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 (479 B.C.), where the sky was dominated by serpentine constellations and by the spiraling 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 Constantin ... More

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 (479 B.C.), where the sky was dominated by serpentine constellations and by the spiraling 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 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 tempter of Genesis, 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, as a talisman against snakes and snakebites, is unrelated to religion and survived the Ottoman capture of the city. It is this tale that was told by travelers to Constantinople throughout the Middle Ages, and it is still told to tourists today.