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1. The Serpent's Column
The Serpent's Column is another Byzantine import to Constantinople, this time from Greece. Part of a monument commemorating a Greek victory over the Persians in the fifth century BCE, the three entertwined snakes held a golden cauldron on their now missing heads at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. One of the heads now resides in the British Museum while a second is in the Istanbul Archeological Museum. It is possible, though not certain, that the column was imported during the time of Constantine I.
2. Constantine's column
Constantine's Column is thought to date to the fourth century when it was covered with bronze plaques. What is more certain is that in the tenth century Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrgenatus restored the masonry column and modestly installed an inscription on the base reading "Constantine restored this now ruined monument to a state better than the original." Such restoration, however, could not withstand the onslaught of the Crusaders who, in 1204, tore off the bronze and melted it down.
