Obelisks in Rome

There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks; there was also formerly (until 2005) an ancient Ethiopian obelisk in Rome.

Ancient Egyptian obelisks

At least eight obelisks created in antiquity by the Ancient Egyptians were taken from Egypt after the Roman conquest and brought to Rome.

Ancient Roman copies

At least five obelisks were manufactured in Egypt in the Roman period at the request of the wealthy Romans, or made in Rome as copies of ancient Egyptian originals.

Obelisk of Axum

There was also an Ethiopian obelisk in Rome, the Obelisk of Axum, 24 m, placed in the Piazza di Porta Capena. It had been taken from Axum by the Italian Army during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1937. It was struck by lightning in May 2002. After being restored, it was disassembled and returned to Ethiopia in April 2005.

Modern obelisks

There are four well-known modern obelisks in Rome:
#Villa Medici, 19th century copy of the original, found in the gardens and taken to Florence.
#Two obelisks in the Villa Torlonia, 1842, Baveno granite
#Foro Italico, 1932, 17.5 m, Carrara marble, originally dedicated to Benito Mussolini, and inscribed "Mussolini Dux"
#Marconi, 1959, 45 m, in the centre of the EUR district, dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi, built for the 1960 Summer Olympics. 92 panels in white marble contain illustrations of Marconi's career and allegorical scenes.

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/mp_pollett/roma-co1.htm Obelisks in Rome] (Andrea Pollett)
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/obelisci.html Obelisks of Rome] (series of articles in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome)
* [http://www.romaspqr.it/ROMA/Obelischi.htm Obelischi di Roma]
* [http://www.romeartlover.it/Obelisks.html Obeliiks of Rome by www.romeartlover.it/]
* [http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/transroute.htm Flow chart of the standing obelisks]