Serpent Column
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The Serpent Column, also known as the Serpentine Column, Plataean Tripod or Delphi Tripod, is an ancient bronze column at the Hippodrome of Constantinople in what is now Istanbul, Turkey. It is part of an ancient Greek sacrificial tripod, originally in Delphi and relocated to Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 324. It was built to commemorate the Greeks who fought and defeated the Persian Empire at the Battle of Plataea. The serpent heads of the 8-metre (26 ft) high column remained intact until the end of the 17th century.
The Serpent Column in Istanbul
A part of one of the heads is located in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum
Ottoman miniature from the Surname-i Vehbi, showing the Column with the three serpent heads, but the bowl already missing, in a celebration at the Hippodrome in 1582
Western print, illustrating Aubry de la Mottraye, 1727
Hippodrome of Constantinople
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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 in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square.
Obelisk of Theodosius in Sultanahmet Square today
Ruins of the Hippodrome, from an engraving by Onofrio Panvinio in his work De Ludis Circensibus (Venice, 1600). The engraving, dated 1580, may be based on a drawing from the late 15th century. The spina that stood at the center of the chariot racing circuit was still visible then; in modern Istanbul, three of the ancient monuments remain.
The Serpent Column
The Obelisk of Theodosius, originally erected by Pharaoh Thutmose III at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, was brought to Constantinople by Theodosius the Great for adorning the spina of the Hippodrome.