Statuary COLUMN, that which supports a statue. Such was that erected by Pope Paul V. on a pedestal before the
the church of St Maria at Rome; to support a statue of the Virgin, which is of gilt brass. This column was dug up in the temple of Peace; its shaft is a single block of white marble 49½ feet high, and five feet eight inches diameter, of the Corinthian order.
The term statuary column may likewise be applied to Caryatides, Persians, termini, and other human figures, which do the office of columns; and which Vitruvius calls telomones and atlantes. See ARCHITECTURE, No. 54.
Triumphal Column, a column erected among the ancients in honour of a hero; the joints of the stones, or courses whereof, were covered with as many crowns as he had made different military expeditions. Each crown had its particular name, as vollaris, which was beset with spikes, in memory of having forced a palisade. Muralis, adorned with little turrets, or battlements, for having mounted an assault. Navalis, of prows and beaks of vessels; for having overcome at sea. Obsequialis, or gramnalis, of grails; for having raised a siege. Ovans, of myrtle; which expressed an ovation, or little triumph; and triumphalis, of laurel, for a grand triumph. See CROWN.