“Now when the piers (pinsoi) had been finished, and the great columns, both those from Rome and the green ones, had been put in their position, the emperor left his noonday sleep and devoted himself to the work, and inspected, with Troilus, a count of the household, all the polishers (lithoxooi), stonecutters (laotomoi), carpenters (tektonikoi), and labourers (oikodomoi), promising them each week a nummus more, or as much as each might ask, above their fixed wages. He used to come to see how the work was proceeding, clad in a white linen garment, his head covered with a kerchief, and holding a stick in his hand.
“And when they had raised the vaults (apsides) of the upper floor, those on the right and on the left, and had covered over these vaults, the emperor decreed that no miliarisia should be carried from the palace on Sundays. Now it was the third hour of the day, and Strategius ordered the men to go to their dinners. As Ignatius, the first mechanikos of the builders whom I have mentioned above, came down, he left his son on the right-hand side of the upper floor, where he had been working, with strict orders to watch the workmen’s tools. He was a boy of about fourteen. As he was sitting there, a eunuch, clad in shining garments, and fair to look upon, like one sent from the palace, appeared to him and said, ‘What is the reason why the workmen do not quickly finish the work of God, but have left it and gone to eat?’ To him the boy answered, ‘At the earliest hour, my lord, they will be here.’ But he cried, ‘Go quickly and bring them.’ When the boy said that he was not to leave, lest the tools should disappear, the eunuch said, ‘Go quickly and summon them here, for I swear to thee, my son, by the Holy Wisdom, whose temple is now being built, I will not depart, since, by the command of the Word of God, I am to minister and guard here until you return.’ When he heard this, the boy quickly set out, leaving the angel of God as guard. And when he had got down, and gone to his father and the rest, he related everything in order; then the father took his son and led him to the emperor’s table. For the emperor was then dining in the oratory of St. John the Precursor, by the Horologium. When he heard the story, he summoned all his eunuchs, and showed each in turn to the boy. Then the boy calling out that he saw none like the one that had appeared, the emperor knew that it was an angel of the Lord who had addressed the boy, and this was made more clear, as the boy said that he was clothed in a white robe, his eyes glittering like fire; then the emperor praised God, saying, ‘God has accepted my temple.’ And as he had been wondering what name to call it, he named it S. Sophia, according to interpretation ‘Word of God.’ And the emperor took counsel with himself and said, ‘I will not allow the boy to return, so that the angel may guard it for ever, as he promised by his oath. For if the boy return, the angel will depart.’ Having consulted with the principal senators and the bishops, the emperor commanded that the boy should not be sent back to the temple, so that, by the grace of God, it should have a guardian till the end of the world. And then the emperor loaded the boy with gifts and honours, and, with the consent of his father, sent him to the Cyclades. Now the conversation of the angel with the boy happened on the right-hand side of the pier of the upper arch, as one ascends towards the dome. [Codinus says, “near the Syllagonum,” for this it has been suggested to read Syllagoeum, or “the place of the council”].
“When the workmen had continued the work up to the second catechumena, and the upper columns and arches were built, and they were roofing the adjacent parts, the emperor began to be anxious for want of funds. But as he was standing in the upper part of an arch, as they were about to begin the dome, at the hour of the Sabbath just before dinner, an eunuch appeared to him, clad in white, and said, ‘Why are you distressed for money? To-morrow bid some of your nobles to come, and they shall have as much gold as they wish.’ On the following day the eunuch came and showed himself to the emperor. The emperor sent to follow him Strategius, and Basilides the quaestor, and Theodorus the patrician, and Colocyns who was a praefect, besides fifty servants, twenty mules, and twenty paniers. With all these he marched out of the Golden Gate. And when they had come to the Tribunalium, there seemed to those who were sent to be built there palaces of stupendous beauty. But when they had dismounted, the eunuch bade them ascend a wonderful stair, and then, producing a splendid gold key, he opened the door of a room, and, as Strategius says, the whole floor was heaped with gold coins. Taking a shovel, the eunuch filled each panier with four hundred pounds of gold, amounting altogether to eight thousand, and with these he sent them back to the emperor; and having closed up the room with the key, he said to them, ‘Take the gold to the emperor, and bid him spend it on the work.’ The eunuch left them there, and they came and showed the emperor the gold they had received. He was astonished, and asked them where they had been, and where the eunuch dwelt. They told him all in order, and how the wealth of gold was spread on the floor of the room. The emperor hoped that the eunuch would return, but as he was disappointed he sent a slave to the place. When the slave had found the place where the palace had been, and saw that there were no houses there, he returned, and told all to the emperor. He was then astonished, but understanding how it was, said, ‘Truly this is a miracle as all may see;’ and he praised God.
“Now when they were going to build the thysiasterium and let in the light through glass windows, the Deviser (mechanikos) suggested that the apsoid (muax) should have one light. Then he changed his mind, and suggested that it should have two, so that it should not be heavy, because no wooden ties (ikriomata) were placed there as in the narthex, and on the sides of the church. But the rest of the craftsmen were opposed, saying that one arch (kamara) would light the holy place. Then the chief builder (protooikodomos) was at a loss what to do, because the emperor said at one time that there should be one arch (apsis), and at another time two. Whilst the master (maistor) was thus pondering and anxious, on the fourth day, at the fifth hour, appeared an angel of the Lord, like the emperor, with royal robes and red shoes, and said to the craftsman, ‘I will that there be a triple light, and that the conch be made with three windows,[223] in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.’ He then disappeared quickly. Then the master, struck with wonder, rushed to the palace, and said to the emperor, ‘You keep not to your word. Until to-day you wanted one window, and then two, to light the bema; but now, when the work is all but finished, you come to me and say, three windows shall light the bema, as a symbol of the Trinity.’ Now the emperor knew that day that he had not left the palace, and he recognised that an angel of the Lord had spoken. He said, ‘As I have bidden thee, so do.’
“All the piers (pessoi) inside and outside were made strong by iron bars (mochloi), so that they were bound together, and made immovable; the joints of the piers were made with oil and asbestos; and upon them was placed a plating of many marbles (orthomarmarosis).
“The emperor sent Troilus the Cubicular, Thedosius the Prefect, and Basilides the Quaestor, to Rhodes to have bricks (besala) of Rhodian clay, made all equal in weight and length, with the words engraved on them, ‘God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.’[224] And they sent bricks of measured sizes to the emperor, twelve of them weigh one of ours; for the clay is light, spongy, fine, and white; hence arose the common idea that the dome is built of pumice stone (kiserion); but this is not so, though it is light and of a white colour.
“Thus the four great arches were built; and when they had been raised to the level of the dome (troulos), on the completion of every twelfth course, prayers were uttered for the church, and relics of the saints built in. Thus arose the building; it was then adorned with marble and covered with mosaic. And into the piers, arcades, and larger columns they placed relics of the saints. And when the marble plating had been finished, they applied gold to the margins of the slabs, and to the capitals of the columns. And the carved work, and the ornaments of the upper galleries, both of the parts with two stories, and with three (diorophoi and triorophoi), were all covered with pure gold. The thickness of the gold plating (petalos) was two inches.[225]
“But all the vaults (orophoi) of the upper galleries, of the parts with two stories on the sides, and the vaulting of the nave, and of the parts adjacent, and of the four nartheces, he gilded with glass mosaic. He gilded even the proaulia, with their upper chambers, and columns, and marble slabs.
“The floor of the nave was adorned with various marbles, both with the Roman of a rue-green colour and others of a rosy red; and these were all laid down and polished. The walls outside and all round were covered with large and valuable stones.
“The thysiasterium was of shining silver, the barrier (stethea), and its large columns, with the doors, were all of silver. All the silver was dipped in gold. Four tables were set up in the thysiasterium supported on columns, and these were gilt. The seven seats of the priests, on which they sat on either side, with the throne of the patriarch, and the four columns, were all gilded. And it was forbidden to go up into the holy place, the Kuklios, also called the Holy of Holies, which is above the steps.