he drum dome of S. Sophia, Salonica, has also
been claimed for Justinian, but that drum is low and only partially
developed, and although its date is not known, the consensus of opinion
is against its being so early. The whole question of the development of
the drum still awaits treatment at the hands of an investigator who has
thoroughly studied the buildings themselves, and perhaps the publication
of the results obtained by Mr. George at S. Sophia, Salonica, and S.
Irene, Constantinople, two crucial examples, will throw some light on
the subject. For the present the date here given for the drum of S.
Irene (_i.e._ towards the middle of the eighth century) is an inherently
probable one.

In the foregoing description of S. Irene there is no pretence to an
exhaustive statement of facts, or any claim that the conclusions reached
are final. There is still too much plaster on the walls to permit a
complete examination of the building. But the conclusions here suggested
are those which agree best with the evidence which has been brought to
light by Mr. George under present circumstances.

[Illustration: FIG. 31.]

[Illustration: FIG. 32.]

[Illustration: FIG. 33.]

[Illustration: FIG. 34.]

[Illustration: FIG. 35.]

[118] Socrates, ii. c. 6; _Corpus juris civilis_, Nov. iii. c. 3. 2;
_Itin. russes_, p. 119.

[119] Socrates, ii. c. 16. So also the author of the _Vita Pauli Patr.
C.P._ The Church of S. Irene, which the Anonymus (Banduri, ii. p. 31)
says had once been a heathen temple, was the church of S. Irene,
[Greek: to perama].

[120] _Notitia, regia secunda_; Codin. _De aed._ p. 73.

[121] Socrates, _loc. cit._

[122] _Ibid._

[123] Banduri, ii. p. 52.

[124] Socrates, ii. c. 16.

[125] Socrates, ii. c. 16.

[126] _Ibid._ ii. 13, 15, 16.

[127] _Ibid._ v. 7.

[128] _Vita S. Stephani Junioris_, Migne, P.G. 100, col. 1144, [Greek:
he deutera en Kplei en to nao tes agias Eirenes].

[129] Theodore Lector, ed. Valesius (1748), p. 533. Eutychius
afflicted by the divine anger went [Greek: en to euagei eukterio entha
pepisteutai anapauesthai meros hieron leipsanon ton thespesion
Pantaleontos kai Marinou, epikaloumenou tou topou Homonoia ek tou ekei
sunelthontas tous hekaton pentekonta episkopous epi Theodosiou tou
megalou basileos]. The passage is preserved in John Damascene, _De
imaginibus_, book iii.

[130] _Notitia, Regio nona_, 'continet in se ecclesias duas, Cenopolim
et Omonaeam.'