Sophia
Sophia names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
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."
Sophia half-sister of Peter the Great
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
half-sister of Peter the Great, and Czarina of Russia; born in 1657; in 1682 she placed herself at the head of the revolt of the stryeltsy. Having succeeded in her ambitious designs, she reigned over the Muscovites under the names of her brothers, Peter and Ivan. The former (Peter the Great), however, finally possessed himself of the sole power; and Sophia died a prisoner in a convent in 1704.
Sophia Empress of Constantinople
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
Empress of Constantinople, niece of Theodora, and wife of Justinian II., with whom she shared in the government of the state. After the death of that prince in 578 she conspired against Tiberius Constantine, who had been raised to the throne by her advice, and, being defeated by him, was compelled to live in privacy.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's 1921 note that St. Sophia was "now used as a mosque" has been overtaken twice: Atatürk's government turned Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934, and in July 2020 a Turkish court ruling returned it to use as a mosque, with its figural mosaics curtained during prayer. Those mosaics, plastered over in Ottoman times and unmentioned by Collier's, were uncovered from 1931 onward by Thomas Whittemore's Byzantine Institute; the building was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. Modern scholarship also tightens the dates: the church was dedicated in 537, its dome collapsed after an earthquake in 558, and the rebuilt dome was rededicated in 562. The entry on the empress Sophia contains a slip that no modern reference repeats — she was the wife of Justin II, who died in 578, not of Justinian II, who reigned more than a century later.
Written for this edition, 2026.