ABSTRACT
Initiated by Constantine, furthered by Theodosius, the Byzantine achievement was brought to its culmination by Justinian (527-65). There would be other great emperors in the millennium left to new Rome but none could fairly claim to have eclipsed Justinian, in conquest, consolidation or construction. Ironically, the greatest monument to Justinian's imperial ambition, the palatine church of H. Sofia built on the ruins of Constantine's original basilica after the catastrophic Nika riots of 532, is the most palpable witness to the failure of his unifying mission. Justinian's architects here extended the centralizing formula adopted in the rebuilding of the Apostoleon: a standard aisled basilica was transformed into a complex of six domes, one each over the sanctuary, crossing and transept arms, two slightly elliptical ones over the nave. Analysis of the materials and their use demonstrates that much of the basilican substructure and the domed crossing is original though extensively repaired after a fire in 564.
