Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

December 24

December 24 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by one verified record dated AD 562. The entry below connects this calendar date with its surviving historical evidence and context.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. AD 562

    Event That Shaped History

    Constantinople Religion & Ideas High

    Hagia Sophia Is Consecrated Again After Reconstruction

    On December 24, AD 562, Hagia Sophia was reconsecrated after the rebuilding required by the collapse of its first Justinianic dome. Paul the Silentiary’s celebrated ekphrasis belongs to this restored phase of the church.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Malalas and Paul the Silentiary tradition on the restored Hagia Sophia

    Modern scholarship

    • Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire
    • Cambridge scholarship on Hagia Sophia

    Public links