If we diverge from the Mese slightly to the north-east of the Pavement, we shall enter a large square named the Strategium, from its forming a parade-ground to the barracks of the Palatine troops.[302] Amongst several monuments a Theban obelisk conspicuously occupies the middle place,[303] but the most striking object is an equestrian figure of Constantine with the pillar alongside it by which Constantinople is officially declared to be a second Rome.[304] This locality is associated in historic tradition with Alexander the Great, of whom it contains a commemorative statue.[305] From hence he is said to have started on his expedition against Darius after holding a final review of his forces. On this account it was chosen by Severus as a permanent site for military quarters.[306] The public prison is also located in this square.[307]
Continuing our way beneath the piazzas of the Mese beyond the Forum of Constantine we reach the district known as the Artopolia or public bakeries which lie to the north of the main street. A strange group of statuary, allegorizing the fecundity of nature, is collocated in this region, viz., a many-headed figure in which the faces of a dozen animals are seen in conjunction; amongst them are those of a lion, an eagle, a peacock, a ram, a bull, a crow, a mouse, a hare, a cat, and a weasel. This eccentric presentment is flanked by a pair of marble Gorgons.[308] Adjacent we may also observe a paved area in which a cross stands conspicuously on a pillar, another record of the hybrid piety of Constantine.[309]
Farther on by a couple of furlongs is the great square of Taurus, also called the Forum of Theodosius, through its being specially devoted to memorials of that prince. It covers an oblong space, extending from level ground on the south up the slope of the third hill, the summit of which it includes in its northern limit.[310] This eminence, in accordance with the conception of making Constantinople a counterpart of Rome, is called the Capitol, and is occupied by an equivalent of the Tabularium, that is, by a building which contains the Imperial archives.[311] Similarly, this site has been chosen for an edifice composed of halls and a lecture-theatre assigned to a faculty of thirty professors appointed by government to direct the liberal studies of the youth of the capital—in short, for the University, as we may call it, of Constantinople.[312] The principal monument in Taurus is the column of Theodosius I, the sculptural shaft of which illustrates in an ascending spiral the Gothic victories of that Emperor.[313] But the equestrian statue which originally crowned this pictured record of his achievements, having been overthrown by an earthquake, has lately been replaced by a figure of the unwarlike Anastasius.[314] To the north of this column, on a tetrapyle or duplex arch, Theodosius the Less presides over the titular Forum of his grandfather.[315] But in the fading memory of the populace the figure of this Emperor is already confounded with a horseman said to have been abstracted from Antioch, whom some imagine to be Jesus Nava,[316] and others Bellerophon.[317] Facing each other from east to west on opposite sides of the square are arches supporting figures of those degenerate representatives of the Theodosian dynasty, Arcadius and Honorius.[318] To the western of these arches we may observe that an assortment of troublesome insects, counterfeited in brass, have been carefully affixed—another charm of Apollonius Tyaneus intended to protect the inhabitants against such diminutive pests.[319] In this vicinity is also a palace, built by Constantine, in which strangers from all parts are hospitably entertained without expense or question.[320]