A column erected in A.D. 608 by Smaragdus, exarch of Italy, to Phocas, emperor of the East (CIL 6.1200=ILS 837, 31259a). It stands in the Forum Romanum between the Rostra and the Lacus Curtius, on a high plinth atop a pyramid of steps faced with white marble. The column itself is of white marble and fluted, with an Attic base and Corinthian capital of good workmanship, clearly robbed from an early imperial monument. The statue that crowned it was gilded. There seems to be work of several periods here, Smaragdus having made use of an old foundation and a still older column. The steps of the pyramidal base on the north and east sides were removed in 1903.