Column of Phoca

The Column of Phocas on the Roman Forum was erected on August 1st, 608, honoring the Eastern Roman emperor Phocas, and is considered the last public monument built on the Forum during antiquity. It was commissioned by Smaragdus, the Exarch of Ravenna, who hoped to win favor with the brutal and unpopular emperor. Originally a gilded statue of Phocas crowned the column, but it was torn down in 610 after the emperor was overthrown and executed. The freestanding column nevertheless survived through the centuries, and during the Middle Ages its isolated position led to it being misidentified as a Roman trophy column. Today the Corinthian column stands amid the ruins of the Forum, often overlooked, yet a quiet witness to the transition between classical antiquity and Byzantine Italy.