02-05-2025
The fascinating story behind Rome's eight ancient obelisks
An African puzzle towers above tourists near Rome's Colosseum. It is covered in a curious code, is linked to a falcon-headed deity, and was born in a time and place so distant that it feels almost alien. Thousands of travellers pass by this 150ft-tall pillar each day as they wander through Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano to reach the adjoining basilica and sanctuary.
Most would be unaware that the oldest standing structure in Italy's capital is not a Roman temple, amphitheatre or palace. Instead, it is this 3,500-year-old Egyptian wonder, the Lateran Obelisk, etched with hieroglyphic symbols.
Tall, thin columns with pyramidal crests, obelisks were pioneered in Egypt more than four millennia ago. They are icons of ancient Egypt, arguably behind only the Pyramids in symbolic significance. Normally positioned in pairs outside Egyptian temples, obelisks celebrated pharaohs, were dedicated to a part-bird, part-man sun god called Ra, and were decorated with hieroglyphics which long mystified scholars.
Typically, each was hand-carved out of one massive slab of red granite sourced from the quarries of Aswan, an historic city on the bank of the Nile in southern Egypt. Their sleek appearance ensured they became widely admired beyond Africa. Obelisks were copied by other ancient civilisations, including the Canaanites of the Middle East and the Phoenicians from the Mediterranean.
Many Egyptian obelisks were later gifted to other nations, or stolen as spoils of war. For example, tourists to London's Victoria Embankment Gardens can see Cleopatra's Needle, a 3,500-year-old obelisk that Egypt gave to the British government in 1819 to mark Britain's victory over France in the 1798 Battle of the Nile.
Long before that, however, the Romans were their biggest fans. So much so that, after the Roman Empire annexed Egypt in 30 BC, they started hoarding these monuments. Emperor Augustus sent the seized obelisks across the sea to his grand capital. Academics still ponder how the Romans achieved this in such an era, given many of them weighed hundreds of tons.
As a result, Rome has more Egyptian obelisks than any city in Egypt. Dotting this Italian metropolis are eight of the roughly 30 ancient Egyptian obelisks remaining on earth, including the aforementioned Lateran Obelisk.
Each of those eight pillars now sits near to popular Rome attractions. In the heart of its tourist district, three obelisks are a stone's throw from the Pantheon, the 2,000-year-old Roman temple. To the Pantheon's south is the small and distinctive Minerva Obelisk. Also called the Elephant and Obelisk, due to the long-trunked animal that forms the base of this 43ft-tall structure, it is at least 2,600 years old, and is believed to have arrived in Rome in the 1st century AD. It later collapsed, and remained buried for many generations, before being rediscovered in the 1600s. That is when the Minerva Obelisk was positioned atop a fresh foundation: the elephant crafted by Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Not far from the Pantheon lies the grander Montecitorio Obelisk. Stretching 112ft towards the sky, it occupies Piazza di Monte Citorio, in front of a magnificent Italian parliament building. This obelisk is roughly 2,500 years old and was brought to Rome by Emperor Augustus, who is commemorated in an inscription on its pedestal.
At the northern side of the Pantheon, in tiny Piazza della Rotonda, tourists can find the Macuteo Obelisk. Now topped by a Christian cross, this 46ft-tall spire is laden with hieroglyphics which venerate the sun god. Originally, the Macuteo Obelisk guarded the entrance to a temple at Heliopolis in Egypt.
There it was paired with the Matteiano Obelisk, also later exported to Rome. Similar in size to Macuteo, this is perhaps the most tucked away of all Rome's obelisks. A 650-yard walk south of the Colosseum, it is concealed amid the tall trees and dense vegetation of Villa Celimontana, a 16th-century mansion whose tranquil gardens are free to explore.
Farther north, near the main entrance to the busy Rome Termini train station, is the red granite Dogali Obelisk. Tourists commonly sit and rest on the base of this 30ft-tall pillar from Heliopolis. Although its original inscriptions venerate Ra, it is now used to commemorate the hundreds of Italian soldiers who died during the 1887 Battle of Dogali, between Italian and Ethiopian forces.
Far grander, and more prominently positioned, is the 3,300-year-old Flaminio Obelisk. Tourists visiting the Leonardo da Vinci Museum must walk through the stately Piazza del Popolo, anchored by this, the third-tallest of Rome's obelisks, at 118ft. Flaminio was the first brought to Italy, to celebrate the conquest of Egypt.
Meanwhile, over on the western side of the river Tiber, is the eighth of Rome's Egyptian obelisks. Although, technically, the Vatican Obelisk is not located in Rome but the Vatican City. It is almost 131ft tall, and tourists get plenty of time to absorb its majesty as they line up to enter St Peter's Basilica.
This obelisk dominates St Peter's Square, opposite the mighty church. At its crest is a cross with the family symbols of Pope Sixtus V Peretti, who ordered it be positioned here. Now, more than 2,000 years after it arrived in Italy, the Vatican Obelisk is one of this city's eight Egyptian pillars which, to keen-eyed tourists, stand as a marker of ancient African ingenuity and Roman conquest.
