walls. This river once, after much rain, rose to a great height, and seemed as though it would destroy the city; it tore down a large part of the outworks and of the walls, inundated almost the whole city, and did much damage, suddenly destroying the finest buildings, and drowning a third part of the inhabitants. The Emperor Justinian not only at once restored all the buildings of the city which were overthrown, among which were the church of the Christians and a building called Antiphorus, but also arranged with great care that no such disaster should ever again occur, for he made a new channel for the river, outside the city walls, which he arranged in the following manner. The ground on the right bank of the river was formerly flat and low-lying, while that on the left was a precipitous mountain, which did not allow the river to turn aside from its accustomed course, but forced it to flow into the city, because when flowing towards the city it met with no obstacle on its right bank. He therefore dug away the whole of this mountain, making a channel on the left bank of the river deeper than its former bed, and built on the right bank an enormous wall of stones, as large as a waggon could carry, so that if the river ran as usual with a moderate volume the city would not be deprived of the convenience of its water; but if it should be swollen into a flood a moderate stream would run as usual throughout the city, but the excess of water would be forced into this channel constructed by Justinian, and thus extraordinarily conquered by human art and skill might run round the back of the race-course, which is situated not far off. Moreover he forced the river within the city to run in a straight course, by building a wall above it on either side, so that it could not turn out of a straight path; by which means he both preserved the use of it for the city, and removed all fear of it for the future. The wall and outwork of Edessa, like those of the other places, had for the most part fallen into ruins through age; wherefore the Emperor restored them both, making them new and much stronger than they were before. Part of the wall of Edessa is occupied by a fort, outside of which rises a hill very close to the city and overhanging it; this hill was in ancient times occupied by the inhabitants, and included in their walls by an outwork, that it might not form a weak point to the city. Their work, however, made the city much more open to assault in that quarter; for their outwork was very low, built on an exposed site, and could be taken even by children playing at sieges. Justinian therefore took it down and built another wall on the top of the hill, which is in no danger of an assault from higher ground in any quarter, and which follows the slope of the hill down to the level ground on both sides, and joins the city wall.[44]

EDESSA.
From Texier & Pullan’s Byzantine Architecture
COLUMNS ON A TERRACE OF THE CASTLE.

Also at the cities of Carrhæ[45] and Callinicum[46] he destroyed the walls and outworks, which were much impaired by age, and rendered them impregnable by building the present complete fortifications; he also built a strong wall round the unprotected and neglected fort at Batnæ,[47] and gave it the fine appearance which it now presents.

VIII. These, as I have said before, were the works of the Emperor Justinian in Mesopotamia and Osrhoene. I will now describe what was done on the right bank of the river Euphrates. In all other parts the Roman and Persian frontiers border upon one another, and each nation proceeds from its own country to make war and peace with the other, as all men of different habits and empires do when they have a common frontier; but in the province which was formerly called Commagene, which is now called Euphratesia, they dwell nowhere near to one another, for the Roman and Persian frontiers are widely parted by a country which is quite desert and devoid of life, and possesses nothing worth fighting for. Yet each nation, though not regarding it as a work of much importance, has built a chain of forts of unbaked brick where the desert borders upon their inhabited country. None of these forts have ever been assaulted by their neighbours, but the two nations dwell there without any ill-feeling, since there is nothing for either of them to covet; however, the Emperor Diocletian built three of these forts in this desert, one of which, named Mambri, had fallen into ruin through age, and was restored by the Emperor Justinian.

About five miles from this fort, as you go towards the Roman country, Zenobia, the wife of Odenathus, the chief of the Saracens in those parts, built a small city in former times and gave it her own name, calling it Zenobia.[48] Since then, long lapse of time brought its walls to ruin, and as the Romans did not think it worth caring for, it became entirely uninhabited. Thus the Persians, whenever they chose, were able to place themselves in the midst of the Romans before any news had been heard of their coming; however, the Emperor Justinian rebuilt the whole of Zenobia, filled it with numerous inhabitants, placed in it a commander with a garrison of regular soldiers, and thus formed a powerful fortress, a bulwark of the Roman Empire and a check upon the Persians. He did not merely restore it to its former appearance, but made it far stronger than it was before. The place is closely surrounded by high cliffs, from which the enemy were formerly able to shoot down upon the heads of the defenders of the wall; being desirous to avoid this, he constructed a building upon the walls, on the side nearest these cliffs, which might always act as a protection to the defenders. This building is called a ‘wing,’ because it appears to hang upon the wall. Indeed, it is not possible to describe all that our Emperor built at Zenobia: for as the city is situated far away in the desert, and for this reason is always exposed to peril, and cannot derive any succour from the Romans, who dwell at a distance, he took the greatest pains to render it secure. I will now relate some few of his works there.

Zenobia stands beside the river Euphrates, which flows close to its walls on the eastern side. This river, surrounded by high mountains, has no space in which to extend itself, but its stream is confined among the neighbouring mountains and between its rugged banks. Whenever it is swollen by rain into a flood, it pours against the city wall and washes not merely against its foundations but as high as its very battlements. The courses of stone in the walls, drenched by this stream, became disarranged, and the whole construction was endangered; he, however, constructed a mole of enormous masses of hard rock, of the same length as the wall, and forced the flooded river to expend its rage in vain, setting the wall free from any fear of injury, however high the river might swell. Finding that the city wall upon the northern side had become ruinous from age, he razed it to the ground, together with its outwork, and rebuilt it, but not upon its former site, because the houses of the city were so crowded together at that point as to inconvenience the inhabitants; but he proceeded beyond the foundations of the wall, beyond the outwork and the ditch itself, and there built an admirable and singularly beautiful wall, thus greatly enlarging Zenobia in this quarter. There was, moreover, a certain hill which stood near the city towards the west, from which the barbarians, when they made their attacks, were able to shoot with impunity down upon the heads of the defenders, and even of those who were standing in the midst of the city; this hill the Emperor Justinian surrounded with a wall on both sides, and thus included it in the city of Zenobia, afterwards escarping its sides throughout, so that no enemy could ascend it. He also built another fort upon the top of the hill, and thus rendered it altogether inaccessible to those who wished to assault the city, for beyond the hill the ground sinks into a hollow valley, and therefore it cannot be closely approached by the enemy; above this hollow valley the mountains at once rise on the western side. The Emperor did not merely watch over the safety of the city, but also built churches in it, and barracks for the soldiers: he also constructed public baths and porticos. All this work was carried out under the superintendence of the architects Isidorus and Joannes, of whom Joannes was a Byzantine, and Isidorus a Milesian by birth, being the nephew of that Isidorus whom I mentioned before. Both of these were young men, but showed an energy beyond their years, and both displayed equal zeal in the works which they constructed for the Emperor.

IX. After Zenobia was the city of Suri,[49] situated on the river Euphrates, whose fortifications were so contemptible that when Chosroes assaulted it, it did not hold out for so much as half-an-hour, but was instantly taken by the Persians. This fort, however, like Callinicum, was restored by the Emperor Justinian, who surrounded it with a strong wall, strengthened it with an outwork, and enabled it for the future to resist the attack of the enemy, There is in Euphratesia a church dedicated to Sergius, an eminent saint, whom the ancients so admired and looked up to that they named the place Sergiopolis,[50] and surrounded it with a low rampart, sufficient to prevent the Saracens in that region from capturing it by assault; for the Saracens are by nature incapable of attacking walls, and consequently the weakest mud wall is sufficient to resist their onset. In later times this church received so many offerings as to become powerful and famous throughout the land. The Emperor Justinian, reflecting upon these matters, at once applied himself to its protection, surrounded it with a most admirable wall, and provided a quantity of water, stored up in reservoirs, for the use of its inhabitants; besides this, he built in the place houses and porticos, and all the other buildings which are regarded as the ornaments of a city. He also placed a garrison of soldiers in it to defend the walls in time of need; and, indeed, Chosroes, the King of Persia, who determined to take the city, and who brought up a large army to besiege it, was compelled to raise the siege, being overcome by the strength of the walls.

The Emperor spent equal care upon all the towns and forts on the borders of Euphratesia, (namely) Barbalissus,[51] Neocæsarea, Gabula, Pentacomia, which is on the Euphrates, and Europus.[52] At Hemerius, finding the walls built in some parts carelessly and dangerously, and in some parts formed only of mud, while the place was deficient in water-supply and consequently despicable as a fortification, he razed them to the ground, and at once carefully rebuilt them of courses of the hardest stone, making the wall much wider and higher than before. He also constructed reservoirs for water in all parts of the works, all of which he filled with rain-water, and, placing a garrison there, he rendered the place as powerful and secure as we now see it. Indeed, if one were carefully to consider this, and to inspect all the other good works of the Emperor Justinian, one would say it was for this alone that he had received the crown, by the manifest favour of God, who watches over the Roman people.

Besides these places he also found Hierapolis,[53] which is the chief of all the cities in that region, lying exposed to any enemy that might attack it, but by his own provident foresight he rendered it safe; for, as it originally enclosed a large empty space and on that account the entire circuit of the walls could not be guarded, he cut off the part which was useless, arranged the walls in a safer and more compact form, and, by thus reducing it to the size necessary for use, made it one of the strongest cities of the present day. He also conferred upon it the following benefit. A fountain of sweet water springs perpetually out of the earth in the midst of the city, and forms therein a wide lake; this, indeed, added to the safety of the city when it was beleaguered by an enemy, but in time of peace was by no means necessary, as much water was brought into the city from without. In process of time the inhabitants, having enjoyed a long period of peace, and having never experienced any distress, neglected this spring; for it is not in human nature when in prosperity to make provision against times of adversity; consequently they gradually filled up the lake with rubbish, and were accustomed to bathe in it, to wash their clothes in it, and to throw all kinds of refuse into it....

In this province of Euphratesia were situated two other towns, Zeugma[54] and Neocæsarea, which were indeed towns in name, but were merely surrounded by dry stone walls, built so low that they might be crossed by an enemy without any difficulty, since they could leap over them without fear; while they were so narrow as to be altogether indefensible, because they afforded no room for the garrison to stand upon to defend them; however, the Emperor Justinian surrounded these places also with real walls, of a sufficient width and height, and equipped them with all other means of defence, thus giving them a just right to be termed cities, and rendering them safe from the attacks of the enemy.

X. Moreover, with regard to the cities taken from Chosroes, that barbarian, disregarding the perpetual peace which he had sworn to observe, and the money which he had received on account of it, was filled with envy of the Emperor Justinian, because of the conquests which he had made in Libya and in Italy, and considered his plighted faith to be of less importance than the gratification of this passion; he watched his opportunity, when the greater part of the Roman army was away in the West, and invaded the Roman territory unexpectedly, before the Romans had any news of the approach of the enemy; these cities, I say, the Emperor Justinian so strengthened and beautified that they are all at the present time much more flourishing than before, and have no dread of injury from barbarian invasion, fearing no attacks of any kind.

Above all, he rendered the city of Antiochia,[55] which is now surnamed Theopolis, far more beautiful and powerful than it was before; its wall in ancient times was too large, and extended beyond all reason, uselessly enclosing flat ground in one place, and lofty cliffs in another, so that it was full of weak points. The Emperor Justinian reduced it to a useful size, making it protect the city alone, and not the places which it formerly enclosed. In the lower part of the fortifications, where the city had spread out to a dangerous extent over a smooth plain, and was indefensible through the great length of the wall, he drew it back as far as possible, advantageously reducing the size of the city in that quarter, and strengthening it by concentration. As for the river Orontes, which formerly flowed past it in a circuitous course, he changed its direction, and caused it to skirt the walls of the city. Thus, by an artificial channel, he brought the course of the river as near the city as possible, by which means he relieved the city from the danger of its unmanageable size, and yet retained the protection afforded by the river Orontes: then, by building new bridges, he supplied fresh means of intercourse across the river, which he diverted from its course as far as was required, and then returned to its former bed.

The upper part of the city, on the high ground, he fortified in the following manner. On the summit of the mountain which is called Orocassias there is a lofty rock which stands close outside the wall opposite to the fortifications in that quarter, and which renders them easy to attack. It was from this point that Chosroes took the city, as I have explained in my work on the subject. The region within the walls was for the most part uninhabited and difficult of access, for the place is divided by lofty rocks and deep ravines, which cut off all the paths, so that the wall of Antiochia seems there to belong to another city. He therefore disregarded the rock which overhangs the wall so close and renders it liable to capture, and decided to build his new wall at a distance from it, having learnt by experience the folly of the original builders; moreover, he levelled the ground within the walls, which formerly had been precipitous, and made the ascent to this part of the city not only practicable for people on foot, but for horsemen and even for carriages. On this high ground he also built baths and reservoirs for water within the walls, and dug a well in each tower, remedying the original waterless character of the place by the storage of rain-water.

It is worth our while to describe his works upon the torrent which descends from these mountains. Two precipitous mountains overhang the city, standing close to one another; of these, the one is called Orocassias, the other Stauris. They are joined by a glen and ravine which lies between them, which in time of rain produces the torrent named Onopnictes, which used to flow down from the high ground and overflow the fortifications, and sometimes rose so high as to pour into the streets of the city, doing much mischief to the inhabitants. The Emperor Justinian remedied this in the following manner. In front of that part of the wall which is nearest to the ravine, from which the torrent used to rush against the wall, he built an exceedingly high wall, reaching from the hollow bed of the ravine to the mountains on either side, so that the torrent was not able to rush past it, but was forced to stay and collect its waters there. In this wall he made apertures, through which he forced the water to run gently in a smaller volume, checked by this artificial barrier, so that it no longer broke with its full force against the city wall so as to overflow it and ruin the city, but proceeded gently and quietly, as I have explained, and flowing in this manner passed wherever it was desired to go through the channels constructed for it by the former inhabitants.

Thus did the Emperor Justinian reconstruct the walls of Antiochia; he also rebuilt the entire city, which was burnt by the enemy. As the whole city was reduced to ashes, and levelled to the ground, and only heaps of rubbish remained after the conflagration, it was at first impossible for the citizens of Antiochia to recognise the site of their own dwellings. He consequently removed all the ruins, and cleared away the charred remains of the houses; but, as there were no public porticos or halls supported by columns, no market-place, and no streets which marked out the quarters of the city, there was nothing to point to the site of any particular house. However, the Emperor, without any delay, removed the rubbish as far as possible from the city, thus freeing the air and the ground from all impediments to building, and first covered the foundations of the city everywhere with stones large enough to load a waggon. After this he divided it by porticos and market-places, defined all the blocks of building by streets, arranged the aqueducts, fountains, and watercourses with which the city is adorned, constructed theatres and public baths in it, and graced it with all the other public buildings which belong to a prosperous city.

He also brought thither a number of workmen and artificers, and thus rendered it more easy for the inhabitants to rebuild their own houses; the result of this is that Antiochia at the present day is a more celebrated city than before. He also built therein a large church in honour of the Virgin, the beauty and magnificence of which is in all respects beyond description. He endowed this church with a considerable revenue, and also built a large church dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. Moreover, he made provision for the sick poor in that place, and built dwellings for them, separate for the different sexes, in which they were supplied with attendants, and the means of curing their diseases; while at the same time he established hospices for strangers who might be staying for any time in the city.

XI. In like manner he also restored, greatly strengthened, and brought into its present condition the wall of the city of Chalcis, together with its outwork, which had become weak and ruinous through age.

There was in Syria an utterly neglected village named Cyrus,[56] which the Jews had built in ancient times when they were led captive from Palestine into Syria by the army of the Medes, from which country they were long afterwards released by Cyrus the King; wherefore they called the place Cyrus in honour of their benefactor. In the course of time Cyrus became quite overlooked and was entirely without walls; but the Emperor Justinian, with a prudent zeal for the safety of the Empire, and also out of reverence for the SS. Cosmas and Damianus, whose bodies lay near that place down to my own time, made Cyrus into a flourishing and admirable city, rendering it safe by a very strong wall, with a numerous garrison, large public buildings, and with all other appurtenances on an exceedingly magnificent scale. In former times the interior of this city was without water, but outside the walls was a plenteous spring which provided abundance of drinking-water, yet was altogether useless to the inhabitants, since they had no means of drawing water from it without great labour and peril; for they were obliged to go to it by a circuitous path, as the country between it and the city was precipitous and altogether impassable, so that an enemy, if he were present, could easily lay an ambush and cut them off. He therefore constructed a watercourse from the city walls to the fountain, not open, but concealed underground with the greatest care, which supplied the city with water without either trouble or danger.

He also very strongly rebuilt the entire circuit of the walls of Chalcis,[57] which had fallen into ruin down to its very foundation and was altogether indefensible, and he strengthened it with an outwork; he also restored all the other towns and forts in Syria in an admirable fashion.

Thus did the Emperor Justinian provide for the security of Syria; there is, too, in Phœnicia, by the side of Lebanon, a city named Palmyra, which was built in the desert in ancient times, and which was conveniently placed on the road by which our enemies the Saracens would enter our country. It was, indeed, originally built for this purpose; namely, in order to prevent the barbarians making unexpected inroads into the Roman territory. This place, which through lapse of time had become almost entirely deserted, was strongly fortified by the Emperor Justinian, who supplied it abundantly with water, and filled it with a garrison of soldiers, so as to check the inroads of the Saracens.