4th Century Gear

[Renatus]

Adrian,

Here are the Freshfield drawings of the west, south and east sides of the base of the Column. The south side is, of course, the view in Liebeschuetz' book that you mentioned. You also mentioned the "rather better known North side" but there is, in fact, no drawing of the north side of the Column. That side seems to have been inaccessible to those seeking to draw it.

[attachment=2503]ColumnofArcadius-Westsidebase.jpg[/attachment]
West side

[attachment=2504]ColumnofArcadius-Southsidebase.jpg[/attachment]
South side

[attachment=2505]ColumnofArcadius-Eastsidebase.jpg[/attachment]
East side

However, I would treat these with some caution. They are, I think, to a greater or lesser extent, idealized. I show for comparison the drawing of the west-south-west view of the base as it appears in the somewhat later view of the Column in the Bilbliothèque Nationale in Paris, which shows the west and, partially, the south faces.

[attachment=2506]BibliothqueNationalebase.jpg[/attachment]

This may show the condition of the stonework more accurately but, most significantly, there are substantial differences in the images on the base that cannot be explained by deterioration of the monument in the intervening period. I hesitate to suggest which is the more accurate.