There is a road in Bithynia leading thence into Phrygia, upon which in the winter season innumerable men and animals used to perish; for the ground, being soft, not only after great rains, or the melting of great quantities of snow, but even after slight showers, became deep, impassable mud, and turned the road into a swamp, in which travellers were frequently swallowed up. He, however, together with the Empress Theodora, with magnificent generosity, removed this source of danger to travellers; for they raised the thoroughfare safely upon enormous stones for a distance of half a day’s journey for a lightly-equipped traveller, and enabled passengers to proceed along a firm road. These were the works of the Emperor Justinian in this quarter. In Bithynia there are springs of warm water in the place called Pythia. These springs are made use of by many persons, especially the inhabitants of Byzantium, for pleasure, and above all for the healing of those suffering from disease. Here he displayed a truly imperial magnificence; for he built a palace, which had not existed before, and public baths supplied with the warm water. He also brought hither drinking water by an aqueduct from distant fountains, and relieved the place from the drought from which it had formerly suffered. Besides this, he rebuilt on a larger and much more magnificent scale the Church of the Archangel and the infirmary for the sick. IV. There is a river in Galatia which the inhabitants call the Siberis,[93] near the place called Sycæ, and about ten miles from the city of Juliopolis, on the eastern side. This river often rose suddenly to a great height and swept away many of the travellers along that road. The Emperor Justinian, grieved at hearing this, put a stop to these disasters for the future by spanning the river with a powerful bridge, capable of withstanding the force of a flooded river. He also formed the eastern abutment of the bridge into a projecting wall, of the form technically known as a bulwark. He also built a church for travellers on the western side of it, which might serve as a refuge for them in times of storm. The river, which flows past the western side of this city of Juliopolis, used to shake and injure its walls; however, our Emperor restrained it by building an embankment parallel to the city wall for a distance of not less than five hundred feet. By this means he preserved the fortifications of the city from being washed away.