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Lethaby and Swainson^[23] place the Forum between the porticoes of Severus on the east and the gate of Byzantium on the west, putting the western arch of the Forum on the site of the latter. They understand the statement of Zosimus to mean that a person in the Forum could either enter the porticoes or leave the old town according as he proceeded eastwards or westwards.

From that gate the wall descended the northern slope of the hill to the Neorion, and thence went eastwards to the head of the promontory.^[24] In descending to the Golden Horn the wall kept, probably, to the eastern bank of the valley of the Grand Bazaar, to secure a natural escarpment which would render assault more difficult.

Upon the side towards the Sea of Marmora the wall proceeded from the main gate of the city to the point occupied by the temple of Aphrodite, and to the shore facing Chrysopolis.^[25] The temple of the Goddess of Beauty was one of the oldest sanctuaries in Byzantium,^[26] and did not entirely disappear until the reign of Theodosius the Great, by whom it was converted into a carriage-house for the Prætorian Prefect.^[27] It was, consequently, a landmark that would long be remembered. Malalas^[28] places it within the ancient Acropolis of the city. Other authorities likewise put it there, adding that it stood higher up the hill of the Acropolis than the neighbouring temple of Poseidon,^[29] where it overlooked one of the theatres built against the Marmora side of the citadel,^[30] and faced Chrysopolis.^[31] From these indications it is clear that the temple lay to the north-east of the site of St. Sophia, and therefore not far from the site of St. Irene on the Seraglio plateau.