Justin II
The hall is usually attributed to Emperor Justin II (r. 565–578), with his successor, Tiberius II (r. 578–582) finishing it and carrying out its decoration. However, Byzantine sources present conflicting accounts: the "Suda" encyclopedia attributes the building to Justin I (r. 518–527), and the "Patria of Constantinople" to the Emperor Marcian (r. 450–457), although the latter is usually rejected as unreliable. The historian Joannes Zonaras records that Justin II in fact reconstructed an earlier building, which has been suggested as the Heptaconch Hall of Justinian I (r. 527–565).