What’s in a Name? Constantinople’s Lost ‘Golden Gate’ Reconsidered

The Golden Gate (Porta Aurea) provides critical information about how Constantinople’s emperors sought to present themselves, their capital and its empire to the city’s inhabitants and to the outside world. Today, the most famous gate to bear this name survives in the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople. However an earlier Golden Gate may once have stood about a mile to the east, in the Walls of Constantine. This study will explore the origins of the Golden Gate at Constantinople by examining the construction, purpose and dating of this lost gate. As with many aspects of Constantinople’s material history, evidence remains sparse. A broad range of material has therefore been considered, including archaeological and written evidence not only from Constantinople but also from across the Roman Empire. At Rome, the tradition of triumphal monuments such as the Porta Triumphalis is considered, along with arches and gates dedicated by Constantine in Rome and on routes leading to it. At Alexandria, the dedication of city gates to the Sun and Moon is noted, and compared with Constantine’s use of solar imagery in his triumphal monuments in Rome. Returning to Constantinople, evidence including finds from recent excavations is used to argue that the lost gate was the main entrance for triumphal processions through the Walls of Constantine. A reconstruction of its appearance and decoration is proposed, based on historical accounts and comparable evidence. The article concludes that while it appears likely that a triumphal entrance existed in the Walls of Constantine at Constantinople, probably planned by Constantine and completed soon after his death in 337, it had no official name, and was first described as a Porta Aurea only by the Notitia of Constantinople by ca 427, possibly due to gilded decoration that was either original or applied in ca 416 when a bronze statue of the defeated rebel Priscus Attalus was probably set up on the gate. This lost triumphal gate would therefore not only have inspired the construction of the Golden Gate in the Walls of Theodosius, but may also have influenced its design. While these conclusions are tentative, it is anticipated that this research on evidence concerning the former gate will provide a solid basis for the study of the latter.