Erected for
Pharaoh Thutmose III (1457/1424 BC) and his nephew Thutmose IV (1398/1388 BC),
both mentioned in the inscription, at Thebes in front of the Temple of Ammon in
about 1400 BC
At the time
of Moses it was already about 200 years old and it stood in front of the Temple
of Ammon for about 1700 years in total
It was
brought to Rome by Constantius II (337/361) in 357 and placed in the Circus
Maximus
Originally
Constantine (306/337), Costantius II's father, had it moved from Thebes and
taken to Alexandria to be eventually transported to Constantinople, but after
his death, Constantius II changed the destination
It was
found at 7 m (23 feet) deep in the Circus Maximus and transported to the
Lateran by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) on
August 3, 1588 after a year of work in place of the statue of Marcus Aurelius
on horseback that had been moved to the Capitol
It is the
oldest (if one does not consider the Vatican Obelisk that maybe dates back
to 1990 BC) and the highest in Rome: 32.18 m (105.5 feet) and, including
the basement, 47 m (154 feet) for a weight of 230 tons (253 tons)
Part of the
inscription informs that the obelisk remained in production for thirty years “in
the hands of the workers” at the side of the temple of Ammon at Thebes
A small
section of the base is still in the center of the Circus Maximus
No comments:
Post a Comment