Serpentine Column

Originally this column was erected in 479 B.C. in front of Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece, to commemorate the naval victory of the Greeks over the Persians and to show their respect to Apollo for winning the battle after consulting his oracle. The bronze column was formed by 3 intertwined snakes and names of the 31 Greek city-states that participated in the war were written on them. It's also said that there was a big golden pot on top of the snake heads. The column was brought to Constantinapole in the 4th century AD by Constantine I, for the decoration of the Hippodrome, Sultanahmet Square.It is neighbour with Egyptian Obelisk, Walled Obelisk and German Fountain. The Serpentine column was originally 8 meters high but today only 5.30 meters left because nobody enjoyed this statue here being the snakes representation of the devil, so everybody took a piece off to destroy it. Therefore, the 3 snake heads were also destroyed and only pieces of one of the heads is found during the excavations and it was taken to the Archaeological Museum in Sultanahmet.

Source: http://www.allaboutturkey.com