Peripatetic Obelisk

A few of you have taken me up on my request to send in your own photos of worthy obelisks. Loyal reader Brian W. offered this photo of The Obelisk of Theodosius that he captured on a byzantine trip he made to Istanbul a few years back.

It’s am impressive structure, standing about 84 feet tall. (But let’s not forget that the Washington Monument is 555 feet tall.) The Obelisk of Theodosius was not always so; it started out at almost 100 feet tall when it was originally carved in the fifteenth century B.C. at the direction of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III. But then, about 1800 years later, along came Roman emperor Constantius II, who felt the obelisk should be repurposed as a monument to himself. So he had it shipped down the Nile to Alexandria, where it was re-erected (if you’ll pardon the expression). It’s said that somewhere along its journey the bottom part of the obelisk was damaged, hence its new, diminished stature. (How would you like to be the guy who had to report that mishap to the Emperor?)

But wait: There’s more! Forty-three years later another Roman emperor — Theodosius had the obelisk moved again, this time to Constantinople. And that’s where it stands today, possibly awaiting its next move.

If all this sounds familiar, you’re probably thinking about the Moving Victorian Mansion of Sacramento.