PROKOPIOS "ON BUILDINGS": In this work, he exhaustively describes the architectural creations of Justinian during the 38 years of his reign across the entire empire. Prokopios likely undertook the writing of this book either to gain the favor of Justinian or at his command. Nevertheless, it is essentially a courtly panegyric to his king.

After the preface, in which he characterizes Justinian as good, humble, and active in all areas of action, he presents in six "Discourses" all his buildings. Starting from Constantinople (Discourse A), he continues to the Perso-Roman borders (B), to Armenia and the Black Sea (C), to Europe: Macedonia, Thessaly, Central Greece, the Peloponnese (D), to Asia Minor and Palestine (E), and to North Africa, from Alexandria to Gibraltar (F).

The reader of Justinian’s "Buildings" is truly astonished both by their number and by their variety. Confounded by the abundant creativity of his king, the author himself is compelled, at least twice, to resort to compiling simple lists of names, without further description of these works. In Discourse E, he enumerates 38 such works and in Discourse D another 369!

However, the purpose of many of these is surprising, as, beyond defensive and other purposes, they aim at social care, namely the care of the poor and needy, while also providing employment to the inhabitants of the empire, who were suffering from all kinds of deprivation. Some of these works, however, were decorative and artistic, with the crowning achievement being the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, where primarily the architects Anthemios and Isidoros excelled.

With the execution of these works of this category, Byzantine art took on a specific form, such that the era of Justinian is highlighted among the great artistic periods of humanity and occupies a place alongside the eras of Pericles, the Ptolemies, and the Italian Renaissance.