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After the proclamation of
Christianity as the official state religion, by Emperor Constantine
I., known as the Great, (324-337 A.D.), construction of big churches
were undertaken everywhere in Byzantium. Constantine, the Great was
claimed, not justly perhaps, to be the founder of many churches, because
of his manifestation of such tolerance. Socrates (380-440) , the chronicler
of the church history of the period, states that the first building
of Hagia Sophia (or sometimes referred to as Saint Sophia) was erected
by Constantine the Great. |
Hagia Sophia, which is one
of the outstanding monuments in the history of art in our planet,
had been called a "Megalo Ecclesia" (meaning a colossal
church ) at its first construction. This great monument has, however,
been called as Sophia since the Fifth Century. This architectural
marvel was not, however, dedicated to a Saint as one may think, but
has been dedicated to the Holy Wisdom (Theia Sophia), which is the
second element of the Christian Trinity .The populace of Byzantium
continued for a long time to call this church as "Megalo Ecclesia
" .After the conquest of Byzantium in 1453, the name Hagia Sophia
has survived to modern times.
The first church was inaugurated with pomp and circumstance on February
15, 360 A.D. The building was like its contemporary religious edifices,
was built with a wooden roof on an oblong basilica. Saint John Chrysostom,
the Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul) , was for a long time in
constant struggle with the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Arcadius
(395-408) .As a result of a dispute over a silver- plated statue of
the empress to be erected outside of, but in the close vicinity of
the church, the Patriarch was sent to exile on June 20, 404, and during
the riots that immediately followed his exile, the church was partly
burned down. |
Its restoration was completed in the reign of Emperor Theodosius II
( 408-450) .After a long period of repairs, the church was inaugurated
again on October 10, 415. This newly restored Hagia Sophia was to
stand intact for slightly more than a century. At the time of Emperor
Justinian, the Great (527-565), just before the realization of the
Sixth Century, a strong feud started in Byzantium between the Blues
and the Greens. |
These were, at first, sports clubs so- named as they were groups participating
at the horse races in the Hippodrome, and bearing those colours respectively.
But later on, these groups assumed political identities, and began
to turn into instruments reflecting the different tendencies of the
people. As time went by, the Blues assumed the representation of Orthodoxism
and the big land owners, while the Greens represented the Monophysi-
tes,tradesmen and artisans. The ranks in the political, social and
religious strata of the society thus became clearly distinct in the
conflict between the Blues and the Greens. In 532 A.D., the Blues
and the i iGreens joined forces in rebelling against emperor Justinian,
the Great. The riots breaking out first in the Hippodrome, and known
in history as "the Nika riots" (Nika meaning "to conquer"
) , soon spread out to the entire city .The fire breaking out during
the ensuing tumult, caused Hagia Sophia to burn down. The emperor,
who had accepted defeat and was about to flee, saved his crown thanks
to his wife, the empress Theodora, who sent out Generals Narces and
Balisarius to suppress the rebellion. The Palace Guards, attacking
the rebels, restored the law and order by putting ten thousands of
rebels to the sword. |
Despite the suppression of the rebellion on January 13, 532, unfortunately
Hagia Sophia was being consumed in flames for the second time. During
the excavations carried out by A.M. Schneider in 1935 in the western
courtyard of Hagia Sophia, a lot of big marble slabs were unearthed.
The slabs were ornamented with lambs in relief, representing the twelve
apostles. It was thus discovered that these slabs were fragments of
an entrance of monumental dimensions. These are apparently the remains
of the entrance front of the second Hagia Sophia, built by Emperor
Theodosius 11, in the form of a basilica. This second Hagia Sophia,
the remains of which we see today, was burned down during the Nika
riots. We find out from Procopius, the Byzantine historian of the
period, that as soon as the rioting mob were put to the sword, Emperor
Justinian took steps to build an edifice that would be entirely different
from its earlier models, but would be a more majestic and gigantic
temple ever built up to that time. |
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