Justinian ascended the throne of the East, in 527. By him the celebrated architect Anthemius was invited to Constantinople, and Saint Sophia was built. This famous church was so splendid that the emperor is said to have exclaimed on its completion: "Glory be to God, who hath thought me worthy to accomplish so great a work. I have vanquished thee, O Solomon." Then an aërial cupola was first erected, a model of bold design and skillful execution. This was the third edifice on the same spot since the original by Constantine, and combined all the skill, taste, and munificence of the age. Its columns of granite, porphyry, and green marble, its semi-domes and walls incrusted with precious stones, its various members, admirable by their size and beauty, and all embellished with a rich profusion of jaspers, gems, and costly metals, furnished a rich repast to the curiosity of travelers, and was a magnificent monument of metropolitan pride. Simultaneous with the creation of the Byzantine type, arose the well-defined Romanesque at Ravenna, the seat of the Greek Exarchate. Unlike the old capital of the world, which she now came to rival in importance, Ravenna possessed no ruined temples whose spoils could be used in constructing new buildings. Being obliged to think for themselves and design every detail, the architects introduced a degree of originality of conception and harmony of proportions into their plans and elevations utterly unknown in the Roman examples. Theodoric had been educated at Constantinople, and was far from being insensible to the national advantages derived from science and art. Great care was bestowed on architecture and sculpture, so that under this royal patron all the Italian cities acquired the useful or splendid decorations of churches, aqueducts, baths, and palaces. The death of Theodoric occurred in 526. His mausoleum, now called Santa Maria della Rotunda, as well as the cotemporaneous church of Santa Apollinaris, still in existence at Ravenna, attest an immense stride in advance of the old Roman style. It was upon these constructions that the peculiar external decoration was first applied which became so remarkably developed in its westward course.