Columns

List of Roman victory columns

• The tallest Corinthian columns, a style which was particularly popular in Roman monumental construction, adorned the Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek, reaching a height of 19.82 m including base and capital; their shafts measure 16.64 m high. The next two tallest are those of the Temple of Mars Ultor in Rome and of the Athenian Olympieion which are 17.74 m (14.76 m) respectively 16.83 m (14.00 m) high. These are followed by a group of three virtually identical high Corinthian orders in Rome: the Hadrianeum, the Temple of Apollo Sosianus and the Temple of Castor and Pollux, all of which are in the order of 14.80 m (12.40 m) height. All these colonnades, though, are eclipsed by the single Pompey's Pillar which is 26.85 m high with its base and capital (20.46 m without).
• The tallest victory column was the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome, with the height of its top above ground being 39.72 m. It thus exceeds its model, Trajan's Column, by 4.65 m, chiefly due to its higher pedestal. In antiquity, the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople saw the erection of many more triumphal columns, some of which, like the demolished Column of Justinian, may well have exceeded these heights.