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On the eastern side of the Augustaion rose the Basilica,[131] where the Senate held its principal meetings. It was entered through a porch supported by six splendid columns of marble, and the building itself was decorated with every possible variety of the same material. There also statues of rare workmanship were placed, such as the Group of the Muses from Helicon, the statue of Zeus from Dodona, and that of Pallas from Lindus.[132]
According to Eusebius, Constantine adorned the city and its suburbs with many churches,[133] the most prominent of them being the Church of Irene[134] and the Church of the Apostles.[135] The former was situated a short distance to the north of the Augustaion, and there, as restored first by Justinian the Great, and later by Leo III., it still stands within the Seraglio enclosure, now an arsenal of Turkish arms.
The Church of the Apostles, with its roof covered with tiles of gilded bronze, crowned the summit of the Fourth Hill, where it has been replaced by the Mosque of the Turkish Conqueror of the city.