SALLUST OBELISK

OBELISCO SALLUSTIANO

Piazza Trinità dei Monti

It is an ancient Roman obelisk made in imitation of the Egyptian ones, dating back to the imperial period, maybe to the time of Aurelian (270/275), with hieroglyphics, which the Romans imitated from those of the Flaminium Obelisk

It comes from the Horti Sallustiani (Gardens of Sallust) where perhaps used to adorn the central section of a private circus (hippodrome), the Porticus Miliarensis

The knowledge of the Egyptian language was obviously rough at the time, as some hieroglyphs are engraved upside down

It was erected here in 1789 by Giovanni Antinori (1734/92) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99)

The original base of the obelisk is in the garden of the Capitoline Hill to the left of the Senatorial Palace where it was arbitrarily transformed into an “Altar of the dead fascist” during the fascist period

OBELISK AND FOUNTAIN OF MONTE CAVALLO

OBELISCO E FONTANA DI MONTE CAVALLO

Piazza del Quirinale

Two marble giants “Castor and Pollux keeping two horses at bay” (or maybe, according to some scholars, two statues both representing Alexander the Great) from the nearby Baths of Constantine (306/337), Roman copies of Greek originals of the fifth century BC

The Quirinal Hill took the popular name of Monte Cavallo from these gigantic statues

In 1589 Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90) had them restored and moved to the center of the square

In 1786 Pius VI Braschi (1775/99) had them rotated by Giovanni Antinori (1734/92) who also erected the Obelisk of the Mausoleum of Augustus which, with its twin now behind S. Maria Maggiore, used to stand at the entrance of the Mausoleum where it was found in 1527

It is 14.63 m (48 feet) high and, with the base, 28.94 m (95 feet)

The material is the red granite of Aswan and, considering the lack of inscriptions, it is believed to have been carved in the same first century AD when it was brought to Rome

In 1818 Pius VII Chiaramonti (1800/23) had Raffaele Stern (1774/1820) to design a new fountain with a basin taken from the Roman Forum known at the time as Campo Vaccino, field of the cows