Egyptian Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the
ancient Egyptians, and played a vital role in their religion placing them in pairs at the entrance of the
temples. The word "obelisk" as used in English today is of Greek rather than Egyptian origin because
Herodotus, the Greek traveler, was one of the first classical writers to describe the objects. A number of ancient Egyptian obelisks are known to have survived, plus the "
unfinished obelisk" found partly hewn from its quarry at
Aswan. These obelisks are now dispersed around the world, and fewer than half of them remain in Egypt. The earliest
temple obelisk still in its original position is the red granite Obelisk of
Senusret I of the
Twelfth Dynasty at
Al-Matariyyah in
modern Heliopolis. In
Egyptian mythology, the obelisk symbolized the sun god
Ra, and during the religious reformation of
Akhenaten it was said to have been a petrified ray of the
Aten, the sundisk.
Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters
Nu upon which the creator god
Atum settled in the creation story of the
Heliopolitan creation myth form of
Ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone (also known as a
pyramidion) is the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid. It is also related to the obelisk. Both
New York University Egyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and
Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott hypothesize that the shapes of the
ancient Egyptian
pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god
Ra being the Egyptians' greatest deity at that time). The
pyramid and obelisk's significance have been previously overlooked, especially the astronomical phenomena connected with
sunrise and
sunset:
Zodiacal light and
sun pillars respectively. File:Luxor-Tempel Pylon 08.jpg|
Pylon of the
Temple of Luxor with the remaining
Luxor Obelisk in front (the second is today on the
Place de la Concorde in Paris) File:Heliopolis200501.JPG|Obelisk of Pharaoh
Senusret I, Al-Maalla area of
Al-Matariyyah district in
modern Heliopolis, Egypt File:Obelisk5.jpg|Tip of
Hatshepsut's fallen obelisk,
Karnak Temple Complex,
Luxor, Egypt File:GD-EG-Assouan-Obélisque inachevé-2.JPG|
Unfinished obelisk,
Aswan, Egypt
Nubian Ancient
Nubian kings of the
twenty-fifth Dynasty sought to legitimize their rule over Egypt by constructing Egyptianizing monuments in the Middle Nile region. Historical sources mention that king
Piye built at least one obelisk. The obelisk was made of local
black granite and was found at the site of Kadakol. It had been cut down to make it into a column, presumably for one of the early Christian churches in the area of
Old Dongola. Today the obelisk is exhibited in the
National Museum in Khartoum. The obelisk is inscribed with the kings official titulary:
Strong-bull, Appearing-in-Dominion (Thebes), King-of-Upper-and-Lower-Egypt, Two-ladies, Ruler-of-Egypt, Son-of-Rê, Pi(ankh)y: what he made as his monument for his father Amen-Rê, lord of [...]. An obelisk of King
Senkamanisken was found at
Gebel Barkal in 1916 by the
Harvard University Museum of Fine Arts expedition to
Sudan. There are remains of another small obelisk inscribed with the
cartouche of King
Aktisanes at the site of Gebel Barkal.
Ancient Egyptian obelisks in Ancient Rome ,
Istanbul, Turkey Around 30 BCE, Rome seized control of Egypt and looted the various
temple complexes; in one case they destroyed walls at the
Temple of Karnak to haul them out. There are now more than twice as many obelisks that were seized and shipped out by Rome as remain in Egypt. The majority were dismantled during the Roman period over 1,700 years ago and the obelisks were sent to different locations. The largest standing and tallest Egyptian obelisk is the
Lateran Obelisk in the square at the west side of the
Lateran Basilica in Rome at tall and a weight of . More well known is the
iconic ,
Vatican obelisk at
Saint Peter's Square. which itself set a new standard in communicating technical information and influenced subsequent architectural publications by its meticulous precision. Before being re-erected the obelisk was exorcised. It is said that Fontana had teams of relay horses to make his getaway if the enterprise failed. When
Carlo Maderno came to build the Basilica's nave, he had to put the slightest kink in its axis, to line it precisely with the obelisk. of
Ramesses II from
Heliopolis stands in the centre of the
Piazza del Popolo,
Rome. Three more obelisks were erected in Rome under Sixtus V: at
Santa Maria Maggiore, in 1587; at the Lateran Basilica, in 1588; and at the
Piazza del Popolo, in 1589. An obelisk stands in front of the church of
Trinità dei Monti, at the head of the
Spanish Steps. Other notable Egyptian obelisks in Rome are found in
Piazza della Minerva, sculpted while being carried on the back of an
elephant,
Piazza Montecitorio,
Piazza della Rotonda, the
Baths of Diocletian, and
Villa Celimontana. Rome lost one of its obelisks, the
Boboli obelisk which had decorated the temple of Isis, where it was uncovered in the 16th century. The Medici claimed it for the
Villa Medici, but in 1790 they moved it to the
Boboli Gardens attached to the
Palazzo Pitti in
Florence, and left a replica in its place. Not all the Egyptian obelisks in the Roman Empire were set up at Rome:
Herod the Great imitated his Roman patrons and set up an obelisk,
Caesarea obelisk, made out of Egyptian red granite in the
hippodrome of his new city
Caesarea in northern
Judea. This one is about tall and weighs about . It was discovered by archaeologists and has been re-erected at its former site. In 357 CE, Emperor
Constantius II had two Karnak Temple obelisks removed and transported down the
Nile to
Alexandria to commemorate his
ventennalia, the 20th year of his reign. Afterward, one was sent to Rome and erected on the
spina of the
Circus Maximus, and is today known as the Lateran Obelisk. The other one, known as the
Obelisk of Theodosius, remained in Alexandria until 390 CE, when Emperor
Theodosius I had it transported to Constantinople (now
Istanbul) and put up on the
spina of the
Hippodrome of Constantinople (now Sultan Ahmet Square). It once stood tall and weighed ; however, its lower section (which reputedly also once stood in the hippodrome) is now lost, reducing the obelisk's size to .
Ancient Egyptian obelisks in modern cities painter
Bartholomeus Breenbergh placed an obelisk in the background of his 1655 painting
Joseph Sells Grain The Ancient Romans populated their city with 8 large and 42 small Egyptian obelisks. More have been re-erected elsewhere, and the best-known examples outside Rome are the pair of
Cleopatra's Needles in
London, England (), and
New York City, US (), and the over-
Luxor Obelisk at the
Place de la Concorde in
Paris, France. Obelisks were being shipped out of
Egypt as late as the nineteenth century when three of them were sent to
London,
New York and
Paris. Their transportation was covered by various newspapers.
Assyrian Obelisk monuments are also known from the
Assyrian civilization, where they were erected as public monuments that commemorated the achievements of the Assyrian king. The
British Museum possesses four Assyrian obelisks: The
White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I (named due to its colour), was discovered by
Hormuzd Rassam in 1853 at
Nineveh. The obelisk was erected by either
Ashurnasirpal I (1050–1031 BCE) or
Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE). The obelisk bears an inscription that refers to the king's seizure of goods, people and herds, which he carried back to the city of Ashur. The reliefs of the Obelisk depict military campaigns, hunting, victory banquets and scenes of tribute bearing. The Rassam Obelisk, named after its discoverer
Hormuzd Rassam, was found on the citadel of
Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). It was erected by Ashurnasirpal II, though only survives in fragments. The surviving parts of the reliefs depict scenes of tribute bearing to the king from Syria and the west. The
Black Obelisk was discovered by
Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1846 on the citadel of Kalhu. The obelisk was erected by
Shalmaneser III and the reliefs depict scenes of tribute bearing as well as the depiction of two subdued rulers,
Jehu the Israelite, and Sua the Gilzanean, making gestures of submission to the king. The reliefs on the obelisk have accompanying epigraphs, but besides these the obelisk also possesses a longer inscription that records one of the latest versions of Shalmaneser III's annals, covering the period from his accessional year to his 33rd regnal year. The Broken Obelisk, that was also discovered by Rassam at Nineveh. Only the top of this
monolith has been reconstructed in the British Museum. The obelisk is the oldest recorded obelisk from Assyria, dating to the 11th century BCE.
Ancient Roman The Romans commissioned obelisks in an ancient Egyptian style. Examples include: •
Arles, France –
Arles Obelisk, in Place de la République, a 4th-century obelisk of
Roman origin •
Benevento, Italy –
Domitian Obelisk •
Munich,
Naples and
Palestrina –
Titus Sextius Africanus obelisks,
Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst,
Naples Archaeological Museum Museo archeologico nazionale di Palestrina, 1st century AD, 5.80 m • Rome – there are five,
see List of obelisks in Rome Byzantine in
Istanbul, Turkey •
Istanbul, Turkey –
Walled Obelisk, at
Hippodrome of Constantinople (now Sultan Ahmet Square), built by
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905–959) and originally covered with gilded bronze plaques
Pre-Columbian The prehistoric
Tello Obelisk, found in 1919 at
Chavín de Huantar in
Peru, is a monolith stele with obelisk-like proportions. It is 2.52 metres tall and was carved in a design of low relief with
Chavín symbols, such as bands of teeth and animal heads. Long housed in the
Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in
Lima, it was relocated to the
Museo Nacional de Chavín, which opened in July 2008. The obelisk was named for the archaeologist
Julio C. Tello, who discovered it and was considered the 'father of Peruvian archaeology'. He was America's first
indigenous archaeologist. ==Modern obelisks==