serpent-column

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A twisted bronze column which stands on the site of the ancient Hippodrome at Constantinople. It was erected at Delphi in 479 b.c. to support a gold tripod. It was removed to Constantinople by Constantino in 330 a.d. The column is composed of three snakes intertwined. The heads have been broken away, but it still retains the inscription commemorative of the Hellenic states which took part in the second Persian war.