Golden Gate gets older date.Most scholars assume that shortly before A.D. 413, the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II Theodosius II, 401–50, Roman emperor of the East (408–50), son and successor of Arcadius. He preferred the study of theology and astronomy to public affairs, which he left to the guidance of his sister, Pulcheria—and, at times, to that of his wife oversaw o·ver·saw v. Past tense of oversee. the completion of two defensive walls at Constantinople and the construction of a main entrance called the Golden Gate. An examination of the Golden Gate and adjoining wall sections now indicates that Byzantines built the gate more than 20 years earlier to commemorate a prior ruler's military victory. Later, they incorporated the monument into the city's protective walls, contends Jonathan Bardill of the University of Oxford in England. Constantinople, an ancient Turkish city originally called Byzantium and now known as Istanbul, flourished after A.D. 330 with a unique blend of Roman and Greek cultures. The fifth-century decorations on doorframes of the Golden Gate were additions to an older structure, Bardill reports in the October AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY The American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) is the journal of the Archaeological Institute of America. Featuring articles about Middle Eastern, Classical, and other varied archaeological disciplines, the AJA has been published since 1906. . A Latin inscription on the original monument probably celebrates Theodosius I's defeat of a rival army in A.D. 388, Bardill says. A sculpture on top of the gate shows Theodosius I Theodosius I or Theodosius the Great, 346?–395, Roman emperor of the East (379–95) and emperor of the West (394–95), son of Theodosius, the general of Valentinian I. celebrating that victory in a chariot chariot, earliest and simplest type of carriage and the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. The chariot was known among the Babylonians before the introduction of horses c.2000 B.C. and was first drawn by asses. The chariot and horse introduced into Egypt c.1700 B. drawn by four elephants given to him in A.D. 384 or A.D. 387 by a Persian king, Bardill asserts. |
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