Mantegna's use of the column or pillar is obviously connected with the Renaissance's love of all things classical. The column or pillar has long been connected with expressions of power and strength. The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt raised towering obelisks as if to put their imprimatur upon the land that they ruled. The early Indian Emperor Ashoka (r. 269-232 B.C.E.) raised hundreds of commemorative pillars to his power and glory throughout his realm. Even the Roman Emperor Trajan caused to be erected a column commemorating his conquests and glory. Iconographically, the obelisk, column or solitary pillar, even the sky piercing towers of Gothic cathedrals are seen by many as possessing potent phallic implications. Even the solitary column is employed by Parmigianino (Girolamo F. M. Mazzola) when he placed a towering column or pillar in the background of the Madonna with the Long Neck (c. 1535). The same appears applicable in those paintings of St. Sebastian where he is bound to a column or pillar. Some artists use both forms. Albrecht Durer portrays a youth or a young man in the 1500 print, "St. Sebastian Bound to a Column" (See: Figure 178) and also a mature, bearded man tied to a tree in a 1501 print (See: Figure 179). An interesting representation of the martyr-saint is Friedrich Overbeck's painting of 1789, noted above. Here St. Sebastian is shown pierced by three arrows, suitably draped and securely bound to a rather stout, spiral fluted column no taller than the martyr-saint. He firmly stands on strong legs while his head is bowed in submission. The phallic, spiral fluted column is all too obvious in proportion and size. The column or pillar may well represent the power and potency of the Emperor Diocletian. When used in the representations of the martyr-saint, they also represents the power or dominance of one man over another. The assumed phallic implications of dominance is apparent and obvious.