. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. asions underTamerlane, we know from Zosimus that many of thebuildings erected under Constantine were so hastilyand carelessly constructed that they had to be takendown almost immediately after completion; whilethe earthquake in 413 a. d. swept away all the goodwork of Theodosius II, in whose reign baths, forti-fications, and palaceshad been erected ona scale, number, andmagnificence to winfor the emperor thetitle of second found-er of the Golden Cityof the East. But, notwithstand-ing Moslems, Tar-tars, mismanagement,and th
. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. asions underTamerlane, we know from Zosimus that many of thebuildings erected under Constantine were so hastilyand carelessly constructed that they had to be takendown almost immediately after completion; whilethe earthquake in 413 a. d. swept away all the goodwork of Theodosius II, in whose reign baths, forti-fications, and palaceshad been erected ona scale, number, andmagnificence to winfor the emperor thetitle of second found-er of the Golden Cityof the East. But, notwithstand-ing Moslems, Tar-tars, mismanagement,and the enmity of Na-ture, the Byzantineshave left one of thefinest constructive in-ventions recorded inarchitectural history—namely, the Penden-tive system. Beinggreat, it is also simple,and merely consists inplacing a circular dome upon a square, the diameterof the circle being equal to the side of the square1 Fig. 81). The sides of this square are surmounted byarches, and the spherical triangles thus formed at thecorners are filled with masonry and called Fig. 81.—Fendentive system in Byzan-tine domes. SANTA SOPHIA. 223 The best example of this, and the most compre-hensive of the Byzantine style, is in the Church ofSta. Sophia or Divine Wisdom (Plate XXVI), be-gun by Justinian in 532 a. d. on the site of a basilicaof the same name erected by Constantine. This ba-silica had been burned down in 404 A. D., restoredby Theodosius, and then destroyed a second timeduring the riots of Venetus and Prasinus, or by thepartisans of the Green and Blue parties. In Sta. Sophia Justinian announced his intentionof creating the grandest monument ever erected bythe hand of man, and to this end he commanded thegovernors of even the most distant provinces to ran-sack all the ancient buildings for sculptures, preciousmarbles, and works of art. Eight columns of whitemarble were brought from the Temple of the Sunat Palmyra, eight of green marble from the Templeof Diana at Ephesus, and s
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