Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

Commemorative Columns 107
of decoration were by a stroke of genius transformed into a con-
tinuous spiral ^ and the cohivuia cochlis was thus enabled to set
forth in stately sequence or effective episode the deeds by which
the immortal had won his immortality.
'Their subject triumphed up from man to God.'
This marble column was erected by Theodosios i in 386 A.D. to commemorate his successful
campaign against the Scythians, i.e. the Greuthungi, whom he drove out of Thrace. It
stood in the seventh region of Constantinople, on the third hill, which went by the name
of Tauros. It supported a statue of Theodosios, which was overthrown in 480 A.D. by an
earthquake and replaced in 506 A.D. by a colossal bronze figure of Anastasios. This in
turn was probably destroyed in 512 A.D., the summit of the column thenceforward being
left vacant. The column itself was demolished by the Sultan Bajazet ii (i48i-i5r2 A.n.),
because it hindered the construction of his magnificent Baths. Drawings of its spiral relief-
band, made by an Italian artist (Gentile Bellini?), were published by C. F. Menestrier
Description de la belle et grande Coloiine histori^e, dressee a fhonneiir de rEmpereur
Theodose, dessin^e par G. Bellin Paris 1702 with 16 pis., id. Columtta Theodosiana s.l.
(Venice?) s.a. (1765?) with 18 pis., A. Banduri Imperiiim Orientale sive Antiqziitates
ConstantitiopolitaniB Parisiis 171 1 ii. 506 ff. pis. i— 18, and in reduced form l)y Keinach
R^p. Reliefs i. 103— iii.
•' Konstantinos Rhodios 241 -254 {Rev. Et. Gr. ix. 43
f.), Anonymus descriptio
regiomim tcrbis reg. 12 (in Hesychios of Miletos ed. Orelli p. 324), Anonymos Trdrpia p. 18
(in A. Banduri Iniperium Orientale sive Antiquitates Constajitinopolitanx Parisiis 1711 Pars
tertia, Lib. i—iii, p. i8) = Souid. s.v. A7jp6\o^os = ¥Lodinos de sigfiis Constantinopolitanis
17 B—c (p. 30 Bekker), id. ib. 24 c (p. 43 Bekker), Anonymos breves enarrat. chronogr.
103C (in Kodinosed. Bekker p. 188), Marcellinus Comes c//;w/. ann. Chr. 421 (Ii. 924 B—
Migne), Theophanes chronogr. ann. mund. 5895, 6034, 6041, 6232 (pp. 121, 345 f-, 351.
634 Classen), Theophanes continuatus 6. 21 (p. 411 f. Bekker), Chroit. Paschale i. 579
Dindorf, Leon Grammatikos chronogr. p. 104 f. Bekker, Kedren. hist. comp. 323 C, 374 B
(i. 567, 656 Bekker), Michael Glykas annul. 258 A (p. 478 Bekker), \oq\os chi-onogr. comp.
1 70 c (p. 40 Bekker), lo. Malal. chron. 18 p. 483 f. Dindorf, Nikephoros Patriarches i^^-ee'.
hist. p. 66, Zonar. epit.hist. 13. 20 (iii. 232 Dindorf). See further F. W. Unger Qnellen
der byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte Wien 1878 i. 179 fif. nos. 434— 447, J. Strzygowski
'Die -Saule des Arkadius in Konstantinopel ' in Xhe Jahrb. d. kais. dcntsch. arch. Inst.
1893 viii. 230—249, A. Geffroy 'La colonned'Arcadius a Constantinople d'apres undessin
inedit' in the Mon. Piot 1895 ii. 99— 130, T. Reinach 'Colonne d'Arcadius' in the Rev.
Et. Gr. 1896 ix. 78—82, O. M. Dalton Byzantine Art and Archaeology Oxford 191
pp. 123, 144. This column, a pendant to that of Theodosios i, stood in the twelfth
region, on the seventh hill, which was called Xerolophos. It was begun by Arkadios in
403 A.D. and finished by his son Theodosios ii, who in 421 a. D. placed a statue of Arkadios
on its summit. The column was rtj^eatedly damaged by lightning or earthquakes, and in
740 A.D. its statue fell. After the earthquake of 17 19 A.D. the Turks decided to pulldown
the shaft ; but its square base, much defaced by fire and neglect, still stands. The rotultis
in all probability represented the war of 400 A.D. against the rebel Goth Gainas. The
upper portion of the relief, dravi^n by Melchior Lorich (1557— 1559 A.D.), was brought to
light by A. Michaelis in \.\\ejah)-b. d. kais. deutsch. arch. Inst. 1892 vii. 91 f; and a view
of the whole column, drawn perhaps for M. de Nointel the French ambassador at Con-
stantinople (1670 A.D.), was published by A. Geffroy in the Mon, Piot 1895 ii. 99— 130
pis. 10— 13
: cp. Reinach Ri^p. Reliefs i. 106 ff.
* I do not, of course, mean to imply that this was the first application of the spiral
motif \.o architecture. Such decoration had long since had a wide vogue : see V. Chapot
La colonne torse et la decoration en helice dans Part antique Paris 1907 pp. i — 176 with
210 figs. But this appears to be our earliest example of a spiral relief being used on a
large scale to represent human figures in continuous action.