Column of Constantine

The Column of Constantine, in Turkish Cemberlitas ('hooped column'), stands in the Fatih district along Divan Yolu and is one of the last visible witnesses of late-antique Constantinople. Emperor Constantine erected the roughly 50-meter porphyry column in 330 to inaugurate his new capital on the central Forum of Constantine; on top stood his statue in the guise of the sun god Helios. Successive fires, earthquakes and the toppling of the statue in 1106 reduced the monument to around 35 meters; iron hoops have stabilised the drums since Byzantine times and gave the column its Turkish name. Today it rises unspectacularly above a tram stop opposite Cemberlitas Hamam, freely accessible and briefly explained on informational panels.