Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/141

A.D. 1097.] mosaics were spread over the surface, and paintings on gold and costly marbles covered the walls.

The church of St. Sophia, which once contained so many splendours, now retains within it but few traces of its former glory. The imposing proportions of the building still remain, but the walls are bare, and upon the dome the crescent has replaced the cross.

The narrative of Benjamin of Tudela goes on to describe "a place where the king diverts himself, called the hippodrome, near to the wall of the palace. There it is that every year, on the day of the birth of Jesus the Nazarene, the king gives a grand entertainment. There are represented by magic arts before the king and queen, figures of all kinds of men that exist in the world; thither also are taken lions, bears, tigers, and wild asses, which are made to fight together, as well as birds. There is no such a sight to be seen in all the world."

According to Gibbon, the great palace, the centre of the imperial residence, was situated between the hippodrome and the church of St. Sophia; and the gardens descended by many a terrace to the shores of the Propontis. The new palace, erected in the tenth century by the Emperor Theophilus, was accompanied with five churches, one of which was conspicuous for size and beauty. The square before the portico of the church contained a fountain, the basin of which was lined and encompassed with plates cf silver. In the beginning of each season the basin, instead of water, was replenished with the most exquisite fruits, which were abandoned to the populace for the entertainment of the prince. He enjoyed this tumultuous spectacle from a throne resplendent with gold and gems, which was raised by a marble staircase to the height of a lofty terrace.



Below the throne were seated the officers of the guards, the magistrates, and the chiefs of the factious of the circus; the inferior step, were occupied by the people; the space below was covered with troops of singers, dancers, and pantomimists. The fanciful magnificence of the emperor employed, in various fantastic designs, the skill and patience of such artists as the times could afford; but the taste of Athens would have despised their frivolous and costly labours: a golden tree with its leaves and branches, which I sheltered a multitude of birds warbling their artificial notes, and two lions of massy gold, and of the natural size, I which looked and roared like their brethren of the forest.