Rome ๐ฎ๐น was my Nonnoโs 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 โAngels and Demons,โ (which I totally recommend – itโs an incredible book), I was most excited to see the obelisk ๐ถ! The obelisk ๐ถ was commissioned by Emperor Domitian. The hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช on the obelisk ๐ถ state that Emperor Domitian rebuilt the Temple of Isis at Philae.
Since we are on the topics of Egyptian Obelisks ๐ถ๐ช in Rome, hereโs a picture of my sister and I in Piazza San Pietro (Saint Peterโs Square) in Rome ๐ฎ๐น!
Whatโs different about this obelisk ๐ถ is that thereโs no hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช on it – itโs completely blank! Of the 13 obelisks ๐ถ๐ช in Rome, eight of them are completely Egyptian, while the other five were procured by Romans after they conquered Egypt ๐๐
๐๐.
The Vatican Obelisk was brought to Rome by Emperor Caligula. But the question is: why are some obelisks ๐ถ๐ช inscribed with hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช and some not? This question has baffled historians, but Egyptologist Bob Brier has come to the conclusion that the inclusion/non inclusion of hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช simply has to do with the Roman emperorโs attitude towards Egypt ๐๐
๐๐. Some emperors had positive views of Egypt ๐๐
๐๐(Domitian, Hadrian), while some Emperors had very negative views of Egypt ๐๐
๐๐(Augustus, Caligula). For example, Augustus hated Egypt ๐๐
๐๐ because he lost a lot of Roman men in battle there.
Fun fact: Rome has a total of 13 obelisks ๐ถ๐ช! That is the most obelisks ๐ถ๐ช in any city outside of Egypt ๐๐ ๐๐!