As well as the column/monumental column, there was another possibility available for the displaying of monuments, in their placement on free-standing monumental pillars (on the incorporation of monumental pillars in buildings, cf. pilaster), a form of honouring rulers primarily found in Greece in the vicinity of sanctuaries.
An early example of a pillar-mounted monument is the bronze Nike of the Messenians and Naupactians sculpted by Paeonius [1] and placed before the eastern front of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, atop - and seemingly about to swoop down f…