Procopius of Caesarea, On Buildings (c. 554–560)

A panegyric of Justinian’s building works across the empire, beginning with the capital: Hagia Sophia, the Augustaion and its column, the Chalke gate of the palace, churches, cisterns, harbours and fortifications.

Procopius, who also wrote the Wars and the scurrilous Secret History, wrote On Buildings in praise of the emperor, and it flatters. But its first book describes buildings he saw daily, and its account of Hagia Sophia (the dome that seems to hang from heaven, the light that seems born inside the church) remains the classic description.

Book I also describes the square in front of the palace, which the people of the city called the Augustaion: a bronze column there carries Justinian on horseback, facing east toward the Persians, a globe in his left hand and his right raised to bid the barbarians halt; and the Chalke, the domed vestibule of the palace, with its mosaics of the emperor’s victories.

The book, part by part

I I.1: Hagia Sophia

The Great Church rebuilt after the Nika riot of 532: its height over the city, its dome and its light.

Rules: The Great Church over the city

II I.2 and I.10: the Augustaion, the column and the Chalke

The square before the palace, the equestrian column facing east, the palace vestibule.

Rules: The square before the palace

Rules drawn from On Buildings

The Great Church over the city

Raise the principal church of the capital on its highest ground at the head of the city, so that it rises above the houses like a ship riding the waves and is seen from the sea on every side.

The square before the palace

Before the palace gate make a square ringed by public buildings (the Great Church, the senate house, the palace vestibule), and set in it a column carrying the emperor, facing east toward the empire’s enemies.