Another drawing of the serpent column in Constantinople

Easily the most important monument in Istanbul is one that few visitors look at. Located today in the Hippodrome is an ancient bronze column missing its head. This is, in fact, the monument erected by the Greek states to commemorate the victory over the Persians at Marathon, and moved here later. It is extraordinary that it still exists. Originally it had a golden disk at the top, supported by three serpent headed brackets, but the latter were broken off during the Ottoman period. However there is a drawing of the column before this happened, in a portrait of the procession of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Procession of Suleiman the Great through the Hippodrome, fol. 7 from the series ‘Ces Moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz’, Pieter Coecke van Aelst 1502–1550) – made in 1533/53 The drawing forms part of a series of woodcuts made by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, who arrived in Istanbul with his wife in 1533, and was originally published in Antwerp. The complete set forms a…