Obelisk of Theodosius

The Obelisk of Theodosius (Οβελίσκος του Θεοδόσιου Α΄, Dikilitaş) is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC), first erected during the 18th dynasty of Egypt. It was re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople (known today as At Meydanı or Sultanahmet Meydanı, in the modern city of Istanbul, Turkey) by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.

History
The obelisk was first 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 other obelisk was erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus in Rome in the autumn of that year, and is now known as the Lateran Obelisk. 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.

Obelisk
The Obelisk of Theodosius is of red granite from Aswan and was originally 30m tall, like the Lateran Obelisk. The lower part was damaged in antiquity, probably during its transport or re-erection, and so the obelisk is today only 18.54m (or 19.6m) high, or 25.6m if the base is included. Between the four corners of the obelisk and the pedestal are four bronze cubes, used in its transportation and re-erection.

Each of its four faces has a single central column of inscription, celebrating Thutmose III's victory over the Mitanni which took place on the banks of the Euphrates in about 1450 BC.

Pedestal
The marble pedestal had bas-reliefs dating to the time of the obelisk's re-erection in Constantinople. On one face Theodosius I is shown offering the crown of victory to the winner in the chariot races, framed between arches and Corinthian columns, with happy spectators, musicians and dancers assisting in the ceremony. In the bottom right of this scene is the water organ of Ctesibius and on the left another instrument.

Inscriptions
The pedestal's east face bears an inscription in five Latin hexameters. This is slightly broken at the bottom but it was transcribed in full by travellers in the 16th century. It reads:


 * DIFFICILIS QVONDAM DOMINIS PARERE SERENIS
 * IVSSVS ET EXTINCTIS PALMAM PORTARE TYRANNIS
 * OMNIA THEODOSIO CEDVNT SVBOLIQVE PERENNI
 * TER DENIS SIC VICTVS EGO DOMITVSQVE DIEBVS
 * IVDICE SVB PROCLO SVPERAS ELATVS AD AVRAS

Translation:


 * "Formerly [I was] reluctant to obey peaceful masters, and ordered to carry the palm [of victory] for tyrants now vanquished and forgotten. [But] all things yield to Theodosius and to his eternal offspring. So too was I prevailed over and tamed in three times ten days, raised towards the skies under governor Proculus."

On the west face the same idea is repeated in two elegiac couplets rendered in Byzantine Greek, though this time it reports that the re-erection took 32 days (TPIAKONTA ΔYO, last line) not 30:


 * KIONA TETPAΠΛEYPON AEI XΘONI KEIMENON AXΘOC
 * MOYNOC ANACTHCAI ΘEYΔOCIOC BACIΛEYC
 * TOΛMHCAC ΠPOKΛOC EΠEKEKΛETO KAI TOCOC ECTH
 * KIΩN HEΛIOIC EN TPIAKONTA ΔΥΩ


 * kiona tetrapleuron aei chthoni keimenon achthos
 * mounos anastēsai Theudosios basileus
 * tolmēsas Proklos epekekleto kai tosos estē
 * kiōn ēeliois en triakonta duō

Translation:
 * "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 in 32 days."