Page 202 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

The Emperor Justinian and His Court. As the seat of Eastern Roman power in Italy, the town of Ravenna was adorned with many examples of Eastern Roman art. The Church of San Vitale at Ravenna contains some of the finest examples of sixth- century mosaics. Small pieces of colored glass were set in mortar on the wall to form these figures and their surroundings. The emperor is seen as both head of state (he wears a jeweled crown and a purple robe) and head of the church (he carries a gold bowl symbolizing the body of Jesus).
Justinian added many new buildings. His public works projects included roads, bridges, walls, public baths, law courts, and colossal underground reservoirs to hold the city’s water supply. He also built hospitals, schools, monasteries, and churches. Churches were his special passion, and in Constantinople alone he built or rebuilt thirty-four of them. His greatest achieve- ment was the famous Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom, completed in 537. The center of Hagia Sophia consisted of four large piers crowned by an enormous dome, which seemed to be floating in space. In part this impression was created by ringing the base of the dome with forty-two windows, which allowed an incredible play of light within the cathe- dral. Light served to remind the worshipers of God. As darkness is illuminated by invisible light, so too, it was believed, is the world illuminated by an invisible spirit.
The Hippodrome was a huge amphitheater; con- structed of brick covered by marble, it held between 40,000 and 60,000 spectators. Although gladiator
Interior View of Hagia Sophia. This view of the interior of the Church of the Holy Wisdom, constructed under Justinian by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, gives an idea of how the windows around the base of the dome produced a special play of light within the cathedral. The pulpits and plaques bearing inscriptions from the Qur’an were introduced when the Turks converted this church to a mosque in the fifteenth century.
Late Antiquity and the Emergence of the Medieval World
huge arena known as the Hippodrome. No residential district was particularly fashionable; palaces, tene- ments, and slums ranged alongside one another.
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a Robert Harding/Digital Vision/Getty Images S. Vitale, Ravenna//Scala/Art Resource, NY