Sophia (CHURCH OF ST in Constantinople)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

CHURCH OF ST., in Constantinople, the most celebrated ecclesiastical edifice of the Greek Church, now used as a mosque; was built by the Emperor Justinian, and dedicated in 558. It is in the Byzantine style of architecture, has a fine dome rising to the height of 180 feet, and is richly decorated in the connected two half domes and six smaller interior. With the principal dome are ones, which add to the general effect. The mass of the edifice is of brick, but is overlaid with marble; the floor is of mosaic work, composed of porphyry and verd antique. The great piers which support the dome consist of square blocks of stone bound with hoops of iron. The numerous pillars supporting the internal galleries, etc., are of white and colored marbles, porphyry, granite, etc., and have capitals of various peculiar forms. The interior of the church is 243 feet in width from N. to S., and 269 in length from E. to W., and its general effect is singularly fine. SOPHISTS. The Greek word sophistes (from sophos="skilled," "wise") meant originally any one of acknowledged or professed skill; thus, the term was applied to the seven sages (whether philosophers, like Thales, or statesmen, like Solon), to poets, musicians, etc. In the 5th and 4th centuries B. c. it came to be applied specially to those who made a profession of teaching all or any of the higher branches of learning. The great intellectual awakening of Athens after the Persian War, and the growth of democracy in Sicily and elsewhere, as well as at Athens, which gave skill in public speaking a new importance, led to the demand for an education which should go beyond the old training in "gymnastics" and "music" (i. e., reading, writing, singing, and reciting from the poets). To meet this demand there arose a class of professional teachers, wandering scholars, who undertook to provide what we should call "higher education."