Serpent column
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After the battle of Plataea, the last battle of the Greco-Persian wars, Greeks built a bronze column of three intertwined snakes (Greek: Τρικάρηνος Όφις, meaning three-headed snake) to commemorate the 31 Greek city-states that participated in the battle. According to Herodotus, the bronze column was built using the bronze from the melded-down Persian weapons. A golden tripod was also build using the Persian weapons, and the whole monument was dedicated to god Apollo and was placed next to the altar of Apollo at Delphi. It was placed on top of a stone base. [Reconstruction of the tripod of Plataea].
[edit] Current Status
Pausanias informs us that roughly a hundred years later, the Phoceans used the golden tripod to fund their military during the Holy_war involving the Oracle of Delphi. Constantine the Great moved the Serpent Column to Constantinople to decorate the spina (central line) of the Hippodrome, where it can be still found today.
[edit] References
- I.M.Varvitsiotis, "The forgotten three-headed snake"
- "Epigraphic Sources for Early Greek Writing"
- The Atmeidan, or Hippodrome -- in Constantinople
