The Statues of Constantinople Elements in the History of Constantinople Series

This Element discusses the ancient statues once set up in Byzantine Constantinople, with a special focus on their popular reception. From its foundation by Constantine the Great in 324, Constantinople housed a great number of statues which stood in the city on streets and public places, or were kept in several collections and in the Hippodrome. Almost all of them, except a number of newly made statues of reigning emperors, were ancient objects which had been brought to the city from other places. Many of these statues were later identified with persons other than those they actually represented, or received an allegorical (sometimes even an apocalyptical) interpretation. When the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade conquered the city in 1204, almost all of the statues of Constantinople were destroyed or looted.

1. Introduction; 2. 'Shining like the sun upon the citizens': Constantine's statue on the Forum; 3. Other statues of emperors on triumphal columns; 4. Of emperors and elephants; 5. Constantine Helios as charioteer; 6. The Forum of Constantine; 7. The servant of the wind; 8. The rider on the Tauros; 9. The place of brotherly love; 10. Empress Helena and the lord of Amastris; 11. The Ox of bronze; 12. Three-headed statues; 13. Exakionion and Golden Gate; 14. Prophecies of the future; 15. Testing chastity; 16. Collections of statues; 17. Statues in the Hippodrome; 18. The statues of Constantinople in the late Byzantine age; Bibliography.