The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY: BOOK IV 235
are colonnades which round o¡ this great achievement with columns and
small arches. 93
But so that the marvel of its construction may be clearer, I have
decided to include the dimensions of its length, breadth and height as
well as the span and height of its arches. 94 These are as follows: now the
length from the door opposite the sacred apse where the [181] bloodless
sacri¢ce is celebrated as far as the apse itself is 190 feet, while the
breadth north to south is 115 feet, and the drop from the centre of the
dome to the foundations is 180 feet; as for the arches the breadth of each
is [. . .] feet, while the length from east to west is 260 feet; the width of
the open area between them is 75 feet. 95 Towards the setting sun there
are also two other splendid colonnades, and on all sides open air courts
are beautifully executed. 96 The shrine of the Holy Apostles, which does
not willingly grant precedence to any other building, was also constructed
by him: in it the emperors and the clergy receive due burial. 97
And so concerning these and similar matters this is about enough.
93 The crucial word in this sentence is e ’¤nerye, ‘underneath’, which indicates that Evagrius
is dealing with the ground £oor (as opposed to colonnades in the galleries, as Mango,
Art 80).
94 Evagrius now switches from an obscure verbal picture to a more prosaic, but still problematic,
list of ¢gures.
95 For discussion of the dimensions, see Mango, Art 80 n. 116. The length of 190 feet
from west door to apse can only refer to the distance as far as the opening of the two
exedrae on either side of the apse, since the overall length from west door to the end of the
apse is 260 feet (1 Roman foot = 0.309 metre); it is confusing that this overall ¢gure is included
within the section devoted to the arches, and if one were to be charitable to Evagrius
one might suspect some textual corruption at this point. The breadth of the nave from north
to south colonnade is only 105 feet, and Evagrius is either mistaken or his ¢gure has been
corrupted; the ¢gure for the height of the dome is accurate. The ¢gure for the breadth of the
arches has dropped out of the text (there is space for about eight letters), but might have
been 100; the open area of 75 feet denotes the east^west space between the piers above
which the galleries are located.
96 At the west end of the church stood the narthex and exonarthex, and beyond them a
large atrium.
97 Justinian’s reconstruction of the Holy Apostles is described by Procopius, Buildings
i.4.9^18, who noted that in certain respects it resembled S. Sophia in design, but was inferior
in size: this is the point of Evagrius’ reference to it not willingly granting precedence to other
buildings, since its status as the second church of the capital made it superior to everything
else (Festugie' re’s interpretation, 394, that the building does not want to give primacy to any
particular Apostle, is untenable). For its use as an imperial and patriarchal mausoleum, see
Grierson, ‘Tombs’.