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For the sake of security against surprise the posterns were few in number, and occurred chiefly in the great wall and its towers, leading to the peribolos. It is rare to find a postern in a tower of the Outer Wall opening on the parateichion.

Proceeding northwards from the Sea of Marmora, there is a postern immediately to the north of the first tower of the Inner Wall. It is an arched entrance, with the laureated monogram “ΧΡ.” inscribed above it.

The handsome gateway between the seventh and eighth towers north of the Sea of Marmora, Yedi Koulè Kapoussi, is the triumphal gate known, from the gilding upon it, as the Porta Aurea. Its identity cannot be questioned, for the site and aspect of the entrance correspond exactly to the description given of the Golden Gate by Byzantine historians and other authorities.

Plan of the Golden Gate

It is, what the Porta Aurea was, the gateway nearest the Sea of Marmora,^[211] and at the southern extremity of the Theodosian Walls,^[212] constructed of marble, and flanked by two great marble towers.^[213] Beside its outer portal, moreover, were found the bas-reliefs which adorned the Golden Gate, and upon it traces of an inscription which expressly named it the Porta Aurea are still visible. The inscription read as follows: