Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/188

 *ber was constituted as a memorial of the wars of Justinian, and the walls were covered with scenes of battle and triumph executed in mosaic. In a prominent position the Imperial couple were depicted as standing among the members of their Court, while the captives and trophies of victory were displayed before them by Belisarius. The Emperor also commemorated his reign by raising public monuments in the capital to himself and his partner on the throne. In the Augusteum, a pyramidal pedestal, rising by steps from a broad base, supported a pillar on which stood an equestrian statue of Justinian in martial costume, holding in one hand the globe and cross, whilst the other was extended with a warning gesture towards the land of the Persians. On the eastern margin of the city, where the Bosphorus meets the Propontis, Justinian laid out an esplanade, marble-paved and colonnaded, which he adorned with a variety of sculptures wrought by artists of the period. A splendid pedestal of porphyry, fit to support an empress, occupied the centre, upholding a handsome statue which portrayed the "ineffable beauty of Theodora, as nearly as a mortal chisel could express it." This figure was a gift from the citizens, in grateful