The Column of Marcus Aurelius was erected in honor of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina. It was designed in conscious emulation of the Column of Trajan. Now located in the Piazza Colonna, it is likely that it originally stood near a temple dedicated to the deified Marcus Aurelius. 
The column was set by the emperor Commodus after the death of his father Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD. Like the Column of Trajan, it consists of a column of marble drums with a series of reliefs running around it depicting the campaigns of Marcus Aurelius against Marcomanni and Sarmatians (172-175 AD). It rests on a base, which had a doorway giving access to a stairway leading to the top of the column, which was probably crowned with a statue of Marcus Aurelius. The Column of Theodosius and the Column of Arcadius in Constantinople later followed the models of the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. 
In 1589 Pope Sixtus V had the column repaired and crowned it with a bronze statue of St. Paul.