The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography

305 Pages·2016·65.629 MB·English

by  Paul Stephenson

The Serpent Column
Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture
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The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography
Paul Stephenson

The Serpent Column
A CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY
Paul Stephenson
1
1
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© Stephenson 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stephenson, Paul.
Title: The Serpent Column : a cultural biography / Paul Stephenson.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016. |
Series: Onassis series in Hellenic culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043340 (print) | LCCN 2016021717 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190209063 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190209070 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Serpent Column (Istanbul, Turkey) |
Bronze sculpture—Turkey—Istanbul. | Istanbul (Turkey)—Antiquities. |
Delphi (Extinct city)—Buildings, structures, etc. |
Istanbul (Turkey)—Buildings, structures, etc. | Istanbul (Turkey)—Social life
and customs. | BISAC: HISTORY / Ancient / Greece. |
ART / History / Ancient & Classical.
Classification: LCC DR739.S47 S74 2016 (print) | LCC DR739.S47 (ebook) |
DDC 938/.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015043340
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
For Caroline and Samuel
When we concentrate on a material object, whatever its situation,
the very act of attention may lead to our involuntarily sinking
into the history of that object. Novices must learn to skim over
matter if they want matter to stay at the exact level of the moment.
Transparent things, through which the past shines!
Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things (1972)
viii
CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xv
List of Illustrations xvii
1. Studying the Plataian Tripod 1
2. Plataia 29
3. Delphi 67
4. Constantinople in Late Antiquity 97
5. Constantinople in the Middle Ages 127
6. Fountain 151
7. Talisman 183
8. Istanbul 205
Conclusion 241
Bibliography 243
Index 263
ix