Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
Re-Visiting the Serpent Column: Weapons, Armies and Significance
Michael Charles (Southern Cross University)
The Serpent Column remains one of the most curious artefacts from classical antiquity. Not only does this artefact have a recorded literary history dating back to not long after the fabrication of the Column itself, but also it can be seen today in Istanbul, albeit without the three original serpent heads being intact, nor the golden cauldron dedicated to the god Apollo at the home of his oracle at Delphi. Ancient sources, including Herodotus, Thucydides and Pausanias, concur that the Column was fabricated, along with other valuable items, to thank the gods for the part they played in allowing the Greeks to defeat the remaining Persian forces under Mardonius at Plataea (479 bce). This paper proposes to re-visit the Column, together with similar votive artefacts that have not survived, to shed light on two issues relating to the battle, the first being the degree to which soldiers in the Persian army were without armour, as is alleged by Herodotus, and the second being the amount of precious metals that the Persians still had with them at this point in the campaign. Together, such information might allow to gain more insight into what sort of force the combined Greek army was facing at Plataea. Finally, we look at what the choice of three intertwined serpents signified, and what significance this has for our understanding of the battle of Plataea and its aftermath.
Re-Visiting the Serpent Column: Weapons, Armies and Significance
Michael Charles (Southern Cross University)
The Serpent Column remains one of the most curious artefacts from classical antiquity. Not only does this artefact have a recorded literary history dating back to not long after the fabrication of the Column itself, but also it can be seen today in Istanbul, albeit without the three original serpent heads being intact, nor the golden cauldron dedicated to the god Apollo at the home of his oracle at Delphi. Ancient sources, including Herodotus, Thucydides and Pausanias, concur that the Column was fabricated, along with other valuable items, to thank the gods for the part they played in allowing the Greeks to defeat the remaining Persian forces under Mardonius at Plataea (479 bce). This paper proposes to re-visit the Column, together with similar votive artefacts that have not survived, to shed light on two issues relating to the battle, the first being the degree to which soldiers in the Persian army were without armour, as is alleged by Herodotus, and the second being the amount of precious metals that the Persians still had with them at this point in the campaign. Together, such information might allow to gain more insight into what sort of force the combined Greek army was facing at Plataea. Finally, we look at what the choice of three intertwined serpents signified, and what significance this has for our understanding of the battle of Plataea and its aftermath.
