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# The Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome and the rain episode as described by Cassius Dio
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/kolonna-marka-avreliia-v-rime/
- Published: 2024-04-10T06:32:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:41:56.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Monarchies, Rome

The Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome. Erected in 193 in honour of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius's victory in the Marcomannic War.

The marble column itself stands 29.6 m tall, and its pedestal 10 m; the original height of the monument was almost 42 metres, and for greater stability it was decided to sink the base of the column several metres into the ground.

At the summit of the shaft stands the Apostle Paul.

The chief artistic value of the column lies in its spiral bas-relief with scenes from the military biography of Marcus Aurelius. Its culmination is held to be the episode of the rain, universally acknowledged as miraculous, described by the historian Cassius Dio:

*“The Quadi, it seems, had surrounded them in a place well suited to the purpose, and the Romans fought bravely, their shields locked together; whereupon the barbarians broke off the battle, supposing that the heat and the lack of water \[among the Romans\] would easily bring them victory, and, having occupied all \[the heights\], shut them in on every side so that they could draw water from nowhere: the barbarians, after all, enjoyed a many-fold superiority in numbers. And so, when the Romans found themselves in an exceedingly wretched plight, suffering from weariness, wounds, sun and thirst, and were no longer able, on that account, either to continue the battle or to retreat, but went on standing in rank at their posts, scorched by the heat, great clouds suddenly gathered and, not without the will of the divinity, a mighty downpour burst forth. There is a story that a certain Arnuphis, an Egyptian magician who was in the retinue of Marcus, by means of sorcerous arts invoked various deities, and above all Hermes, lord of the aerial element, and with their help brought on the rain.”*

Different authors name different causes for this miracle: some, the actions of an Egyptian priest; some, the emperor's prayer to Jupiter or the sorcery of a Chaldean magus; some, the prayer of the Christians of the XII Legion, which I am more inclined to believe.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11853@10-04-2024_09-32-02.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_11854@10-04-2024_09-32-02.jpg)