Obelisk #4

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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