Column of Marcian

The Column of Marcian (Turkish: Kıztaşı, meaning "Column of the girl") is a monument erected in Constantinople in 455 dedicated to the Emperor Marcian. It is made of red-grey Egyptian granite, in two pieces. The basis is quadrilateral, formed by four slabs in white marble, decorated with Greek crosses inside medallions on three faces, and two genii (who account for the Turkish name of the column) holding a globe. The column is topped by a Corinthian capital, probably a basis for a statue of Marcian (as per the Column of Trajan and Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, which definitely were topped by statues of the emperor they commemorated).

There is an inscription engraved on the northern side of the basis, which reads:

Principis hanc statuam Marciani
cerne torumque
praefectus vovit quod Tatianus
opus

(Observe this statue of the princeps Marcian and its column, [erected] because the prefect Tatianus vowed the work.)

Notes

References

• Stillwell, Richard (1940). "Review of Rudolf Kautzsch's "Kapitellstudien. Beitraege zu Einer Geschichte des Spaetantiken Kapitells im Osten vom vierten bis ins siebenten Jahrhundert"". American Journal of Archaeology 44 (1): 172.
• Mango, C. A. (1951). "The Byzantine Inscriptions of Constantinople: A Bibliographical Survey". American Journal of Archaeology 55 (1): 52–66.

External links

• Byzantium 1200 | Column of Marcianos