Snake column originally was a column by a gold dedicatory tripod Apollo .  She is one of the oldest monuments of the city of Istanbul .  The column was taken from the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi in Greece in the year 326 by order of Emperor Constantine the Great .  Sept. 26 479 years BC . e .  Greeks defeated the Persians in a major battle of Plataea (Boeotia, Greece) .  The column became a symbol of victory over the Persians at the Greek city-states .  On the Snake column there is an inscription with a list of Greek cities that took part in the battle in the city of Plataea .  Herodotus spoke of this column, which was once the gold tripod set: "When the mining was collected (after the battle of Plataea), the Greeks separated tenth of the Delphic god (Apollo) .  From this tithe was done and golden tripod, which stands at Delphi in the triceps copper snake directly at the altar »(IX, 81) .

In the original, the whole composition is in a height of about eight and a half meters and was a twisted into a bundle of three snakes. The heads of these snakes disagreed with each other at an angle of one hundred twenty degrees apart on the very top. The composition was crowned with a three-legged golden cup, with snakes themselves were cast in bronze shields parts of the fallen at the historic battle of the Persians, in the technique "sfirelatos."

For a long time rumors about the fact that almost half of the column during the construction of Sultanahmet Mosque was buried under the ground, and the golden bowl of the column was removed by the Crusaders who captured and sacked the city of Constantinople in 1204.

Over the years, the column has changed a lot and experienced a lot. The cup was lost or stolen in ancient times, and the serpent's head "lived" for a long time, according to historical records, until they were demolished in 1700. Despite all the changes that have suffered the original design, the column at this present time are not lost its originality and continues to be one of the most famous of particular interest to tourists attractions of Turkey.