The most ancient among Rome's obelisks dates back to the 15th century BC. It stands in piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, in the open space between the transept of St.John in the Lateran's basilica and the Lateran Palace. It is made of red granite, and measures 32.18 metres (105.5 feet): it is therefore the tallest ancient obelisk in the world. Resting on its base, it reaches 45.70 metres (about 150 feet) in height. The weight of this giant is approximately 230 tons.
It originally stood in front of the Temple of Amon, in Thebes (or Karnak, in Egyptian), where the son of pharaoh Tuthmosis III had it carved in honour of his father. Tuthmosis III (The 18th Dynasty, reigned B.C. 1504-1450).
Over 1,700 years later, in the early 4th century AD, Constantine the Great had the monument moved to Alexandria, in the north of Egypt, which after the Roman conquest, had grown into the most important city of the country. The emperor had in mind to take the obelisk to Costantinople, the city that had been chosen as the new capital of the empire. But Constantine died before his project could be completed.
Only a few years later, in 357, emperor Constans I, who was Constantine's son and his successor, decided to change the monument's final destination and had it taken to Rome, as a decoration for the Circus Maximus, the largest chariot racing stadium of the city; he therefore had a special ship made in order to transport the spire.
Here the top of the monument was provided with the bronze globe, according to the ancient Roman custom. But some time later the sphere was stricken by lightning, and unlike any other obelisk in Rome, it was replaced with an element shaped as a flame, cast in polished bronze, as well, which looked as if it was burning when it reflected the sunlight. What happened to it is unclear; by the time of the first invasions by the Goths, when the obelisk was pulled down, it may have already been lost.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the monument lay broken in three large pieces in the large oval area, no longer used for races. As the sides of the Circus Maximus were sloping, the stream that ran underground caused the collection of an enormous amount of mud, which turned the area into a huge swampy field, partly cultivated, that covered also the ruins of the obelisk.
The fragments were localized more precisely around the mid 1400s by architect Leon Battista Alberti, but at that time no effort was made to draw them out of the mud. This only happened in the late 1500s thanks to Michele Mercati, a botanist, a geologist and a physician who was also fond of archaeology; he convinced pope Sixtus V to sponsor the difficult search in the swampy field. Once the fragments were retrieved, and the obelisk restored, the latter was then moved to its present location, where it was stood in place of the famous bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius that was moved to Capitolium Square. The same pope's devices were then added to the top of the monument: an eight-pointed star, three hills and a lion with a raised paw (repeated on each corner).
The inscriptions on the four sides of the base trace, in short, the history of the obelisk, mentioning the 'sacrilegous dedication' by the pharaoh to the god Sun, its removal to Alexandria by Constantine, and its transfer to Rome ('by means of a ship with three hundred rowers') by his son Constans.
The fourth side, in remembering that Costantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, was baptized in the Lateran by pope Sylvester I (314-335), mistakes the historical truth.
In fact, this belief sprang from several medieval legends about this emperor. As a matter of fact, Costantine remained a pagan for his entire life, yet showing himself lenient with the Christian religion, after his mother's conversion (St.Helen). He was baptized very late, in 367, just before his death.
Sixtus V dedicated the obelisk to the most undefeated Cross, whose fragments had been brought to Rome from the Holy Land by Constantine's mother, and to which another ancient basilica, standing not far from the Lateran, is also dedicated.On the eastern side of the base, a short and sober inscription remembers the architect who on August 9, 1588, performed the erection of this monument: Domenico Fontana.
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