3-021-269 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The new overland route to India: the two columns at Brindisi, marking the terminus of the Appian Way, 1869. 'These pillars...are believed to have been brought from the East..., and placed here to mark the end of the Appian Way. They stand - one in a perfect state, the other reduced to the mere base and pedestal - on a terrace overlooking the harbour. The upper portion of the western column was taken...but only one of the blocks of the shaft remains in a horizontal position on the base. The remaining column is about 50 ft. or 60 ft. in height. The shaft is composed of eight blocks of Cipollino marble. The capital has the Corinthian shape, and has one row of acanthus-leaves round its lower part, but the upper portion is formed of figures...The capital is in very fair preservation, and the sculpture is in a very good style of work...These two columns form now the arms of Brindisi, and they are to be seen on the walls of the town, sculptured on shields along with the arms of the house of Aragon. There is an old Roman fountain in the market-place, and it is surmounted by the two columns in bronze. Even the wine-bottles sold at Brindisi are stamped with these pillars and a stag's head, as the emblem of this town'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.