It is clear from this that the ancient land gate of Byzantium stood on the crest of the ridge close to the site now occupied by the Porphyry Column (which was set up by Constantine in the New Forum), and formed the end of a street of columns built by Severus (the _Mese_). From this gate the wall ran southwards to a temple of Aphrodite, and along the shore of the Propontis opposite Scutari. Northwards it descended to the Golden Horn at the Neorion port, and turned along the shore to Seraglio Point. Now the Neorion port was just outside the entrance to the modern Galata bridge,[9] and the account agrees perfectly with the _Notitia_ in which we find the following: “The sixth ward at entering on it is level ground for a short distance, all the rest is upon the descent; for it extends from the Forum of Constantine to the stairs where you ferry over to Sycae [Galata]. It contains the porphyry pillar of Constantine; the Senate House in the same place, the Neorion port; the stairs of Sycae, &c.” It is evident that the city which Constantine found had been virtually rebuilt by Severus in the style of the East. From the days when Alexandria and Antioch were planned a city had become a whole to be designed according to rule. Essential features of such cities--of which Palmyra is the best representative--were long avenues of columns forming the main streets, and a triumphal arch with a central “golden milestone.” The main street of columns at Constantinople, which we later hear of by the name of the _Mese_ as forming the way from the Milion to the Forum of Constantine, cannot be any other than the “Porticoes of Severus” just mentioned. In the fifth century we find the _Mese_ referred to in the building laws of Zeno. “We ordain that none shall be allowed to obstruct with buildings the numerous rows of columns which are erected in the public porticoes, such as those leading from what is called the Milion to the Capitol,” any shops or booths between the columns “must be ornamented on the outside at least with marble, that they may beautify the city and give pleasure to the passers by.”[10] Mordtmann shows that this great columned way occupied very nearly the line of the present Divan Yiulu; indeed, it is hardly possible to divert the great arteries at any stage of a city’s evolution, and the _Mese_ itself probably followed the course of a foot-track to the gate of the Acropolis.