. Architecture, classic and early Christian . l ilany church older than the sixth century now remains inConstantinople; but it is certain that, to attain the powerof designing and erecting so great a work as Santa SojDhia,the architects of Constantinople must have continued andlargely modified the Roman practice of building vaults anddomes. There is every probability that if some of theearly churches in Byzantium were domed structures othersmay have been vaulted basilicas; the more so as the veryancient churches in Syria, which owed their origin toByzantium rather than to Rome, are most of the
. Architecture, classic and early Christian . l ilany church older than the sixth century now remains inConstantinople; but it is certain that, to attain the powerof designing and erecting so great a work as Santa SojDhia,the architects of Constantinople must have continued andlargely modified the Roman practice of building vaults anddomes. There is every probability that if some of theearly churches in Byzantium were domed structures othersmay have been vaulted basilicas; the more so as the veryancient churches in Syria, which owed their origin toByzantium rather than to Rome, are most of them of thebasilica type. A church Avhich had been erected by Constantine, dedi-cated to Santa Sophia (holy wisdom), was burnt early inthe reign of Justinian ( 527 to 565); and in rebuildingit his architects, Anthemios of Thralles, and Isodoros ofMiletus, succeeded in erecting one of the most famousbuildings of the world, and one which is the typical andcentral embodiment of a distinct and very strongly marked P 2 L. ;:, :-i!i T^. BYZAXTINE. 213 well-ilefineJ style. Tlio basis of this style may Le said tobe the adoption of the dome, in preference to the vault orthe timber roof, as the cov^ering of llie space enclosed withintlie walls; with the result that the general disposition oftlie plan is circular or square, rather than oblong, andthat the structure recalls the Pantheon more than thegreat Hall of the Thermae of Diocletian, or the Basilica ofSt. Paul. In Santa Sophia one vast flaltish dome domi-nates the central space. This dome is circular in plan,and the space over which it is placed is a square, thesides of which are occupied by four massive semicirculararches of 100 ft. span each, springing from four vastpiers, one at each of the four corners. The four tri-angular spaces between the corners of the square soenclosed and the circle or ring resting ui)0n it are filledby what are termed pendenLives —features which m;iy,perhaps, be best described as portions of
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