Pantheon obelisk

The Pantheon obelisk or Obelisco Macuteo is an Egyptian obelisk in Rome in Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon on a fountain. It is one of the 13 obelisks in Rome and one of relatively few ancient monoliths. It is 6.34 m high (14.52 m including its base).^[1]^[2]^[3]

^ Donovan, J. (1843). Rome, Ancient and Modern: And Its Environs. author. p. 825-826. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
^ Curran, B.A. (2009). Obelisk: A History. Burndy Library publications. MIT Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-262-51270-1. Retrieved 2024-03-02. The Anonimo is our earliest literary source for this obelisk, which had been extracted from the ruins of the Iseum Campense at an unknown date and set up in the small piazza in front of San Macuto at the beginning of the fifteenth century. During the Renaissance, this obelisk (now in front of the Pantheon) achieved an importance far out of scale with its modest size, thanks to its relatively accessible inscriptions.
^ Sorek, S. (2022). The Emperors' Needles: Egyptian Obelisks and Rome. Liverpool University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-80207-941-8. Retrieved 2024-03-02. The first of the two obelisks that Domitian imported to grace his newly completed Iseum in AD 80 is known as the Rotonda obelisk, from the site of its present location. The Italian archaeologist Antonio Nibby (1792-1839) believed that it was a replica made during the Roman period, but it has been shown by later experts to be an original Egyptian monument. It had stood before one of the pylons of the House of Rã at Heliopolis. On the pyramidion are engraved 'the prenomen and nomen of Ramses II, and on each of the faces of the shaft is one column of hieroglyphs giving the titles of this king ... Ramses styles himself "the reverer of those who gave birth to him, multiplier of their days" (Budge 1926: 209). It stands 6 metres high (20ft) and was one of a pair that Domitian set up at the entrances to the Iseum, between the Saepta Julia (the permanent voting enclosure in the form of two monumental porticos, begun by Julius Caesar and completed by Agrippa in 26 Bc) and the Temple of Minerva. The obelisk was found in 1374 during the reconstruction of the Church of St Maria Sopra Minerva, which was built over the ruins of the Iseum. It is said to have been re-sited sometime later near the small Church of San Mauto, on the Via del Seminario, where it stood on its pedestal. There were also some fragments—possibly from the shaft—lying beside it. Why or how it was moved there is not known. Pope Clement XI (1700-21) decided to re-erect it in the Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon.

[Donovan_1843-1] Donovan, J. (1843). Rome, Ancient and Modern: And Its Environs. author. p. 825-826. Retrieved 2024-03-02.

[Curran_2009-2] Curran, B.A. (2009). Obelisk: A History. Burndy Library publications. MIT Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-262-51270-1. Retrieved 2024-03-02. The Anonimo is our earliest literary source for this obelisk, which had been extracted from the ruins of the Iseum Campense at an unknown date and set up in the small piazza in front of San Macuto at the beginning of the fifteenth century. During the Renaissance, this obelisk (now in front of the Pantheon) achieved an importance far out of scale with its modest size, thanks to its relatively accessible inscriptions.

[Sorek_2022-3] Sorek, S. (2022). The Emperors' Needles: Egyptian Obelisks and Rome. Liverpool University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-80207-941-8. Retrieved 2024-03-02. The first of the two obelisks that Domitian imported to grace his newly completed Iseum in AD 80 is known as the Rotonda obelisk, from the site of its present location. The Italian archaeologist Antonio Nibby (1792-1839) believed that it was a replica made during the Roman period, but it has been shown by later experts to be an original Egyptian monument. It had stood before one of the pylons of the House of Rã at Heliopolis. On the pyramidion are engraved 'the prenomen and nomen of Ramses II, and on each of the faces of the shaft is one column of hieroglyphs giving the titles of this king ... Ramses styles himself "the reverer of those who gave birth to him, multiplier of their days" (Budge 1926: 209). It stands 6 metres high (20ft) and was one of a pair that Domitian set up at the entrances to the Iseum, between the Saepta Julia (the permanent voting enclosure in the form of two monumental porticos, begun by Julius Caesar and completed by Agrippa in 26 Bc) and the Temple of Minerva. The obelisk was found in 1374 during the reconstruction of the Church of St Maria Sopra Minerva, which was built over the ruins of the Iseum. It is said to have been re-sited sometime later near the small Church of San Mauto, on the Via del Seminario, where it stood on its pedestal. There were also some fragments—possibly from the shaft—lying beside it. Why or how it was moved there is not known. Pope Clement XI (1700-21) decided to re-erect it in the Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon.

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