Forum are very numerous: the Fortune of the City, called Anthusa, was originally set up here, and adored with bloodless sacrifices;[1] a pair of great crosses inscribed with words of the Creed and Doxology are erected on opposite sides; Constantine with his mother Helena, and a pair of winged angels form a group about the one, whilst the sons of the same emperor surround the other.[2] Here also may be seen Athene, her neck encircled by snakes emanating from the Gorgon's head fixed in her aegis; Amphitrite distinguished by a crown of crab's claws; a dozen statues of porphyry ranged in one portico, and an equal number of gilded sirens or sea-horses in the other; and lastly the bronze gates bestowed by Trajan on the temple of Diana at Ephesus, embossed with a series of subjects illustrating the theogonies of Greece and Rome. These latter adorn the entrance to the original Senate-house which is situated on the south side of the Forum.[3]
If we diverge from the Mese slightly to the north-east of the Pavement, we shall enter a large square named the Strategium, from its forming a parade-ground to the barracks of the Palatine troops.[4] Amongst several monuments a Theban obelisk conspicuously occupies the middle place,[5] but the most striking object is an equestrian figure of Con-*
- [Footnote: been confounded with the Augusteum both by Labarte and Paspates, a
mistake almost incredible in the latter, a resident, considering that the pillar of Constantine still exists in a scarred and mutilated condition; hence known as the "Burnt Pillar," and called by the Turks "Djemberli Tash," or Hooped Stone; see Grosvenor, op. cit., p. 374, etc.]
