Читать книгу Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites онлайн

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Here, then, was conclusive evidence that the Porta Aurea had once borne an inscription, and here, Professor Strzygowski divined, was also the means by which the genuineness of the legend given by Sirmondi and Du Cange could be verified. Accordingly, a comparison between the arrangement of the holes on the arch and the forms of the letters in the legend was instituted. As several of the original voussoirs of the arch had been removed and replaced by others without holes in them, the comparison could not be complete; but so far as it was possible to proceed the correspondence was all that could be desired. Where H, for example, occurred in the inscription, the holes on the archway are arranged thus, ::; where an A stood, the holes are placed thus, ∴; where V came, their position is ∵; and so on, to an extent which verifies the inscription beyond dispute. Thus, also, it has been ascertained that the letters were of metal, probably gilt bronze, and that the words “Haec loca Thevdosivs decorat post fata Tyranni” stood on the western face of the arch, while the words “Avrea saecla gerit qvi portam constrvit avro” were found on the opposite side.