[116] The first Golden Gate was erected, or rather transformed, by Theodosius I, as the following epigram, inscribed on the gate, shows (Corp. Inscript. Lat., Berlin, 1873, No. 735):
Haec loca Theudosius decorat post fata tyranni,
Aurea secla gerit, qui portam construit auro.
It was, of course, in the wall of Constantine (Codin., p. 122) and seems to have remained to a late date—Map of Buondelmonte, Ducange, CP. Christ., etc. For a probable representation see Banduri, Imp. Orient., ii, pl. xi. But Van Millingen (op. cit.), having found traces of the inscription on the remaining structure, considers there never was any other. In that case it was at first a triumphal arch outside the walls.
[117] The remarkable structure known as the Marble Tower, rising from the waters of the Marmora to the height of a hundred feet, near the junction of the sea-and land-wall is of later date, but its founder is unknown and it has no clear history in Byzantine times. See Mordtmann, op. cit., p. 13.
[118] Glycas, iv; Codin., p. 128. A legend, perhaps, owing to débris of walls ruined by earthquakes collecting there in the course of centuries.
[119] See Mordtmann, op. cit., p. 60; Codin., p. 109.
[120] Codin., p. 101. Great hulks of timber were built to float obelisks and marble columns over the Mediterranean; Ammianus, xvii, 4.
[121] Ibid., p. 102.
[122] Codin., pp. 49, 104.