a celebrated architect of the time of Justinian, to whom we are indebted for the church of Sta Sophia at Constantinople. He was the first architect who ventured "to suspend a cupola in air." Its diameter of 115 feet, and its perfect preservation, after the lapse of more than thirteen centuries, shows the boldness of the architect's conception, and the scientific skill of its execution. He did not live to see the temple completed, having died in 554: Sta Sophia was not finished until three years thereafter.