The Serpent Column, a bronze sculpture that has stood in Delphi and Constantinople, today Istanbul, is a Greek representation of the Near Eastern primordial combat myth: it is Typhon, a dragon defeated by Zeus, and also Python slain by Apollo. The column was created after the Battle of Plataia (479BC), where the sky was dominated by serpentine constellations and by the spiralling tails of the Milky Way. It was erected as a votive for Apollo and as a monument to the victory of the united Greek poleis over the Persians. It is as a victory monument that the column was transplanted to Constantinople and erected in the hippodrome. The column remained a monument to cosmic victory through centuries, but also took on other meanings. Through the Byzantine centuries these interpretation were fundamentally Christian, drawing upon serpentine imagery in Scripture, patristic and homiletic writings. When Byzantines saw the monument they reflected upon this multivalent serpentine symbolism, but also the fact that it was a bronze column. For these observers, it evoked the Temple's brazen pillars, Moses' brazen serpent, the serpentine tempter of Genesis (Satan), and the beast of Revelation. The column was inserted into Christian sacred history, symbolizing creation and the end times. The most enduring interpretation of the column, which is unrelated to religion, and therefore survived the Ottoman capture of the city, is as a talisman against snakes and snake-bites. It is this tale that was told by travellers to Constantinople throughout the Middle Ages, and it is this story that is told to tourists today who visit Istanbul. In this book, Paul Stephenson twists together multiple strands to relate the cultural biography of a unique monument.

About the Author
Paul Stephenson is Professor of History and Head, School of History and Heritage, University of Lincoln.

Reviews
Paul Stephenson has set a new landmark and a new benchmark in writing the history of objects and the writing of history through objects. The extraordinary fertility of his research, the subtlety of his arguments, the elegant economy of his prose, and the uniqueness of the object all make this a hard act to follow. ... He is, however, the first to label his work a cultural biography. It sounds pretentious, but it aptly echoes late antique and Byzantine beliefs in the animation of statues, and effectively states what should be every historians ideal: to ensure that the relics of the past get a life however inanimate and truncated they may be. * Paul Magdalino, University of St. Andrews, Emeritus, American Historical Review *
It is a good story, well told. * Mark Whittow, The Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190209063
Author Paul Stephenson
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 670g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 163mm * 22mm