Matters remained in this position until 1891, when the attention of Professor J. Strzygowski[[218]] was arrested by certain holes in the voussoirs of the central archway, both on its western and eastern faces. The holes are such as are found on stones to which metal letters are riveted with bolts.
Here, then, was conclusive evidence that the Porta Aurea had once borne an inscription, and here, Professor Strzygowski divined, was also the means by which the genuineness of the legend given by Sirmondi and Du Cange could be verified. Accordingly, a comparison between the arrangement of the holes on the arch and the forms of the letters in the legend was instituted. As several of the original voussoirs of the arch had been removed and replaced by others without holes in them, the comparison could not be complete; but so far as it was possible to proceed the correspondence was all that could be desired. Where H, for example, occurred in the inscription, the holes on the archway are arranged thus, ::; where an A stood, the holes are placed thus, ∴; where V came, their position is ∵; and so on, to an extent which verifies the inscription beyond dispute. Thus, also, it has been ascertained that the letters were of metal, probably gilt bronze, and that the words “Haec loca Thevdosivs decorat post fata Tyranni” stood on the western face of the arch, while the words “Avrea saecla gerit qvi portam constrvit avro” were found on the opposite side.
The preservation of the inscription is a matter of very great importance, for it furnishes valuable and interesting information as to the circumstances under which the Porta Aurea was erected. From the fact that the entrance is found in the Theodosian Walls it is natural to infer that the Porta Aurea was a contemporaneous building, and that the emperor extolled in the inscription is Theodosius II. But that inference is precluded by the statement that the arch was set up after the suppression of a usurper, post fata tyranni. For Theodosius II. was not called to suppress the usurpation of his imperial authority at any time during his reign, much less in 413, when the Wall of Anthemius, in which the Porta Aurea stands, was built. On the other hand, Theodosius the Great crushed two serious attempts to dispute his rule, first in 388, when he defeated Maximus, and again in 395, when he put down the rebellion of Eugenius. Hence, as Du Cange first pointed out, the Porta Aurea is a monument erected in the reign of Theodosius the Great, in honour of his victory over one of the rebels above mentioned. It could not, however, have been designed to commemorate the defeat of Eugenius, seeing that Theodosius never returned to Constantinople after that event, and died four months later in the city of Milan. It must, therefore, have been reared in honour of the victory over Maximus, a success which the conqueror regarded with feelings of peculiar satisfaction and pride, celebrating it by one triumphal entry into Rome, in the spring of 389, and by another into Constantinople, when he returned to the eastern capital in 391.[[219]] Accordingly, the Porta Aurea was originally an Arch of Triumph, erected some time between 388 and 391, to welcome Theodosius the Great upon his return from his successful expedition against the formidable rebellion of Maximus in the West. It united with the Column of Theodosius in the Forum of Taurus, and the Column of Arcadius in the Forum on the Xerolophus, and the Obelisk in the Hippodrome,[[220]] in perpetuating the memory of the great emperor’s warlike achievements.
In corroboration of the date thus assigned to the monument, it may be added that the only Imperial statue placed over the Porta Aurea was that of Theodosius the Great, while the group of elephants which formed one of the ornaments of the gate was supposed to represent the elephants attached to the car of that emperor on the occasion of his triumphal entry into the city.[[221]]
There is, however, an objection to this view concerning the age of the Porta Aurea, which, whatever its force, should not be overlooked in a full discussion of the subject. The inscription describes the monument as a gateway, “Qui portam construit auro.”[[222]] But such a designation does not seem consistent with the fact that we have here a building which belongs to the age of Theodosius the Great, when the city walls in which the arch stands did not exist, as they are the work of his grandson. How could an isolated arch be, then, styled a gateway? Can the difficulty be removed by any other instance of a similar use of the term “Porta”? Or is the employment of the term in the case before us explained by the supposition that in the reign of Theodosius the Great the city had spread beyond the Constantinian Wall, and reached the line marked by the Porta Aurea, so that an arch at that point was practically an entrance into the city? May not that suburban district have been protected by some slight fortified works? Or was the Porta Aurea so named in anticipation of the fulfilment of the prediction of Themistius, that the growth of the city under Theodosius the Great would ere long necessitate the erection of new walls?[[223]] Was it built in that emperor’s reign to indicate to a succeeding generation the line along which the new bulwarks of the capital should be built?
The Porta Aurea was the State Entrance into the capital,[[224]] and was remarkable both for its architectural splendour and its military strength. It was built of large squared blocks of polished marble, fitted together without cement, and was flanked by two great towers constructed of the same material. Like the Triumphal Arch of Severus and that of Constantine at Rome, it had three archways, the central one being wider and loftier than those on either side.
The gates glittered with gold,[[225]] and numerous statues and other sculptured ornaments were placed at suitable points.[[226]]
The Golden Gate (Inner).
Of these embellishments the following are mentioned: a cross, which was blown down by a hurricane in the reign of Justinian;[[227]] a Victory, which fell in an earthquake in the reign of Michael III.;[[228]] a crowned female figure, representing the Fortune of the city;[[229]] a statue of Theodosius the Great, overthrown by the earthquake at the close of the reign of Leo the Isaurian;[[230]] a bronze group of four elephants;[[231]] the gates of Mompseuesta, gilded and placed here by Nicephorus Phocas, as a trophy of his campaign in Cilicia.[[232]] At the south-western angle of the northern tower the Roman eagle still spreads its wings; the laureated monogram “ΧΡ” appears above the central archway on the city side of the gateway; and several crosses are scattered over the building.