The change in the city’s appearance reached its peak in the 6th century CE during the reign of Anastasius (491-518) and Justin I (518-527). Most of the building inscriptions that were found in the city are attributed to this period of time and they bear witness to the fact that the provincial capital reached the zenith of its administrative and economic might at that point in time. The building projects that renewed the city’s appearance at this time are clearly visible throughout the civic center of Nysa-Scythopolis and they are mainly typified by their impressive monumental characteristics.

In 507 CE the sigma was built along the main part of the western stoa of Palladius Street by the provincial governor of Palestina Secunda, Theosevius son of Theosevius who was a native of the city Amisus in the district of Hellenpontus and with the aid of Sylvanus son of Marinus, the praetor.The sigma is the magnificent commercial center that included taverns and shops that were built like an arch shaped exedra accompanied by a stoa and a semi-circular open plaza in front. Splendid mosaics were found in the rooms of the exedra and among the decorations was a medallion bearing the likeness of Tyche and numerous inscriptions. Magnificent apses were built in the center and in the wings of the exedra and in front of the complex was a paved piazza accessed by a broad staircase from the stoa in the street. Palladius Street was refurbished and the stoae that ran the length of it were repaved with marble slabs that also adorned the facades of the shops.

Shortly thereafter, the provincial governor, Flavius Theodorus, built a basilica in the western wing of the western thermae. The spacious hall, with its living rooms on its western side and a colonnaded stoa to its east, was repaved and an apse whose walls were decorated with colorful wall mosaics was built on its northern side. This type of public basilica, in some of which the emperor’s cult was practiced, was a known element in large thermae and their incorporation into these complexes indicates the strengthening of the cultic and social function of the thermae in the life of the city during the period under discussion.

The thermae, like other buildings in the city, such as the theater, odeon and colonnaded streets, were decorated with marble statues during the course of the 2nd century CE. Even though the city gradually became Christian these were erected in its streets until the beginning of the 6th century CE when they were destroyed and buried in the city. A statue of Hermes was found in the odeon while in the theater another statue of the same god was found and along side it were found statues of Tyche and Aphrodite. In the eastern thermae statues of gods were placed in special niches that were installed in the halls of the frigidarium. Included among these were two statues of Aphrodite accompanied by Aries riding a dolphin,  Apollo,  Leda and the swan, Heracles, Athena,  Zeus accompanied by an eagle and flanked by a toga-draped citizen and a bull. Most of the statues were buried without the heads, which may have been interred separately.

A mosaic depicting Tyche was found in the sigma and a few of the inscriptions of the period used quotes and introductions that have their origins in classical literature. The theater, the odeon and the amphitheater and the thermae next to them that now included basilicas all continued to serve the city’s citizens. All of these are certainly indicative of the deep roots of the Hellenic culture that was prevalent and still practiced in the life of the city without actually challenging the change transpiring in the city’s religion.

The agora was also renovated and its stoae were repaved. The mosaic floor in the western stoa was decorated with a scene that included animals such as a lion and a zebra. A new stoa was built south of the agora and it cut the agora off from the theater. A splendid stoa (porticus post scaenam) was built in the front of the theater and north and northeast of it were built two intersecting paved plazas and a broad staircase led from one of them to the front of the theater. A nymphaeum was built next to the other plaza and a staircase extending from the plaza to the eastern side of the theater now led to its entrances. In the northern side of the plaza another staircase was built that descended to the latrine in the eastern thermae.