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The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture)

Amazon.com Price:  $74.00 (as of 03/05/2019 06:48 PST- Details)

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Description

The Serpent Column, a bronze sculpture that has stood in Delphi and Constantinople, lately Istanbul, is a Greek representation of the Near Eastern primordial combat myth: It’s Typhon, a dragon defeated by Zeus, and also Python slain by Apollo. The column was once created after the Battle of Plataia (479 BC), where the sky was once dominated by serpentine constellations and by the spiralling tails of the Milky Way. It was once erected as a votive for Apollo and as a monument to the victory of the united Greek poleis over the Persians. It’s as a victory monument that the column was once 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 interpretation 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 truth that it was once a bronze column. For these observers, it evoked the Temple’s brazen pillars, Moses’ brazen serpent, the serpentine tempter of Genesis (Satan), and the beast of Revelation. The column was once inserted into Christian sacred history, symbolizing creation and the end times. The most enduring interpretation of the column, which is unrelated to religion, and due to this fact survived the Ottoman capture of the city, is as a talisman against snakes and snake-bites. It’s this tale that was once told by travellers to Constantinople right through the Middle Ages, and It’s this story that may be told to tourists lately who consult with Istanbul. On this book, Paul Stephenson twists together a couple of strands to relate the cultural biography of a unique monument.

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