Now we continue our tour with the Marcian Column or today's name Kıztaşı (Girl's Stone or Column) which is the second destination. It is basically a traditional honorific column for the emperor Marcian who is the last member of the famous Theodosian dynasty in the Byzantine world and lived in between 396-457 AD (Freely and Çakmak, 55). Just like the previous Roman and Byzantine emperors, emperor Marcian also commissioned building an honorific column at one of the significant public spots of the city. Its length was 17 m and decorated with reliefs on each site (Freely and Çakmak, 56). Sadly, this is the only architectural example from the Marcian reign in the city (Freely and Çakmak, 55). Yet, except for this one, Constantinople had some more honorific columns at different locations. Among them, for instance, the Column of Constantine can still be seen at today's Çemberlitaş square as a standing symbol of the city's founder Constantine the Great.
It is possible to see that, many features of the Column have survived and can be recognized today. For example, thanks to its inscription, preserved throughout the centuries, scholars were able to read and understand its contribution to the city. The inscription says that "Behold this statue of the princeps (was the official name for an emperor) Marcian and its base, a work dedicated by the prefect (today's mayor) Tatianus" (Freely and Çakmak, 56). As visitors can see the inscription was covered with bronze plaques but now they are all gone and its traces are visible on the marble base. Presumably, it had a Roman statue of emperor Marcian on top of it just like the other traditional honorific columns as well.
One interesting note that, most probably because of having a distinct motif of Nikes on one of the faces, the name Girl’s Column or Kıztaşı appeared in today’s language as the name for the column (Freely and Çakmak, 55).
As we see now, the column has still the same duty in the middle of a square, because it is standing at the same place and marks the public place. People still pass through the column, relax and enjoy the atmosphere around it. This aspect is important because it proves that the column has similar function and symbolism just like its initial time. Obviously, it has no more the meaning of an imperial or religious power but it is carrying the meaning of marking point of that public place.
