Category: Culturel
Type: Monument
Location: Cankurtaran, Gülhane Park, Fatih
Date: 3th or 4th Century
Period: Roman Empire
Designer: Unknown
Photo: Bjørn Erik Pedersen (Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Column of the Goths, located in the serene grounds of Gülhane Park near Topkapı Palace, is one of the oldest intact Roman monuments in Istanbul, likely dating to the 3rd or 4th century AD. Standing at a height of about 18.5 meters, the monument consists of a single monolithic shaft of Proconnesian marble resting on a tiered plinth and crowned by a classic Corinthian capital decorated with acanthus leaves. The column earned its name from a Latin inscription found on its base, which celebrates a Roman victory over the Goths with the words “FORTUNAE REDUCI OB DEVICTOS GOTHOS,” or “To returning Fortune on account of the victory over the Goths.” Although historians still debate whether it was erected to honor Claudius II Gothicus or Constantine the Great, the pillar remains a significant vestige of the city’s Roman heritage, predating many of the more famous Byzantine and Ottoman structures that surround it.
