Serpent Column

The oldest object in Istanbul — 2,500-year-old Greek bronze. The most intriguing piece of history still standing on the square.

The column was cast from Persian weapons captured at Plataea and melted down. It stood about 8 metres high and supported a golden cauldron held up by three serpent heads. The cauldron was lost in antiquity; the three heads fell from the column at the end of the 17th century, around the year 1700. The surviving section stands about 5 metres today.

The Serpent Column was dedicated at Delphi by the allied Greek city-states in 479 BC to mark their victory over the Persian Empire at the Battle of Plataea. In AD 324 Constantine I brought it to Istanbul and set it on the spina of the hippodrome. Formed of three intertwined serpent bodies, this bronze column is one of the rare works of ancient Greek bronze surviving in Istanbul. The three serpent heads that once crowned it are no longer in place.