Obelisk #8

May 12, 2024 by Sailoil

Today it is called either the Pantheon Obelisk, or the Macuteo Obelisk. It began in the red granite quarries of Aswan as a commission from Ramesses II (The Great) in the 19th Dynasty in the 13th Century BC for the precinct of the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis, the centre of the cult of Ra in Egypt.

It was shipped to Rome in the 1st Century AD by Domitian as part of his program of establishing the validity of the Flavian Dynasty by Egyptianising everything. This obelisk seems to have been sited in the temple of Isis along with the obelisk of the Elephant and Obelisk.

Between the 1st and 14th Century it was moved by somebody round the corner from the temple of Isis to the Piazza di Santa Macuto. Around the 1370’s AD it was discovered and probably restored and moved again to the Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill.

Fast forward 300+ years to 1711 and Pope Clement XI had it erected on the already existing Barigioni Fountain of the Pantheon where it stands today. The Pantheon Obelisk might be called the wandering obelisk because it has occupied so many different positions, I count at least 5. But never to our knowledge on the Spina of a Circus or Hippodrome.

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Obelisk #7

May 11, 2024 by Sailoil

Most tourists in Rome are drawn to the Piazza Navona for the fountains. I remember sitting in the shade on a doorstep with my wife and the three kids, eating some lunch in the shade around 2005. When you have visited as many hippodromes and circuses as I have you have an instinct for how they morph into long narrow plazas. It came as no surprise to me that this was once the Circus Argonalis, a sports arena constructed in the 1st Century AD by Emperor Domitian. The obelisk should also be a dead giveaway as they are such a popular installation on the spina of the chariot track. But in this case it seems the obelisk was never associated with the stadium.

The Piazza lies between the Pantheon and the Tiber not far from the Elephant and Obelisk also associated with Domitian. But while the obelisk on the elephant is a real Egyptian obelisk the obelisk in the Piazza Navona, which I will call the Obelisk of Domitian, is a fake. It is not an ancient-ancient obelisk like all the other Egyptian pillars in Rome. It is only an ancient obelisk. Domitian commissioned it himself. He had it constructed in Egypt and inscribed with Hieroglyphs with dedications to Vespasian, Titus and to himself.

It was Jean Francois Champollion, translator of the Rosetta Stone who decoded the text. Some scholars simply see this as Domitian attempting to legitimise the Flavians as many Romans would never see them as “proper” Emperors. The Julio-Claudian line was still in living memory in this era so the Flavians could easily be seen as jumped up usurpers.

Personally I think that the production of this obelisk shows something deeper in Domitian. He was a 17 year old boy in the year of the four emperors. While his father Vespasian and brother Titus were in the East Domitian was in Rome when hostilities broke out. Vitellius had him placed under house arrest and he was in real danger of being executed. He had no illusions about the fact that he was a hostage. This must have been a deeply traumatising event in the young mans life.

When he became Emperor Domitian began to sign documents with Dominus et Deus (Lord and God). He was no longer content to be a Princeps, a first among equals. But also he assumed godhood, an honour often granted to Roman Emperors, but generally after their death. These are the acts of a deeply insecure person. He was paranoid, and was right to be. He ended up being stabbed to death.

As a result I interpret the creation of this obelisk as a crutch, Domitian trying to associate himself with an Egyptian legitimacy far far older than the Roman Senate. The obelisk was not installed in the hippodrome he built, but was more likely located in the temple of Isis or the Temple of Gens Flavia dedicated to his family.

It was moved out of Rome in the 4th Century by Emperor Maxentius who is most famous as the loser at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge which made Constantine the Great Emperor. Maxentius built the Circus of Maxentius three miles outside Rome on the Appian Way. There it ultimately collapsed, broke and sank into the ground. Pope Sixtus V was aware of its existence but chose not to restore it. It was in 1649 that Pope Innocent X restored it and had it erected in front of his own mansion in the Piazza Navona. It forms the centrepiece of the Fountain of Four Rivers which was designed and contructed by Bernini. Documents from the construction of the fountain incorrectly attribute the obelisk to Caracalla.

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Obelisk #6

May 11, 2024 by Sailoil

Obelisk #4 was commissioned by Psamtik II of the 26th Egyptian Dynasty. His successor Apries commissioned Obelisk #6. The 26th was the final native Egyptian Dynasty of the New Kingdom, and they ruled in a time of stability and properity which explains the obelisks. Today in Rome they stand not five minutes walk from each other as they might have done when originally erected in Sais, the Dynastic capital city located on the Canopic branch of the Nile Delta. Number 6 is the smallest of the ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome and stands outside the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, just round the corner from the Pantheon.

Today it is a popular tourist attraction because of the Elephant statue added by Bernini which was sculpted by his student Ercole Ferrata. Many tourist guides call this “The Elephant Obelisk”. But this thread is about the political symbolism of obelisks and it would be very easy to be sidetracked into fountains and later artworks. If you pay attention you may notice I am mostly avoiding commenting on the bases added to the obelisks during the Papal restorations. They are just further distractions.

After the fall of Nero and the year of the four emperors a new Dynasty emerged in Rome, the Flavians. When Otho was defeated by Vitellius Vespasian did not move on Rome, he moved on Egypt. He squeezed the Roman grain supply while he negotiated with the supporters of Otho and Galbus. Egypt was a very important stepping stone for the Flavian Dynasty.

After Vespasian and Titus passed away Domitian was proclaimed as the third Flavian emperor. His older brother destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, but also built the Flavian amphitheatre which the Romans insisted on calling the Colosseum. Domitian celebrated all things Egyptian as symbols of his rule. The name of the church: Santa Maria Sopra Minerva translates as Saint Mary’s [built] over [the temple of] Minerva. This was actually an honest mistake by the Dominicans who confused the Cult of Isis with the Cult of Minerva. The pagan temple built by Domitian was to the Egyptian Goddess Isis; she who found the body parts of the dismembered Osiris, assembled them and resurrected her brother/husband to life.

In the decline and fall of the city of Rome the obelisk was toppled and buried. In 1655 in the reign of Pope Alexander VII it was rediscovered and excavated. Alexander had his family arms emblazoned on the obelisk and raised it on the site. In 1667 it was elevated onto the back of Bernini’s Elephant.

So to a name; is it the Obelisk of Apries? That’s confusing as there is a second in Urbino. Is it the Obelisk of Domitian? There are many of those. The Obelisk of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva? A bit wordy and inaccurate. The Minerva Obelisk because it sits in the Piazza Minerva? But we know it was Isis not Minerva. The Elephant Obelisk? This is a bit oxymoronic for me. I prefer “The Elephant and Obelisk”.

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Obelisk #5

May 10, 2024 by Sailoil

Obelisk 1 is in Egypt, 2,3 and 4 are all in Rome so it is time for a change of city and country. For Obelisk 5 we are relocating to … the Vatican City. Although it is an enclave within the City of Rome the Vatican is not Rome. It is a different city and a different state outside of Italy, while also being inside of Italy.

The Vatican Obelisk commands a magnificent position in the centre of St Peter’s Square (which is more of a circle) and stands right in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. But of course it was not always thus.

Carved of red granite it is clean of decorations, a model of zen simplicity. According to Pliny the Elder it was originally erected by Nuncoreus, a son of Pharaoh Sesostris I (or Kheperkare Senusret I) a Pharaoh of Middle Kingdom 12th Dynasty in Heliopolis in Egypt. If you are an ancient history scholar you will know that the tour guides who gave facts to historians were as big liars in ancient times as they are today. The material Herodotus provides on Egypt is fanciful and we can assume that Pliny fared no better in seeking the truth. Some scholars believe Pliny leaned on Herodotus, and perhaps a little too much. His story is not supported by the archeological record. Senusret did indeed erect obelisks in the 12th Dynasty and one of his is the oldest remaining obelisk in Egypt.

Because it is uncarved we don’t know who erected it, or even if it had been erected. Perhaps it had been transported to Heliopolis where final carving was to take place, and for some reason it remained unfinished. It may have been a very late creation, perhaps from the 26th Dynasty before the invasion of Persia.

What is very tantalizing is a discovery of an inscription which indicates that from 30 BC to 37 AD it was installed in the Julian Forum of Alexandria. If those dates do not set off alarm bells allow me to remind you that the Battle of Actium, where Octavian defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra was 31 BC. In 30 BC both Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide and Octavian took Alexandria. He installed Gaius Cornelius Gallus as the first Roman prefect of Egypt. It was this prefect who erected the obelisk in Alex. As we know Octavian transported two Obelisks from Egypt to Rome between 13 and 10 BC, leaving the Vatican Obelisk in situ in Alexandria.

After the death of Tiberius when Caligula was acclaimed Imperator in 37 AD he began his reign with energy and positivity and the love of the people. The Romans loved Germanicus who restored the pride of Rome by recovering the Eagles lost in the Teutoberg Forest of Germany. The four year old Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Germanicus, was the mascot of the legions. They nicknamed him “little boot” or Caligula. In 37 AD when the new young emperor fell ill the people of Rome thronged the public places to pray for his recovery. He was the very opposite of the bitter old Tiberius and Rome heralded him as ushering in a Golden age. We know that Caligula loved chariot racing. One of his most outrageous acts was to build a bridge of boats across the bay of Naples and drive chariots over it, a horrendously expensive project that fell apart at the first sniff of a storm.

One of his first official acts was to commission a new chariot racing stadium across the Tiber in the area now known as the Vatican. Originally it was called Caligula’s Hippodrome. The Vatican obelisk was shipped from Alexandria to adorn the spina of the racetrack. After the fall of Caligula it became the private racetrack of Emperor Nero. It was renamed the Circus of Gaius and Nero and the emperor was another afficionado of the sport. Well known for burning Christians and Rome but did you know Nero won the olympic games? Indulging his passions in a way you can see today in North Korea Nero won every category he entered.

When the four horse chariot race was lining up Nero approached the starting line in a chariot drawn by ten horses. The farcical arrangement was impossible to control and Nero crashed and almost killed himself. Although unable to finish he was still proclaimed winner of the event.

Nero used the hippodrome built by Caligula as a private entertainment space. After he died the hippodrome became known as the Vatican circus. As Rome declined the Vatican Circus fell into disrepair but the Obelisk remained standing. It is the only Obelisk that never collapsed.

At this stage in the obelisk thread we know that Pope Sixtus V is a hero of obelisk restoration. In 1586 Sixtus had the Vatican Obelisk moved 800 metres in a single day to align it with the Old St. Peters Basilica. At the time this was seen as a great symbolic triumph of Christianity over Paganism. To this day it remains in the same positon. The new St. Peters and the square in front of it have evolved around the Vatican Obelisk.

When it was moved it was topped by a globe of the world. The globe was replaced by a cross and was moved to the Capitoline Museum. Superstitions say that the globe holds the ashes of Julius Caesar, or of St. Peter. That’s the tour guides at work again.

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Obelisk #4

May 9, 2024 by Sailoil

We remain in the city of Rome for our 4th Obelisk in this series. The Obelisk of Montecitorio in the Piazza of the same name is only a five minute walk from the Pantheon.

It began life in Egypt, commissioned by Psamtik II in the 6th Century BC, quarried from the red granite of Aswan and transported to the sanctuary of Ra in Heliopolis. Psamtik was of the 26th Dynasty, the last native Pharaonic dynasty before the Persian invasion. This is a far younger obelisk than those we have seen thus far in this series.

It was one of the two identified for transport by Octavian in 13BC. It arrived in Rome at the same time as the much older Flaminio obelisk. While the Flaminio was to be a very overt statement of dominance over Egypt the Montecitorio was a far more subtle symbol.

Uncle Julius Caesar also travelled to Egypt, also had a relationship with Queen Cleopatra. Caesars fling was altogether more fun for Cleopatra than her encounter with Octavian. The first ended with a Roman alliance and a baby Caesar. The second ended in death and destruction. Caesar got up to other things while he was in Alexandria. He is blamed for the fire that burned a warehouse containing 40,000 scrolls of the library of Alexandria. He did not burn down the library itself, but he burned down it’s export warehouse. By accident of course.

Another occupation of Julius Caesar, as Pontifex Maximus of Rome, was calendar management. In Alexandria he learned about the solar calendar of Egypt, which was many degrees more accurate than the lunar calendar used in Rome. Upon his return to Rome he gave Europe the Julian Calendar, which is still used to this day in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.

Octavian employed the obelisk of Montecitorio as the gnomon of a massive sundial in the Campus Martius. This was called the Solarium Augusti. In addition to serving as a clock it also functioned as a calendar marker. Each year on the Autumn Equinox it cast a shadow on the Ara Pacis, the altar of peace, on the birthday of Augustus himself. The symbology is powerful. Uncle Caesar established the calendar. Augustus links himself to Egypt, the source of the calendar, and to Uncle Caesar, establishing his legitimacy. He continues the family tradition of holding the post of high priest of Rome; the Pontifex Maximus. The very Gods themselves demonstrate their approval demonstrating the birthday of Augustus sits at one of the Cardinal points of the calendar. Finally Augustus, with his altar, demonstrates it was he who brought peace to Rome after decades of civil war.

Within 50 years the alignment of the gnomon was off and it ceased to function as a timepiece. Some time between the 9th and 11th centuries it collapsed and was gradually buried in detritus. Pope Sixtus V who restored the Lateran and Flaminio Obelisks attempted a restoration in the 16th century. But it was not until the 18th Century under Pope Benedict XIV that all the parts were located. It was at the very end of the 18th Century that they were reassembled under Pope Pius VI.

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Obelisk #3

May 8, 2024 by Sailoil

It was Octavian in the guise of Gaius Julius Caesar, later to become Augustus, who began the fashion for using obelisks as political statements. After he defeated Mark Anthony and Queen Cleopatra he emerged from the decades of Roman Civil Wars as the first man in Rome, Princeps, the first citizen. He was Master of the both West and East Rome, including the fabulous wealth of Egypt.

After Cleopatra responded to his request to return to Rome in chains as his Royal captive and symbol of his victory by commiting suicide Octavian was forced to seek a different symbol of his victory. What could be better than to steal the phallic symbols of the Promethian God Geb, stripping the manhood from Egypt and erecting it in Rome?

The Flaminio obelisk was one of a pair removed by Octavian from Egypt in 13 BC. This particular obelisk was commissioned in the 19th Dynasty by Seti I and was completed and erected in Heliopolis by his son Ramesses II (The Great) approx 1250 BC.

Special ships were commissioned by the Romans to transport the obelisk in an unusual manner. Two rectangular ships were bound side to side by huge timber beams strung across their decks. The obelisk was tied beneath the beams, resting in the water to reduce the weight on the ships. A third ship was placed in front of the two holding the obelisk, and was tied to them. The forward ship acted as a steering system for the transporter. The entire thing was powered by a combination of oars and sails.

It reached Rome in 10 BC and the obelisk was erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus. There, in the middle of the chariot races sponsored by their Emperor, the plebs of Rome could appreciate the largesse that entertained them with bread and circuses. Three centuries later it was joined on the spina by the Lateran obelisk. Along with the Lateran it collapsed in the 5th Century and was buried in the mud of the ruined Circus, smashed in three. A symbol now of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Pope Sixtus V had it excavated along with the Lateran, repaired and Christianised with a cross by the architect Domenico Fontana and erected in its current location in the Piazza del Poppolo in 1589 AD. The fountain and Egyptian style lions on step pyramids at its base were later 19th Century additions.

The fashion for obelisks established by Emperor Augustus was to become a badge of success for successive emperors, and successor nations.

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Obelisk #2

May 7, 2024 by Sailoil

In the City of Rome you will find the Lateran Obelisk. This is the largest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in the world. It was commissioned in the reign of Thutmose III who succeeded in beating his aunt Hatshepsut who’s huge erection cracked in the quarry and was never installed. Thutmose III never got it up, because it was incomplete when he died. His grandson Thutmose IV completed and erected it at the temple of Amun in Karnak. The inscription on the obelisk says it lay on its side for 35 years before it was completed.

Originally called Tekhen Waty it was installed at Karnak around 1400 BC during the 18th Dynasty or the first dynasty of the New Kingdom.

Emperor Constantius II had it moved in the 4th century AD, originally to Alexandria, but then to Rome. He had custom made obelisk transporting barges constructed to move the monuments up the Nile. It was originally bound for Constantinople where it was to be one of a pair with the Obelisk of Theodosius but it never made it to the capital. Instead they erected the Masonry Obelisk to balance out the granite one from Egypt.

Constantius had the taller obelisk shipped to Rome for his one and only visit there in 357 AD and it was installed in the spina of the Circus Maximus, ancient Rome’s Chariot Racing stadium. There it formed a pair with the Flaminio, an obelisk shipped to Rome by Augustus in 10 BC. But this was Rome in decline after Constantine the Great had already moved his capital to the New Rome that became Constantinople. Rome OG was now a backwater in imperial affairs and Western Emperors preferred to locate their capitals in modern day Lyon or Milan.

By the 5th Century the Circus Maximus was a ruin and the great Egyptian obelisk collapsed, broke into a number of pieces and was buried in mud, which luckily preserved it from passing masons. Rediscovered in the 16th Century it was excavated by order of Pope Sixtus V. It was restored, Christianised with the addition of a cross and erected in its current location near the Lateran palace. In the process of collapse and re-erection it lost 4 metres of its height.

The Lateran is the last of 8 known Ancient Egyptian Obelisks to be erected in Rome.

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Obelisk #1

May 6, 2024 by Sailoil

After writing the Obelisk of Many Names I thought it might be a nice idea to write a thread on Obelisks. These ancient Egyptian granite pillars became objects of desire for the Roman Empire and in more recent times have been acquired by The French, the British and the Americans. It seems as though you don’t have a proper empire unless you have an obelisk.

So I am beginning with an obelisk that never left Egypt. Indeed it never even left the quarry. The unfinished obelisk is found in Aswan in ancient stone quarries. The creation is attributed to Hatshepsut 1508 to 1458 BC and was possibly to be installed in Karnak. If completed it would have been the largest obelisk ever raised. During the carving process it developed cracks in the granite that made it unusable. The work was abandoned and covered up by the desert sands. It has been a wonderful find for archeology because it gives us insights into the techniques used by the stoneworkers of ancient Egypt.

Hatshepsut was the longest ruling female Pharaoh and a member of the powerful Thutmoside or 18th Dynasty. This was the first dynasty of Egypt’s new kingdom period, and ruled over an expanded Egypt at the very height of its power after the expulsion of the Hyksos invaders. Hatshepsut was daughter of Thutmose I, wife of her half brother Thutmose II and the aunt, stepmother and regent to Thutmose III. After her death Thutmose III (The Great) tried to remove all trace of Hatshepsut’s reign from the public record in an act known as Damnatio Memoriae.

The Egytian name for an obelisk “Tekhenu” means “to pierce” and this has clear phallic connotations of the earth mating with the sky. In Egyptian creation myths the sky goddess Nut mates with her half brother, the earth god Geb. From their pairing were born the Egyptian Gods Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephthys and Horus. I find it funny that Hatshepsut, a female Pharaoh, attempted to raise the largest phallic symbol. It was the greeks who gave us the word “Obelisk” which is the greek word for a spit or a skewer.

Finally I can’t leave this topic without a nod to the side-kick of Astérix; Obélisk who gained his strength when he fell into a vat of the magic potion as a baby and now works as a Menhir delivery man.

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Flying the flag(s)

May 4, 2024 by Sailoil

Live from the five star luxury of the Irish Pavillion we have a photo of the two Knights of Munster who are representing Ireland at the IMCF world championships in the Valle di Silencio, Mexico.

There are three established clubs in Ireland. The Knights of Munster are obviously in Munster, which is based in Cork but with members from as far afield as Waterford and Laois. Connacht is represented by the 1316 Medieval Fight Club who are based in Athenry, County Galway. The Leinster contingent are Fragarach Armoured Combat and the three clubs are aligned under the National club Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland. Tentative moves are afoot to establish an Ulster club and let’s hope we can revive the Knights of the Red Branch. Long ago that was Cúchulainn’s club.

Fragarach take their name from a famous Irish sword, the blade of Nuada the legendary first high king of Ireland. It had magical qualities and on top of smashing through shield walls and inflcting mortal wounds if held to a man’s throat he could neither move nor tell a lie. The word fragarach translates as whisperer or answerer.

The Athenry team take their name from the second bloodiest battle fought on Irish soil.

There are no friends you make that compare to those friendships forged in combat. I joined Knight’s of Munster after the Claregalway Shield and the last eight months have been a blast. I am less fat and more fit, have a motivation to train and a hunger to fight. Wherever you live in the world I guarantee there is an armoured fighting club training not too far from you. Reach out and we will embrace you with our metal arms.

Sonnet 8; by John Milton

Captain or Colonel, or Knight in Arms,
whose chance on these defenceless doors may sieze,
if ever deed of honour did thee please,
guard them, and him within protect from harms,
he can requite thee, for he knows the charms
that call Fame on such gentle acts as these,
and he can spread thy Name o’re Lands and Seas,
whatever clime the Suns bright circle warms.

Lift not thy spear against the Muses’ Bower,
the great Emathian Conqueror bid spare
the house of Pindarus, when Temple and Tower
went to the ground: and the repeated air
of sad Electra’s Poet had the power
to save th’ Athenian Walls from ruin bare.

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Endure the unendurable

April 29, 2024 by Sailoil

Emperor Hirohito of Japan was born on the 29th of April 1901. He rose to become the 124th and the longest serving Emperor of the Island nation. He took the reins of power in 1926 at the age of 25.

He presided over the Japanese Empire that leapfrogged out of Korea into Manchuria to create a puppet state. He ruled when the second Sino-Japanese war resulted in warcrimes by Japan such as the rape of Nanking. He brought Japan into conflict with the USA in WW2. It was his radio broadcast to the people after the atomic bombs fell and after Russia unleashed its Siberian divisions on Manchuria which prevented a complete bloodbath. He told his people they must endure the unendurable which is a metaphor for surrender in a nation where nobody ever actually says what they mean.

After the war the Americans ensured Hirohito remained as the leader of the nation. They made sure there was no evidence linking him to war crimes because the USA wanted Japan intact as an American vassal state to act as a stopper for Russian expansion in the Pacific. It was very clear who was in charge in 1946 when he was pressured to renounce his divinity. He lived on until the ripe old age of 88 in 1989. By the end of his life he was the final ruler on the planet to hold the title “Emperor”. With his passing the age of Imperialism ended.

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