British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 887

CHAPTER XXII.
instead of the original three and the new order of precedence became: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, all in communion with each other under the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome.

20. In A.D. 438 (thirteen years before the events related in the two preceding paragraphs) the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius II, arrived in Jerusalem bringing with her large sums of money for the construction of new churches, monasteries and hospices in the Holy City and elsewhere in Palestine. The Bishop Juvenal naturally welcomed this opportunity of beautifying the City of which he was so soon to become Patriarch. On the 15th May, 439 the Empress was present at the solemn deposition of the relics of St. Stephen, the first Martyr, in the Basilica of St. Stephen, of which the construction had been started, under Juvenal's auspices, by St. Melania the Younger (a wealthy Roman lady) a year or so before. Eudoxia left Jerusalem the same year, but returned to reside permanently in the Holy City in 444. On her return, besides continuing the works mentioned above, she interested herself particularly in the completion and adornment of the Basilica of St. Stephen, in the vicinity of which she founded a monastery. The completed Basilica was dedicated in May, 460: a few months later the Empress died in Jerusalem, and was buried in the Basilica she had done so much to build.

21. Among other important Byzantine churches constructed during this epoch must be mentioned the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu , on the site of the palace of the High Priest Caiaphas, and the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin at Gethsemane.

22. It will be seen from the preceding summary that by now churches had been constructed on the sites of most of the principal events in the Gospel record : this is of particular importance as establishing for future ages the authenticity of the sites upon which the churches were erected : apart from the precise evidence which was available in the case of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre (see above) the uninterrupted tradition of the local Christian community and the descriptions given by pilgrims to the Holy Land were at the disposal of the Byzantine architects for the accurate sitting of the churches which they were to build. By the VIth century, to quote Father Dressaire (Jerusalem a travers les Siecles) , "Jerusalem had become-a treasure house of Churches, monasteries, hostels and hospitals". The extent and site of its architectural riches are well illustrated by the famous mosaic map rediscovered by a Greek prelate towards the end of the nineteenth century at Madaba in Trans-Jordan. The map dates from

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