CHAPTER XII. § 1. Bronze Doors, &c. § 2. Mosaics. Salzenberg’s

Description. First Scheme. Later Scheme. Fossati’s Description.

Tesserae and Fixing. § 3. Glass. Plaster. Painting. § 4. Monograms

and Inscriptions. _page_ 264

S. SOPHIA CHAPTER I

THE CITY OF CONSTANTINE AND THE FIRST CHURCH

_Byzantium._--Where the narrow swift-flowing Bosporus, which divides

Asia from the most eastern part of southern Europe, flows into the Sea

of Marmara, a crescent-shaped arm of the sea runs westward into the

land, leaving a narrow promontory, which, like the prow of a boat in

profile, puts out to the east. The point of this promontory is a mass

of rock rising steeply from the sea: divided by a slight transverse

depression from the rest of the land, it forms the first hill of the

seven which were afterwards inclosed by the walls of Constantinople.

On this crest (by the present Seraglio Point), commanding the passage

to the Euxine, was built, in the seventh century B.C., by colonists

from Megara--with whom Dionysius couples the Corinthians--the

Acropolis, the sacred city and citadel, and within certain limits the

lines of its containing walls may still be traced. The lower city

gathered about the slopes outside the Acropolis, and had other walls

defining its landward limits. Dionysius, the ancient Byzantine writer,

who describes the city before the siege of Severus, 196 A.D., says

that this citadel of Byzantium was on the promontory of the Bosporus,

above the bay called Keras (the Golden Horn). “At a little distance

over the height is the altar of Athena Ecbasia--of the landing--where

the colonists fought as for their own land. There is too a temple

of Poseidon, an ancient one and hence quite plain, which stands over

the sea.... Below the temple of Poseidon, but within the wall, on the

level ground are stadia and gymnasia, and courses for the young.”[1]

This Acropolis is roughly outlined in Fig. 1, the evidence being the

contours of the hill, remains and records of certain walls to be

mentioned later, and the boundaries between the first four regions in

Constantine’s city as given in the _Notitia_,[2] a description of the

city written in the beginning of the fifth century. The Acropolis so

defined has a striking resemblance to other Greek hill cities--Tiryns,

Mycenae, Acrocorinth, and the Acropolis of Athens. In Fig. 1 the

cross shows the site of the present Church of S. Sophia; the arrow

shows the Hippodrome, which, still existing, is the great monument

of pre-Constantinian times, and forms the key for all study of the

subsequent city; O shows the position of the column said to have been

erected by Claudius Gothicus about 270 A.D., which stands at the north

end of the Acropolis overlooking Seraglio or Demetrius Point.

Of the ancient Greek town few positive remains have come down to

us, with the exception of the coins. A publication by the Greek

Philological Society of Constantinople mentions as among several

pre-Constantinian inscriptions a marble slab found in “the tower next

to the _Zouk Tsesmé_ gate on the left as one ascends to S. Sophia,”

which refers to the stadium erected by Pausanias the General in

477 B.C., “within the walls of Byzantium and below the temple of

Poseidon.”[3] The coins also go back to the fifth century B.C. The

early ones show a cow standing on a dolphin, with the letters BY. In

the third century we have Poseidon seated on a promontory, and later

again a dolphin twined round a trident--all the types having evident

reference to the sea-washed city. Another relic of ancient Byzantium

is still to be seen below the curve of the Hippodrome, where a white

marble capital of good Greek Doric work lies neglected on the seaward

bank of the new railway.

In addition to the ancient buildings already mentioned, we learn

from Dionysius that the city possessed a temple of Gé Onesidora--the

fruitful earth--which consisted of “an unroofed space surrounded by

a wall of polished stone.” Near by were “temples of Demeter and the

Maiden (Persephone), with many pictures in them, relics of their former

wealth.” This author was also shown the sites of temples to Hera and

Pluto, “the former having been destroyed by Darius, and the latter by

Philip of Macedon.” He also speaks of a large round tower joined to the

wall of the city.

Some records or legends of the ancient city are also contained in the

_Paschal Chronicle_.[4] After the siege Severus “built the public bath

called Zeuxippus. Now in the middle of the four-porticoed[5] space

stood a bronze _stele_ of the sun, below which he wrote the name of

the sun. The people of Thrace indeed call the place Helion, but the

Byzantines themselves call this same public bath ‘of Zeuxippus’ after

its original name, although the emperor ordered it should be called

Severion. Opposite to it in the acropolis of Byzantium he built the

temple of Apollo, which also faced the two other temples formerly built

by Byzas--one to Artemis with the olive, and the other to Phedalian

Aphrodite. And the figure of the sun was taken from the four-porticoes

and placed in this temple (of Apollo). Opposite the temple of Artemis

he built large kennels, and a theatre opposite the temple of Aphrodite.

He bought houses and gardens from two brothers, and after pulling down

the former and uprooting the latter he built the Hippodrome. Severus

restored the Strategion as well. It was first named by Alexander of

Macedon, who, in his campaign against Darius, reviewed his troops there

before attacking the Persians.”

_New Rome_.--It was about 328 A.D. or the following year that

Constantine decided to enlarge this city, which had long been under the

domination of Rome, and to make it his capital. The work of building

was pushed forward with great energy, and it was consecrated in May

330. By an edict engraved on a stone erected in the Strategium, it was

called the New Rome of Constantine. In the documents of the patriarchs

of the Greek Church the city is still called New Rome.

The quarries of easily wrought marble of large crystalline structure

and soft white colour found in such abundance in the island of

Proconnesus, only a few miles away over the sea to which it has given

its name of Marmara, then as now furnished a perfect building material;

while the still worked quarries of Egypt and Thessaly provided imperial

purple and green. But a richer quarry was doubtless found in the

porphyry and cippolino shafts of the old temples of many a declining

city.

Constantine’s city does not appear to have been so completely Christian

as the ecclesiastical writers would have us suppose. Zosimus tells us

that Constantine erected a shrine to the Dioscuri in the Hippodrome,

and he mentions the temples of Rhea and the Tyché of the city in a

large four-porticoed forum. A whole population of bronze and marble

statues was brought together from Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily. The

baths of Zeuxippus alone are said to have had more than sixty bronze

statues,[6] a still greater number were assembled in the Augusteum and

other squares, and in the Hippodrome, where, according to Zosimus,[7]

Constantine placed the Pythian tripod, which had been the central

object in the temple of Apollo at Delphi. On the triple coils of the

bronze serpents in the At-Meidan can still be read the names of the

Greek states, which, after the battle of Plataea, dedicated a tithe of

the spoil to the Delphic oracle, as described by Herodotus.[8]

An extremely valuable description of ancient Byzantium and the

reconstruction by Constantine is given by Zosimus, writing not much

more than a century after the transformation. “Now the city lay upon

the crest of a hill which forms a part of the isthmus that is made

by what is called the ‘Horn’ (κέρας) and the Propontis. And formerly

it had its gate (πύλη) at the end of the colonnades which Severus

built.” ... “And the wall on its western part descending along with the

crest reached to the temple of Aphrodite, and the sea of Chrysopolis

[Scutari] which is opposite; and in the same way from the crest the

wall descended northward to the harbour which is called Neorion,

and from thence up to the sea which lies directly in front of the

straits through which one enters the Euxine.” ... “This then was the

ancient size of the city. And Constantine erected a circular forum

_where formerly was the gate_, and surrounded it with porticoes of two

storeys. He set up two very big arches of Proconnesian marble opposite

each other; through them one entered the porticoes of Severus or issued

from the ancient city. And wishing to make the city much larger he

further continued the old wall fifteen stadia, and inclosed the city

with a wall which cut off the isthmus from sea to sea.”

It is clear from this that the ancient land gate of Byzantium stood on

the crest of the ridge close to the site now occupied by the Porphyry

Column (which was set up by Constantine in the New Forum), and formed

the end of a street of columns built by Severus (the _Mese_). From

this gate the wall ran southwards to a temple of Aphrodite, and along

the shore of the Propontis opposite Scutari. Northwards it descended

to the Golden Horn at the Neorion port, and turned along the shore to

Seraglio Point. Now the Neorion port was just outside the entrance to

the modern Galata bridge,[9] and the account agrees perfectly with the

_Notitia_ in which we find the following: “The sixth ward at entering

on it is level ground for a short distance, all the rest is upon the

descent; for it extends from the Forum of Constantine to the stairs

where you ferry over to Sycae [Galata]. It contains the porphyry pillar

of Constantine; the Senate House in the same place, the Neorion port;

the stairs of Sycae, &c.”

It is evident that the city which Constantine found had been virtually

rebuilt by Severus in the style of the East. From the days when

Alexandria and Antioch were planned a city had become a whole to be

designed according to rule. Essential features of such cities--of

which Palmyra is the best representative--were long avenues of columns

forming the main streets, and a triumphal arch with a central “golden

milestone.” The main street of columns at Constantinople, which we

later hear of by the name of the _Mese_ as forming the way from the

Milion to the Forum of Constantine, cannot be any other than the

“Porticoes of Severus” just mentioned. In the fifth century we find

the _Mese_ referred to in the building laws of Zeno. “We ordain that

none shall be allowed to obstruct with buildings the numerous rows

of columns which are erected in the public porticoes, such as those

leading from what is called the Milion to the Capitol,” any shops

or booths between the columns “must be ornamented on the outside at

least with marble, that they may beautify the city and give pleasure

to the passers by.”[10] Mordtmann shows that this great columned way

occupied very nearly the line of the present Divan Yiulu; indeed, it is

hardly possible to divert the great arteries at any stage of a city’s

evolution, and the _Mese_ itself probably followed the course of a

foot-track to the gate of the Acropolis.

By building walls across the land between the Golden Horn and the sea

at distances farther and farther from Seraglio Point, the city has been

successively enlarged; the great land walls, within which the shrunken

city now lies, are mainly the work of Theodosius II. These, the walls

of the Constantinople known to the Crusaders, are still comparatively

perfect; a triple line on the land side and a single line around the

sea margin, some fourteen miles of walls, eight or ten to fifteen

feet thick, strengthened by great towers, completely girdles the city

round about. The land-wall of Constantine’s city, situated between the

Acropolis and the present walls, has disappeared, but its course has

been traced (see Fig. 1).

_Acropolis._--The topography of ancient Constantinople has engaged

the attention of generations of writers, and an approximation to true

results has undoubtedly been reached. First we must mention Pierre

Gilles, usually called Gyllius, who, travelling to collect MSS. for

Francis I., resided in the city for many years, and died in 1555. Then

Du Cange, in his great work _Constantinopolis Christiana_, 1680, by

a careful comparison of the authorities, certainly made discoveries

in a country he had never visited. The folios of Banduri[11] followed

in 1711; and in 1861 Labarte published a more detailed study of the

Imperial quarter, chiefly based on the ample notices in the Book of

Ceremonies of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. This work, _Le Palais

Impérial de Constantinople et ses Abords_, shows remarkable insight and

critical acumen. Buzantios in _Constantinopolis_, 1861, and Paspates in

his _Byzantinae Melatae_, 1877, made several further identifications.

The latter followed with _The Great Palace of Constantinople_, recently

translated by Mr. Metcalfe, which goes over the same ground as Labarte;

but the excavations for the railway, which now circles Seraglio Point,

had in the meantime exposed some remains, and made the examination of

certain walls possible.

Although Paspates made several valuable suggestions, many of his

conclusions are certainly not sustained by his reasoning; indeed,

Labarte in many points of divergence was probably much nearer the

facts. Paspates’ views were accepted by Mr. Bury,[12] to be followed

in turn by Mr. Oman in _The Byzantine Empire_ of the “Story of the

Nations” Series. A work in Russian has recently been devoted to the

study of the Palace quarter.[13] Unger’s collection of topographical

references in _Quellen der Byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte_ is also of

the greatest service.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Plan of Constantinople showing its development.]

In 1892 appeared Dr. Mordtmann’s _Esquisse_, together with a large plan

of the city, on which the probable identifications of the ways and

buildings were laid down; this was prepared at the instance of the

Comte Riant, who, in his _Exuviae Constantinopolitanae_, contributed

the result of much research to our knowledge of Byzantine antiquities.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Plan of the Acropolis, &c., of Constantine’s

city.]

Dr. Mordtmann, by a study of the whole of the city area and its entire

circumvallation as we have it to-day, in comparison with the written

descriptions, has laid a firmer grasp on the problem. Labarte, he

points out, was chiefly misled by a confusion of the buildings in

the Forum of Constantine and those in the Forum Augusteum--a mistake

elaborated in some respects by Paspates. Labarte thus placed the

porphyry column of Constantine, which still marks the site of the

former, together with other buildings that were quartered about it,

all within the Augusteum, which last he rightly identified with the

present open space to the south-west of S. Sophia. Texier, who in 1834

made a careful study of the ancient city, rightly distinguished the two

fora.[14]

Fig. 2 will assist in making clear our views as to the transformation

of the Acropolis under Constantine. The Byzantine brick walls which

now inclose the old Serai Labarte regarded as of late work, and we

think the style of the building would very well bear out Paspates’

opinion that they were erected by Michael Palaeologus. The excavation

for the railway exposed some remains of a wall near O in our Fig. 1

which Paspates describes as “built of large stones as much as 10 feet

long by 2½ broad, and 1½ thick.”[15] The rest of the seaward wall still

forming the substructure of the retaining wall of the sea-front of the

old Serai, and running in a direction parallel to the Hippodrome, is

also of stone. This wall is probably ancient or follows the course of

the ancient Acropolis inclosure which is described by Dion Cassius as

“built on rising ground and projecting into the sea.... The walls are

very strong, formed of large squared stones bound together with copper,

and the inside is so strengthened with earth and buildings that the

whole seems one thick wall.”[16]

The late Anonymous author edited by Banduri says that the wall of

ancient Byzantium commenced at the Golden Horn near the gate of S.

Eugenius to pass along by the Golden Milestone.[17] We place no

reliance on the Anonymous for early history, but there is much to

confirm Mordtmann’s view that an ancient wall occupied this position

and that the Milion--which the Anonymous says was the land gate--was

situated upon its course and formed indeed the entrance from the

Street of Columns. This wall, which Mordtmann says passed on the land

side of the old Serai in front of the modern museum (Tchenli Kiosk)

where there is a high retaining wall, and continued to the west of

S. Sophia not far from the narthex, we consider must be that which

formed the landward inclosure of the Acropolis. The fourth region of

the city, Mordtmann says, was separated from the second by the rock

of the Acropolis and this wall. We are confirmed in our acceptance

of the other wall described by Paspates as the seaward wall of the

Acropolis, not only because it is built against the steep escarpment

of the rock, but by finding that in the division of the city into the

wards or regions of the _Notitia_ the first ward exactly comprised the

space between the wall and the sea; the second region contained the old

Acropolis itself, with a triangle of lower ground at the north against

the Golden Horn, where was probably the sea gate; while the third was

divided from the fourth by the great way which left the Milion gate

on the old landward wall of the Acropolis. Such pre-existing features

naturally formed the boundaries of the wards.

We now give from the _Notitia Dignitatum_ the descriptions of the

first four regions of the fourteen into which Constantine’s city was

divided, which will show how Constantine occupied the old areas with

the royal and public quarters of his new city. Twelve regions were

included within the walls, and two others were formed by the suburbs of

Blachernae and Galata.

REGION I.

Contains the house of Placidia Augusta; the house of most noble

Marina; the Baths of Arcadius; 27 streets or alleys; 118 houses;

2 porticoes; 15 private baths; 4 public cornmills; 15 private

cornmills; 4 terraces of steps. It is under one curator, who looks

after the whole region; it has 1 vernaculus, a slave (or messenger)

for all regions; 25 collegiati, who are selected from different

Guilds (Corporati), and help at fires; and 5 street wardens, who

watch the city at night.

REGION II.

Gradually rises with a gentle ascent beginning from the smaller

theatre, and then descends abruptly to the sea. It contains the

Great Church; the Ancient Church; the Senate; the Tribunal built

with porphyry steps; the Baths of Zeuxippus; the theatre; the

amphitheatre; 34 streets or alleys, 98 houses; 4 large porticoes; 13

private baths; 4 private cornmills; 4 terraces of steps. It had also

1 curator, 1 vernaculus; 35 collegiati, 5 street wardens.

REGION III.

Is a plane surface in its higher part, where is the Circus, but from

the end of this it descends steeply to the sea. It contains the

Circus Maximus; the house of Pulcheria Augusta; the new harbour; a

semicircular portico, called by the Greeks Sigma; the Tribunal of the

Forum of Constantine; 7 streets; 94 houses; 5 large porticoes; 11

private baths; 9 private cornmills. It had 1 curator; 1 vernaculus;

it had also 21 collegiati; and 5 street wardens.

REGION IV.

From the Golden Milliarium is prolonged, with hills rising to right

and left in a valley leading to an open space. It contains the

golden Milliarium; the Augusteum; the Basilica; the Nymphaeum; the

Portico of Fanio; a marble ship--the monument of a naval victory--the

church or martyrium of S. Mennas; the Stadium; the Scala Timasii; 32

streets; 375 houses; 4 large porticoes; 7 private baths; 5 private

cornmills; 7 terraces of steps. It had 1 curator; 1 vernaculus; 45

collegiati; 5 street wardens.

_Augusteum._--Thus Region I., occupying the land between the Acropolis

wall and the sea, was partly reserved for palaces; Region II. coincided

with the Acropolis, and had its south end devoted to the Forum

Augusteum and the Christian Basilicas of S. Sophia (“the Great Church”)

and St. Irene (“the Old Church.”). It will be observed that in the

_Notitia_ the Augusteum is given to Region IV., to which it does indeed

adjoin; Mordtmann[18] considers that the Augusteum, like the buildings

round it, must have belonged to Region II., but suggests that there

may have been a continuation of the open space farther to the west in

Region IV., and some such space as this certainly seems required by

several of the references.

Gyllius first made the identification of the Augusteum with the present

open space on the south of S. Sophia; in this he was followed by

Labarte, and Mordtmann concurs. Paspates in making the Augusteum occupy

the ground along the east side of the Hippodrome stands alone against,

as it seems to us, all evidence. For example, he is compelled to shift

the inscribed pedestal of the statue of the Empress Eudoxia, which we

cannot but believe was found in its original position (see Mordtmann,

p. 64, and Paspates, p. 105, and below, p. 13). The _Mese_ moreover he

makes the centre of his Augusteum. Mr. Bury thought it proved that the

Augusteum “was also called the Forum of Constantine,” because a passage

in _Cedrenus_ speaks of the Senate House (τὸ σενάτον) as in the Forum

of Constantine. It is perfectly clear however from the _Notitia_ that

there were two Senate Houses--one in the Forum mentioned in the extract

we have given from the description of the sixth ward, and the other

included in the second region as just quoted.[19]

In the Augusteum was erected a Senate, its front facing the west. “The

Senate,” says Mordtmann, “was placed where to-day stands the Tribunal

of Commerce.” That is, on the east side of the present place of S.

Sophia against what must have been the eastern side of the Augusteum

and the ancient Acropolis, on the seaward wall of which it was probably

founded. In digging the foundations of the Tribunal of Commerce in

1847 the ancient pavement was found, at a depth of twelve feet, and

the base of the celebrated statue of Eudoxia, with an inscription,

marked it as the site of the Courts of Justice (Mordtmann, p. 64). The

statue, Socrates[20] says, was “of silver, and it stood upon a lofty

pedestal (_bema_), not far from the church called S. Sophia, with a

road between.”

The Augusteum, following the Hippodrome, does not lie four-square with

the cardinal points, but almost diagonally to them: for convenience,

however, we shall speak of the directions as North, South, East, and

West, calling the side towards the _Mese_ the west. On the north side,

and following the same system of alignment, is the present S. Sophia.

The palace of the Patriarch probably adjoined the church, on the north

side of the square.

The royal palaces mentioned in the _Notitia_ were on the south of the

Augusteum. According to the _Paschal Chronicle_, written about 630

A.D., Constantine the Great made a palace beside the Hippodrome, “and

the ascent from the palace to the stand of the Hippodrome was by means

of the stair called the spiral” (Paspates, _Great Palace_, p. 47).

This palace does not seem to have become of great importance until

Justinian’s time. The _Notitia_ merely mentions the House of Placidia

Augusta, and the House of the most noble Marina, the daughters of

Arcadius, in the first ward; and the House of Pulcheria Augusta in the

third; and speaks of several other royal palaces in the 9th, 10th, and

11th wards. The palace of the emperor at this time was in the 14th

ward, which was outside the walls and isolated, making “the figure of a

small city by itself;” this is the celebrated palace of Blachernae.

_The Church._--It was in May 328 that Helena is said to have discovered

the true cross and other relics at Jerusalem. And this event, which

synchronizes exactly with Constantine’s choice of Byzantium as his

capital, was probably not without direct relation to the foundation

of the church dedicated to Christ. Socrates writes, “A portion of the

cross she (Helena) inclosed in a silver chest and left in Jerusalem as

a memorial, but the other part she sent to the king.”[21]

Theophanes, Cedrenus, Glycas, Paul the Deacon, Nicephorus Callistus,

and other late historians agree in making Constantine the founder of

the first Church dedicated to the Second Person of the Trinity as

the Divine Wisdom; and Cedrenus even gives a name--Euphrates--to the

architect.[22] Codinus, who wrote in the fifteenth century, alone

relates that Constantine purified a previously existing temple and

dedicated it to Christian uses.

There is much evidence to show that the church could not have been

completed by Constantine even if he had founded it, or contemplated

its foundation. In the life of the emperor, the Church of the Holy

Apostles, which was built near the Forum of Constantine, and in which

the emperor was buried, is described at length,[23] but it does not

mention S. Sophia, although the author takes pains to enumerate the

Christian objects in the city--saying that there were “many Oratories

and Martyria, and by the fountains in the middle of the agorae were

figures in gilt bronze of the Good Shepherd and of Daniel with the

lions; in the palace was a cross wrought in gold with many coloured

precious stones.”[24]

In the fifth century _Notitia_, as we have seen, S. Irene is called the

Old Church and S. Sophia the Great Church.

The historian Socrates, probably the best authority, says that

Constantine “built two churches, one he called Irene and the other the

Apostles,”[25] and he attributes S. Sophia entirely to Constantius.

“The King built the great church which is called Sophia and joined

it to that called Irene, which the father of the king had previously

increased and beautified, and now both churches were included within

one wall and had one title.”

Upon its completion, it was dedicated, with magnificent ceremony,

by the patriarch Eudoxius on Sunday, February 15th, 360 A.D., “in

the thirty-fourth year after its foundation.”[26] This would fix its

foundation in the year 326 A.D., two years after Constantine, having

defeated Licinius, had begun to reign alone. Cedrenus writes, “Eudoxius

consecrated a _second_ time the Church of the Divine Wisdom, because

after its first completion, and the dedication by Eusebius, it had

fallen and been again restored by Constantius,”[27] and he places this

event in the twenty-second year of Constantius’ reign.

Cedrenus is a late and credulous writer, and in attributing a first

dedication to Eusebius--who would certainly have told us himself--he

shows how untrustworthy is the whole story. Altogether we cannot

do better than accept the account of Idatius and that given in the

_Paschal Chronicle_, with perhaps a little suspicion on the part which

refers to Constantine, “In this year (360) in the month Peritius was

dedicated the great church of Constantinople, in the thirty-fourth

year from the time when Constantine had laid the foundations. For the

opening ceremony (_encaenia_) Constantius brought many offerings of

gold, and great treasure of silver; many tissues adorned with gold

thread and stones for the sanctuary; for the doors of the church

different curtains (_amphithuriai_) of gold; and for the outside

gateways (_puleones_) many others with gold threads.” According to

the late Anonymous author (see page 129), “in the reign of Theodosius

the Great († 395) and in the patriarchate of Nectarius (381-398),

seventy-four years after the church was built, the roof of the church

was destroyed by fire;” he probably really meant the fire of 404 in

Arcadius’ reign. At that time S. John Chrysostom, incurring the dislike

of the Empress Eudoxia, was banished. He was brought back at the end

of two days, once more preached in S. Sophia, and was exiled again,

with disastrous results, for his partisans set fire to the church and

destroyed it. “This happened on the 20th of June, in the consulship of

Honorius and Aristaenetus” (404).[28]

The fire was by some thought to be of supernatural origin. Palladius,

the bishop’s biographer, writes, “Then a flame seemed to burst from the

centre of the throne in which he used to sit, and climbed up by the

chains [of lamps] to the roof ... and crept like a wriggling snake upon

the back of the houses of the church.” There was also burnt the Senate,

“lying many paces to the south opposite the church; and the fire spared

only the little house, in which the sacred vessels were kept.”

The church was again injured by fire, restored by Theodosius II.,

and rededicated in 415.[29] Fresh relics were required for this

rededication.[30] One fact of importance in regard to this church is

related by Sozomenus of the Empress Pulcheria. “She dedicated an altar

in the church of Constantinople, a most wonderful work of gold and

precious stones, on behalf of her virginity and her brothers’ empire.

And she wrote this on the face of the table so that it might be clear

to all.”[31]

From this time until the outbreak known as the Nika sedition, in

January 532, the church is not said to have been further altered.

According to Cedrenus, the records and charters perished with the

church.

There cannot be a doubt that the present S. Sophia occupies the site

of the first church. A church once made holy by dedication and the

reception of relics could not be transported. Indeed it is possible

that it may occupy the site of one of the Greek temples, for there

was a constant tendency to this supersession on one sacred site; and

the present church stands on the very crest of the old Acropolis. If

there were any sufficient reason to identify the site with that of the

altar of Pallas, the dedication of the church itself would evidently

be one of the many instances of a transference of title from the old

worship. The Parthenon--where Hellenic rites survived to the sixth

century--became a church in this way dedicated to the Holy Wisdom.[32]

The axis of the church seems to point somewhere between 30° and 35°

south of east, where there is a considerable sea prospect and a low

horizon. This direction, either by accident or intention, must agree

very closely with sunrise at the winter solstice:[33] the latitude

of the church being 41° 0′ 26″. The plan will show that the ancient

Hippodrome, and probably the other buildings, were set out in relation

to this axis.

In comparing the early Basilicas of Constantinian date, both those

that exist and those of which we have descriptions, we find that they

generally, if not invariably, had their doors of entrance at the _east_

end, and their apses towards the west, exactly the opposite of the more

recent custom. Rohault De Fleury says this was usual in the East till

the fifth century, and the custom continued much later in Rome. Kraus,

in the best study of the subject,[34] writes: “S. Agatha at Ravenna

must be mentioned as the first which had its altar at the east end: it

was built in 417, and in this century the practice became general.”

Socrates († 440) says of the church of Antioch that “the altar stood

not at the east but at the _west_,” but he speaks of this as contrary

to the usual custom at the time he wrote. This church was founded by

Constantine and finished by his son. The Church of the Apostles at

Constantinople, built by Constantine to contain the relics of S. Luke,

seems also to have been entered at the east, for S. John Chrysostom[35]

speaks of the emperor being buried “in the part in front of the doors,”

and an anonymous author, who wrote about the imperial sepulchres, says

that Constantine’s sarcophagus was “in front towards the east.”[36]

We shall thus be following the reasonable suggestion of comparative

archæology in saying that the first church of S. Sophia almost

certainly had its entrance doors at the east--the sanctuary end of the

present church.

The church was probably only of medium size; the length of the present

church is about 250 feet, its vastness being in its width. The _Paschal

Chronicle_ speaks of “its stupendous and marvellous columns all being

ἐκ τετραέντου”; but owing to a variant reading it is difficult to

determine whether it means that the pillars were square, or were set

in a square, or formed four bays. Glycas and Codinus, who wrote a

thousand years after the foundation of the church, say that it was

basilican (_dromika_), and had a wooden roof (_xulotroullos_), and the

latter says that the church of Theodosius had cylindrical vaults. As

it is evident from the rapid destruction by fire that the roofs of the

early churches were of wood, they were probably Basilicas. Only a few

minor particulars, such as the existence of an atrium, and the right

of sanctuary in the bema (_thusiasterion_), can be gathered from the

homilies of S. Chrysostom. Socrates tells us that this patriarch was

wont to preach “in the ambo for the sake of being better heard.”[37]

From Palladius we learn that there was a baptistery (in which the

Sixth Council of Constantinople, A.D. 394,[38] appears to have met)

attached to the church, and it was here Chrysostom took leave of the

deaconesses at his banishment, as described in a passage difficult to

interpret. “He went out of the baptistery on the east side, for there

was no western (exit). The mule which he usually rode was made to stand

westwards before the gate to the church, where is the porch, so that he

might escape the people who were expecting him.” The passage from the

same author about the waters of the font being stained with blood does

not, as is sometimes supposed, necessarily refer to S. Sophia.

In applying the plan of a church of mean size so that the doors should

face eastwards, we are at once struck by finding that the western

hemicycle of the present church would lie about the apse; and we cannot

but suggest that in this we may have the very _raison d’être_ of the

remarkable plan of the present church, which it would seem might be

properly classed with those churches which have apses at both ends,

like the early basilica at Orleansville near Tunis;[39] the MS. plan of

S. Gall is the best known example; our own early church at Canterbury

was another instance, the result of adding to a church with a western

apse; France furnishes Besançon and Nevers, and Germany numerous

examples.

It is indeed possible that some parts of the old structure may have

given practical and positive reasons contributing to this result, and

a thorough examination of the cisterns beneath the present floor of S.

Sophia may yet yield full evidence of the first basilica; or if these

vaults were entirely built for Justinian’s church, their material would

almost certainly be derived from the earlier building.

We suggest that the circular brick building lying at the north-east

angle of the present church belonged to the pre-Justinian church, and

formed its baptistery. It is about forty-five feet exterior diameter,

and the plan as given by Salzenberg shows great resemblance to other

circular structures of the Constantinian age; such as S. Constantia in

Rome, the “tomb of Helen” at Rome, and the round tomb buildings which

adjoined S. Peter’s as shown in the plan of Ciampini.[40]

The entrance doorway of this building was to the _east_.

As to its use. In the contemporary account of Justinian’s church,

the poet Paulus, describing the north aisle, says, “On the north is

a door admitting the people to the founts that purify the stains of

mortal life and heal every scar.” He does not mention the present

south-west building, nor has he any other reference to a font. We

suppose therefore that this isolated building on the north-east escaped

the Nika fire, and served as the baptistery of the new church, until

the square building, on the side of the church towards the Augusteum,

which is spoken of in the _Ceremonies_ as the “Great Baptistery by the

Horologium,” was erected for or diverted to this purpose.

We very probably have some relics of the earlier buildings in certain

capitals which Salzenberg found in the church:[41] the inscribed

bricks,[42] and a Byzantine Corinthian capital now lying in the

courtyard, may likewise have belonged to it. The fine bronze doors

to south porch are evidently earlier than the present church, and so

probably are the slabs of which the screen on south side of first floor

is partly made up.

CHAPTER II

JUSTINIAN’S CHURCH

_The New Church._--The pre-Justinian church was burnt on the 15th

January, 532[43]--the first day of the sedition--and the work of

reconstruction was begun on the 23rd of the following month.[44]

Theophanes[45] says the period employed in the construction was five

years eleven months and ten days; the statements therefore of Codinus

and Glycas, that it took seventeen years to build, are completely at

variance with this more credible author.

The solemn dedication took place, as Marcellinus Comes describes,[46]

on 26th December, 537, Indiction 15, in the eleventh year of

Justinian’s reign.

A description of this dedication ceremony is given by Theophanes.[47]

“The procession started from the church of Anastasia, Menas the

patriarch sitting in the royal chariot, and the king walking with the

people.”

In the thirty-second year of Justinian’s reign an earthquake destroyed

a great portion of the newly erected church.[48]

Now Procopius, whose contemporary history of the edifices built by

Justinian was, according to Krumbacher,[49] finished and published in

the year 558 or the spring of 559 at latest, makes no mention of this

earthquake of 558, though he describes in full how, during the building

of the church, which was completed in 537, the piers of the eastern

arch threatened to give way before it was finished. We may therefore

conclude that he describes Justinian’s church in its first state.

The translation from Procopius here given is based on that of Mr.

Aubrey Stewart, published by the Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society,

which has been compared with the original. We give in Fig. 3 a plan of

the church as built by Justinian, so far as the evidence will allow of

an approximately certain restoration.

As the several different curved portions of the plan are difficult to

distinguish, we propose so far as possible to reserve certain words

for separate parts. The small eastern semicircle and its vault will be

called apse and apsoid respectively. Hemicycle and semidome will refer

to the great semicircle at the east or west and its vault. The pairs of

curved spaces forming the lateral recesses in the hemicycles we propose

to name exedras and their half-domes conchs.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Plan of S. Sophia as built by Justinian.]

_Procopius._--“The lowest dregs of the people in Byzantium once

assailed the Emperor Justinian in the rebellion called Nika, which

I have clearly described in my _History of the Wars_. To prove that

it was not merely against the emperor but no less against God that

they took up arms, they ventured to burn the church of the Christians

which the people of Byzantium call Sophia, a name most worthy of God.

God permitted them to effect this crime, knowing how great the beauty

of this church would be when restored. Thus the church was entirely

reduced to ashes; but the Emperor Justinian not long afterwards adorned

the new one in such a fashion, that if any one had asked the Christians

in former times, if they wished their church to be destroyed and thus

restored, showing them the appearance of the church which we now

see, I think it probable that they would have prayed that they might

so soon as possible behold their church destroyed, in order that it

might be changed into its present form. The emperor, thinking not of

cost of any kind, pressed on the work, and collected together workmen

(_technitai_) from every land. Anthemius of Tralles, the most skilled

in the builder’s art, not only of his own but of all former times,

carried forward the king’s zealous intentions, organised the labours of

the workmen, and prepared models of the future construction. Associated

with him was another architect (_mechanopoios_) named Isidorus, a

Milesian by birth, a man of intelligence, and worthy to carry out the

plans of the Emperor Justinian. It is indeed a proof of the esteem

with which God regarded the emperor, that He furnished him with men

who would be so useful in effecting his designs, and we are compelled

to admire the wisdom of the emperor, in being able to choose the most

suitable of mankind to execute the noblest of his works.

“The church consequently presents a most glorious spectacle,

extraordinary to those who behold it, and altogether incredible to

those who are told of it. In height it rises to the very heavens, and

overtops the neighbouring buildings like a ship anchored among them,

appearing above the rest of the city, while it adorns and forms a part

of it. One of its beauties is that being a part of and growing out of

the city, it rises so high that the whole city can be seen as from a

watchtower. The length and breadth are so judiciously arranged that it

appears to be both long and wide without being disproportioned.

“It is distinguished by indescribable beauty, excelling both in its

size, and in the harmony of its measures, having no part excessive and

none deficient; being more magnificent than ordinary buildings, and

much more elegant than those which are not of so just a proportion.

The church is singularly full of light and sunshine; you would declare

that the place is not lighted by the sun from without, but that the

rays are produced within itself, such an abundance of light is poured

into this church. _The Apse._--Now the head (_prosopon_) of the church

(that is to say the part towards the rising sun, where the sacred

mysteries are performed in honour of God) is built as follows. The

building rises from the ground not in a straight line, but setting

back somewhat obliquely, it retreats in the middle into a rounded form

which those who are learned in these matters call semicylindrical,

rising perpendicularly. _Apsoid and Semidome._--The upper part of

this work ends in the fourth part of a sphere, and above it another

crescent-shaped (_menoeides_) structure is raised upon the adjacent

parts of the building, admirable for its beauty, but causing terror by

the apparent weakness of its construction; for it appears not to rest

upon a secure foundation, but to hang dangerously over the heads of

those below, although it is really supported with especial firmness and

safety. _Exedras._--On each side of these parts are columns standing

upon the floor, which are not placed in a straight line, but arranged

with an inward curve of semicircular shape, one beyond another like the

dancers in a chorus. These columns support above them a crescent-shaped

structure. Opposite the east wall is built another wall, containing

the entrances, and upon either side of it also stand columns, with

stone-work above them, in a half-circle exactly like those previously

described. _Great Piers and Arches._--In the midst of the church are

four masses of stone called piers (_pessoi_), two on the north, and

two on the south sides, opposite and alike, having four columns in the

space between each pair. These piers are formed of large stones fitted

together, the stones being carefully selected, and cleverly jointed

into one another by the masons,[50] and reaching to a great height.

Looking at them, you would compare them to perpendicular cliffs. Upon

them, four arches (_apsides_)[51] arise over a quadrilateral space.

The extremities of these arches join one another in pairs, their ends

resting upon the piers, while the other parts of them rise to a great

height, suspended in the air. Two of these arches, that is those

towards the rising and the setting of the sun, are constructed over the

empty air, but the others have under them some stone-work, and small

columns. _Dome and Pendentives._--Now above these arches is raised a

circular building of a curved form through which the light of day first

shines; for the building, which I imagine overtops the whole country,

has small openings left on purpose, so that the places where these

intervals occur may serve for the light to come through. Thus far I

imagine the building is not incapable of being described, even by a

weak and feeble tongue. As the arches are arranged in a quadrangular

figure, the stone-work between them takes the shape of a triangle,

the lower angle of each triangle, being compressed where the arches

unite, is slender, while the upper part becomes wider as it rises in

the space between them, and ends against the circle which rests upon

them, forming there its remaining angles. A spherical-shaped dome

(_tholos_) standing upon this circle makes it exceedingly beautiful;

from the lightness of the building, it does not appear to rest upon

a solid foundation, but to cover the place beneath as though it were

suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain. All these parts

surprisingly joined to one another in the air, suspended one from

another, and resting only on that which is next to them, form the work

into one admirably harmonious whole, which spectators do not dwell

upon for long in the mass, as each individual part attracts the eye to

itself. The sight causes men constantly to change their point of view,

and the spectator can nowhere point to any part which he admires more

than the rest. Seeing the art which appears everywhere, men contract

their eyebrows as they look at each part, and are unable to comprehend

such workmanship, but always depart thence, stupefied, through their

incapacity. So much for this.

“The Emperor Justinian and the architects Anthemius and Isidorus used

many devices to construct so lofty a church with security. One of

these I will now explain, by which a man may form some opinion of the

strength of the whole work; as for the others I am not able to discover

them all, and find it impossible to describe them in words. It is as

follows: The piers, of which I just now spoke, are not constructed in

the same manner as the rest of the building; but in this fashion; they

consist of quadrangular courses of stone, rough by nature, and made

smooth by art; of these stones, those which make the projecting angles

of the pier are cut angularly (_engonios_), while those which go in the

middle parts of the sides are cut square (_tetragonos_).

“They are fastened together not with lime (_titanos_), called

‘unslaked’ (_asbestos_), not with asphaltum, the boast of Semiramis at

Babylon, nor anything of the kind, but with lead, which, poured into

the interstices, has sunk into the joints of the stones, and binds them

together; this is how they are built.

“Let us now proceed to describe the remaining parts of the church. The

entire ceiling is covered with pure gold, which adds to its glory,

though the reflections of the gold upon the marble surpass it in

beauty. There are two aisles one above another on each side, which do

not in any way lessen the size of the church, but add to its width. In

length they reach quite to the ends of the building, but in height they

fall short of it; these also have domed ceilings adorned with gold.

Of these two porticoes one [ground floor] is set apart for male and

the other [upper floor] for female worshippers; there is no variety in

them, nor do they differ in any respect from one another, but their

very equality and similarity add to the beauty of the church. Who

could describe these gynaeceum galleries, or the numerous porticoes

(_stoai_) and cloistered courts (_peristuloi aulai_) with which the

church is surrounded? Who could tell of the beauty of the columns and

marbles with which the church is adorned? One would think that one had

come upon a meadow full of flowers in bloom! Who would not admire the

purple tints of some, and the green of others, the glowing red and the

glittering white, and those too, which nature, painter-like, has marked

with the strongest contrasts of colour? Whoever enters there to worship

perceives at once that it is not by any human strength or skill, but

by the favour of God, that this work has been perfected; the mind

rises sublime to commune with God, feeling that He cannot be far off,

but must especially love to dwell in the place which He has chosen;

and this is felt not only when a man sees it for the first time, but

it always makes the same impression upon him, as though he had never

beheld it before. No one ever became weary of this spectacle, but

those who are in the church delight in what they see, and, when they

leave, magnify it in their talk. Moreover it is impossible accurately

to describe the gold, and silver, and gems, presented by the Emperor

Justinian; but by the description of one part, I leave the rest to be

inferred.--That part of the church which is especially sacred, and

where the priests alone are allowed to enter, which is called the

Sanctuary (_thusiasterion_), contains forty thousand pounds’ weight of

silver.

“The above is an account, written in the most abridged and cursory

manner, describing in the fewest possible words the most admirable

structure of the church at Constantinople, which is called the Great

Church, built by the Emperor Justinian, who did not merely supply the

funds for it, but assisted at its building by the labour and powers

of his mind, as I will now explain. Of the two arches (_apsides_),

which I lately mentioned--the architects (_mechanopoioi_) call them

_loroi_[52]--that one which stands towards the east had been built up

on each side, but had not altogether been completed in the middle,

where it was still imperfect; when the piers (_pessoi_) upon which the

building rested, unable to support the weight which was put upon them,

somehow all at once split open, and seemed as though before long they

would fall to pieces. Upon this Anthemius and Isidorus, terrified at

what had taken place, referred the matter to the emperor, losing all

confidence in their own skill. He at once, I know not by what impulse,

but probably inspired by Heaven, for he is not an architect, ordered

them to complete this arch; for it, said he, resting upon itself, will

no longer need the piers (_pessoi_) below.[53] Now if this story were

unsupported by witnesses, I am well assured that it would seem to be

written in order to flatter, and would be quite incredible; but as

there are many witnesses now alive of what then took place I shall

not hesitate to finish it. The workmen performed his bidding, the

arch was safely suspended, and proved by experiment the truth of his

conception. So much then for this part of the building; now with regard

to the other arches, those looking to the south and to the north, the

following incidents took place. When the arches called _loroi_ were

raised aloft during the building of the church everything below them

laboured under their weight, and the columns which are placed there

shed little scales, as though they had been planed.

“Alarmed at this, the architects (_mechanikoi_) again referred the

matter to the emperor, who devised the following scheme. He ordered

the upper part of the work that was giving way to be taken down where

it touched the arches for the present, and to be replaced afterwards

when the damp had thoroughly left the fabric. This was done, and the

building has stood safely ever since, so that the structure, as it

were, bears witness to the emperor’s skill.”

_Fall of Dome and Restoration._--On the 7th of May, 558, the eastern

part of the dome, “built by Isaurian workmen, with the apse, was

thrown down by an earthquake, destroying in its fall the holy table,

the ciborium, and the ambo.”[54] Reference is made to this in the

opening lines of the Silentiary’s poem (see Chapter III.). According

to Theophanes “the architects attributed its fall to the fact that to

save expense the piers had been made too full of openings. The emperor

restored the piers and raised the dome twenty feet.” The church was

again consecrated in the fifth year after the catastrophe by Eutychius

in the thirty-sixth year of Justinian, on the 24th of December.[55]

Theophanes[56] describes the emperor and patriarch as riding together

to the church in a chariot, and bearing the gospel with them, “while

the people chanted the ‘Lift up your gates.’”

The church, after its repair, is described by three contemporary

authors--Paul the Silentiary, Agathias, and Evagrius. The poem of the

first of these is given in the next chapter.

_Agathias._--Agathias, surnamed the scholar, was born in 536 at

Myrina in Asia Minor,[57] studied at Alexandria, and came in 554 to

Constantinople, where he became known as a historian and a poet, and

died in 582.

Justinian, he says, restored several buildings after the earthquake,

his especial care however was the great church of S. Sophia.[58]

“Now the former church having been burnt by the angry mob, Justinian

built it up again from the foundations as big and more beautiful

and wonderful, and this most beautiful design was adorned with much

precious metal. He built it in a round form with burnt brick and lime,

it was bound together here and there with iron, but they avoided the

use of wood, so that it should no more be easily burnt. Now Anthemius

was the man who devised and worked at every part.

“And as by the earthquake the middle portion of the roof and the higher

parts had been destroyed, the king made it stronger, and raised it to

a greater height. Anthemius was then dead, but the young man Isidorus

and the other craftsmen, turning over in their minds the previous

design, and comparing what had fallen with what remained, estimated

where the error lay, and of what kind it was. They determined to leave

the eastern and western arches (_apsides_) as they were. But of the

northern and southern (arches) they brought towards the inside, that

portion of the building which was on the curve.[59] And they made these

arches wider so as to be more in harmony with the others, thus making

the equilateral symmetry more perfect. In this way they were able to

cover the measurelessness of the empty space, and to steal off some of

its extent to form an oblong design. And again they wrought that which

rose up over it in the middle, whether orb (_kuklos_), or hemisphere,

or whatever other name it may be called. And this also became more

straightforward and of a better curve, in every part agreeing with the

line; and at the same time not so wide but higher, so that it did not

frighten the spectators as formerly, but was set much stronger and

safer.”

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Longitudinal Section, having regard to Dome as

first built.]

_Evagrius._--This historian was born in 536 A.D.[60] at Epiphania on

the Orontes. In his _Ecclesiastical History_ we learn of the suffering

caused by the invasion of Chosroes in 540. From this time all Syria was

continually disturbed, and the educated Christians fell back more and

more on Constantinople. Evagrius came to Constantinople in 589, though

he returned to Antioch afterwards. His history commences with the

Council of Ephesus in 431 and extends to the year 593. He says[61]:--

“In the city of Constantinople Justinian constructed many churches

of wonderful beauty in honour of God, and the saints--among them was

a great and incomparable work of a kind that none like it was ever

remembered--the great church of S. Sophia; which excelling in beauty,

far surpasses power of description.

“As far as I can I will explain it. The nave (_naos_) of the temple has

a dome (_tholos_) over it spreading its weight on four arches, raised

to such a height, that to those looking from below it is difficult

to see the whole hemisphere. And those who are above, however bold

they are, never dare to bend over and look on to the ground: and the

arches are open from the base up to their crown. On the right and left

however, opposite to one another, are ranged columns of Thessalian

marble. These with other neighbouring columns carry upper chambers,

which offer a place to lean forward for those who wish. Here it is that

the empress is wont to attend service on festal days.

“But the arches to east and west are left so that nothing interferes

with admiration of their size. Now the arcades of the just mentioned

upper chambers are supported from beneath by columns and small arches,

which greatly add to the work. In order that the wonder of this

building may be more easily grasped, I have here placed in feet the

measures of the length, breadth, and height; and of the arches their

diameter and height. The length then from the door opposite the holy

apse, where is offered the bloodless sacrifice, to the apse itself is

190 feet; the breadth of the nave from north to south is 115. The

height from the centre of the dome to the ground is 180 feet. And of

the arches, the width of each in feet is [no number given]. And the

length from east to west is 200 feet. The width of the opening is 75

feet.[62] There are also to the west two fine porticoes, and everywhere

open courts of wonderful beauty.”

_Paul the Silentiary._--As this author’s really detailed account of

the church is of considerable length, we have reserved it for the next

chapter, although it was written before the descriptions just given

by Agathias and Evagrius. For the little that is known of the author

we are almost entirely indebted to his friend Agathias, who says: “If

any one living perchance far from this city, wishes to know and see

everything as if present and looking on, let him read what Paulus, son

of Cyrus, son of Florus, has written in hexameter verse; he is chief

of the Royal Silentiaries, and sprung from a noble race; inheriting

ancestral wealth, yet zealously brought up in the study of letters, by

which he was the more glorious and famous. He wrote a number of other

poems worthy of memory and praise, but it seems to me that that which

he wrote on the Great Church is completed with the most skill and

labour, even as its subject is more worthy than any other. For you will

find in his poem the arrangement of the form, and the nature of the

stones explained; the beauty and purpose of the curtains; the lengths

and heights, what is curved and what straight, what projects and what

is suspended. You will learn, too, how with silver and gold the more

sacred part, intended for the divine mysteries, was adorned; as well as

whatever ornament great or small is there, which those who frequent the

church may see.”

The Silentiaries, of whom Paulus was one, were court officials.

Their office was an exalted one, as they ranked with the senators,

and were employed on all kinds of service, not unfrequently becoming

the historians of the emperor. Paulus belonged to the cultivated and

literary circle, who during Justinian’s reign interested themselves in

literature, and to him are attributed more than eighty poems in the

Anthology.[63]

The description or rather explanation of S. Sophia was most probably

written and recited as an Opening Ode at the _Encaenia_ of December

24th, 563. Körtum (in Salzenberg) conjectures that the poem was

recited in “a hall of the Imperial Palace,” but Du Cange is probably

more correct in assigning only the first eighty lines to the Palace.

The succeeding lines he says “were addressed to the clergy in the

Patriarch’s Palace,” but we believe, from the antithesis between the

Palace of the Emperor and the House of God, that the address to the

patriarch was spoken within the walls of the church itself, and that

the whole poem, which is divided into three parts, was written to be

recited in connection with the opening ceremony mentioned above.

It shows us how much architecture was esteemed by Justinian, that the

historian of his wars wrote also a history of his buildings; and the

court poet was employed to celebrate the greatest of them in verse. On

many accounts the poem is the best ancient architectural description

extant. It is exact in accuracy, most orderly in its sequence when read

with a knowledge of the building, and must have been written within its

walls. A close and careful study written when architectural ideas were

in the ascendant--the chief subject of thought in times of peace--it is

no futile attempt to explain a work of genius in terms of mechanics and

foot-rule measurements, after the manner of an architectural lecture,

but it translates the ideas of the artist into the words of the poet.

The conceit of Homeric metre and phrasing is almost a charm at this

distance of time, the poet’s enthusiasm being quite sufficient to carry

off the affectation of attempting an architectural epic. It is not

however in its form but in its stimulus to imagination that we see its

chief value.

CHAPTER III

THE SILENTIARY’S POEM--PART I

The first eighty lines of the Prelude are an eulogy on the emperor. The

succeeding lines were addressed to the clergy. “We come to you, sirs,

from the home of the emperor, to the home of the Almighty Emperor, the

Deviser of the Universe, by whose grace victory cleaves to our lord.

The august head of our state lent a kindly ear to our words, as he sat

in the hall; now we see the chief of the sacred priests. May he too

favour us, and may none of those who listen carp at our words.”

The poem itself, in long Homeric hexameters, begins by describing the

general peace throughout the Roman world at the time of the restoration

of S. Sophia. Dr. Körtum notes the following references to events

only then recently passed. The rule of the Vandals in Africa had been

destroyed by Belisarius (534), and a later insurrection quelled (545);

the reign of the Ostrogoths in the West had come to an end (554), and

peace had just been concluded with the Persians (561). There is also an

allusion to the conspiracy of this same year, when an attempt was made

on the emperor’s life.

The poet then, describing the ruin caused by the earthquake (558) at

S. Sophia, tells us that “the very foundations of the dome failed, and

thick clouds of dust darkened the midday sun. Yet the whole church did

not fall, but only the top of the eastern vault, and a portion of the

dome above. Part lay on the ground, part open to the light of day,

hung suspended in the air.” “But the emperor soon began to build again,

the Genius of New Rome by his side.”

When the emperor went to the ruins of the church he praised the skilful

craft of Anthemius; “he it was who laid the first foundations of the

church, one skilled to draw a circle or set out a plan.[64] And he gave

to the walls strength to resist the pushing arches, which were like

active demons. This time it was not merely the crown of the arch that

gave way [see above, p. 28], for the very piers were shaken to their

foundations.”

The poet now describes the building: “Whoever raises his eyes to the

beauteous firmament of the roof, scarce dares to gaze on its rounded

expanse sprinkled with the stars of heaven, but turns to the fresh

green marble below, seeming as it were to see flower-bordered streams

of Thessaly, and budding corn, and woods thick with trees; leaping

flocks too and twining olive-trees, and the vine with green tendrils,

or the deep blue peace of summer sea, broken by the plashing oars of

spray-girt ship. Whoever puts foot within the sacred fane, would live

there for ever, and his eyes well with tears of joy. Thus by Divine

counsel, while angels watched, was the temple built again.

“At last the holy morn had come, and the great door of the new-built

temple groaned on its opening hinges, inviting emperor and people to

enter; and when the inner part was seen sorrow fled from the hearts of

all, as the sun lit the glories of the temple. ’Twas for the emperor

to lead the way for his people, and on the morrow to celebrate the

birth of Christ. And when the first gleam of light rosy-armed driving

away the dark shadows, leapt from arch to arch, then all the princes

and people with one voice hymned their songs of prayer and praise; and

as they came to the sacred courts, it seemed to them as if the mighty

arches were set in heaven.

_Apse and Exedras._--“Towards the East unfold triple spaces of

semicircular form; and above, on an upright band of wall, soars aloft

the fourth part of a sphere. Even so, high over its back and triple

crest, shimmer the tail feathers of a peacock, with their countless

eyes. These crowning parts men learned in the builder’s art call

conchs; and certain it is they call them so from a shell of the sea, or

’tis a craftsman’s name.

_Apse._--“The middle apse holds the stalls (_thokoi_) and steps

(_bathra_) ranged circle-wise. Some on the level of the ground are

massed close together round the centre; and as they rise higher, with

the spaces between them, they widen out little by little, until they

come to the stalls of silver. Thus with increasing circles they ever

wheel round a fixed circle in the pavement.

_Bema._--“Now the apse is separated [from the nave] by a space between

vertical walls built on strong foundations, with an arch[65] above, not

a portion of a sphere, but in the form of a cylinder cleft in twain.

_Exedras._--“And westwards again are two conchs on columns, one on

either side; projecting as if stretching out bent arms to embrace the

people singing in the church. They are borne by columns of porphyry,

bright of bloom ranged in semicircular line, and with capitals

(_karenoi_) of gold, carrying the weight of the arches (_kukloi_)

above. These columns were once brought from the cliffs of Thebes,

which stand, like greaved warriors, by the banks of Nile. Thus, on

two columns, on either side, rise the lower parts of either exedra

(_apsis_). And for the support of each, the skilled workman has bent

from below three small semicircular arches (_apsides_); and, beneath

their springing, the tops (_kareata_) of the columns are bound with

well-wrought bronze, overlaid with gold, which drives away all fear.

Now above the porphyry columns stand others from Thessaly, splendid

flowers of fresh green. Here are the fair upper galleries for the

women. These too have arches, as may be seen from below, though they

show six Thessalian columns and not two. And one wonders at the power

of him, who bravely set six columns over two, and has not trembled to

fix their bases over empty air.[66]

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Ground Plan.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Plan of Gynaeceum Galleries. The left-hand side

of each plan shows the vaults, and the right-hand side the iron ties

and wood struts at springing of vaults.]

“Now the workman has fenced all the spaces between the Thessalian

columns, with stone closures, on which the women can lean and support

their elbows. Thus as you raise your gaze to the eastern arches

(_antuges_) a never-ending wonder appears.

_Eastern Semidome._--“And upon all of them, above the curved forms

rises yet another vault (_apsis_), borne on the air, raising its head

aloft up to the wide-reaching arch, on whose back are firmly fixed the

lowest courses of the divine head-piece (_koros_) of the centre of the

church. Thus rises on high the deep-bosomed vault, borne above triple

voids below; and through fivefold openings, pierced in its back, filled

with thin plates of glass, comes the morning light scattering sparkling

rays.

PART II

_Western End._--“And looking towards the sunset, one might see the same

as towards the dawn, though a portion differs. For there in the centre

it is not drawn round in a circle, as on the eastern boundary, where

sit the learned priests on seats of resplendent silver, but at the west

end is a vast entrance (_puleon_); not only one door, but three.

_Narthex._--“And outside of the doors (_pulai_) there stretches a long

porch (_aulon_), receiving beneath wide portals (_thuretroi_) those

that enter; and it is as long as the wondrous church is broad. In the

Greek speech this part is called the narthex. Here through the night

swells the melodious sound, pleasing to the ears of Him who giveth life

to all; when the psalms of David are sung in antiphonal strains--that

sweet-voiced David, whom the divine voice of the Almighty praised, and

whose glorious posterity conceived the sinless Son of God, who was in

Virgin’s pangs brought forth, and subjected to a Mother’s care. Now

into this porch open seven wide holy gates (_puleones_), inviting the

people to enter. One of them is on the south of the narrow porch, and

another opens to Boreas, but the others are opened on creaking hinges

by the doorkeeper (_neokoros_) in the west wall. This wall is the end

of the church.

“Whither am I carried? What breeze has driven, like a ship at sea, my

errant speech? The very centre of the famous church is all forgotten;

return, my muse, to see the wonders scarcely to be believed when seen

or heard.

_The Four Piers._--“Alongside of the eastern and western curves

(_kukloi_)--the half-circles with their pairs of columns from

Thebes--stand four strong well-built piers (_toichoi_), naked to look

on in front, but on their sides and backs they have supporting arches,

and the four rest on strong foundations of hard stones. In the joints

the workman has mixed and poured the dust of fireburnt stone, binding

all together with the builder’s art.

“Above them spring measureless curved arches like the many-coloured

bow of Iris: one opens towards the home of Zephyr, another to Boreas,

another to Notus, and yet another to the fiery Eurus. And every arch

(_antux_) has its foot at either end fixed unshaken, and joined to the

neighbouring curves. But as each rises slowly in the air in bending

line, it separates from the other to which first it was joined.

_The Pendentives._--“Now the part between these same arches (_apsides_)

is filled with wondrous skill. For where, as needs must be, the arches

bend away from one another, and would have shown empty air, a curved

wall, like a triangle, grows over, touching the rim of the arches on

either side. And the four triangles, creeping over, spread out, until

they become united above the crown of each arch. The middle portion

of the arches, as much as forms the curved rim, the builder’s skill

has formed with thin bricks (_plinthoi_), and has thus made fast the

topmost curves of the house of stone.

“Now in the joints they have put sheets of soft lead, lest the stones,

as they lie on one another, adding weight to weight, should have their

backs broken. Thus with the lead inserted, the pressure is softened,

and the stone foundation is gently burdened.

_Cornice of Dome._--“A rim (_antux_) curving round, is firmly fixed on

the backs (of the arches), where rests the base of the hemisphere[67];

this is the circle of the lowest course which they have set as a crown

on the backs of the arches (_apsides_). And just under the projecting

firmament (_kosmos_), the hanging stones form a narrow curved path, on

which the man who cares for the sacred lights can walk fearlessly, and

trim each in turn.

_The Dome._--“And above all rises into the immeasurable air the great

helmet [of the dome], which, bending over, like the radiant heavens,

embraces the church. And at the highest part, at the crown, was

depicted[68] the cross, the protector of the city. And wondrous it is

to see how the dome gradually rises, wide below, and growing less as it

reaches higher. It does not however spring upwards to a sharp point,

but is like the firmament which rests on air, though the dome is fixed

on the strong backs of the arches.”

(Here is a lacuna in the Greek text; two broken lines, 94, 95, speak of

“window openings made in the apses, through which streams the splendour

of the golden morning light.”)

“With dauntless pen I will describe what plan the emperor devised for

the broad church, and how, with builder’s skill, both the curves of the

arches and the vault of the wide-extended house were formed with thin

bricks (_plinthoi_), and raised on firm foundations. Thus the skilful

master-man, well versed in every craft, formed a ceiling to the lofty

nave. Yet he did not send to the hills of Phœnician Lebanon, nor to

search the dark woods of the Alpine crags, nor where some Assyrian

or Celtic woodman goads on the oxen in dense forests, nor did he

think to use fir (_peuke_) or pine (_elate_) to roof the house. From

neither the glades of Daphne[69] by Orontes, nor from the wooded crags

of Patara[70] came cypress wood, to form a covering for the mighty

temple. For our noble king, since nature could produce no timber great

enough, had it covered with stones (_lithoi_) laid in a round form.

Thus on the four arches (_apsides_) rose, like a beauteous helmet, the

deep-bosomed swelling roof (_kaluptra_): and it seems that the eye, as

it wanders round, gazes on the circling heavens. And beneath the two

great arches (_apsides_), to the east and to the west, you must know

that it is all open, and extended in the air.

“But towards the murmuring south wind and the cold dry north, a wall,

mighty in strength, rises to the under side of the rounded arch

(_antux_). Now this wall is made bright with eight windows, and rests

below on great props of marble. For beneath it six columns, like the

fresh green of the emerald, in union support untired the weight of

wall. And these again are borne on strong columns fixed immovable on

the ground, glittering jewels of Thessalian marble, with capitals above

them like locks of golden hair. These separate the middle portion

of the glorious nave from the neighbouring aisle (_aithousa_) that

stretches alongside. Never were such columns, blooming with a many-hued

brightness,[71] hewn from the craggy hills of sea-washed Molossis.

_North Aisle, Centre Division._--“And in the aisle itself, in the

middle space Anthemius of many crafts, and with him Isiodorus the

wise,--for both of them, acting under the will of the king, built the

mighty church--have placed two pairs of columns, and in measure they

are less than those others near them, but they are as bright with fresh

green bloom, and they came from the same quarry.

“Yet their bases are not placed in a row, one after the other, but they

stand on the pavement two facing two opposite; and above their capitals

on fourfold arches (_seireai_) rises the underside of the women’s

galleries. And close by these columns on the north side is a door,

admitting the people to the founts that purify the stains of mortal

life, and heal every deadly scar.

“Thus on four columns of beautiful Thessalian stone, in order, placed

here and there, towards the twilight and to the dawn, along the length

of the aisle (_aithousa_) there curves a weight of bending vaults

(_kulindroi_) extending to the walls, which are pierced with openings;

on the northern side they lean on the spaces that join the twin

windows,[72] but on the south, instead of windows are empty spaces like

a colonnade.

_North Aisle, East and West Divisions._--“And again towards the east

and west stand two columns from Thessaly, with lofty crests, and twin

piers (_stemones_) from famous Proconnesus, fixed close by the doors.

Towards the east there is but one door, though on the side of the cold

north they walk through twain.

_South Aisle._--“On the south you will see a long aisle as on the

north, yet made bigger. For a part is separated off from the nave by

a wall, and here the emperor takes his accustomed seat on the solemn

festivals, and listens to the reading of the sacred books.

_Gynaecea._--“And whoever mounts will find on both sides of the church

the aisles for women similar to those below, and there is yet another,

though not like those on either side, above the narthex.

_Atrium._--“Now on the western side of this divine church you will

see a great open court (_aule_) surrounded by four cloisters. One of

these joins on to the narthex, but the others spread round the sides,

where stand their several paths. In the very centre of the wide garth

stands a spacious phiale, cleft from the Iassian peaks; and from it

bubbling water gushes forth and throws a stream into the air, leaping

up from the pressure of the brazen pipe--a stream that purges away all

suffering, when the people, in the month of the golden vestments[73]

at the mystic feast of Christ, draw the unsullied waters in vessels by

night. And the water shows the power of God; for never will you find

decay on its surface, even if it remains in its vessel, and away from

the fountain for more than a year.[74]

“Everywhere the walls glitter with wondrous designs, the stone for

which came from the quarries of seagirt Proconnesus. The marbles are

cut and joined like painted patterns, and in stones formed into squares

or eight-sided figures the veins meet to form devices; and the stones

show also the forms of living creatures.

“And on either side along the flanks and outskirts (_antuges_) of the

beautiful church, you would see open courts (_aulai_). These were all

planned about the building with cunning skill, that it might be bathed

all round by the bright light of day.

_The Marbles._--“Yet who, even in the measures of Homer, shall sing the

marble pastures gathered on the lofty walls and spreading pavement of

the mighty church? These the iron with its metal tooth has gnawed--the

fresh green from Carystus, and many-coloured marble from the Phrygian

range, in which a rosy blush mingles with white, or it shines bright

with flowers of deep red and silver. There is a wealth of porphyry

too, powdered with bright stars, that has once laden the river boat on

the broad Nile. You would see an emerald green from Sparta, and the

glittering marble with wavy veins, which the tool has worked in the

deep bosom of the Iassian hills, showing slanting streaks blood-red and

livid white. From the Lydian creek came the bright stone mingled with

streaks of red. Stone too there is that the Lybian sun, warming with

his golden light, has nurtured in the deep-bosomed clefts of the hills

of the Moors, of crocus colour glittering like gold; and the product

of the Celtic crags, a wealth of crystals, like milk poured here and

there on a flesh of glittering black. There is the precious onyx, as

if gold were shining through it: and the marble that the land of Atrax

yields, not from some upland glen, but from the level plains; in parts

fresh green as the sea or emerald stone, or again like blue cornflowers

in grass, with here and there a drift of fallen snow,--a sweet mingled

contrast on the dark shining surface.

_Sectile and carved Spandrils._--“Before I come to the glitter of

the mosaic,[75] I must describe how the mason (_laotoros_), weaving

together with skill thin slabs of marble, has figured on the flat

surface of the walls intertwining curves laden with plenteous fruit,

and baskets, and flowers, and birds sitting on the twigs. And the

curved pattern of a twining vine with shoots like golden ringlets,

weaves a winding chain of clusters; little by little does it put forth

shoots, until it overshadows all the stone near with ripples like

beauteous tresses. Such ornament as this surrounds the church.

_The Capitals._--“And the lofty crest of every column, beneath the

marble abacus (_peze_), is covered with many a supple curve of waving

acanthus--a wandering chain of barbed points all golden, full of grace.

Thus the marble in bulging forms crowns the deep red columns, as wool

the distaff; the stone glittering with a beauty that charms the heart.

_The Floor._--“And gladly have the hills of Proconnesus bent their

backs to necessity, and strewed the floor with marble. In parts too

shimmers the polish of the Bosporus stone, with white streaks on black.

_The Mosaic._--“Now the vaulting is formed of many a little square

(_psephos_) of gold cemented together. And the golden stream of

glittering rays pours down and strikes the eyes of men, so that they

can scarcely bear to look. One might say that one gazed upon the midday

sun in spring, what time he gilds each mountain height.

_Iconostasis._--“Our emperor has levied from the whole earth, and

brought together the wealth of the barbarians of the west; for as he

did not deem stone a fitting adornment for the divine, eternal temple,

on which [New] Rome has centred the expectancy of joy; he has not

spared enrichments of silver, and so the ridge of Pangaeus[76] and

the height of Sunium[77] have opened all their silver veins, and many

treasure-houses of our subject kings have yielded their stores.

“For as much of the great church by the eastern arch as was set

apart for the bloodless sacrifices, no ivory, no stone, nor bronze

distinguishes, but it is all fenced with the silver metal. Not only

upon the walls, which separate the holy priests from the crowd of

singers,[78] has he placed mere plates of silver, but he has covered

all the columns themselves with the silver metal, even six sets of

twain; and the rays of light glitter far and wide. Upon them the tool

has formed dazzling circles, beautifully wrought in skilled symmetry

by the craftsman’s hand, in the centre of which is carved the symbol

of the Immaculate God, who took upon Himself the form of man. In

parts stand up an army of winged angels in pairs, with bent necks and

downcast mien (for they could not gaze upon the glory of the Godhead,

though hidden in the form of man to clear man’s flesh from sin). And

elsewhere the tool has fashioned the heralds of the way of God, even

those by whose words were noised abroad, before He took flesh upon Him,

the divine tidings of the Anointed One. Nor had the craftsman forgotten

the forms of those others, whose childhood was with the fishing-basket

and the net; but who left the mean labours of life and unholy cares to

bear witness at the bidding of a heavenly king, fishing even for men,

and forsaking the skill of casting nets to weave the beauteous seine of

eternal life. In other parts art has limned (_kategraphe_) the Mother

of Christ, the vessel of eternal Light, whose womb brought Him forth in

holy travail.

“But on the middle panels of the sacred screen, which forms the barrier

for the priests, the carver’s art has cut one letter that means many

words, for it combines the name of our king and queen. And he has also

wrought a form like a shield with a boss, showing the cross in the

middle parts. And through the triple doors the screen opens to the

priests. For on each side the skilful hand of the workman has made

small doors.

_The Ciborium._--“And above the all-holy table of gold rises in the air

a tower (_purgos_) indescribable, reared on fourfold arches of silver.

And it is borne aloft on silver columns, on whose tops every arch rests

its silver feet. And above the arches rises a figure like a cone, yet

it is not complete. For at the bottom its edge (_antux_) does not turn

round in the circular form, but has an eight-sided base, and from

a broad plan it gradually diminishes to a sharp point, having eight

sides of silver. And at the juncture of each to other is, as it were,

a long backbone (_rachis_) which seems to join with the triangular

faces of the eight-sided form, and rises to a single crest, where is

artfully wrought the form of a cup. And the edges of the cup bend over

and assume the form of leaves, and in the midst of it has been placed

a shining silver globe, and the cross surmounts it all. May it be an

omen of peace! But above the arches many a curve of acanthus twines

round the lower part of the cone, and the plant shows sharp projections

which rise up from the groundwork like the fruit of a fragrant pear,

glittering with light.

“Now where the fitted edges join the flat base are fixed and set bowls

of silver. And in each cup stands as it were a candle, though it is a

glittering symbol not made of wax, and beauty flashes from them and not

light. For they are made round of silver, brightly polished. Thus the

candle flashes a silver ray not the light of fire.

_The Altar._--“And on columns of gold is raised the all gold slab[79]

of the holy table, standing on gold foundations, and bright with the

glitter of different stones.

“Whither am I carried? whither tends my unbridled speech? Let my voice

be silent, and not lay bare what is not meet for the eyes of the people

to see.

_Altar Curtains._--“But, ye priests, as the sacred laws command you,

spread out the curtain dipped in the red dye of the Sidonian shell

and cover the sacred table. Unfold the veils (_kaluptrai_) hanging on

the four sides of silver, and show to the countless crowd a multitude

of beautiful designs in gold of skilful handiwork. On one side is

cunningly wrought the form of Christ. And this was not worked by

skilful hands plying the needle on the stuff, but by the web, the

produce of the worm[80] from distant lands, changing its coloured

threads of many shades. A garment shimmering with gold, like the rays

of rosy-fingered dawn, flashes down to the divine knees, and a chiton,

deep red from the Tyrian shell dye, covers the right shoulder beneath

its well-woven web. The veiling upper robe has slipped away, and pulled

up across the side it only covers the left shoulder, while the forearm

and the hand are bare. He seems to point the fingers of the right

hand, as if preaching the words of Life, and in the left hand He holds

the book of the divine message,--the book that tells what the Messiah

accomplished when his foot was on the earth. And the whole robe shines

with gold; for on it a thin gold thread is led through the web, as if

a fair chain was laid on the cloth in a groove or channel and bound

with silken thread by sharp needles. And on either side stand the two

messengers of God--Paul, full of divine wisdom, and also the mighty

doorkeeper of the Gates of Heaven, binding with both heavenly and

earthly chains. One holds the book pregnant with sacred words, and the

other the form of a cross on a staff of gold. And both the cunning web

has clothed in robes of silver white, and over their sacred heads rises

upward a temple of gold, with triple apses fixed on four columns of

gold.

“Now on the extreme borders of the curtain shot with gold, unspeakable

art has figured the works of mercy of our city’s kings; here one sees

hospitals for the sick, there sacred fanes, while on either side are

displayed the miracles of Christ; such is the grace and beauty of the

work.

“But on the other curtains you see the kings of the earth on one side

with their hands joined to those of the Virgin, on the other side with

those of Christ, and all is cunningly wrought by the threads of the

woof with the sheen of a golden warp. Thus is everything adorned with

splendour. Thus may you see all that fills the eyes with wonder.

_The Lighting._--“No words can describe the light at night-time; one

might say in truth that some midnight sun illumined the glories of the

temple. For the wise forethought of our king has had stretched from

the projecting rim (_antux_) of stone, on whose back is firmly planted

the temple’s air-borne dome, long twisted chains (_seirai_) of beaten

brass, linked in alternating curves with many windings. And these

chains, bending down from every part in a long course, come together

as they fall towards the ground. But before they reach the pavement,

their path from above is checked, and they finish in unison on a circle.

“And beneath each chain he has caused to be fitted silver discs,

hanging circle-wise in the air, round the space in the centre of the

church. Thus these discs, pendent from their lofty courses, form

a coronet above the heads of men. They have been pierced too by

the weapon of the skilful workman, in order that they may receive

shafts[81] of fire-wrought glass, and hold light on high for men at

night.

“And not from discs alone does the light shine at night, but in the

circles close by a disc you would see the symbol of the mighty cross,

pierced with many holes, and in its pierced back shines a vessel of

light. Thus hangs the circling chorus of bright lights. Verily you

might say that you gazed on the bright constellation of the Heavenly

Crown by the Great Bear, and the neighbouring Dragon.

“Thus through the temple wanders the evening light, brightly shining.

In the middle of a larger circle you would find a crown with

lightbearing rim; and above in the centre another noble disc spread its

light in the air, so that night is compelled to flee.

“Near the aisles too, alongside the columns, they have hung in order

single lamps (_lampter_) apart one from another; and through the whole

length of the far-stretching nave is their path. Beneath each they have

placed a silver vessel, like a balance pan, and in the centre of this

rests a cup of well-burning oil.

“There is not however one equal level for all the lamps, for you may

see some high, some low, in comely curves of light; and from twisted

chains they sweetly flash in their aerial courses, even as shines

twin-pointed Hyas fixed in the forehead of Taurus.

“One might also see ships of silver, bearing a flashing freight of

flame, and plying their lofty courses in the liquid air instead of the

sea, fearing no gale from south-west, nor from Boötes, sinking late

to rest. And above the wide floor you would see shapely beams (with

lamps), running between two-horned supports of iron, by whose light

the orders of priests, bound by the rubrics, perform their duties.

“Some there are along the floor, where the columns have their bases,

and above again others pass, by far-reaching courses, along the

crowning work of the walls. Neither is the base of the deep-bosomed

dome left without light, for along the projecting stone of the curved

cornice the skilful workman suspends single lamps to bronze stakes.

As when some handmaid binds round the neck of a royal virgin a

graceful chain shining with the glitter of fiery gold; even so has our

emperor fixed round all the cornice lights in circle-wise, companions

everywhere to those below.

“There is also on the silver columns [of the Iconostasis], above their

capitals, a narrow way of access for the lamp-lighter, glittering with

bright clusters; these one might compare to the mountain-nourished

pine, or cypress with fresh branches. From a point ever-widening

circles spread down until the last is reached, even that which curves

round the base; instead of a root, bowls of silver are placed beneath

the trees, with their flaming flowers. And in the centre of this

beauteous wood, the form of the divine cross, pierced with the prints

of the nails, shines with light for mortal eyes.

“A thousand others within the temple show their gleaming light, hanging

aloft by chains of many windings. Some are placed in the aisles, others

in the centre or to east and West, or on the crowning walls, shedding

the brightness of flame. Thus the night seems to flout the light of

day, and be itself as rosy as the dawn. And whoever gazes on the

lighted trees, with their crown of circles, feels his heart warmed with

joy; and looking on a boat[82] swathed with fire, or some single lamp,

or the symbol of the Divine Christ, all care vanishes from the mind. So

with wayfarers through a cloudless night, as they see the stars rising

from point to point; one watches sweet Hesperus, another’s attention is

fixed on Taurus, and a third contemplates Boötes, or Orion and the cold

Charles’ Wain; the whole heaven, scattered with glittering stars, opens

before them, while the night seems to smile on their way.

“Thus through the spaces of the great church come rays of light,

expelling clouds of care, and filling the mind with joy. The sacred

light cheers all: even the sailor guiding his bark on the waves,

leaving behind him the unfriendly billows of the raging Pontus, and

winding a sinuous course amidst creeks and rocks, with heart fearful

at the dangers of his nightly wanderings--perchance he has left the

Ægean and guides his ship against adverse currents in the Hellespont,

awaiting with taut forestay the onslaught of a storm from Africa--does

not guide his laden vessel by the light of Cynosure, or the circling

Bear, but by the divine light of the church itself. Yet not only does

it guide the merchant at night, like the rays from the Pharos on the

coast of Africa, but it also shows the way to the living God.”

CHAPTER IV

THE AMBO

The third part of the description of the Silentiary is devoted to the

ambo, the chief feature in Justinian’s reinstatement of the interior.

It stood far out from the bema, on the central axis of the church.

Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople from 715-740 A.D., and Simeon

of Thessalonica both speak of this as the right position for ambones;

“the most holy bema should be towards the east, with the ambo in front

of it, if there is room.”[83] The two flights of steps, by which the

ambo--the name of which is derived from the Greek for ascending--was

reached, were on the east and west sides. In the ambo the Gospel was

read, and here was recited a prayer[84] at the conclusion of the

liturgy, which seems to have been a compendium of those previously

uttered in the sanctuary; the priest left the bema, ascended the ambo

on the east side, and prayed with his face towards the west. Important

offices in coronations were also performed here.

Paulus’ description of the ambo opens with a preface of thirty iambic

lines in praise of the emperor, who has added the “one thing needful

to our all-glorious church.” The importance of this work is made an

excuse for interrupting the “usual pursuits of his hearers even for a

third time.” Twenty hexameter lines are devoted to an invocation to the

apostles and saints, and then follows the description of the ambo.

“Now in the central space of the wide temple, yet tending rather

towards the east, rises a tower (_purgos_), fair to look upon, set

apart for the reading of the sacred books. Upright it stands on steps,

reached by two flights, one of which stretches towards the west, but

the other towards the dawn. So are they opposite to one another, and

both lead to a space formed like a circle. Now one stone curves round

to form this circular space, though it is not altogether equal to a

complete curve (_tornos_), but it agrees with it except where the edge

of the stone is lengthened; for towards east and west a flight of steps

is drawn out like a neck, projecting from the circled stone.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Plan of the Ambo both above and below.]

“And up to the height of a man’s girdle our godlike king has formed,

with the help of silver, beauteous walls curving like crescents. He has

not bent silver right round the stone, but a silver plaque (_plax_)

is spread out in the centre, to adorn the circling wall. Thus has the

skilful workman spread out two sure crescents and opened on either side

a flight of steps.

“Nor does fear seize those descending the sacred steps, because the

sides are unfenced; for hedge walls of glittering marble have been

reared there; and they are high above the steps for the hand of a

man to hold as he mounts, grasping them to ease his way; so on each

side they grow upwards in a rising line, and stop at length with the

steps which are between them. Thus good use is made of the stone;

for they have quarried savage hill, and steep promontory, to have a

far-stretching safeguard to the long flight. And the whole is cunningly

wrought with skilful workmanship, and glitters with ever-changing

brightness. In parts it seems that whirlpools eddy over the surface,

intertwining circles winding under the wandering curves of other

circles. In parts is seen a rosy bloom, mingled with wan paleness,

or fair gleams of light, as from bright spearheads; in other places

shines a softer glory, like the radiance of boxwood, or the delightsome

bees-wax, which mortal men ofttimes lay on the unsullied cliffs, and

turn over beneath the rays of the sun, while it changes to a silver

white; yet not completely altering its substance, it still shows veins

of gold. Even so the deep-stained ivory of many a year’s growth expands

its gleaming flesh on the curved breast. At times it seems to have a

pale green hue. Yet the craftsman has not left it pallid and unadorned,

for he has fixed it in fair and cunningly wrought designs on the stone.

Thus over all in many a curve its beauty is displayed. In parts the

broad surface is tinged with the choicest tint of the pale crocus, or

appears almost without colour, like light creeping round the pointed

horns of the new-born moon.

“Now near a rocky hill stands the sacred city--Hierapolis--which gives

its name to a well-known marble; and of this is made all the fair floor

of the place where they read the divine wisdom of the holy books;

and it is fitted by the craftsmen’s skill on eight cunningly wrought

columns. Two of these are towards the north, two towards the southern

wind, two towards the east, and two towards the home of evening. Thus

is the floor raised up. And beneath there is as it were another space,

where the priests continue their sacred song. The stone is a covering

to those below, but above it is like a spreading plain, untouched by

the feet of mortals. And the underside the mason (_laotomos_) has cut

out and hollowed, so that, by the craftsmen’s skill, it rises from the

capitals, curving over like the hollow shell-back of the tortoise, or

some oxhide shield held up over the helmet, when the warrior leaps in

the mazes of the Pyrrhic dance.

“Now the rugged surface (_metopon_) of the stone they have girdled

everywhere with the silver metal; and there the skilled workman,

cutting, with the point of his iron, twining foliage and lovely

flowers, has inlaid the beauteous leaves of ivy, with its clusters and

budding shoots.

“But with all its steps and floor and the columns as well, the

artificers have formed for it a fixed foundation, and raised a base

(_krepis_), the height of a man’s foot, above the floor of the church;

and in order that they might widen the foundation of the space they

have placed on either side, round the belly (_gaster_) in the middle,

half-circles in stone, and they have surrounded the space with separate

columns arranged in semicircles. Thus the whole belly is widened by

means of four rich columns on either side, to north, and to south; and

the cave space (_speos_), like a house, is surrounded on all sides by a

fence of circling stone.

“Some of the fair columns that the masons have set up are from the

Phrygian land, towards the Mygdonian heights, hewn with strong axes:

and looking on these flowers of stone, one would say that white lilies

mingled with rose cups, or the soft petals of the shortlived anemone.

Here is abundance of red and a mere tinge of white, there thin sinews

mix with the veins which dye the columns deep red, as with drops from

the Laconian shell.

“First then at the bottom they have placed the fairly wrought plinth

(_krepis_) supporting all, made beautiful with twisting curves; and

above it they have set stone bases, firmly fixed, cut from the rich

quarries of the Bosporus. Quite white, they glitter, and in branching

veins a deep blue line wanders in the shining flesh. And the bases on

the eight sides the mason has adorned with moulded bronze rings fixed

circle-wise round each base, as round a neck. And through the space of

the whole church shines the glory of each column fixed on its polished

base, like a white cloud wrought into patterns by the ruddy rays of the

rising sun.

“Thus are ranged in half-circles the company of four, and this half

with the other four they have connected by a fair chiton of stone,

even round the well-formed hollow (_antron_); for the three spaces

between the four columns have been closed by the skilful mason with

fencestones of marble from Hierapolis, firmly fixed on the plinth

(_krepis_). And it is meet that this crown of stone on the fair floor

of the sacred fane should be called of ‘the Holy City’ (_Hierapolis_).

In the boundary is placed a door, slightly curved, through which enters

the priest, to the floor of the hollow cavern (_antron_).

“Now you must know that the curve (_spelunx_), with columns, and plinth

(_krepis_), and fence wall, is alike on either side, towards Garamas

on the south and towards Arimaspus [to the north]. But the doors the

workmen have not fixed in like places, but one is westwards and the

other eastwards--the western one inclines towards the north, but the

southern gate is towards the east. Moreover the fence-walls do not

stand the same height as the columns, but they rise above the beauteous

pavement, as much as to hide a man in the hollow space (_antron_). But

the eight columns with fair carved capitals come out above the fence

wall, and stand round it on the base with equal spaces between them,

even on the stone plinth. The capitals shine with gold, like high peaks

which the golden-rayed sun strikes with its arrows.

“And all the capitals on high are crowned above in circled order by

an embracing rim of beams (_douratea antux_), which binds the columns

together in one curve, though at the same time each column is separate

from its fellow. And fixed upon the rim you might see trees, with

clusters as of fire,--the glitter of silver boughs shining afar. Nor

does each sapling wander at will, but it is restrained in a cone-like

form of many edges, from a wide circle ever lessening to a point at the

top. Now the fair girdle (_zoster_) that forms the rim is all crowned

with golden ivy-leaves, and coloured with the sapphire dust. But

towards the home of Zephyr, and also towards the fiery-winged Eurus,

there are fixed upon the rim (_antux_) two crosses of silver, with a

curved spike (_hêlos_) above each, bending like a shepherd’s crook,

flashing a thousand lights to the eyes.

“In this manner is the shining ambo made; thus have they called it ‘the

place ascended’ (_ambatos_), by holy paths, and here the people direct

their eyes, as they gaze on the divine gospel.

“And it is to good purpose that they have placed the cut stones in

steps, on whose white surface one might descry thin veins of deep red

like the dye of the sea-shell. For the unpolished stones the mason

has hewn into a long flight (_rachis_) of steps, a strong support for

the feet of men, lest any one slipping from above and falling should

descend all unsteady to the floor; thus in order and in continuous line

one stone, as it rises above another, recedes from it, even as much as

a man ascending plants one step in turn in front of another.

“And as an island rises amidst the swelling billows, bright with

patterns of cornfields, and vineyards, and blossoming meadows, and

wooded heights, while sailors, as they steer by it, are gladdened, and

the troubles and anxieties of the sea are beguiled; so in the middle

space of the boundless temple rises upright the tower-like ambo of

stone, with its marble pastures like meadows, cunningly wrought with

the beauty of the craftsman’s art. Yet though it stands in the middle,

it is not quite cut off, like an island girdled by the sea, but is

rather like some wave-washed land, extended by a narrow isthmus through

the gray billows into the middle of the sea, and were it not for this

binding chain, it would be cut off and seen as a true island; but

though it projects into the ocean, it is still joined to the mainland

coast by the isthmus, as by a cable.

“Such is the ambo; for a long path starts from the last step of its

eastern flight, and stretches out until it comes to the space by the

twin silver doors, even striking with its lengthy plinth the fence wall

of the sacred rites; and the path is warded on both sides by walls. Now

for these fence walls they have not placed lofty slabs, but they are as

high up as the navel of a man standing by them; and here the priest, as

he holds the golden gospel, passes along, and the surging crowd strive

to touch the sacred book with their lips and hands, while moving waves

of people break around.

“Thus is this path prolonged like an isthmus, wave-washed on either

side, and it leads the priest as he descends from the distant ambo with

its lofty cliffs, to the shrine of the holy table. And the whole path

on both sides is fenced with the fresh green stone of Thessaly; and the

abundant rich meadows of the stones bring the delight of beauty to the

eyes. Now at both ends of each slab from Thessaly stand posts of equal

height, not like a cylinder in form: one skilled in figures would say

that the posts were not equal-sided, but have the shape of a lengthened

cube. And the masons (_laotoroi_) have made the joints of the Molossian

slabs, by wedging one stone into another; it is from the Phrygian

land that the stone-cutter (_laotupos_) has had these posts quarried.

And resting the wandering glance there one might see snake-like coils

twining over the fair marble, winding in beauteous paths; there white

and fiery red are set alongside of one another and a flesh colour

between both, the lines bending in alternating coils, as they roll

round in their courses. First on one side, then on another, are seen

the forms of the moon and stars.

“And on the uppermost rim of the fence wall they have fitted another

long stretching stone, quarried from the same foreland crag, so that

the Thessalian slab is fixed below on the firm foundations of the

plinth, and is bound above by another band of marble; and the edges of

the Thessalian slabs are joined together as in a chain by the square

columns, which are set upright and firm on the foundation.

“And as when one winds the gold twisted thread in and out over the

many-coloured surface of a Tyrian robe, and adds a fitting pattern

round the bottom edges, or in the fair centre of the robe, or about the

sleeve-holes for the arms while the fresh green web of the cloak shines

like a meadow in spring,--the glory of the golden warp adding beauty to

beauty, and decking it as if with flowers; even so the cunning workman

has cast on the fresh green stones of the sacred rock the glitter of

golden rays, giving a brighter beauty to them.

“But at the eastern end of the passage, by the holy fence walls of the

altar, they have cut off the isthmus, so as to form a speedier path for

those who pass from side to side.

“Such works as these has our emperor, bestowing splendid gifts, built

for God the King. For to the great bounties of his peaceful reign he

has added this much-praised temple, so that with divine foresight he

might prepare a gift for the Creator of the world, Christ, King of All.

Be thou, O glory of the eternal Trinity, thrice favourable to this city

of Rome, to our citizens, our emperor, and our much-loved temple.”

* * * * *

In following this description we see that it begins on the raised

floor of the ambo which was rounded on two sides, the others being

open to the steps at the east and west. The breast wall on each side

was largely covered with applied silver wrought into patterns; and

the rest, together with the parapet slabs to the steps, were inlaid

in ivory, probably carved like the contemporary bishop’s throne at

Ravenna. The body of the ambo inlaid thus with ivory and silver was

upheld on eight columns, the underside of the floor stone being

hollowed into a flat dome like the fluted soffite of the still older

ambo at S. Apollinare at Ravenna. On either side, around the ambo, was

a semicircle of large columns of rosy-veined Synnada marble on white

bases with bronze annulets and gilt capitals; between the columns

breast-high slabs of Hierapolis marble inclosed a space. The circle of

columns stood on a raised step, and above they were bound together by

a carved beam, the pattern being gilt with the interspaces painted in

ultramarine. On this to east and west stood silver crosses; their upper

limbs “bent like shepherds’ crooks” doubtless formed the ΧΡ monogram.

Silver candelabra, cones of diminishing circles, stood round about on

the top of the beam. From the eastern steps a passage way ran back to

the step of the iconostasis, inclosed on both sides by marble slabs

grooved into posts, bearing a top rail. This closure of Verde antique

slabs was inlaid in white and red patterns and gold mosaic.

In this description two separate parts appear, the ambo proper reached

by the narrow inclosed way and ascended by steps; and the space entered

by two doors screened off about it by the circle of large columns and

closure slabs, “where the priests continue their sacred song.” So in

Constantine Porphyrogenitus’ _Book of the Ceremonies_[85] we read of

the “psaltae” placed in the ambo singing, “Christ is risen.”

We know little of the later history of the ambo. The Anonymous Author,

who probably wrote not earlier than the twelfth century, comparing the

mythical splendour of an earlier ambo destroyed by a fall of the dome

to another which he attributes to Justinian’s nephew, Justin, says

they made the latter of marble, with columns covered with silver, and

with silver screens going round the solea. It had no dome. Immediately

after he compares the pavement which he says was destroyed at the same

time with one that _now is_. So that we may assume that he wrote of

an ambo then existing, and that therefore in this instance he may be

trusted.[86] The work attributed to Justin by the Anonymous is really

the restoration under Justinian; he seems to have confused the nephew

of the architect who was then employed with the nephew of the emperor.

Rohault De Fleury,[87] who accepts this story, suggests that a canopied

ambo which appears in the _Menologium_ of Basil (976-1025) figures one

in S. Sophia which may have replaced the former ambo after the fall

of the dome in 975. Robert de Clari (1200) merely says, “The place

from which they read the Gospel is so rich and noble, that we do not

know how to describe the making of it.”[88] The ambo of that time was

destroyed by the Crusaders (1203).[89] Clavijo, the Spanish ambassador,

who saw S. Sophia two hundred years later, has left this description

of the covered ambo then existing. “On the floor in the centre of the

area is a pulpit placed on four columns of jasper; and the sides of it

are overlaid with panels of jasper of many colours, and this pulpit is

surmounted by a cover, which stands on eight very large jasper columns;

and here they preach and read the Gospel on feast days.”

* * * * *

_Coronations._--We shall now quote two descriptions of the ceremonies

associated with the ambo at coronations. These are of the age of the

Palaeologi, and the first is especially interesting as describing the

_Megale Eisodos_ and the Celebration.

“And about the second hour of the same day the prince who is to be

anointed is set upon a shield;[90] the reigning emperor, who may be his

father, and the patriarch take hold of the front part of the shield,

which is also held by the officials of rank and the nobility. They

then raise it, and show the new emperor to the assembled populace.

After he has been greeted with acclamation, they attend him into the

church, where the rest of the ceremony must be completed. Now a little

edifice of wood has previously been prepared for this very purpose,

into which they lead the new emperor, and put on him the purple and

the diadem, which have been blest by the bishops. And round his head

it is customary to put only a chaplet. After this the service of the

Mass (_mustagogia_) proceeds. And near the erection just mentioned a

set of movable steps, also of wood, are prepared, and these they cover

with purple silk. And upon it are placed golden thrones, according to

the number of the princes, not like other thrones, but raised on four

or five steps; here the princes take their seats. The princesses also

ascend with them, and sit on the thrones, wearing their crowns, but

she that is about to be crowned wears a chaplet. Now before the hymn

_Trisagion_ is sung, the patriarch comes out of the bema and ascends

the ambo, and with him are the rulers of the church, all wearing their

sacred robes. He then dismisses them, and summons the princes, and

they immediately arise from their thrones and come to the ambo, while

profound silence is kept by the whole congregation. Then the patriarch

goes through the prayers appointed for the anointing, some silently by

himself, others out loud, praying for the blessing of God on him who

is about to be anointed. After this the new emperor removes from his

head whatever he is wearing, and then it is right for all, as many as

are present, to stand with bared heads. Then the patriarch with the

holy oil anoints the head of the emperor with the form of the cross,

saying with a loud voice ‘Holy’; and as soon as they hear it those

standing on the ambo pronounce it three times, and after them all the

people. After this the crown is brought by deacons from the bema where

they keep it (now it is not above the Holy Table as some say), and

taken to the ambo. If any previously crowned emperor be there, he and

the patriarch take the crown together, and place it on the head of the

prince, the patriarch saying ‘Holy’ in a loud voice. Those in the ambo

repeat it three times, and the people, as after the anointing. Then the

patriarch repeats some more prayers, and the prince descends from the

ambo, not on the side by which he ascended, but on the side which is

turned towards the solea. If he is unmarried he then ascends the steps

and reseats himself upon his throne, but if he has a wife then she also

must be crowned. She is then led, as she rises from the throne, by two

kinswomen one on either side, or if she has no relatives, eunuchs lead

her down from the steps, and stand with her before the solea. Then the

emperor descends from the ambo, and takes the crown held ready by the

kinswomen or eunuchs, and places it upon the head of his wife, and she

kneels before her husband, swearing fealty to him. And the patriarch,

standing by the solea, offers up a prayer for the emperor and empress,

and all their people. Thus the emperor crowns his own wife. And then

both ascend the steps, and sit upon their thrones, and the rest of the

mysteries are proceeded with. But at the singing of the _Trisagion_, or

at the reading from the apostolic writings, or the Gospels, they stand

up.

“And on both sides of the nave, on wooden steps made for this

purpose, are those called protopsaltae, and domestici, and others of

ecclesiastical rank who know how to sing, and who are called because

of this _kraktai_;[91] all these sing anthems especially made for the

occasion. But when the part of the mysteries which is called _The

Great Entrance_[92] is beginning, the chief of the deacons comes and

summons the emperor, and he comes with them into the prothesis, where

are set out the Holy Elements, and, standing outside the prothesis,

a golden mantle is put upon him over the diadem and the purple; and

in the right hand he holds the cross, which he usually carries when

he wears his crown, but in the left he carries the rod, which he who

is called _deputatus_ usually carries. With these in both hands the

emperor leads the sacred entrance, and on both sides of him march

the Varangi with their axes, and the sons of the nobility armed and

unarmed, about a hundred in all, follow; and immediately behind him

come the deacons in order, and the priests, carrying the vessels for

the service--and other most holy things. And after going round the

nave, as is their wont, when they come into the solea, all the others

stand outside, but the emperor alone enters the solea and finds the

patriarch standing at the sacred screen, and after bowing to one

another the patriarch goes inside, but the emperor remains without, and

then the deacon who followed immediately after the emperor, holding in

his right hand a censer, and in his left what is called the _maphorion_

of the patriarch, approaches and censes the emperor. The emperor bows

his head, while the deacon with a loud voice calls out, ‘May the Lord

be mindful of the power of thy kingdom in His universal kingdom, now

and always and for ever and ever, Amen.’ And in order the rest of

the deacons and the priests approach and say the same. And when this

is finished the emperor bows to the patriarch, takes off the mandya,

which is taken away by the refendarius. The emperor again ascends the

tribune and sits down on the throne, but he stands during the creed,

the Lord’s Prayer, and the elevation of our Lord’s body. And after the

elevation, if he is not prepared for the Communion he remains seated

till the end of the service. But if he is prepared, the deacons again

come and summon him. And with them he enters into the bema and, having

been given a censer, he censes the Holy Table, looking first of all to

the east, then north, west, and south, and having again censed towards

the east, he censes the patriarch also. The patriarch bows to him and

takes the censer, and censes the emperor in return. After this the

emperor removes the crown, and gives it into the hands of the deacons.

Then the patriarch puts into his hand a portion of our Lord’s body,

and after that he drinks of the life-giving blood, not from a spoon

like the rest of the people, but from the cup itself like the priests.

Then the emperor replaces the crown, and comes out of the bema, and

after the congregation has shared in the Communion, and he has been

blessed by the patriarch, and the priests, and has kissed their right

hands, they lead him to the part called catechumena to receive the

acclamations of the people. When this is finished, he comes down again,

and he and the empress mount on horseback, and ride back to the palace

to partake of a banquet.”[93]

Codinus Curopalata[94] has also a description, almost in the same

words, but with some additions. The future emperor is “led to the

triclinium called Thomaites, which looks on to the Augusteum, where

are standing the populace with the army. But before the emperor shows

himself, what are called epicombia are thrown to the people by one

of the senators, whom the emperor has selected. These epicombia are

made as follows. They cut pieces of cloth, and in each piece they

bind up three gold and as many silver numismata and three obols, and

then throw them to the people, and they scatter as many thousands of

these as the emperor shall arrange. Now it is customary to throw these

epicombia in the proaulion of the great church, that is in the part

called Augusteum;--he who scatters them standing above the steps of

the Augusteum.” Inside the church a wooden tribunal had been prepared

in the gynaeceum, and at the end of the ceremony “the young emperor

with his wife the empress, and the emperor, his father, and his mother,

ascend. But the golden velothyra hide the tribunal, so that they shall

not be seen. Then the psaltae sing ‘Lift up,’ and immediately the

velothyra are raised, and the princes in the gynaeceum are greeted with

acclamations by the people.”

CHAPTER V

THE RITUAL ARRANGEMENTS AND INTERIOR PARTS OF THE CHURCH

_Main Divisions._--Du Cange, in the commentary to his edition of the

Silentiary’s Poem, was the first to make a serious attempt to elucidate

the interior arrangements of S. Sophia. This appeared with the poem in

the folio of 1670,[95] but a revised edition was incorporated in his

_Historia Byzantina_, 1680.[96]

In the first his knowledge of the actual state of the church seems

to have been limited to the description of Gyllius unassisted by any

plan. Drawings of S. Sophia were desiderata at that time, and Grelot

tells us how he was induced to attempt to make them by a knowledge that

others who had been commissioned by the King of France had failed.

Before the publication of his revised edition of 1680 Du Cange had

obtained a plan. This appeared in the same year as Grelot’s work, and

divergences seem to show that the plans were, in great measure at

least, independent of one another. The main text of his commentary

however remained the same, and the alterations, although crucial, were

mostly made by the omission of a few lines here and there without any

attention being specially called to the fact.

This has been the cause of much confusion, as it has unfortunately

happened that the first edition has been reproduced without remark

in the series of Byzantine texts published at Bonn and in Migne’s

_Patrologiae Cursus Completus_. In this Du Cange placed the iconostasis

“under the great eastern arch which supports the dome,” and thus

included the whole eastern hemicycle in the bema. He devoted the whole

central square under the dome to the “priests and singers,” separating

it from the western hemicycle by “marble columns,” which were obtained

by a curious misreading of Gyllius’ description of the verde antique

columns in the western opening on the _first_ floor. In the centre

between these “marble columns” he placed the “Beautiful” or “Royal

Gate,” and the western hemicycle outside this was alone allotted to

the people. In the corrected edition of 1680 the bema is confined to

the eastern extension, the eastern hemicycle became the solea, and the

central area and western hemicycle are given to the people.

There is actually very little diversity of opinion in regard to

the main divisions of the church between Du Cange, Neale,[97] and

Salzenberg, but Rohault de Fleury has been misled into making an

engraving of the iconostasis, stretching across the whole hundred feet

of the hemicycle.

_Bema._--A church, as Simeon of Thessalonica writes, is properly

“divided into three parts, the pronaos, the naos, and the bema.”

The bema (see Plan, Fig. 5) is the raised part within the screen or

iconostasis included by the apse. This was the place set apart for the

priests, who are hence sometimes called “they of the bema.”[98] Decrees

were passed from time to time to enhance its sacred character; as that

no member of the laity should pass beyond the screen, except with the

consent of a bishop. Even the emperor was only allowed there during a

few portions of the liturgy.

The bema of S. Sophia was indifferently called the _adyta_,

_hierateion_, _thusiasterion_. The history of Michael Attaliotas also

speaks of it as the “second skene, that is, the Holy of Holies.”[99]

The apse proper is by Paulus mentioned apart from the space contained

by the straight walls, and it is possible that this is the _kuklios_

(cyclius) of Porphyrogenitus. From the poet we gather that the priests’

stalls against the wall were plated with silver. The upper part of

the curved wall is incrusted with precious marble of sombre golden

tones, beneath which the surface has been disturbed and is now covered

by plain gray slabs. When we recall the immense quantity of silver

that Procopius says was used in the sanctuary, and remember that the

iconostasis and the altar-ciborium were of silver and the Holy Table of

gold, it seems likely that the plating of the silver stalls covered the

whole of this narrow strip, which would not be more than six or eight

feet above the top seat, the level of which we suppose is marked by the

projection of the lower part of the wall. In the small oratory of the

Saviour built by Basil in the palace “the whole pavement was of massive

silver wrought by the hammer and enriched by niello, and the walls to

the right and left were covered with great plates of silver damascened

in gold and glistening with precious stones and pearls.”[100] To this

space we should refer the four panels with images in the wall mentioned

in the _Novgorod Chronicle_,[101] which we suppose were of embossed

silver or enamel. The most eastward point of the apse was occupied by

the patriarch’s throne.[102] A bishop’s chair with a canopy preserved

in the cathedral church of S. George at Constantinople, said to have

belonged to S. Sophia, is in any case quite late. It is of wood,

ornamented with inlaid work representing the two-headed eagle, which

was not adopted earlier than the tenth century.

In Fig. 8 we give an outline of a miniature in the _Menologium_ (Jan.

16) of the adoration of S. Peter’s chains, which were kept in the

chapel of S. Peter attached to the great church. We have here a bema

fully represented with the altar, ciborium, and apsidal stalls for the

clergy. We can hardly suppose that these latter could have belonged to

a small dependent chapel, and hence the miniature in the symbolic way

of these old drawings is probably intended as a view of the great apse.

_Altar._--The central object of the bema was the altar, which stood

beneath the cylindrical vault, on the under side of which the two

great watching angels are represented in the mosaic. Paulus says, “On

columns of gold is raised the all golden slab of the Holy Table; it

stands too on a base of gold, and from it gleams the brightness of

precious stones.” The doubtful Anonymous says that it was “supported

on four columns, overlaid with gold,” and again that “it was set up on

solid columns of gold, studded with precious stones;” and that beneath

the altar was a “sea” (_thalassa_) ornamented with gold and precious

stones.[103] This seems to refer to the “base of gold” beneath the

columns.

[Illustration: FIG. 8.--View of Bema from the _Menologium_.]

According to Labarte, the description by the Anonymous (see p. 138)

shows that the altar itself was decorated with the bright diversity of

enamel. This he seems to prove by passages in Suidas[104] and Cedrenus.

The last-named writes: “It is formed of gold, of silver, of every kind

of stone and metal and wood, and everything which earth, sea, or the

whole universe contains. Of all these he (Justinian) collected the

most valuable, with some small amount of commoner ones. He then melted

those that would melt, added those that were dry, and poured them

into a mould till it was filled. He wrote upon it, ‘We (Justinian and

Theodora) thy servants, O Christ, bring thee of thine own, praying that

thou wilt graciously accept it, O Son and Word of God made flesh and

crucified for us. Strengthen us in the true faith, increase and guard

this state, which thou hast intrusted to us, through the mediation of

Mary, the holy Virgin, the Mother of God.’”

However doubtful these late Greek writers are as authorities for

Justinian’s time, enamel was used in later days in the most extravagant

manner, and we cannot doubt that at the time when the Crusaders took

the church the altar was of enamel.[105] Robert de Clari,[106] writing

at this time, says, “the chief altar of the church (S. Sophia) is so

rich that one cannot value it; for the slab which forms the altar is of

gold and of precious cut stones (_esquartelées_) and pearls (_molucs_)

all thrown together.” Nicetas is even clearer; describing the capture

of Constantinople and the sack of the church, he says: “The Holy Table,

made of all kinds of precious materials, cemented together by fire,

and formed into a many-coloured harmony so as to be the wonder of all

nations, was broken in pieces and distributed by the soldiers.”[107]

It is very probable that some of the enamels added to the Pala d’Oro

at Venice after the sack of Constantinople came from the sanctuary

of S. Sophia, possibly from its altar. Sylvester Sguropulus[108] who

accompanied John Palaeologus to Venice in 1438, describes the Pala

d’Oro as “an icon which is formed out of many, and we heard that some

of these were taken from the Church of S. Sophia.” It may be only a

coincidence that one of the panels of the Pala contains the figure of

Solomon with the Greek inscription, “Wisdom hath builded her house,”

that being the usual legend for Solomon.

The altar would have been covered, like the altars shown in the mosaics

at Ravenna, and the illustrations of the _Menologium_,[109] by a cloth

reaching on all sides to the floor. These cloths bear very simple

devices--in the centre a plain cross, circle, or star, and at the four

corners _gammidae_ ⛶ which in the code of symbolism probably expressed

the four corners of that world, for which the daily sacrifice was

offered.

Others however were more richly embroidered. In the _Liber

Pontificalis_ of Agnellus[110] it is said that Maximian, the Archbishop

of Ravenna in Justinian’s time, ordered a most precious altar-cloth

(_endothis_) of byssus, on which was embroidered the whole history of

the Saviour. “It is not possible to imagine the human figures, or the

beasts and birds which are made on it.” The figure of the archbishop

was represented with the inscription, “Praise the Lord with me, for

he hath raised me from the dust.” The Continuator of Theophanes

also speaks of an altar-cloth on which “the birth of the Lord was

represented.”[111]

The general Greek name for altar-cloth was _endute_. Those at S.

Sophia are thus spoken of by the Anonymous, and we read that Michael

Palaeologus sent to the Pope “an _endute_ of the Great Church, of rose

red, with gold and pearls worked on it.”[112]

_Ciborium._--The altar stood under a canopy of silver called a

_kiborion_, as is fully described by Paulus. According to the Anonymous

it was patterned with niello or damascening (see p. 138). Such ciboria

are frequently spoken of in the _Lives of the Popes_.[113] Thus Gregory

I. made for S. Peter’s a “ciborium with four columns of pure silver,”

and Leo III. “made for the basilica of S. Paul a ciborium with large

and beautiful columns of the purest silver.” The ciborium of S.

Demetrius at Salonica, a fifth-century work described in the _Acta

Sanctorum_, was also of silver. It supported at the top “a solid sphere

of silver, with wonderful lily-leaves curved round it, and a cross

above.”[114]

An illustration[115] in an eighth-century Gospel preserved at Venice

represents a ciborium, like that at S. Sophia. We see four arches on

four columns, and from the flat top above rises an octagonal cone.

At the four corners stand bowls, and in each bowl is a candle or a

representation of one, as the Silentiary describes. Pope Leo III.

placed “above the altar of S. Peter four large cups of the purest

silver, every one having in its centre a candle of silver-gilt.”[116]

The ciborium at S. Sophia described by Paulus may have lasted till

1203; Robert de Clari, writing at this time, says: “Around the altar

there are columns of silver, which carry a canopy (_abitacle_) over the

altar, made like a tower (_clokier_), which is all of massive silver,

and so rich that one cannot estimate its value.”

_Crowns, &c._--From the first a crown and dove of gold would have

been suspended from the centre of the canopy; such doves are spoken

of as being in use in Constantinople during the Council of 536.[117]

Theophanes says: “On Easter Day Sophia, the widow of Justin II., and

Constantia, the wife of Maurice, gave the Emperor Maurice a crown of

exceeding value. When the emperor saw it, he took it to S. Sophia, and

hung it above the Holy Table by triple chains of gold and precious

stones.”[118] This, Nicephorus Callistus says, was preserved there till

the taking of the city by the Latins.[119] According to Buzantios, the

emperor Leo IV. and his wife Irene also suspended crowns here. Nicetas

speaks of the “crown of the great Constantine, which hung above the

Holy Table;” and again of one “John, surnamed Crassus, who rushed into

S. Sophia and placed on his head a small crown, one of those which hang

round the Holy Table;”[120] and it appears from the account of the

Russian pilgrim Anthony, given in the next chapter, that just before

the Crusade there were thirty crowns suspended from the ciborium--a

beautiful symbolism.

The splendid hanging crowns at Monza and in the Cluny Museum show us

that these votive crowns were broad circlets of gold incrusted with

large uncut rubies and emeralds with borders of pearls, and strings

of jewels, and other pendants hanging from the rim. A small enamelled

crown for suspension above an altar which is amongst the Constantinople

treasures at S. Mark’s is inscribed ΛΕΟΝ ΔΕϹΠ(ΟΤΗϹ); this, according to

Labarte, must be Leo VI., who died in 911.[121]

_Altar-veils._--Round the four sides of the ciborium were suspended the

curtains described in such detail by Paulus. They were all the more

wonderful at this time as being silk-woven and not embroidered.[122]

The gold thread however seems to have been “laid” on. By the later

Greeks those curtains were named tetrabela. They were often of deep

red embroidered with gold, and were usually hung on rods going from

capital to capital of the ciborium, as some of the illustrations in the

_Menologium_ show, though others seem to have been suspended from the

curves of the arches.

_The Iconostasis._--For a description of the screen in front of the

bema, with its columns, beam, panels, and doors plated with silver,

we refer to the Silentiary. A screen of this kind, from the sacred

paintings with which it is adorned, is now called the iconostasis, but

by the Byzantine writers it is usually named _herkos_, _druphrakta_,

_kinklidai_, or _kankelloi_. Such screens were generally of bronze or

marble. The Church of S. John the Evangelist, built by Galla Placidia

at Ravenna, had a screen of silver. At the Church of the Apostles

at Constantinople, built by Constantine, the iconostasis was gilded

bronze. The screen of S. Peter’s in Rome was formed by the twelve

beautiful antique columns which figure in Raphael’s tapestry, standing

in two rows.[123] Eusebius connects twelve columns which stood about

the tomb in the Sepulchre church with the number of the apostles, and

it is possible, as De Fleury suggests, that in the six pairs of pillars

forming the iconostasis at S. Sophia a reference may be seen to the

dismissal of the apostles two by two. From the narrowness of the bema

it seems certain that the coupling of the pillars was transversely to

the screen as shown on our plan, Fig. 5. Thus they easily supported the

passage way, where stood a great gemmed cross and a row of branched

silver candelabra. This was the “narrow way for the lamp-lighter above

the silver columns” described by the Silentiary.

The decoration of the silver plating of the breastwork and the beam by

figures of apostles, prophets, and angels, and with circles bearing

crosses and monograms, may have been formed in _repoussé_, like a

beautiful gilt panel with a figure of the Virgin and Greek inscription

now at Kensington Museum, which formed a part of the decoration of

the screen at Torcello, but we think it more probable that it was

damascened with gold like the silver work in Basil’s chapel.