column of Marcian
{{Short description|Monumental column in Istanbul, Turkey}}
{{Infobox Historic Site
|name = Column of Marcian
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|image = ColumnOfMarcianInIstanbulApril2007.jpg
|caption = Column of Marcian in 2007.
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|location = Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.
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|coordinates = {{coord|41.01543|28.95030|format=dms|type:landmark_region:TR|display=inline,title}}
|locmapin = Istanbul Fatih
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Image:ColumnOfMarcian.jpgs inside a wreath at the base of the column.]]
The Column of Marcian ({{langx|el|Στήλη του Μαρκιανού}}, {{langx|tr|Kıztaşı}}) is a Roman honorific column erected in Constantinople by the praefectus urbi Tatianus (450 – c. 452)Martindale & Morris (1980) 1053-4, Tatianus 1 and dedicated to the Emperor Marcian (450–57). It is located in the present-day Fatih district of Istanbul. The column is not documented in any late Roman or Byzantine source and its history has to be inferred from its location, style and dedicatory inscription.
History
The column is carved from red-grey Egyptian granite, in two sections. The quadrilateral basis is encased by four slabs of white marble. Three faces are decorated with IX monograms within medallions, and the fourth with two genii supporting a globe. The column is topped by a Corinthian capital, decorated with aquilae. The inscription confirms that the capital was originally surmounted by a statue of Marcian, in continuation of an imperial architectural tradition initiated by the Column of Trajan and the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. The basis of the column is orientated northwest/southeast, while its capital is aligned north/south, possibly so that the statue could look towards the nearby Church of the Holy Apostles.
A Latin dedicatory inscription is engraved on the northern side of the basis. Its lettering was originally filled with bronze, which has since been removed.Mango (1951) 62 = {{CIL|3|738}} = ILS 824 The inscription reads:
[PR]INCIPIS HANC STATUAM MARCIANI | CERNE TORUMQUE |
[PRAE]FECTUS VOVIT QUOD TATIANUS | OPUS
(Behold this statue of the princeps Marcian and its base,
a work dedicated by the prefect Tatianus.)
The Turkish name Kıztaşı, "the column of the girl" (kız: "girl" + taş: "stone"), apparently derives from the genii on the basis, which during the Ottoman period were the column's most distinguishing features (after the loss of Marcian's statue).
Gallery
File:Marcian Column Victory at base 4898.jpg|Marcian Column Victory at base
File:Istanbul Marcian Column 9033.jpg|Istanbul Marcian Column Victory at base
File:Istanbul Marcian Column 9034.jpg|Istanbul Marcian Column Victory at base
File:Istanbul Marcian Column 9037.jpg|Istanbul Marcian Column Plint with eagles
File:Istanbul Marcian Column 9038.jpg|Istanbul Marcian Column Plint with eagles detail
File:Istanbul Marcian Column 9040.jpg|Istanbul Marcian Column Plint with eagles
File:A history of architecture in Italy from the time of Constantine to the dawn of the renaissance (1901) (14597482728).jpg|The Marcian Column in antiquity
File:Mid 19 century engraving Column of Marcian W.H.Bartlett Istanbul Turkey.jpg|Mid 19 century engraving Column of Marcian.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite journal|last=Stillwell|first=Richard|year=1940|title=Review of Rudolf Kautzsch's "Kapitellstudien. Beitraege zu Einer Geschichte des Spaetantiken Kapitells im Osten vom vierten bis ins siebenten Jahrhundert"|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=44|issue=1|pages=172|doi=10.2307/499613|jstor=499613}}
- {{cite journal|last=Mango|first=C. A.|year=1951|title=The Byzantine Inscriptions of Constantinople: A Bibliographical Survey|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=55|issue=1|pages=52–66|doi=10.2307/501180|jstor=501180}}
- {{citation | last1=Martindale|first1=John Robert | last2=Jones | first2=Arnold Hugh Martin | last3=Morris | first3=John | title=The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume II: AD 395–527 | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1980 | isbn=978-0-521-20159-9}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.byzantium1200.com/marcianos.html Byzantium 1200 | Column of Marcianos]
{{Ancient columns of Constantinople}}
Category:5th-century inscriptions
Category:5th-century Roman sculptures
Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 5th century