The Mese was the main thoroughfare of ancient Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 (today Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

). The street was the main scene of Byzantine imperial processions. Its ancient course is largely followed by the modern Divanyolu Avenue.

Description

The Mese started at the Milion monument, close to the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey...

, and led straight westwards. It passed the Hippodrome

Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving...

 and the palaces of Lausos

Palace of Lausus

The Palace of Lausus or Lausos, also known as the Lauseion , was a 5th-century building located in Constantinople that was acquired and owned by the eunuch Lausus.- Lausus :...

 and Antiochus

Palace of Antiochos

The Palace of Antiochos was an early 5th-century palace in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople . It has been identified with a palatial structure excavated in the 1940s and 1950s close to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, some of whose remains are still visible today...

, and after ca. 600 meters reached the oval-shaped Forum of Constantine

Forum of Constantine

The Forum of Constantine 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...

 where one of the city's two Senate houses

Byzantine Senate

The Byzantine Senate or Eastern Roman Senate was the continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries but was increasingly irrelevant until its eventual disappearance in the 13th century....

 stood. This stretch of the street was also known as the Regia , as it formed the original ceremonial route from the Great Palace

Great Palace of Constantinople

The Great Palace of Constantinople — also known as the Sacred Palace — was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as "Old Istanbul", modern Turkey...

 and the Augustaion

Augustaion

The Augustaion or, in Latin, Augustaeum, was an important ceremonial square in ancient and medieval Constantinople , roughly corresponding to the modern Aya Sofya Meydanı...

 square to the forum of the city's founder.

From there, the street continued to the square Forum of Theodosius

Forum of Theodosius

The Forum of Theodosius was an area in Constantinople. It was originally built by Constantine I and named the Forum Tauri...

 or Forum of the Bull (Forum Tauri), as it was also known. In about the middle of this stretch, the great mall

Esplanade

An esplanade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The original meaning of esplanade was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide clear fields of fire for the fortress' guns...

 known as Makros Embolos joined the Mese. At their junction stood a tetrapylon

Tetrapylon

The South Tetrapylon -- which is greek for "four gates"-- is the intersection of Jerash's Cardo with the first cross street in the ancient ruins of Jerash in Jordan dated to the Roman period at the end of the 2nd century AD. Four niched pilasters formed the base of a former central monument....

known as the Anemodoulion ("Servant of the winds").

Shortly after it passed the Theodosian Forum, the street divided in two branches at the site of the Capitolium: one branch going northwest, passing by the Church of the Holy Apostles

Church of the Holy Apostles

The Church of the Holy Apostles , also known as the Imperial Polyandreion, was a Christian church built in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, in 550. It was second only to the Church of the Holy Wisdom among the great churches of the capital...

, towards the Gate of Polyandrion, while the other continued southwest, through the Forum of the Ox (Forum Bovis) and the Forum of Arcadius

Forum of Arcadius

The Forum of Arcadius , was built by the Emperor Arcadius in the city of Constantinople, now Istanbul.Built in 403, it was built in the in the Xerolophos area and was the last forum before reaching the Constantinian city walls and the Golden Gate in a line of forums, including the Forum of...

 towards the Golden Gate, where it joined the Via Egnatia

Via Egnatia

The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed the Roman provinces of Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thrace, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey.Starting at Dyrrachium on the...

.

The Mese was 25 metres wide and lined with colonnaded portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

es which housed shops. The Mese was the route followed by imperial processions through the city at least until Comnenian times. The most characteristic was the triumphal entry of a victorious emperor, who entered the city through the Golden Gate and followed the Mese to the Great Palace

Great Palace of Constantinople

The Great Palace of Constantinople — also known as the Sacred Palace — was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as "Old Istanbul", modern Turkey...

, while jubilant crowds lined along the street would greet him and the imperial army back home.