Note 250 — Chapter VIII

It is probable, writes Salzenberg, that originally the buttress masses reached only up to the roof of the gynaeceum, level with the springing of the great arches; as Cedrenus describes how Justinian, at the restoration after the fall of the dome, made outside the building, in the neighbourhood of the main piers, above the roof of the gynaeceum four staircases, “cochleas” which reached up to the dome “to strengthen the vaulting.” Theophanes also speaks of new piers which Justinian erected to strengthen the dome. The circumstances mentioned by Procopius seem to indicate that the abutments of the great arches were not sufficient. See our chap. x., § 1, for another interpretation.