So after one of those sporting riots destroyed the previous church, he built this, which with its soaring domes became a symbol for the wealth and opulence of his empire. The Romans were remarkable builders and engineers, and the Hagia Sophia is no exception. A dome its equal wouldn't be built for another 500 years. But you'd never mistake it for a Roman temple. It doesn't have the austerity or the emphasis on engineering that you see in, for instance, the Colosseum. And this building in many ways functions as a symbol for the ways in which the Eastern Roman Empire was both Roman and not. But maybe the most interesting thing that Justinian ever did was to be married to his controversial theater person of a wife, Theodora.