Of the Buildings of Justinian

by Procopius

IX, In Jerusalem he restored the following monasteries: that of St. Thalelæus, St. Gregorius, and St. Panteleemon in the desert of Jordan; the hospice at Jericho;[102] the church of the Virgin at Jericho; the church of the Iberians at Jerusalem; the church of the Lazi in the desert of Jerusalem; the church of St. Mary in the Mount of Olives; the church of the well of St. Elisæus;[103] the church of Siletheus; the church of the Abbot Romanus. He restored the wall of Bethlehem, and the church of the Abbot Joannes at Bethlehem.

CHURCH AT BETHLEHEM.[104]

He built cisterns and reservoirs as follows: in the monastery of St. Samuel, a wall and a cistern; in the monastery of the Abbot Zacharia, a cistern; in the monastery of Susanna, a cistern; in the monastery of Aphelius, a cistern; in the monastery of St. John beside the Jordan, a cistern;[105] in the monastery of St. Sergius in the mountain named Cisseron, a cistern; the wall of Tiberias;[106] the poor-house at Bostra in Phœnicia; the house of the Virgin at Porphyreon;[107] the monastery of St. Phoca in the mount; the house of St. Sergius in Ptolemaïs;[108] the house of St. Leontius at Damascus. In the suburbs of Apamea[109] he restored the poor-house of St. Romanus; he built the wall of St. Marox; he restored the church of Daphne[110] in the suburbs of Theopolis; at Laodicea[111] he restored the church of St. John; in Mesopotamia he restored the monastery of St. John, and the monasteries of Thelphrache, Zebinus, Theodotus, Joannes, Sarmathe, Cyrene, Begadacum, and the monastery at Apadnæ, in Isauria.[112] He rebuilt the bath and poor-house of the city of Cyricum; the poor-house of St. Conon, and the aqueduct of the same saint in Cyprus; the house of SS. Cosmas and Damianus in Pamphylia; and the poor-house of St. Michael in the seaport which is called the naval arsenal of the city of Perga, in Pamphylia.

BOOK VI.

I. The above were the works of Justinian in those regions. What he did at Alexandria was as follows. The river Nile does not flow as far as Alexandria, but, after reaching the city which is named Chæreum,[113] proceeds to the left, leaving the country about Alexandria. In consequence this the ancients, in order that the city might not be entirely cut off from the river, dug a deep channel from Chæreum, and succeeded in making a small part of the stream of the river Nile run through it, by which, as by other channels, it discharges its waters into the lake Maria. This channel was nowhere navigable for large ships, but men at Chæreum transfer Egyptian corn from them to boats named diaremata, and so bring it to the city, which they can reach by the river which flows through this channel. They store up the corn in the place which the Alexandrians call Phiale. Since it often happened that when the populace rose in revolt, the corn in this place was destroyed, the Emperor Justinian enclosed it with a wall, and prevented any attacks being made upon the corn. These were the works of the Emperor Justinian in this place. However, since the course of our narrative has brought us into Egypt, a country which borders upon Libya, let us describe his works in that country also, since this Emperor found the whole of Libya in the possession of barbarians, and annexed it to the Roman Empire.

The river Nile, which flows from the Indies into Egypt, divides that land into two portions down to the sea. The land, which is divided by the river, is divided also in name; for the country on the right bank of the river is named Asia, as far as the river Phasìs in Colchis, which divides the land of Asia from that of Europe, or indeed to the Cimmerian straits and the river Tanais; for geographers are at issue upon this point, which I have mentioned in the description of the Euxine Sea in my ‘History of the Wars.’ The country on the left bank of the Nile is called Libya as far as the main ocean, which divides the two continents in the West by interposing an arm between them, which forms our (Mediterranean) Sea. The whole of Libya is divided into various provinces, called, probably, after the name of their inhabitants; but the name of Libya at the present day is applied only to the territory of Pentapolis,[114] which extends from the frontier at Alexandria as far as the city of Cyrene. In it there is a city, situated at a distance of two days’ journey from Alexandria, named Taphosiris,[115] in which it is said that the Egyptian god Osiris is buried. In this city the Emperor Justinian constructed magistrates’ houses, public baths, and other buildings.

II. The greater part of this country of Libya is desert, and was almost entirely neglected: yet our Emperor in his watchful care took measures to prevent its incurring any damage from invasion by the neighbouring Moors, for he built two forts and established garrisons in them. One of these forts is named Paratonium, and the other Antipyrgum, which stands near Pentapolis. Pentapolis is distant from Alexandria eight days’ journey for a lightly-equipped traveller. In this country of Pentapolis the Emperor Justinian likewise very strongly fortified the city Teuchria,[116] and rebuilt from its foundations the wall[117] of Berenice,[118] where he also built a public bath for the use of the citizens; moreover, on the southern frontier of Pentapolis he fortified two monasteries, named Agriolodes and Dinarthion, by which he restrained the barbarians in that quarter from making sudden and unexpected inroads on the Roman territory.

There is in this country a city, named Ptolemaïs,[119] which in former times was flourishing and populous, but in process of time became almost deserted through want of water; for the greater part of the inhabitants long ago suffered from drought so much that they left it and dispersed in various directions. Now, however, our Emperor has rebuilt the aqueduct which supplied the city with water, and restored it to its former appearance of prosperity.[120] The furthest city of Pentapolis upon the western frontier is that of Borium,[121] where mountains, standing close together, seem to form a barrier which shuts out the enemy from invading the country. The Emperor, finding this city unwalled, enclosed it with a very strong rampart, thus rendering it and the whole of the country round it quite secure for the future.