Column of Arcadius

The column of Arcadius was a Roman triumphal column begun in 401 in the forum of Arcadius in Constantinople to commemorate Arcadius's triumph over the Goths under Gainas in 400. Arcadius died in 408, but the decoration of the column was only completed in 421, so the monument was dedicated to his successor Theodosius II.

Strongly inspired by the Column of Theodosius set up in the forum Tauri in the 380s, the column of Arcadius follows the tradition of triumphal columns such as those of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. It was destroyed in either the 16th or the 18th century when, weakened by earthquakes, it threatened to topple and had to be taken down—only its massive masonry base of red granite now survives, known as the Avret Tash in Turkish (the shaft was made of serpentine). Even so, the detail of the shaft's decoration is conserved in a series of drawings made in 1575.