Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/71

 Constantinian date, and a small theatre, we may make the circuit of the first hill on the south side and enter the chief square of the city. This area, the ancient market-place of Byzantium, is called the Augusteum, that is the Imperial Forum; and it forms a court to those edifices which are particularly frequented by the Emperor. Around it are situated his Palace, his church, his Senate-House, and a vast Circus or Hippodrome, where the populace and their ruler are accustomed to meet face to face. Almost all the public buildings at this date, which aspire to architectural beauty, are constructed more or less exactly after the model of the classical Greek temple; that is, they are oblong, and have at each end a pediment corresponding to the extremities of a slanting roof. The eaves, projecting widely and supported on pillars, form a portico round the body of the building, which, in the most decorative examples, is excavated externally by a series of niches for the reception of statues. The vestibule of the Palace, which opens on the southern portico of the Augusteum, is a handsome pillared hall named Chalke, or the Brazen House, from being roofed with tiles of gilded brass. An image of Christ, devoutly placed over the brazen gates which close the entrance, dates back to Constantine, but the remainder of the building has