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On the northern slabs the subjects pourtrayed were: Prometheus tortured; a youth pursuing a horse, and trying to pull off its rider; a satyr, between a woman with a vessel of water behind her, and a savage man, or Hercules, holding a whip; Labours of Hercules (on three slabs).

The bas-reliefs to the south were of superior workmanship, and represented: Endymion asleep, a shepherd’s lute in his hand, with Selene and Cupid descending towards him; Hercules leading dogs; two peasants carrying grapes; Pegasus and three female figures, one of them attempting to hold him back; the fall of Phaëthon; Hercules and a stag.^[235]

As the Porta Triumphalis of Constantinople, the Golden Gate was the scene of many historical events and imposing ceremonies.

So long as the inauguration of an emperor upon his accession to the throne was celebrated at the Hebdomon (Makrikeui), it was through the Golden Gate that a new sovereign entered his capital on the way to the Imperial Palace beside St. Sophia. Marcian (450),^[236] Leo I. (457),^[237] Basiliscus (476),^[238] Phocas (602),^[239] Leo the Armenian (813),^[240] and Nicephorus Phocas (963),^[241] were welcomed as emperors by the city authorities at this portal.