The Central Archaeological Council announced on Monday that a copy of a bronze column dedicated by 31 city states that had fought in the Battle of Plataeans (479 BC) against the Persians will be replicated and put on display at Delphi. The bronze is currently in Istanbul and stands at six meters.
The impressive column originally depicted three serpents tightly coiled running the whole length, with the heads supporting a gold leves. Later the Phocaeans melted these down to cover war costs.
The names of the city states that participated in the battle were carved along the coils but these have been eroded and are no longer visible.
Herodotus had referred to the treasure as made of Persian loot.
In the 4th century AD, the column was broken off and transferred to Constantinople by Constantine the Great. It was displayed at the middle of the Hippodrome where it still stands.
Two of the three heads were broken off in the 16th century and lost. The third is in the Istanbul Archeological Museum.
The copy is being made using a plaster cast kept at the Delphi Museum since 1980. The cast preserves the names of the city states that are no longer visible on the original.
