Chap. XVII
Of the Forum called the Augustæum, of the Pillar of Theodosius, and Justinian, and the Senate-House.
Procopius writes, that the Forum which was formerly called the Augustæum, was surrounded with Pillars, and was situate before the Imperial Palace. Not only the Forum is at present quite defaced, but the very Name of it is lost, and the whole Ground where it stood is built upon. The Palace is entirely in Ruines, yet I collect from the Pedestal of a Pillar of Justinian lately standing, but now removed by the Turks, which Procopius says was built by Justinian in the Augustæum, and Zonaras in the Court before the Church of Sophia, that the Augustæum stood where there is now a Fountain, at the West End of the Church of St. Sophia. Suidas says, that Justinian, after he had built the Church of St. Sophia, cleansed the Court, and paved it with Marble, and that it was formerly called the Forum Augustæum; and adds, that he erected his own Statue there. Procopius writes, That there was a certain Forum facing the Senate House, which was called by the Citizens the Augustæum; where are seven Stones, so cemented together in a quadrangular Manner, and are so contracted one within another the upper within the lower Stone, that a Man may conveniently sit down upon every Projecture of them. I was more induced to give this Account from Procopius, of the Pedestal, because I do not find it in his printed Works. Upon the Top of it, says he, there’s erected a large Pillar, composed of many Stones covered with Brass, which did at once both strengthen and adorn them. The Plates of Brass did not reflect so strong a Lustre as pure Gold, yet was it, in Value, little inferior to Silver. On the Top of the Statue was set a large Horse in Brass, facing the East, which indeed afforded a noble Prospect. He seemed to be in a marching Posture, and struggling for Speed. His near Foot before was curvated, as though he would paw the Ground; his off Foot was fixed to the Pedestal, and his hind Feet were so contracted, as though he was prepared to be gone. Upon the Horse was placed the Statue of the Emperor. ’Twas made of Brass, large like a Colossus, dress’d in a warlike Habit like Achilles, with Sandals on his Feet, and armed with a Coat of Mail, and a shining Helmet. He looked Eastward, and seemed to be marching against the Persians. In his left Hand he bore a Globe, devised to signify his universal Power over the whole World. On the Top of it was fixed a Cross, to which he attributed all his Successes in War, and his Accession to the Imperial Dignity. His right Hand was stretched to the East, and by pointing with his Fingers, he seemed to forbid the barbarous Nations to approach nearer, but to stand off at their Peril. Tzetzes, in his Various History, describes what kind of Helmet he had upon his Head. The Persians, says he, generally wore a Turbant upon the Head. When the Romans obtained any Victory over them, they plundered them of these Turbants, which they placed upon their own Heads. They are, says he, of the same Shape with that, with which the Statue of Justinian, erected upon a large Pillar, is crowned. Cedrinus relates, that Justinian held the Globe in his Silver Hand. Zonaras writes, that Justinian, in the seventeenth Year of his Reign, set up this Pillar, in the same Place, where formerly had stood another Pillar of Theodosius the Great, bearing his Statue in Silver, made at the Expence of his Son Arcadius, which weighed seven Thousand four Hundred Pounds. When Justinian had demolished the Statue and the Pillar, he stripped it of a vast Quantity of Lead, of which he made Pipes for Aqueducts, which brought the Water into the City. This ill Treatment of Theodosius by Justinian, was revenged upon him by the Barbarians; for they used his Pillar in the same Manner, and stripped it of the Statue, the Horse, and the Brass wherewith it was covered, so that it was only a bare Column for some Years. About thirty Years ago the whole Shaft was taken down to the Pedestal, and that, about a Year since, was demolished down to the Basis, from whence I observed a Spring to spout up with Pipes, into a large Cistern. At present there stands in the same Place a Water-House, and the Pipes are enlarged. I lately saw the Equestrian Statue of Justinian, erected upon the Pillar which stood here, and which had been preserved a long Time in the Imperial Precinct, carried into the melting Houses, where they cast their Ordnance. Among the Fragments were the Leg of Justinian, which exceeded my Height, and his Nose, which was above nine Inches long. I dared not publickly measure the Horse’s Legs, as they lay upon the Ground, but privately measured one of the Hoofs, and found it to be nine Inches in Height. Suidas, and some modern Historians allure us, that it was called the Forum Augustæum, because the Curatores, and Sebastophori, on the fifteenth Day of October, used to dance in the Market Place there, in Honour of Augustus; or because the Statues of Constantine, and his Mother Helena, were set up in an arched Gallery which stood here. Zosimus, a more antient Historian than Procopius, asserts, that Constantine built a round Market, with four Portico’s, two in a Row, above each other; and that he roofed two of them with Proconnesian Marble, that you might pass from them unto the Portico of Severus, and from thence beyond the Bounds of the antient City; and adds, that this Market stood in a Place, to which there was a Passage thro’ a Landgate adjacent. This is the same Market which is intended by the unknown Author of the History of Constantinople, where he tells us, that Constantine built a Market in a circular Manner. The same Author tells us in another Place, that when he was at Constantinople, Constantine had surrounded the great Forum with four Portico’s and placed at both Ends of one of them, which you ascend by many Steps, two Statues: At one End was placed the Statue of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods, (the same Statue, which those who sailed with Jason, placed on Mount Dindymus) rising above the City of Cyzicus. They tell you, that for her Neglect in paying divine Worship to the Gods, the Statue was defaced; and that her Hands, which before held the Reins of two Lyons which stood before her, were changed into a petitioning Posture. This Statue at the same Time faced and adorned the City. At the other End of the Portico he placed the Fortune of the City, though Suidas relates, that the Fortune of the City stood in a Nich of the Miliarium. If this Statue was set up here by Constantine, I should think, that both the Markets mentioned by Zosimus are one and the same. But to me they seem to be different; because Zosimus tells us in one Place, that Constantine built a Market with two Portico’s round it, and afterwards, that he built a Market with four Portico’s round it; unless he reckons in the Account, the Portico’s of Severus and Constantine, from whence there was a free Entrance into other Portico’s. On the East Side of the Forum Augusteum, Procopius writes, that Justinian built a large Court, where the Senate used to assemble, and celebrate an Anniversary Festival every new Year. Before the Senate-House stand six Columns, two of which support the Western Wall, in the Middle of it. The other four stand at a little Distance from it. These Pillars are all of white Marble, and I look upon them to be the largest in the World. The other six support a Portico, which runs round the Top of a large Building. The upper Part of the Portico is adorned with Marble elegantly variegated, and equal to that of the Columns, and is furnished with an infinite Variety of curious Statues. I am of Opinion, that Justinian did not build this Senate-House, but that he rebuilt the old Senate-House, which was burnt down by the Fire, which consumed the Church of St. Sophia, and the Baths of Zeuxippus. For Sozomen writes, that Constantine the Great built the Great Council-Hall, which was called the Senate-House, and ordered it to be held in equal Dignity, and honoured it with the same publick Celebration of the Feast of the Calends, with that of antient Rome. He tells us where this great Court stood, when he writes, that the silver Statue of Eudoxia Augusta was placed upon a Porphyry Pillar, on the South Side of the Church of St. Sophia, beyond the high Pulpit, which faces the Senate-House. Socrates tells us, that it was neither erected near, nor at any considerable Distance from the Church of St. Sophia; but beyond the broad Way, as Suidas observes, which runs between them both. In the Tribunal of the Palace, says he, stood the Pillar of Eudoxia, the Wife of Theodosius. The Treatise of the antient Description of the Wards places the Senate-House, the Tribunal with Porphyry Steps, and the Basilica, all in the same Ward. Sozomen clearly points out the Situation of the Senate-House, where he says, that when a Tumult arose concerning the Expulsion of St. Chrysostom, the great Church was all on a sudden in a Blaze, which burnt down the Buildings upon the Walks, and the Great Senate-House, lying to the South of them. There are some Remains of the Walls of the Senate-House still standing, southerly of the Church of St. Sophia, beyond the Way that leads from the Imperial Gate to the Forum of Constantine.