Column of Marcian

The Column of Marcian (Turkish: Kıztaşı, meaning "Column of the girl") is a Roman honorific column 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 Chi-Rhos 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 (decorated with aquilas) probably a basis for a statue of Marcian in imitation of the Column of Trajan and the 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. The engraved inscription was originally topped with bronze, but it has since been removed. The inscription reads:

Principis hanc statuam Marciani | cerne torumque
praefectus vovit quod Tatianus | opus

(Observe this statue of the princeps Marcian and its base,
a work dedicated by the prefect Tatianus.)

Notes

References

• Stillwell, Richard; Kautzsch, Rudolf (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 (American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 44, No. 1) 44 (1): 172. doi:10.2307/499613. JSTOR 499613. 
• Mango, C. A. (1951). "The Byzantine Inscriptions of Constantinople: A Bibliographical Survey". American Journal of Archaeology (American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 55, No. 1) 55 (1): 52–66. doi:10.2307/501180. JSTOR 501180. 

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Column_of_Marcian Column of Marcian] at Wikimedia Commons

• Byzantium 1200 | Column of Marcianos