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Egyptian Artifacts

Egyptian Obelisks in Rome

Rome ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น was my Nonnoโ€™s favorite place, and when we visited Rome as a family, it became my favorite city. The combination of ancient and modern is something that Nonno and I absolutely loved.

While my sister (who is in the picture with me) was excited to visit Piazza Navona because of the book โ€œAngels and Demons,โ€ (which I totally recommend – itโ€™s an incredible book), I was most excited to see the obelisk ๐“‰ถ! The obelisk ๐“‰ถ was commissioned by Emperor Domitian. The hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช on the obelisk ๐“‰ถ state that Emperor Domitian rebuilt the Temple of Isis at Philae.

Since we are on the topics of Egyptian Obelisks ๐“‰ถ๐“ช in Rome, hereโ€™s a picture of my sister and I in Piazza San Pietro (Saint Peterโ€™s Square) in Rome ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น!

Whatโ€™s different about this obelisk ๐“‰ถ is that thereโ€™s no hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช on it – itโ€™s completely blank! Of the 13 obelisks ๐“‰ถ๐“ช in Rome, eight of them are completely Egyptian, while the other five were procured by Romans after they conquered Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–.

The Vatican Obelisk was brought to Rome by Emperor Caligula. But the question is: why are some obelisks ๐“‰ถ๐“ช inscribed with hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช and some not? This question has baffled historians, but Egyptologist Bob Brier has come to the conclusion that the inclusion/non inclusion of hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช simply has to do with the Roman emperorโ€™s attitude towards Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–. Some emperors had positive views of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–(Domitian, Hadrian), while some Emperors had very negative views of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–(Augustus, Caligula). For example, Augustus hated Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– because he lost a lot of Roman men in battle there.

Fun fact: Rome has a total of 13 obelisks ๐“‰ถ๐“ช! That is the most obelisks ๐“‰ถ๐“ช in any city outside of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–!

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