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<< Our Photo Pages >> Spiral Column - Carving in Turkey

Submitted by h_fenton on Friday, 11 July 2008  Page Views: 9125

Multi-periodSite Name: Spiral Column Alternative Name: Serpent Column, Serpentine Column, Delphi Tripod,
Country: Turkey
NOTE: This site is 0.294 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Carving
Nearest Town: Istanbul
Latitude: 41.005700N  Longitude: 28.975150E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Tdiver visited on 1st Jan 1994 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5

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Spiral Column
Spiral Column submitted by h_fenton : Spiral Column in the Hippodrome (Atmeydani) in Istanbul, in the background you can see the nearby Amenhotep III Obelisk 24 April 2008 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Bronze column in Turkey

Spiral Column is an ancient bronze column that stands in the Hippodrome (Atmeydani) in Istanbul. Currently it is about eight metres tall, but it used to be a little taller and was topped by three snakes heads with open mouths (also bronze). The snake heads supported a golden Tripod that was topped by a gold bowl

Following the Battle of Plataea (479BCE), which was the last of the Greco-Persian Wars, the Greek victors built a column in the form of three snakes twisted together to commemorate the 31 Greek city-states that took part in the war. Herodotus tells us that bronze from the Persian weapons was melted down and used to cast the bronze column. There was also a golden tripod with a bowl that accompanied the column, either standing over the column or supported by the three snakes heads.

In the 2ndCenturyCE the writer Pausanias the Traveler who visited Delphi and saw the spiral column said that the Phocian General Philomelus was taking treasures from the temple at Delphi to help pay for fighting the Third Sacred War (356 BCE– 346 BCE). The treasures which included the golden tripod he used to help pay for mercenaries that were recruited from neighboring greek states to fight on his side.

Sometime in the 4thCenturyCE, Constantine I (the great) moved the spiral column from Delphi to Constantinople along with the Amenhotep III Obelisk (from Egypt) to decorate the spina (central line) of the Hippodrome. In 1203-4 during the Forth Crusade a golden bowl from the top of the snakes head was removed, either melted down by the then emporer to pay the crusaders off as promised for getting him into power, or it was stolen by the crusaders when they got fed up with being messed about and sacked the city.

In 1453 after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, the sultan Mehmed II on entering the city struck one of the serpents shattering its jaw. The heads of the serpentas are thought to have been broken off in the late 18thCentury.

In 1855 the base of the column was excavated, 15 coils of the serpent had become buried. Between coils three and thirteen were written the names of the 31 greek city states that took part in the Greco-Persian Wars.

One head of a serpent (from the column) minus its lower jaw has been found and is on display in Istanbul Archaeological Museum

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