The serpent column was originally a column under the golden Apollo's dedicatory tripod. It is one of the oldest monuments in the city of Istanbul. The column was transported from the Delphic sanctuary of of Apollo in Greece in 326 by order of Emperor Constantine the Great. 26 September 479 BC, the Greeks defeated the Persians in a major battle at Plataea in Boeotia, Greece. The column became a symbol of victory over the Persians in the of the Greek city-states. There is an inscription on the Serpent Column that lists of these Greek cities that took a direct part in the battle at the city of Plataea. Herodotus had this to say about this column, which once had a golden tripod on it: "When the spoils had been collected (after the battle of Plataea), the Hellenes allocated a tenth to the Delphic god (Apollo). From this tithe was also used to make a golden tripod, which stands in Delphi on a three-headed copper serpent directly at the altar of Delphi (IX, 81)".
In the original, this entire composition was about eight and a half metres high and represented three serpents entwined in a tourniquet. The heads of these snakes diverged from each other at an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees in different directions at the at its very top. The composition was crowned with a three-legged golden bowl, and the snakes themselves were moulded from bronze details of the shields of the fallen Persians at that historic battle, made in the technique of "sphyrelatos".
For a long time, rumours circulated that almost half of the column was buried under the ground during the construction of the Sultanahmet Mosque, and that the gold vase from the column was removed by the Crusaders who captured and sacked the city of Constantinople in 1204.
Over the years, the column has changed a lot and has been through a lot. The bowl was lost or stolen in antiquity, and the heads of snakes lived on for quite a long time, according to historical chronicles, until it was demolished in 1700. Despite all the changes that the original design has undergone, the column has not lost its originality and continues to be one of the famous, tourist attraction in Turkey.
