Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/77

 of Chalke, is occupied by an oblong edifice with an arched wooden roof, the basilica of St. Sophia, commonly called the Great Church. The entrance faces the east, and leads from a cloistered forecourt to a narrow hall, named the narthex, which extends across the whole width of the church. The interior consists of a wide nave separated from lateral aisles by rows of Corinthian columns, which support a gallery on each side. At the end of the nave stands the pulpit or ambo, approached by a double flight of steps, one on each side. Behind the ambo the body of the church is divided from the Bema or chancel by a lofty carved screen, decorated with figures of sacred personages, called later the Iconostasis or image-stand. Three doors in the Iconostasis lead to the Bema, which contains the altar, a table of costly construction enriched with gold and gems, and covered by a large and handsome ciborium. The edifice is terminated by an apse furnished with an elevated seat, which forms the

exposition setting forth the order and decoration of a hundred chambers.]), the [Greek: Logos], the Word, i.e., Christ; Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 6, etc.], to ascend, not, as some imagine, from the double approach; Reiske, Const. Porph., ii, p. 112; Letheby and S., op. cit., p. 53.]
 * [Footnote: the date under consideration the historical reader would soon tire of an