Obelisk of Montecitorio
41°54′02″N 12°28′43″E / 41.9006°N 12.4787°E |
The Obelisk of Montecitorio (
History
First construction
The stone was quarried at Aswan and then transported to, and erected at, the sanctuary of Ra in Heliopolis during the reign of Psamtik II (595–589 BC). [1][2]
The hieroglyphic inscription on the sides reads [3][4]
The Golden Horus, beautifying the Two Lands, beloved of Atum, lord of Heliopolis; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferibre, beloved of Re-Harakhti; the son of his own body, who seizes the White Crown and who unites the Double Crown, Psammetikos, beloved of the Souls of Heliopolis.
and the inscription on the Pyramidion reads[3]
King of Upper and Lower Egypt, <good heart of Re> son of Re <Psamchek II> life for ever and ever give him all life and all health for ever Re Horachty great god lord of the sky I gave thee all life and dominion, all health, and all joy for ever
Second construction
In 10 BCE, Emperor Augustus ordered this and the Flaminio Obelisk to be brought to Rome.[6] It was erected as the gnomon of the Solarium Augusti, his giant sundial (or horologium) in the Campus Martius. The meridian, worked out by the mathematician Facondius Novus, was placed in the center of a surface measuring 160 by 75 metres (525 by 246 ft), constructed from slabs of travertine, on which a quadrant was marked out with bronze letters, with indications of the hours, months, seasons and signs of the zodiac. Besides its function as a solar clock, the obelisk was oriented in such manner so as to cast its shadow on the nearby Ara Pacis on 23 September, Augustus's birthday, which coincided with the autumnal equinox. The reason for this orientation of the sunlight alludes to the peace that Augustus had always strived for by directing the light to the Ara Pacis, Pax the Roman goddess of peace is being highlighted. This orientation “sanctioned his divine right to rule” and “possibly his right to establish a dynasty.”[citation needed]
A detailed description that gives us the typology, appearance and formal operating procedure of this imposing solar meridian is supplied from Pliny the Elder (Naturalis historia 36, 71–72): "The one [obelisk] in the Campus was put to use in a remarkable way by divine Augustus so as to mark the sun’s shadow and thereby the lengths of days" [7]
The inscription written on two sides of the obelisk's base runs as follows:
IMP. CAESAR DIVI F.
AVGVSTVS
PONTIFEX MAXIMVS
IMP. XII COS. XI TRIB. POT. XIV
AEGVPTO IN POTESTATEM
POPVLI ROMANI REDACTA
SOLI DONVM DEDIT
Translation: Imperator Caesar, son of the deified (Julius Caesar), Augustus, Supreme Pontiff, proclaimed Imperator twelve times, Consul eleven times, holding Tribunician Power fourteen times, having reduced Egypt into the sovereignty of the Roman people, gave this gift to the sun.
However, according to Pliny, the original horologic stopped working 30 years after its construction (that is, by the 40s AD).[8]
Later history
Augustus’s decision to erect the obelisks in Rome inspired future rulers of Rome to do the same. Some of these rulers that would follow suit are Hadrian and Domitian. Both of them would erect more obelisks throughout Rome, each one with a different meaning.
Between the 9th and 11th centuries, probably because of fire, earthquake (perhaps the earthquake of 849) or war (e.g. during the
From 1789 to 1792, Pope Pius VI carried out intensive works to repair the obelisk, which was later raised and restored as a sundial. The direction of the restoration work was entrusted to the architect Giovanni Antinori, who restored the obelisk using granite from the Column of Antoninus Pius. This column's base, with its famous relief showing the Solar obelisk held as a symbol of the Campus Martius regio by a personification of the Campus, is still preserved in the Vatican Museums.
In the new layout of
See also
- Lateran Obelisk – Ancient Egyptian obelisk, a landmark of Rome, Italy
- List of obelisks in Rome
- List of Egyptian obelisks
Notes
- ^ Obelisk of Montecitorio at Wellesley College http://omeka.wellesley.edu/piranesi-rome/exhibits/show/romanobelisks/montecitorio
- ^ Molly Swetnam-Burland (2010) Aegyptus Redacta: The Egyptian Obelisk in the Augustan Campus Martius. In: The Art Bulletin 92, No3
- ^ a b "Hieroglyphic Language Insights: Obelisk of Psamtek II, Piazza Monte Citorio, Rome a tentative translation". 11 December 2014.
- ^ "Obelisks: Obelisk at Piazza Monte Citorio".
- ISBN 978-0-19-969967-4.
- ^ "Obelisk of Montecitorio · the Obelisks of Ancient Rome · Piranesi in Rome".
- ^ is autem obeliscus, quem divus Augustus in circo magno statuit, excisus est a rege Psemetnepserphreo, quo regnante Pythagoras in Aegypto fuit, LXXXV pedum et dodrantis praeter basim eiusdem lapidis; is vero, quem in campo Martio, novem pedibus minor, a Sesothide. inscripti ambo rerum naturae interpretationem Aegyptiorum philosophia continent. — Ei, qui est in campo, divus Augustus addidit mirabilem usum ad deprendendas solis umbras dierumque ac noctium ita magnitudinis, strato lapide ad longitudinem obelisci, cui par fieret umbra brumae confectae die sexta hora paulatimque per regulas, quae sunt ex aere inclusae, singulis diebus decresceret ac rursus augeresceret, digna cognitu res, ingenio Facundi Novi mathematici. is apici auratam pilam addidit, cuius vertice umbra colligeretur in se ipsam, alias enormiter iaculante apice, ratione, ut ferunt, a capite hominis intellecta.
- ^ haec observatio XXX iam fere annis non congruit, sive solis ipsius dissono cursu et caeli aliqua ratione mutato sive universa tellure a centro suo aliquid emota (ut deprehendi et aliis in locis accipio) sive urbis tremoribus ibi tantum gnomone intorto sive inundationibus Tiberis sedimento molis facto, quamquam ad altitudinem inpositi oneris in terram quoque dicuntur acta fundamenta. (Naturalis Historia, XXXVI, 73).
References
- Franco Zagari, Piazza Montecitorio. Progetto di riqualificazione ambientale 1996–1998, (Camera dei Deputati e Comune di Roma), Roma 1998.
- Model, diagrams, and photographs of the Obelisk of Montecitorio
- Gregory, Steven R. W. (2012). "The Obelisks of Augustus: The Significance of a symbolic element of the architectural landscape in the transmission of ideology from Egypt to Rome". Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. 4 (1). The University of Arizona: 9–30. ISSN 1944-2815. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- Barrett, Caitlín Eilís (May 2017). "Egypt in Roman Visual and Material Culture". Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993539-0. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
External links
- Lucentini, M. (31 December 2012). The Rome Guide: Step by Step through History's Greatest City. ISBN 9781623710088.
Media related to Montecitorio obelisk at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Elephant and Obelisk |
Landmarks of Rome Obelisk of Montecitorio |
Succeeded by Arch of Constantine |