Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/140

126 the Byzantine empire were the most dexterous and laborious of nations. Their country wag blessed by nature with every advantage of soil, climate, and situation; and in the support and restoration of the arts their patient and peaceful temper produced results which were not to be attained amidst the warlike spirit and feudal anarchy of Europe. In the preparation of those costly dresses described by the Jewish traveller, the colours most in use were the Tyrian purple, the brilliant scarlet, and the softer lustre of the green. These colours were also used to adorn the buildings.



"There is also at Constantinople" (continues Benjamin of Tudela) "the Temple of St. Sophia, and the Pope of the Greeks, who are not subject to the Pope of Rome. You may count as many altars in the Temple of St. Sophia as there are days in the year. Thither are gathered immense riches from the isles, country houses, and towns of the country. There is no temple in the universe where we find such riches as are there. In the midst of this temple there are columns of gold and silver, and chandeliers of the same metals, in such numbers, that we cannot count them."

A church dedicated to the Divine Wisdom (Santa Sophia) was built by Constantine in the twentieth year of his reign. This Building was burnt down in the year 404, an having been rebuilt by Theodosius, was again destroyed by fire. The vast pile, which still remains one of the chief ornaments of Constantinople, and which is now used as a Mahometan mosque, dates from the reign of Justinian. That magnificent prince determined to build the grandest monument ever erected by the hand of man." Seven years were occupied in collecting materials from every part of the world, and nine were employed in the actual building. Columns of marble from the Temples of the Sun at Palmyra, and that of Diana at Ephesus; bricks of perfect form and remarkable durability, from the island of Rhodes, were brought at immense cost to complete the edifice. Gold and