Of the Buildings of Justinian

by Procopius

Plan OF ES SAKHRA.
(Dome of the Rock)
From the O.S. Plan of Jerusalem 1864-5.

Plan of EL AKSA.

VI. These were the works of the Emperor Justinian in Cilicia. At Jerusalem he built a church in honour of the Virgin,[97] to which no other can be compared. The inhabitants call it the ‘new church.’ I shall describe what it is like, prefacing my account by the remark that this city stands for the most part upon hilly ground, which hills are not formed of earth, but are rough and precipitous, so as to make the paths up and down them as steep as ladders. All the rest of the buildings in the city stand in one place, being either built upon the hills, or upon flat and open ground; but this church alone stands in a different position; for the Emperor Justinian ordered it to be built upon the highest of the hills, explaining of what size he wished it to be, both in width and in length. The hill was not of sufficient size to enable the work to be carried out according to the Emperor’s orders, but a fourth part of the church, that towards the south wind and the rising sun, in which the priests perform the sacred mysteries, was left with no ground upon which to rest. Accordingly those in charge of this work devised the following expedient: they laid foundations at the extremity of the flat ground, and constructed a building rising to the same height as the hill. When it reached the summit, they placed vaults upon the walls and joined this building to the other foundations of the church; so that this church in one place is built upon a firm rock, and in another place is suspended in the air—for the power of the Emperor has added another portion to the (original) hill. The stones of this substruction are not of the size of those which we are accustomed to see: for the builders of this work, having to contend with the nature of the ground, and being forced to raise a building equal in size to a mountain, scorned the ordinary practices of building, and betook themselves to strange and altogether unknown methods. They cut blocks of stone of enormous size out of the mountains which rise to vast heights in the neighbourhood of the city, cunningly squared them, and brought them thither in the following manner: they built waggons of the same size as these stones, and placed one stone upon each waggon. These waggons were dragged by picked oxen, chosen by the Emperor, forty of them dragging each waggon with its stone. Since it was impossible for the roads leading into the city to take these waggons upon them, they made a passage for them by cutting deeply into the mountains, and thus formed the church of the great length which it was the Emperor’s pleasure that it should have. After they had built it of a proportional width they were not able to put a roof upon it. While they were inspecting every grove and place which they heard was planted with tall trees, they discovered a thick wood, producing cedars of enormous height, with which they made the roof of the church, of a height proportional to its length and width. These were the works[98] which the Emperor Justinian constructed by human power and art, though assisted by his pious confidence, which in its turn reflected honour upon himself, and helped him to carry out his design. This church required to be surrounded on every side with columns, such as in beauty would be worthy of the main building, and of a size capable of supporting the weight which would be laid upon them. However, the place, from its inland situation at a distance from the sea, and its being entirely surrounded by the precipitous mountains which I have mentioned, rendered it impossible for the builders of the foundation to bring columns thither from elsewhere. While, however, the Emperor was grieving at this difficulty, God pointed out in the nearest mountains a bed of stone of a kind suitable for this purpose, which either had existed there in former times and been concealed, or was then created. Either story is credible to those who regard God as the cause of it: for we, measuring everything by our human strength, think that many things belong to the region of the impossible, while for God nothing whatever is difficult or impossible. The church, then, is supported by a great number of columns brought from this place, of very great size, and of a colour which resembles flame, which stand, some above, some below, and some round the porticos which encircle the entire church, except on the side turned towards the east. Of these columns, the two which stand before the door of the church are of very unusual size, and probably second to no columns in the whole world. Beyond them is another portico, named the Narthex (reed), I suppose because it is narrow; after this is a court of square shape supported by columns of equal size; from this lead interior doors of such grandeur as to show those passing them what a spectacle they are about to meet with. Beyond this is a wonderful porch, and an arch supported on two columns at a great height. Proceeding further, there stand two semicircles, opposite to one another, on each side of the way to the church; while on either side of the other road are two hospices—the work of the Emperor Justinian—one of which is destined for the reception of strangers, while the other is an infirmary for the sick poor. The Emperor Justinian also endowed this Church of the Virgin with large revenues. Such were the works of the Emperor Justinian in Jerusalem.

Ruins of Church on M^t. Gerizim.
From a plan by Cap^t. Wilson RE
Quarterly Statement April 1883.

VII. There is a city in Palestine named Neapolis, which is overhung by a lofty mountain named Gerizim.[99] This mountain was originally held by the Samaritans, who ascended it at all seasons in order to pray, not that they had ever built a church there, but worshipped and reverenced the summit of the mountain above everything else. Jesus, the Son of God, when in the flesh, went amongst these people, and held a conversation with one of the women of the country. When she inquired of Him about the mountain, He told her that in future times the Samaritans should not worship in this mountain, but that the true worshippers should worship Himself there, alluding to the Christians. In process of time this prophecy came to pass, for it was not possible that the true God should lie. It came to pass in the following manner. In the reign of the Emperor Zeno, the Samaritans suddenly collected together, and fell upon the Christians in Neapolis, who were keeping the feast called Pentecost in their church, and killed many of them, while they struck with their swords the Bishop, by name Terebinthius—whom they found standing before the holy table, engaged in celebrating the sacrament—so as, amongst other wounds, to cut off the fingers from his hands, while they insulted the holy mysteries in a manner fit indeed for Samaritans to do, but not fit for us to speak of. This priest shortly afterwards came to Byzantium, into the presence of the then Emperor, to whom he showed what he himself had suffered, described what had taken place, and begged the Emperor to avenge what had been done, reminding him of the prophecy of Christ. The Emperor Zeno, much moved at what had taken place, without delay inflicted a full measure of punishment upon those who had been guilty of this outrage. He drove the Samaritans out of Mount Gerizim, handed it over to the Christians, and built upon the summit a church which he dedicated to the Virgin, which he enclosed with what was indeed called a wall, but which in truth was a dry stone fence. He placed a sufficient number of soldiers as a garrison in the city below, but in the church and its fortification not more than ten. The Samaritans, enraged at these proceedings, were filled with anger, and remained sulky and dissatisfied, though, through fear of the Emperor, they kept silence. In process of time, however, in the reign of Anastasius, the following event took place. Some of the Samaritans, at the instigation of a woman, climbed unexpectedly up the steep face of the mountain, for the road which leads up it from the city was strictly guarded, so that it was impossible for them to ascend by it. Falling suddenly upon the church, they killed the guards who were posted there, and called with a loud voice upon the Samaritans in the city to join them. They, however, fearing the soldiers, were not at all willing to join the conspirators; and not long afterwards the governor of the province (he was named Procopius, of the city of Edessa, an eloquent man) captured those who had been guilty of this outrage, and put them to death. Yet even then the Emperor did not bestow any attention or care upon the fortification; but in our own time the Emperor Justinian, although he has for the most part converted the Samaritans to a better religion, and rendered them Christians, yet, leaving the old wall round the church upon Gerizim in its former condition of loose stones, as I described before, he enclosed it within a second wall, and rendered it altogether impregnable. In this place he also rebuilt five Christian churches which had been burned by the Samaritans. These were his works in this country.

VIII. In the country which was formerly called Arabia, but which now is known as the Third Province of Palestine, a desert tract extends for a great distance, entirely barren of fruits, of water, and of all good things. A precipitous and savagely wild mountain, named Sina, stands close to the Red Sea. It is not necessary at this point in my narrative for me to give a description of these regions, since in my ‘History of the Wars’ I have given an exact account of the whole of the country near the Red Sea and the so-called Arabian Gulf, and of the tribes of the Auxomite Ethiopians, and the Homerite Saracens. There also I have described how the Emperor Justinian added the palm-grove[100] to the Roman Empire. I therefore omit to speak of this, that I may not incur the charge of want of taste. In this Mount Sina[101] dwell monks, whose life is but a careful study of death, and who therefore enjoy without fear the solitude which is dear to them. Since these monks have no desires, but are superior to all human passions, and as they possess nothing and spend no care upon their persons, nor seek for pleasure from anything else whatever, the Emperor Justinian built a church for them, which he dedicated to the Virgin, that they might therein spend their life in continual prayer and service of God. He did not build this church on the summit of the mountain, but a long way below it; for it is not possible for a man to pass the night upon the peak, because at night continuous thunderings and other yet more terrible divine manifestations take place, which overpower men’s strength and reason. Here it was that Moses is said to have received the Law from God, and to have brought it away. At the foot of the mountain our Emperor also built a very strong fort, and placed in it a very considerable garrison of soldiers, in order that the barbarian Saracens might not from that point, the country being, as I have said, a desert, secretly invade Palestine. This is what he did here; but what he did in the monasteries, both here and in the remainder of the East, I will now briefly enumerate.