Constantinople’s “birthday” occurred on May 11, 330. Most of the festivities took place in the newly built forum, at the center of which “stood a porphyry column bearing a gilt statue of the emperor. It held on its right hand the orb of world power. Inside the orb was a piece of the True Cross.”

MacMullen comments on the speed of Constantine’s rebuilding, a speed made possible by the fact that Constantine reused materials from other cities: “In the forum, the porphyry column came from Rome, the statue atop from Ilion (it was a figure of Apollo, the head recut).”