Obelisk of Theodosius — Attraction in Fatih

The oldest monument of Constantinople is the obelisk in the Hippodrome, which was erected by the emperor Theodosius I in 390, but is in fact much, much older: it was originally made for Thutmose III, who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1425. The pink granite stone was, therefore, almost two millennia old already when Theodosius placed it on the spina, the longitudional barrier in the center of the Hippodrome, where it was standing next to theSerpents' Column, right in front of the imperial lodge (kathisma).

The plan to bring this obelisk to Constantinople was not Theodosius's.Constantius II (r.337-361) had already toyed with the idea, and the twenty meter tall monument had already been taken down from its original pedestal in Egypt, but had been left abandoned on one of the banks of the Nile. In a letter to the people of Alexandria, the emperorJulian (r.361-363) ordered them to make sure that the obelisk would still be shipped to Constantinople.note It is possible that the monument was first brought to Athens, was left there when Julian was killed, and was finally brought to its destination in the capital of the eastern half the Roman Empire. By then, a part of the stone was missing: what had been an obelisk of 28 meter tall was by now 19½ long.

A sixth-century chronicler, Marcellinus Comes, states that the monument was erected in 390 CE and this is corroborated by the inscription on the pedestal,note which states that it happened when Proculus was praefectus urbi, i.e., between 388 and 392. This date helps us to identify several unnamed people. The "eternal descendants" of Theodosius must be his sons Honorius (six years old) and Arcadius(thirteen years old). In 390, one might reasonably expect that the dynasty would be continued. The "subdued tyrants" may refer toMagnus Maximus and his son Flavius Victor, who had been executed in 388.

An interesting aspect of the text is that the word "Proculus" has been erased and restored. In 392, he lost Theodosius' favor and was executed; his father Tatianus was spared and rehabilitated in 396, and it is likely that at that moment, the damnatio...

I found the walk from the park to the hippodrome very refreshing and energizing. When we reached the obelisk I found a quite large group of tourists surrounding a talkative guide, babbling something about the long history of the archeological park and the hippodrome. I couldn’t help notice the tourists bored to death, most of them were sitting, totally self-absorbed and counting their fingers. I wanted to say, stop listening to that idiot and enjoy your time…all you need to do is to raise your head to see all the magic of this splendid place, you will see the obelisk, the fountain, the beautifully clouded blue sky, the minarets, the enchanted people around…just raise you head! The best way to enjoy your time in Istanbul (and everywhere else) is to make some reading of the place you plan to visit and then go on your own without any guide. Back to the obelisk, it was erected during the 18th dynasty by Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), to the south of the seventh pylon of the great temple of Karnak. The Roman emperor Constantius II (337–361 AD) had it and another obelisk transported along the river Nile to Alexandria to commemorate his ventennalia or 20 years on the throne in 357. The first obelisk was erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus in Rome in the autumn of that year, and is today known as the Lateran Obelisk, whilst the obelisk that would become the obelisk of Theodosius remained in Alexandria until 390, when Theodosius I (379–395 AD) had it transported to Constantinople and put up on the spina of the Hippodrome there. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition!...

The Obelisk of Theodosius, also known as Dikilitaş, is an Ancient Egyptian obelisk which is located near the Serpentine Column, on the South of Sultanahmet Square. Roman Emperor Theodosius I had it transported from Egypt, and erected on its current site in 390 AD. The Obelisk, a.k.a. Dikilitaş, is one of the most ancient monuments in İstanbul, which was sitting on the Spina wall of the Hippodrome of Constantinople then.

The Obelisk of Theodosius is of red granite from Aswan and was originally 30m tall. The lower part was damaged in antiquity, and so the obelisk is today only 18.45 m. It weighs approximately 200 tons. Wars of the emperor Theodossius I and his life at the Hippodrome are depicted on embossings which are on the pedestal. The bronze sphere representing the Earth, which had been placed on top of the obelisk fell down because of an earthquake happened in 865 AD, and it hasn’t been put into its place since then.

Theodosius had the erection of this great obelisk pictured on the square block on which the Obelisk is sitting in 390 AD, and had an inscription prepared, which is stating how the obelisk resigned itself to the emperor Theodosius and how the obelisk re-erected in 32 days by the words of the Obelisk, both in Latin and Greek, since it was a great challange and took a long time for them to achieve it.

The following words are written on the inscription in Greek: “This column with four sides which lay on the earth, only the emperor Theodosius dared to lift again its burden; Proclos was invited to execute his order; and this great column stood up...