Columna Triumphālis
Single columns were erected from the earliest times to commemorate persons or events. Early
Roman examples are those in honour of C. Maenius and P. Minucius, mentioned by Pliny (
Pliny H. N. xxxiv. 21). Of a later date is the
marble monolith to Iulius Caesar, set up in the Forum after his death (
Iul.
85).
More important, as well on account of their imposing size as of their value to the
archæologist, are the lofty and elaborate columns erected in im
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Column of M. Aurelius Antoninus.
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perial times. The finest of these monuments is that figured in the article
Columna Cochlis, and which was voted by the
Senate in honour of Trajan, and executed by Apollodorus in A.D. 104. The column itself is
apparently of the Tuscan order, and is composed of huge drums of white marble, pierced within
so as to form a spiral staircase, to which there is an entrance in the pedestal. A bas-relief
of the chief episodes in the Dacian campaigns winds round the shaft. Including the bronze
statue of the emperor, the total height was not less than 130 feet. It still stands in the
Foro Traiano at Rome.
The same mode of construction is found in the Antonine Column, erected in honour of Marcus
Aurelius and illustrating his victories over the Marcomanni, still to be seen in the Piazza
della Colonna. Much less admirable, artistically, was the column erected by Constantine in the
Forum of Constantinople. It was erected on a pillar of white marble, 20 feet in height, and
was composed of ten pieces of porphyry. On its summit, 120 feet from the earth, was a colossal
bronze statue of Apollo, supposed to be the work of Phidias. A fragment of this structure
survives at Constantinople under the name of “the Burnt Pillar.” Of the
time of the same emperor was the curious Serpentine Column of brass, formed of the twisted
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Serpentine Column of Constantine.
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bodies of three brazen snakes, whose triple heads had once supported the golden
tripod which the victors at Salamis had consecrated at Delphi in commemoration of the defeat
of Xerxes. This pillar stood in the Hippodrome.
Latest of all was the Column of Theodosius II., figured below, whose base still exists at
Constantinople.
