Forum of Constantine

The Forum of Constantine (Greek: Φόρος Κωνσταντίνου) was built at the foundation of Constantinople immediately outside of the old city walls of Byzantium. It was circular in shape and had two monumental gates to the east and west. The Column of Constantine, which still stands upright and is known today in Turkish as Çemberlitaş, was erected in the centre of the square.

The column was originally crowned with a statue of Constantine I (3. 306-337) as Apollo, but a strong gale in 1150 caused the statue and three of the column's upper drums to fall, and a cross was added in its place by the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143-1180). Otherwise the forum remained nearly intact until the Fourth Crusade in 1203-1204. The city's first Senate House lay on the north side of it. We know from the sources that the square was decorated with a number of antique statues, but it is impossible to determine their exact appearance and location.

The Forum suffered major damage in a fire started by soldiers of the Fourth Crusade in 1203. After the Sack of 1204, the antique statues decorating the Forum were melted down by the Crusaders.

Famous quotes containing the words forum of and/or forum:

    That age will be rich indeed when those relics which we call Classics, and the still older and more than classic but even less known Scriptures of the nations, shall have still further accumulated, when the Vaticans shall be filled with Vedas and Zendavestas and Bibles, with Homers and Dantes and Shakespeares, and all the centuries to come shall have successively deposited their trophies in the forum of the world. By such a pile we may hope to scale heaven at last.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    If I should ever decide in the future to discuss my deep Christian beliefs and condemnation and sinfulness, I would use another forum besides Playboy.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)