In later days, when taste had altered, the scene of the Crucifixion was painted within one of the lateral archways, while the Scene of the Final Judgment was represented in the other.[[233]] Traces of frescoes are visible on the inner walls of the southern archway, and suggest the possibility of its having been used as a chapel.
The whole aspect of the gateway must have been more imposing when the parapet on the towers and on the wall over the arches was intact, and gave the building its full elevation.
Two columns crowned with graceful capitals adorned the outer gateway, while the wall north and south was decorated with twelve bas-reliefs, executed with considerable skill, and representing classical subjects. Remains of the marble cornices and of the pilasters which framed the bas-reliefs are still found in the wall, and from the descriptions of the slabs given by Manuel Chrysolaras, Gyllius, Sir Thomas Roe, and others, a fair idea of the nature of the subjects treated can be formed.[[234]] Six bas-reliefs were placed on either side of the entrance, grouped in triplets, one above another, each panel being supported by pilasters, round or rectangular.
On the northern slabs the subjects pourtrayed were: Prometheus tortured; a youth pursuing a horse, and trying to pull off its rider; a satyr, between a woman with a vessel of water behind her, and a savage man, or Hercules, holding a whip; Labours of Hercules (on three slabs).
The bas-reliefs to the south were of superior workmanship, and represented: Endymion asleep, a shepherd’s lute in his hand, with Selene and Cupid descending towards him; Hercules leading dogs; two peasants carrying grapes; Pegasus and three female figures, one of them attempting to hold him back; the fall of Phaëthon; Hercules and a stag.[[235]]
As the Porta Triumphalis of Constantinople, the Golden Gate was the scene of many historical events and imposing ceremonies.
So long as the inauguration of an emperor upon his accession to the throne was celebrated at the Hebdomon (Makrikeui), it was through the Golden Gate that a new sovereign entered his capital on the way to the Imperial Palace beside St. Sophia. Marcian (450),[[236]] Leo I. (457),[[237]] Basiliscus (476),[[238]] Phocas (602),[[239]] Leo the Armenian (813),[[240]] and Nicephorus Phocas (963),[[241]] were welcomed as emperors by the city authorities at this portal.
Distinguished visitors to the Byzantine Court, also, were sometimes allowed to enter the city by this gate, as a mark of special honour. The Legates of Pope Hormisdas were met here upon their arrival on a mission to Justin I.:[[242]] here, in 708, Pope Constantine was received with great ceremony, when he came to confer with Justinian II.:[[243]] and here, in the reign of Basil II., the Legates of Pope Hadrian II. were admitted.[[244]] Under Romanus Lecapenus, the procession which bore through the city to St. Sophia the Icon of Christ, brought from Edessa, entered at the Porta Aurea.[[245]]
It was, however, on the return of an emperor to the city after a victorious campaign that the Porta Aurea fulfilled its highest purpose, and presented a brilliant spectacle of life and splendour.
Through this triumphal arch came Theodosius the Great, after his defeat of Maximus;[[246]] by it Heraclius entered the capital to celebrate the success of his Persian expeditions;[[247]] through it passed Constantine Copronymus, after the defeat of the Bulgarians;[[248]] Theophilus, on two occasions, after the repulse of the Saracens;[[249]] Basil I., after his successes at Tephrice and Germanicia;[[250]] Zimisces, after his victories over the Russians under Swiatoslaf;[[251]] Basil II., after the slaughter of the Bulgarians;[[252]] and, for the last time, Michael Palæologus, upon the restoration of the Greek Empire in 1261.[[253]]