Note 99 — BOOK V.
Aubrey Stewart translation
The church is octagonal. On the east side is an apse; on the north the main entrance. On five sides there are small chapels, and on the eighth probably a sixth. There is an inner octagon, which gives the place some resemblance to that of the Dome of the Rock. The only capital uncovered was of a debased Corinthian order. The church is believed to have been built by Justinian circa 533.
Plans by Sir C. W. Wilson are given in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1873, p. 68.
The church is 70·0 inside east and west (inscribed circle of internal octagon). East apse, 15·0 diameter; side chapels, 27·0 long inside, with apses 9·0 diameter.
Said by Procopius to have been erected by the Emperor Zeno, not earlier than 474, to the Blessed Virgin. He says also that Justinian, after 529, built the external wall (9·0 thick) of the court, forming a fortress 180 by 230, with chambers built against the wall inside. One is 11·9 by 14·4 internally (vide Plan).—‘Palestine Exploration Memoirs,’ vol. ii., p. 189, 190. (L.)