E04393: Procopius of Caesarea, in his On Buildings, reports that the emperor Justinian (r. 527-565) built the church of *Anthimos (bishop and martyr of Nicomedia, S00124) on the shore of the Golden Horn, across from the district of Blachernae at Constantinople. Written in Greek at Constantinople, in the 550s.

Procopius, On Buildings, 1.6.9-11

9 Τοῦ δὲ κόλπου ἐπὶ θάτερα μαρτύριον οἰκοδομησάμενος βασιλεὺς οὐ πρότερον ὂν ἀνέθηκεν Ἀνθίμῳ μάρτυρι παρ’ αὐτὴν μάλιστα τὴν τοῦ κόλπου ἠϊόνα. 10 καὶ τὰ μὲν κράσπεδα τοῦ ἱεροῦ πραϋνομένῃ ἐπικλυζόμενα τῇ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπιρροῇ τὸ εὔχαρι ἐπιεικῶς ἔχει. 11 οὐ γὰρ ξὺν θορύβῳ τὸ κλυδώνιον ἐπανεστηκὸς εἶτα εἰς τοὺς ἐκείνῃ λίθους ἀράσσεται, οὐδὲ μεγάλα τὸ κῦμα ἠχῆσαν, οἷά γε τὰ θαλάττια, καὶ σχιζόμενον ἀποκρίνεται εἰς εἶδος ἀφρῶδες, ἀλλὰ πρόεισι μὲν προσηνές, σιωπηλὸν δὲ ὂν ἐπιψαύει τῆς γῆς, ἀναστρέφει δὲ μόνον.

'9 Across the bay the Emperor built a martyr's shrine (martyrion) which had not existed before, by the very strand of the bay, and dedicated it to the martyr Anthimos. 10 The foundations of the shrine (hieron) are washed by the caressing flow of the sea in an altogether charming manner. 11 For the incoming waves do not rise up with a roar and break on the stones there, nor do the breakers thunder aloud like those of the sea and divide and break up in a foaming mass, but the water comes forward gently, and silently touches the land and then quietly draws back.'

A description of the building then follows (§§ 12-14).

Text: Haury 1913. Translation: Dewing 1940.