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the physical context of power 139
attracted Theodosius II’s sisters, who sometimes stayed at the palace of
Rufinianae. 12 By 541 Belisarius and his wife had acquired this estate, presumably
a sign of imperial favour. 13 Justinian and especially Theodora preferred
the Hiereia palace, built on a peninsula just across the bay from
Chalcedon and equipped with a splendid artificial harbour. 14 Farther north,
the villa on the Bosphorus used by Justin II before his accession became
the Sophianae palace, named for his powerful wife. 15 The emperor and
empress did not relax in these suburban palaces by themselves. The crowd
that accompanied Theodora on her lengthy stays in Hiereia required abundant
provisions, which explains Justinian’s construction of markets there.
Justin II and Sophia travelled to the baths in the Asian suburbs accompanied
by the ‘senate’. 16
In the capital, courtiers’ mansions congregated in the Great Palace’s
immediate vicinity. Just south-west of it lay the palace of Hormisdas. 17
After 518 the increasingly powerful Justinian made his residence there seem
palatial even before he assumed the purple, adorning it with the churches
of Sts Peter and Paul and of Sts Sergius and Bacchus (the modern Küçük
Ayasofia Cami); 18 this palace–monastery was subsequently connected to
the Great Palace, and housed Monophysite monks under Theodora’s protection,
while the Caesar Tiberius resided there with his family in the last
years of Justin II’s reign. 19 Immediately west of the Hippodrome were the
grandiose mansions of two imperial eunuchs that rivalled one another in
splendour: the grand semi-circular entrance portico to Lausus’ palace
measured over twenty-five metres in diameter, while Antiochus’ was
double that. 20 Nearby lived consuls like the empress Verina’s brother
Basiliscus and Anastasius’ nephew Pompeius, while Probus, another
nephew and consul, dwelled within a few hundred metres. 21
The prince’s security was vital. Like contemporary town houses, the
Great Palace was probably never an open structure; a perimeter wall has
been detected at Ravenna. 22 The Mese, the main thoroughfare of
Constantinople, brought visitors to the monumental square at the Milion
or Golden Milestone, from where they would have walked through the
Royal Colonnade or Regia to the Chalke or Brazen House, the palace’s main
entrance, which had been lavishly rebuilt by Justinian. 23 Beyond it lay a
series of military quarters that housed various units of palace guards and
12 Callin. V. Hypatii xxxvii.3;cf.xli.13 and Janin (1964) 152. 13 Procop. Wars i.25.21.
14 Procop. Buildings i.11.16–22. 15 Cameron (1967).
16 Procop. Secret History 15.36–7;cf.Buildings i.11.21; John Eph. HE iii.2.46.
17 Guilland (1969) i.294.
18 Procop. Buildings i.4.1–3; cf. Müller-Wiener (1977) 177–83 and Mango in Kazhdan (1991) iii.1879.
19 John Eph. V.SS.Or. xlvii; HE iii.3.8. 20 Naumann and Belting (1966); Naumann (1965).
21 Janin (1964) 123, 319–20; cf. Berger (1988) 434–5, also 282–4. Marc. Com. s.a. 512; Theoph. AM
6024, with Mango, Développement 38–9. 22 Deichmann (1976–89) ii.3.60.
23 Mango (1959); cf. Müller-Wiener (1977) 230 with pl. 263.
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