<Li> For more guidance, see Wikipedia: Translation . </Li> <P> Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire . Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture . It began with Constantine the Great when he rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it Constantinople and continued with his building of churches and the forum of Constantine . This terminology is used by modern historians to designate the medieval Roman Empire as it evolved as a distinct artistic and cultural entity centered on the new capital of Constantinople rather than the city of Rome and environs . The empire endured for more than a millennium . Its architecture dramatically influenced the later medieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East, and became the primary progenitor of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse . </P> <P> Early Byzantine architecture drew upon earlier elements of Roman architecture . Stylistic drift, technological advancement, and political and territorial changes meant that a distinct style gradually resulted in the Greek cross plan in church architecture . </P> <P> Buildings increased in geometric complexity, brick and plaster were used in addition to stone in the decoration of important public structures, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration, complex domes rested upon massive piers, and windows filtered light through thin sheets of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors . Most of the surviving structures are sacred in nature, with secular buildings mostly known only through contemporaneous descriptions . </P>

What type of church was most commonly constructed in the byzantine empire