Column of Justinian

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Reconstruction of the column, after Cornelius Gurlitt, 1912. The depiction of a helical narrative frieze around the column, after the fashion of Trajan's Column, is erroneous.

The Column of Justinian was a

Augustaeum, between the Hagia Sophia and the Great Palace, and survived until 1509, its demolition by the Great earthquake of Constantinople[2]
which affected other historical places as well.

Description and history

The column was made of brick, and covered with brass plaques.

peacock feathers (the toupha), holding a globus cruciger on his left hand and stretching his right hand to the East.[4] There is some evidence from the inscriptions on the statue that it may actually have been a reused earlier statue of Theodosius I or Theodosius II.[3][5]

The column survived intact until late Byzantine times, when it was described by

Saracen) emperors", placed on shorter columns or pedestals, who kneeled in submission before it. These apparently survived until the late 1420s, but were removed sometime before 1433.[7] The column itself is described as being of great height, 70 meters according to Cristoforo Buondelmonti. It was visible from the sea, and once, according to Gregoras, when the toupha fell off, its restoration required the services of an acrobat, who used a rope slung from the roof of the Hagia Sophia.[8][9]

Contemporary drawing of the equestrian statue of Justinian (1430). Notice the inscription THEO DOSI, which points to its probable re-use from an earlier monument.

By the 15th century, the statue, by virtue of its prominent position, was actually believed to be that of the city's founder,

Topkapi Palace, before being melted to make cannons:[10]

Among the fragments were the leg of Justinian, which exceeded my height, and his nose, which was over nine inches long. I dared not measure the horse's legs [...] but privately measured one of the hoofs and found it to be nine inches in height.

The appearance of the statue itself with its inscriptions is preserved, however, in a 1430s drawing made by Giovanni Dario at the behest of Cyriacus of Ancona.

References

  1. ^ Brian Croke, "Justinian's Constantinople", in: Michael Maas (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian (Cambridge 2005), pp. 60-86 (p. 66).
  2. ^ Semavi EYİCE. Yabancıların Gözünden Bizans İstanbul'u
  3. ^ a b Kazhdan (1991), p. 232
  4. ^ Procopius, De Aedificiis, I.2.1–11
  5. ^ a b c Majeska (1984), p. 239
  6. ^ Nicephorus Gregoras, Roman History, I.7.12.
  7. ^ Majeska (1984), pp. 237, 240
  8. ^ Majeska (1984), p. 238
  9. ^ Kazhdan (1991), p. 2100
  10. ^ a b Finkel (2006), p. 53
  11. ^ Majeska (1984), p. 240

Sources

  • Finkel, Caroline (2006). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300–1923. London: John Murray.
    ISBN 978-0-7195-6112-2
    .
  • Guilland, Rodolphe (1969), Études de topographie de Constantinople byzantine, Tomes I & II (in French), Berlin: Akademie-Verlag
  • ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
    .
  • Majeska, George P. (1984). Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks.
    ISBN 978-0-88402-101-8
    .
  • Raby, J. (1987). "Mehmed the Conqueror and the Equestrian Statue of the Augustaion" (PDF). Illinois Classical Studies. 12 (2): 305–313. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-08-17.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Column of Justinian I.

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