e church has a double narthex. As the ground outside the building has
been raised enormously (it rises 15-20 feet above the floor at the east
end) the actual entrance to the outer narthex is through a cutting in
its vault or through a window, and the floor is reached by a steep
flight of stone steps. The narthex is a long narrow vestibule, covered
with barrel vaults, and has a Turkish wooden ceiling at the southern
end.

The esonarthex is covered with a barrel vault between two cross vaults.
The entrance into the church stands between two Corinthian columns, but
they belong to different periods, and do not correspond to any structure
in the building. In fact, both narthexes have been much altered in their
day, presenting many irregularities and containing useless pilasters.

Professor Goodyear refers to this church in support of the theory that
in Byzantine buildings there is an intentional widening of the structure
from the ground upwards. 'It will also be observed,' he says, 'that the
cornice is horizontal, whereas the marble casing above and below the
cornice is cut and fitted in oblique lines.... The outward bend on the
right side of the choir is 11-1/2 inches in 33 feet. The masonry
surfaces step back above the middle string-course. That these bends are
not due to thrust is abundantly apparent from the fact that they are
continuous and uniform in inclination up to the solid rear wall of the
choir.'

But in regard to the existence of an intentional widening upwards in
this building, it should be observed: First, that as the eastern wall of
the church, 'the rear wall of the choir,' is Turkish, nothing can be
legitimately inferred from the features of that wall about the character
of Byzantine construction. Secondly, the set back above the middle
string-course on the other walls of the church is an ordinary
arrangement in a Byzantine church, and if this were all 'the widening'
for which Professor Goodyear contended there would be no room for
difference of opinion. The ledge formed by that set back may have served
to support scaffolding. In the next place, due weight must be given to
the distortion which would inevitably occur in Byzantine buildings. They
were fabrics of mortar with brick rather than of brick with mortar, and
consequently too elastic not to settle to a large extent in the course
of erection. Hence is it that no measurements of a Byzantine structure,
even on the ground floor, are accurate within more