Hagia Sophia, a Beautiful, Historic World Monument

Photo by Bigdaddy (from Wikimedia Commons)

Hagia Sophia or the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin and Aya Sofya in Turkish is a historic monument of two great empires that shaped the course of world history- the Roman and Ottoman Empires. It also served as a house of worship of adherents of two of the world’s largest religions- Christianity and Islam. It was the largest cathedral in the world until 1520. Hagia Sophia is famous for its massive dome.

Hagia Sophia was built on the site where Emperor Constantine built a wooden church. The second church was built by his son Constantius and the Emperor Theodosius the Great. That church was burned. Under the supervision of Justinian I, the church was rebuilt in its present form around 532 and 537 AD.

Constantine was the first Roman Emperor who became Christian. He later promoted Christianity and moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, an ancient Greek city. After he defeated his rivals, Constantine rebuilt Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople. It later became the capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire which was also called the Byzantine Empire. Its heartland was Asia Minor and the Balkans.

Constantinople was situated on the southern coastal tip of the Balkan Peninsula along the Strait of Bosporus that separates the continents of Europe and Asia. The city’s strategic location provided the Byzantine Empire easy economic and military access to its territories across Asia and Southern Europe.

Justinian hired architects Isodore Militus and Arthemius of Tralles, both teachers of Geometry to design the church. He imported materials from neighboring places such as Ephesus, Athens, Rome and Delphi. The original dome of the church which Militus and Arthemius designed collapsed in an earthquake in 558. The replacement of 563 had to be repaired after a partial collapse in the 9^th and 14^th centuries.

In 1204 Hagia Sophia was attacked and sacked by the crusaders and looted of its properties. They arrested the Patriarch of Constantinople and replaced him with a Latin bishop. This event irreconcilably divided the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches which had long standing disputes that started from the great schism of 1054.

Photo by Andreas Wahra (from Wikimedia Commons)

Islamic text inside Hagia Sophia

In May 1453, Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire and the greatest city of Eastern Christendom at that time fell to the Muslim Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmet II. Amazed by the architectural beauty of the church, he converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Since then it remained a principal mosque for about 500 years. Hagia Sophia’s design then served as model of many mosques built around Constantinople and its neighboring areas.

The prominent feature of the cathedral is its dome which measures 230 ft (70 m) in width and 246 ft (75 m) in height. The dome is supported by pendentives which are rested on a square of 4 columns below. The 48 windows around the base of the dome reflect sunlight everywhere into the interior of the nave.

A mosaic depicting Jesus (center)

Mosaic of Virgin Mary and child Jesus. Photo by Griffendor (from Wikimedia Commons) 

The changes made during the Turkish era had markedly altered the outer appearance of Hagia Sophia so that it was indistinguishable that it was once a church. There are buttresses built to support the outer walls to ensure their endurance over the century. Four minarets were added by the corners of the church. The mihrab, the fountain, and mausoleum give the Hagia Sophia a mosque appearance. However, the inside of the edifice reveals the original purpose of its building. There are 6^th century church features such as mosaics painted on the walls depicting various Christian religious scenes. When Hagia Sophia was a mosque some mosaics were covered with plaster because of Muslim prohibition of figurative imagery. Further renovations of the church that was turned into mosque were made by Abdulmecid in 1847 who invited Swiss architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati to do the job.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and following the establishment of Turkey as a nation, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul in 1930, and President Kemal Attaturk had the Hagia Sophia secularized by turning it into a museum in 1934.

Hagia Sophia is a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. This priceless historic world monument is a UNESCO world cultural heritage site. Hagia Sophia is a major landmark and a tourist attraction of Turkey. All year round it is visited by tourists from different parts of the world.

Constantine the Great, the First Christian Roman Emperor

Flavius Valerius Constantinus Augustus who was also called Constantine I was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. He was born at about 277 AD in Nis, a town in what is now Serbia. He was the son of Saint Helena and Constantius Chlorus a Roman emperor at about 305-6 AD in the western part of the Roman Empire.  

Shortly before his father’s death in 306, Constantine was made emperor and successor to his father in the west which included such territories as Great Britain, Gaul, the Germanic provinces, Iberia and parts of Italy. At that time, the Roman Empire was a tetrarchy, a system in which there were two co-emperors with each having a subordinate emperor under them.

Constantine’s greatest rival and co-emperor was Maxentius who ruled the East. Maxentius’ differences and his power struggle with Constantine made the conflict between them inevitable.

It was said that Constantine had a dream of Jesus Christ. He had the vision of overlapped first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek which were “chi” and “rho” or “x” and “p” and telling him that he would become victorious with those symbols. The next day during the armed conflict against Maxintius, Constantine reportedly saw a figure of the cross superimposed on the sun and the words “In hoc signo vinces” which in English means “In this sign you will conquer”.

Instead of preparing for a siege, Maxentius decided to meet the forces of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge over the Tiber River in Rome. Maxentius’ troops, with their backs facing the river, met Constantine's troops whose shields and banners were inscribed with symbols that Constantine saw in his dream.  During the battle the cavalries and infantry of Maxentius were overwhelmed by the forces of Constantine forcing them to withdraw toward Rome by crossing the bridge. The mass of troops and horses caused the bridge to collapse bringing down with it Maxentius and some of his troops.

The defeat of Maxentius gave Constantine and Licinius the undisputed powers in the Roman Empire as co-emperors. The realm of Constantine was in the west while that of Licinius was in the east. The marriage of Licinius to Constantine’s sister Constantia strengthened the bond of the two rulers. They jointly defeated the forces of Maximinus Daia who tried to take away from Licinius the Eastern Roman Empire.

As co-emperors Constantine and Licinius jointly issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD giving the Christians and other religious groups the free exercise of their religion in the Roman Empire. The edict also mandated the return of properties of the Christians which were confiscated by the previous emperors from them.

The unwieldy system of having an empire ruled by more than one ruler at the same time, have in the long run reared its ugly head in the struggle for power between Constantine and Licinius. As a result of it there were civil wars. Constantine proved to be the better military commander beating Licinius in battles. In the third civil war Licinius was again defeated. He was later captured and executed at the order of Constantine. With the elimination of Licinius the tetrarchy ended and Constantine became the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire.

As a sole emperor, Constantine instituted reforms. He reorganized the army, separated civil and military authorities, gave back power to the senate, and issued new coins which became the standard of exchange for centuries. Constantine also built churches in the Holy land. His mother, Saint Helena, devoted much of her life to pilgrimage to that place and founded the Church of Holy Sepulcher and the Church of Nativity. She supposedly found in Palestine the true cross on which Jesus was crucified.                                                                                                                                            

Drifting towards Christianity, the new religion in the empire, Constantine involved himself in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity among Christians. In 325 AD Emperor Constantine called and presided over the First Council of Nicaea to settle dispute about the nature and divinity of Christ. The council came up with the Nicene Creed which defined the Son or Jesus Christ as consubstantial with God the Father. The declaration was adopted as the official position of the Church regarding the divinity and nature of Christ.  

During his reign Constantine moved his capital from Rome to the ancient Greek City called Byzantium which was along the strait of Bosporus. He developed the city which he founded by giving it Roman institution, and built structures that were beautified with Greek works of art. The city later became known as Constantinople. Years after the reign of Constantine, the eastern half of the Roman Empire became known as the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital.

 Although Constantine still observed some pagan practices after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, he however, was undoubtedly sympathetic to the Christian cause which implied that he converted to the faith. He was baptized shortly before his death on May 22, 337.                                                                                                                           

The idea on Christianity which was first suppressed, but later allowed an unhampered growth during the reign of Constantine I. the first Christian emperor, greatly influenced and changed the way the inhabitants of the Roman Empire lived their lives. Some of the old and absurd beliefs and practices were discarded and replaced with new ones.  As the Old Roman Empire collapsed, its former territories notably in the west such as Spain, France, Portugal, Great Britain also became imperial powers of their own and brought along with them their Judeo-Christian culture as they went. The expansion of their territories from Europe to other lands made Christianity as the largest religion in the world. Perhaps Constantine the Great was one of the instruments of God to spread His words across the world through the Holy Bible.

Related topic:
Christianity and Islam, the Religions That Shape the Course of History