“He set up also large columns of silver-gilt, and the lilies with the ciborium. And the ciborium he made with silver and nielloed (arguroencauston). Above the ciborium was a globe of solid gold, weighing 118 pounds, and golden lilies, weighing six pounds, and above them a golden cross, with most precious and rare stones, weighing eighty pounds. Such was the design he made.
“And as he wished to make the holy table more beautiful than the rest, and more precious with gold, he collected numerous craftsmen, and consulted with them. Their opinion and advice was to cast into the melting pot (choneuterion) gold, silver, stones of every kind, and pearls, copper, electron, lead, tin, iron, glass, and every other metallic substance. And they ground them all together and formed them into masses (olboi), and poured them into the pot; and when it had been melted, they took it from the fire and poured it out into a mould (tupos). Thus the holy table was made. And it was then set up by the emperor on solid columns of gold, studded with precious stones. And the ‘sea’ (thalassa) of the holy table was ornamented with gold and precious stones. Who can see the holy table without being astonished? and who can gaze at it on account of the many glinting surfaces? so that at one time it all appears of gold, from another place all of silver, and in another of glittering sapphire; and altogether there are eighty-two different colours of metals and stones and pearls.
“He made also, above and below, carved ivory doors overlaid with gold, to the number of 365. In the first entrance into the louter he made the doors of electron; doors also of electron were in the narthex, two of them smaller than the middle one, which was much larger, and of silver dipped in gold (chrusembaphos). The architraves also were overlaid with gold. Three or the doors inside, instead of being made of new wood, were made of wood from the Ark. He wished to make the pavement entirely of silver [Codinus says gold], but his advisers dissuaded him, saying that in the future poor emperors might have it taken up. And those who persuaded him were Maximian and Hierotheus, Athenian philosophers and astronomers, saying that in the latter days poorer rulers would come and take it all away. And following these counsels the thought was given up. And every day the emperor had 2,000 miliarisia put in a heap and mingled with earth; and when work was finished, in the evening, the craftsmen dug out the mound and found the miliarisia, and this the emperor did that they might be eager for their work. And collecting the materials, as was said, took seven and a half years. But the completion of the temple, even with the crowd of workmen I have mentioned, all labouring with the greatest eagerness, took nine years two months.
“The ambo with the solea he paved with sardonyx, and inserted precious stones; its columns were of solid gold, with carbuncles and crystals and sapphires; and he overlaid the upper part of the solea richly with gold. The ambo had also a golden dome studded with pearls, lychnites, and emeralds.
“The gold cross of the ambo weighed 100 pounds. It had also seizae,[226] and lychnites, and was embroidered with pearls. And the ambo above had a hat-shaped covering (petasion), upon[227] supports (stethea).
“The top of the Holy Well was brought from Samaria. It was considered sacred, because Christ had sat on it, and talked to the woman. And the bronze trumpets, which stand by the Holy Well, were brought from Jericho; they were those at whose blasts by angels the walls of Jericho fell down. The honoured Cross, to-day in the skeuophylakium, which was the measure of our Lord’s height, was eagerly sought for in Jerusalem by the faithful and brought hither. And for this reason they surrounded it with silver, and all kinds of precious stones, and overlaid it with gold. And to this day it works healing wonders, and drives away diseases and demons. And in every column [of the church] both above and below is placed one sacred relic.
“He made also golden vessels for the twelve solemn feasts, according to the sacred Gospels: basins (cherniboxeses), ewers (orkioloi), chalices (diskopoteria), and patens (diskoi); they were all of solid gold, set with precious stones and pearls. And the number of the sacred vessels was 1,000; altar-cloths (endutai), with rows of jewels, 300; crowns, 100. Every festal day had its own chalice covering (poterokalumma). There were paten covers (diskokalummata) of gold, with pearls and precious stones, to the number of 1,000; four-and-twenty gospels, each worth two centenaria; thirty-six censers of solid gold with precious stones; 300 lamps (luchnitai) weighing forty pounds; 6,000 candelabra (polycandela), and clustered lights[228] of solid gold, for the ambo, the bema, the two gynaecea, and the narthex.
“The revenues of 365 farms in Egypt, India, and all the East and West were devoted to the maintenance of the church. For each holy day was set aside 1,000 measures of oil, 300 measures of wine, and 1,000 sacramental loaves. Similarly for the daily services, the clergy, including the lowest, numbered 1,000, with 100 singers divided into two for alternate weeks. For the clergy there were cells round the building; for the singers there were two monasteries.
“He made five gold crosses, each weighing 100 pounds, which were adorned with all kinds of precious stones, so that they were each valued at eight centenaria: also two candlesticks of gold incrusted with pearls and precious stones, valued at five centenaria, as well as two other large carved candelabra (manoualia) of gold; these had golden feet, each worth 100 pounds, to stand below the golden candelabra. He made fifty others too, of silver, of the height of a man, to stand by the altar. On the adornment of the ambo and solea was spent 100,000 pounds, which was the tribute levied by Constantine on Saroboris, King of the Persians, and on many others. The whole church with the parts outside and around—with the exception of the vessels and ornaments, which were given by the emperor—cost 800,000 pounds.
“Now Justinian alone began and alone finished the church with no other helping him, or even building a part of it. Its beauty is wonderful to behold; all kinds of pearls glitter there like the sea, and one seems to see the ever-flowing waters of great rivers. Now the four boundaries[229] of the church he called after the rivers that flowed from Paradise, and he made a law that whosoever was excommunicated should stand there for his sins. And for the phiale in the centre he made twelve arcades, and lions belching out water for the people to wash in. On the right side, however, of the right-hand gynaeceum, he made a basin (thalassa) of one cubit for the water to come up in, and one flight of steps (klimax) for the priests to cross above the water. He placed too in the front of the basin (dexamene) an open tank for the rain (ombusia), and carved twelve lions, twelve pards, twelve deer, and eagles, and hares, and calves, and crows, twelve of each, and these spouted out the water for the use of the priests alone. The place was called the place of the lions (leontarion) and metatorion, because there was a golden couch there, that the emperor might rest on his way to the temple. But who can describe the comeliness and beauty of the temple, overlaid with resplendent gold from the crown to the pavement?