Of the Buildings of Justinian

by Procopius

THE END.

BILLING & SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] ‘A new era for Christian architecture commenced with his reign. The historian Procopius has simplified, in the different provinces of his Eastern empire, the task to those who would search for vestiges of buildings erected by this Prince. Anthemius was selected by him as his architect, and the Church of St. Sophia became the type of all the Greek churches from the sixth century. The basilica was, until his time, the type of the Christian church. Anthemius abandoned this form. The chief feature of the church was the dome, the form of the oblong nave being abandoned.’—Texier and Pullan, ‘Byzantine Architecture’ (fol., London, 1864), p. 20. (L.)

[2] There is a pun in the original upon παιδιά and παιδέια. Cf. Gibbon, ch. xl. (S.)

[3] ‘Taken altogether, there is no building erected during the first thirteen centuries after the Christian era which, as an interior, is either so beautiful or so worthy of attentive study as this.’—Fergusson, ‘Handbook of Architecture’ (8vo., London, 1855), p. 951. (L.)

In addition to Procopius, the erection of St. Sophia has been described by Agathias, and at much greater length by Paulus Silentiarius, and the three descriptions have been compared and analyzed in the ‘Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ,’ s.v. Paulus Silentiarius. (L.)

A full description of St. Sophia with plans, sections, and detailed drawings of the mosaics, sculpture, etc., is given by Salzenburg in his splendid work ‘Alt Christliche von Constantinopel’ (Berlin, 1854). (L.)

[4] ‘The solid piles which sustained the cupola were composed of huge blocks of freestone, hewn into squares and triangles, fortified by circles of iron, and firmly cemented by the infusion of lead and quicklime.’—Gibbon, ch. xl. (S.)

[5] ‘Nine western doors open into the vestibule, and from thence into the narthex or exterior portico. That portico was the humble station of the penitents. The nave, or body of the church, was filled by the congregation of the faithful; but the two sexes were prudently distinguished, and the upper and lower galleries were allotted for the more private devotion of the women.’—Gibbon, ch. xl. (S.)