The Cardo Maximus (Jerusalem's main thoroughfare)

The Cardo Maximus was the main thoroughfare of the Emperor Hadiran’s 2nd Century CE Aelia Capitolina. It was a wide, stone-paved and colonnaded road that led through the heart of the city from the north at the Damascus Gate to the south with an unknown end point.

The southern end of the road was excavated in the 1970s during the reconstruction of the city’s Jewish Quarter. Excavators uncovered a section of the road, now located below ground level and accessible for visitors to walk upon today. This section of road was dated to the Emperor Justinian’s rebuilding programme of the 6th Century CE to link the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the newly constructed Nea Church. It should therefore be viewed as a later addition to the original Roman road as no evidence of an earlier pavement was excavated below.

Type: Archaeological Site
Tags: Aelia Capitolina, Byzantine, Byzantine Road, C2nd, C6th, Cardo, Column, Excavation, Hadrian, Jerusalem, Justinian, Roman, Roman road, Stone

Zerzevan

A substantial fortified settlement atop a plateau above the main road from Mardin to Diyarbakir. In recent years archaeological excavation has been undertaken at the site.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Anastasius, C6th, Cistern, Defensive Network, Fortifications, Justinian, Late Antique, Turkey

Tsikusdziri/Petra

The castle of Tsikusdziri is believed by many to be the fortified city of Petra, (not to be confused with Petra in Jordan) mentioned in late antique sources and built by the Byzantines. This identification seems to be because a better candidate has not been located. Tsikusdziri lacks the harbour a trading centre like Petra would have required. Nevertheless the association of Tsikusdziri with Petra is mostly accepted.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Defensive Network, Fortifications, Georgia, Georgian, Justinian, Procopius

Defensive walls, Towers and town, Halabiyeh/Zenobia

Type: Architecture
Tags: Anastasius, C5th-C6th, Church, Defensive Network, Justinian, Military Architecture, Procopius, Roman, Syria

Fortifications, Zalabiyeh

The fortification of Zalabiyeh is recorded by Procopius who attributes the building of the defences to Justinian's reign. As with much of Procopius' testimony this claim must not be accepted out of hand. The remains of the defences show evidence of at least two major phases of building. The oldest phase is composed of ashlar faced walls with a rubble and concrete core, the later phase is made up of ashlars throughout. The later phase appears to have been only present in some of the towers and is certainly part of a renovation of the defences where some of the older towers needing replacing. These two different wall building techniques are mirrored across the river at the fortifications of Halabiyeh, Zalabiyeh's sister site. I have proposed that the site was not originally fortified by Justinian but was rather repaired during his reign and had older origins, potentially during the reign of Anastasius.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Anastasius, Citadel, Defensive Network, Deir ez Zor, Euphrates, Fortifications, Fortress, Halabiyeh, Justinian, Late Antique, Procopius, Syria, Zalabiyeh

Resafa City Gates and Walls

The impressively preserved city walls of Resafa are the subject of some debate when regards to their age and to who's reign their construction can be credited to. Scholars seem to be split as to whether they were constructed in the reigns of the Emperor Anastasius (491-518 AD) or the Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD). Procopius' attributes the first stone wall to the reign of Justinian. However this cannot be wholly accepted as fact as Procopius' accounts are occasionally deliberately misleading and sometimes wholly inaccurate. The most well preserved and impressive of the gates still extant is the Sura Gate on the north side of the city.
Regardless of which reign they were constructed in the defences do seem to be Late Antique. The walls, their covered galleries, the towers and gates were well preserved when I visited in 2010. As a result of the civil war their current condition is hard to ascertain.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Anastasius, C4th-C5th, C5th-C6th, C6th-C7th, C7th-C8th, C8th-C9th, Defensive Network, Justinian, Late Antique, Procopius, Resafa

Hagia Sophia/Aya Sofya, Istanbul

Without doubt the greatest and most enduring legacy of the reign of the Emperor Justinian, the Basilica of Hagia Sophia (Divine Wisdom) is an engineering marvel and is testament to the ingenuity of the engineers who designed it.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, C6th, Justinian, Mosque, Procopius, Turkey

The Church of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus

This building started life in the 2nd century AD as an important school of higher education known as a Museion. It was converted into a Christian Basilica in the 4th century AD and significantly modified and added to as part of the repurposing. This church was where the important Ecumenical Council of Ephesus was held in 431 AD. The church was further modified during the reign of Justinian.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, Church, Church Council, Ephesus, Justinian, Late Antique, Turkey

Basilica of St. John, Ephesus

Remains of the 6th century AD Basilica to St. John reportedly built upon the saints' tomb and commissioned by the Emperor Justinian. Attacks on Ephesus in the 7th and 8th centuries prompted the fortification of the area immediately surrounding the Basilica The basilica has been extensively excavated and restored since the 1920's.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Basilica, Church, Ephesus, Justinian, Late Antique, Turkey

The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

The town of Bethlehem is located to the south of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Since the second century, pilgrims have flocked to the site traditionally associated as the place of Christ’s birth, a cave to the east of the town. In the fourth century, Helena, the Emperor Constantine’s mother, supposedly rediscovered the cave and had her son build a church to commemorate it. This church featured an octagonal structure at the eastern end that was positioned directly over the cave of the Nativity. At the centre of this octagon was a wide, circular opening to allow pilgrims to glimpse at the holy site. It was badly damaged during a Samaritan revolt in 529 AD and was rebuilt by the Emperor Justinian in the mid-sixth century. Much of this church has survived and is largely what is seen today. There were later modifications during the time of the Crusades, largely with the fresco painting on the nave columns. It is thus considered the oldest church in use.

Type: Architecture
Tags: Bethlehem, C12th, C2nd, C4th, C6th, Cave, Christ, Christian, Church, Column, Constantine, Corinthian, Crusades, Fresco, Geometric Motif, Holy Site, Icon, Justinian, Mosaic, Nativity, Octagonal, Pilgrimage, St. Helena, West Bank