Of the Buildings of Justinian

by Procopius

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.