The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography

Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture

by Paul Stephenson

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 it is Typhon, a dragon defeated by Zeus, and also Python slain by Apollo. The column was created after the Battle of Plataia (479 BC), 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.

304 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2016

About the author

Paul Stephenson studies the early and middle Byzantine periods (A.D. 300-1204). His published work has focused on middle Byzantine political and cultural history; the history and historiography of Southeastern Europe, medieval to modern; and religious warfare. Currently he is: completing a cultural history of a Byzantine monument, the Serpent Column; researching late antique and Byzantine views of sacred warfare and spiritual combat; editing separate volumes on the desire for Byzantium outside former Byzantine lands, and on the fountains of Byzantion - Constantinople - Istanbul; writing a general history of the Late Roman Empire in the East, c. 400-843, for Harvard Univ. Press and Profile Books. Stephenson has taught in the UK, Republic of Ireland, and the USA, and has held research fellowships from the British Academy (in Oxford), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (in Mainz), the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation (in Athens), and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (in Uppsala). Before coming to Nijmegen, he was for five years Professor of Medieval History at Durham University, and for six year before that the Rowe Professor of Byzantine History at Dumbarton Oaks and the University of Wisconsin - Madison. In 2011-12 he was Vassiliadis Visiting Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. Stephenson is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK).

Stephenson offers instruction across a range of areas in medieval and Byzantine history. Notably, he offers a themacollege (senior seminar) on the transition from late antiquity to Byzantium and a research seminar devoted to medieval Rome and Constantinople for the MA Roma Aeterna. He is a co-convenor of the Duae Romae seminar, and teaches core elements of the HLCS research MA. He offers lectures for the undergraduate surveys of "Medieval History" and "Europa".

Reviews

[Eileen Iciek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book about the long history one of Istanbul's iconic monuments - the Serpent Column located where the spina of the ancient Hippodrome stood, now the center of Sultan Ahmed Square, outside of the Blue Mosque. I had read that it originally came from Delphi, but this book explains when and why it was ever erected there, and who (Constantine the Great) brought it to his new capital city of Constantinople.

A must read for those interested in Byzantine history and the history of the great city once called Byzantion, then Constantinople, and now known as Istanbul.