Yılanlı Sütun (Column)

YIlanlı Sütun located in the Ancient Hippodrome, which is also called Horse Square, in Sultanahmet Square, is one of the iconic locations of Istanbul. Yılanlı Sütun was built to commemorate the victory in a great war. 

It was erected in the Temple of Apollo, located in Delphi, on the slope of Mount Parnassos in Greece in the memory of the Greek cities that united against the Persians in 479 BC and won the Battle of Platea, in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers died. The names of 31 Greek cities are inscribed along the folds of the column. 

It is believed that the Byzantine Emperor Constantine brought it to Istanbul. After the establishment of the city, it is believed that it was brought due to the rapid increase in the number of harmful animals such as snakes, scorpions, insects, which are thought to have magical powers. In other words, this column remained both in Greece and Istanbul in total for many centuries and has a history of more than 2,500 years.

The bronze column, which is hollow and made by melting the shields of Persian soldiers, is a depiction of three python snakes entangled with each other. Only one of the heads of snakes could have been found, and it is on display in the Istanbul exhibition hall for ages at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. A total of 29 nodes, the height of which is about 5 meters, have survived to the present day, but have fractures in the upper and lower parts. Most of the fractures are likely to occur during transport and placement. By the way, it is recorded that it also moved once in the city, before its current location, it was in the courtyard of Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia).

In its first form in Greece, there was also a gold 1.5 meters high cauldron, and its total length is believed to be 8 meters. A fire would burn in this cauldron that was not extinguished. The cauldron in question was melted down to cover various costs thousands of years ago. The Yılanlı Sütun awaits your visit in Sultanahmet Square, along with many historical values nearby.