This grand column is one of the most conspicuous monuments of ancient
Rome. It is near the present post-office, in a busy, populous square—the
Piazza Colonna—in the midst of the modern city. The hight of the column
of Antonine is one hundred and sixty-eight feet; diameter, eleven and
one-half; the pedestal is twenty-five feet and eight inches high. It was
erected by the senate and people of Rome to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
A. D. 174. Bass-reliefs, as in Trajan’s column, run spirally around the
monument, representing military movements and victories. One of the
reliefs represents Jupiter as dropping rain from his extended arms. This
has been supposed to allude to the effect attributed to the prayers of
the Christian legion from Mytilene, in the army of the emperor, who, at
his request, prayed for rain when there was a great drought. The column
is composed of pieces of white marble, and in the interior are one
hundred and ninety steps lighted by forty-two loopholes. By a strange
incongruity, a statue of St. Paul, ten feet high, has been made to
replace the emperor on the top of the column. This was done by Sixtus V.
It is said that the drawn sword which the apostle holds in his hand
proves a conductor to the lightning, and that the column has been
several times injured.