This is the so called Quirnale Obelisk. You can see an inscription on the front of it. In fact while the obelisk proper has no markings or hieroglyphics the modern base has an array of messages on it. One of which tells the story fairly well. In translation:
NOW IN VAIN HAS HOSTILE TIME STRIVEN TO BURY ME,
OVERTURNED AND SHATTERED, IN HEAPS OF RUBBLE--
ME, ONCE HEWN FROM THE CLIFFS OF EGYPT AND BORNE
THROUGH THE MIDST OF THE SEA BY THE STRENGTH OF ROMULUS
WHERE THE TIBER LAPPED AT THE GROVE OF THE CAESARS--
FOR PIUS RECALLS ME TO THE LIGHT AND BIDS ME, REMADE,
TO STAND TALL ON THE SUMMIT OF THE HILL OF QUIRINUS,
WHERE BETWEEN THE MIGHTY FIGURES OF ALEXANDER
I SHALL ATTEST (how far inferior is the latter to Pius)
TO THE GREAT WORKS OF PIUS THE SIXTH
Well, that's a lot to piece together. The story of the obelisk runs something like this: The fascination of Rome with things Egyptian started with Augustus. You remember, the whole Antony and Cleopatra thing. After he conquered the place he wanted to be accepted there. Augustus had as his role model Alexander the Great. Alexander came as a conqueror but was fascinated by and respectful of the native Egyptian gods and customs. Basically he was regarded as another Pharaoh and at his death he was mummified and buried in the Egyptian city he founded, Alexandria.
Augustus visited the Tomb of Alexander, that fabulous and now lost ancient wonder. In a very awkward moment he is said to have touched Alexander's mummified form....and the nose fell off! But overall the visit went well enough that Augustus decided that upon his own death he would have a mausoleum modeled on that of Alexander.
Well, full points for concept, not such great marks for execution. The Mausoleum of Augustus was impressive on completion, with its two pink granite obelisks flanking the entrance. But it was built on land prone to flooding "The Tiber Lapped at the Grove of the Caesars" a little too often perhaps. In concert with the usual looting and neglect this has rendered the former burial place of Roman Emperors into what has been in recent years a place where homeless people relieve themselves.
The obelisks fell into the swampy ground and broke, their fragments only being discovered and reassembled in, respectively, 1519 and 1781. They are peculiar obelisks and little can be said of their origins. They lack both markings and the characteristic pointed top. It is assumed that the Romans had them quarried for this purpose. Hey, if you are Augustus you can have anything you fancy.
The 1781 obelisk ended up in the Piazza del Quirnale. The Quirnale hill is one of the taller but less known of the Seven Hills of Rome. It was named for Quirinus, a deity sometimes associated with a deified Romulus. In Roman times the Quirnale hill was the location of the last of the great public baths, that of Constantine the Great. It also had (another) Temple to Isis. At one of these locations, which is unclear, there was a set of gigantic statues. Two young virile men with horses they presumably represent the Dioscuri, although a certain degree of confusion as seen in the inscription above sometimes made them out to be Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus! Remaining visible since ancient times they gave the hill its medieval name: Monte Cavallo, the hill of the horses.
Pope Pius the Sixth had this obelisk excavated and repaired, setting it between the two colossal statues which were already on the site but had to be moved slightly. The Piazza he chose for this monument happened to be right outside the door of his summer residence. As Pope you didn't get as much latitude as an Emperor, but still quite a lot.
Alas for PiusVI. He lived in turbulent times. When the French Revolution broke out with its fierce anticlerical streak he had to vigorously oppose it. So when Napoleonic forces captured Rome and turned up at his doorstep he had a problem. They demanded that he surrender all temporal power. He refused, so the French toted him off to exile where he died six months later.
This less than glorious fate made the initial inscription on the obelisk base seem a bit......discordant. It is not as if Pius really put Alexander the Great to shame, and for that matter the horse tamers were not even actually representations of Alexander. The boastful last line was altered as shown above.
Later the complex of buildings around the square was taken over by the Italian government. The residence of the President of the Republic is there as are quite a few assorted Ministry buildings.
It makes for a peculiar environment for the obelisk. Sterile in a way, there are few tourists this far away from the main attractions. And perhaps the faint whiff of modern ineffectual governance clashes a bit with the massive, perhaps even brutal looking representation of Imperial Greatness.
The obelisk and statues are actually quite large, but manage to look like an afterthought in the huge barren piazza.
The stone basin is also ancient. It is granite and formerly sat in the Roman Forum near the Arch of Septimus Severus. It made the move up here in 1818,
Augustus visited the Tomb of Alexander, that fabulous and now lost ancient wonder. In a very awkward moment he is said to have touched Alexander's mummified form....and the nose fell off! But overall the visit went well enough that Augustus decided that upon his own death he would have a mausoleum modeled on that of Alexander.
Well, full points for concept, not such great marks for execution. The Mausoleum of Augustus was impressive on completion, with its two pink granite obelisks flanking the entrance. But it was built on land prone to flooding "The Tiber Lapped at the Grove of the Caesars" a little too often perhaps. In concert with the usual looting and neglect this has rendered the former burial place of Roman Emperors into what has been in recent years a place where homeless people relieve themselves.
The obelisks fell into the swampy ground and broke, their fragments only being discovered and reassembled in, respectively, 1519 and 1781. They are peculiar obelisks and little can be said of their origins. They lack both markings and the characteristic pointed top. It is assumed that the Romans had them quarried for this purpose. Hey, if you are Augustus you can have anything you fancy.
The 1781 obelisk ended up in the Piazza del Quirnale. The Quirnale hill is one of the taller but less known of the Seven Hills of Rome. It was named for Quirinus, a deity sometimes associated with a deified Romulus. In Roman times the Quirnale hill was the location of the last of the great public baths, that of Constantine the Great. It also had (another) Temple to Isis. At one of these locations, which is unclear, there was a set of gigantic statues. Two young virile men with horses they presumably represent the Dioscuri, although a certain degree of confusion as seen in the inscription above sometimes made them out to be Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus! Remaining visible since ancient times they gave the hill its medieval name: Monte Cavallo, the hill of the horses.
Pope Pius the Sixth had this obelisk excavated and repaired, setting it between the two colossal statues which were already on the site but had to be moved slightly. The Piazza he chose for this monument happened to be right outside the door of his summer residence. As Pope you didn't get as much latitude as an Emperor, but still quite a lot.
Alas for PiusVI. He lived in turbulent times. When the French Revolution broke out with its fierce anticlerical streak he had to vigorously oppose it. So when Napoleonic forces captured Rome and turned up at his doorstep he had a problem. They demanded that he surrender all temporal power. He refused, so the French toted him off to exile where he died six months later.
This less than glorious fate made the initial inscription on the obelisk base seem a bit......discordant. It is not as if Pius really put Alexander the Great to shame, and for that matter the horse tamers were not even actually representations of Alexander. The boastful last line was altered as shown above.
Later the complex of buildings around the square was taken over by the Italian government. The residence of the President of the Republic is there as are quite a few assorted Ministry buildings.
It makes for a peculiar environment for the obelisk. Sterile in a way, there are few tourists this far away from the main attractions. And perhaps the faint whiff of modern ineffectual governance clashes a bit with the massive, perhaps even brutal looking representation of Imperial Greatness.
The obelisk and statues are actually quite large, but manage to look like an afterthought in the huge barren piazza.
The stone basin is also ancient. It is granite and formerly sat in the Roman Forum near the Arch of Septimus Severus. It made the move up here in 1818,
Nice horses. You can see a bit of repair work. Although the inscriptions claim these are Greek originals from a famous sculptor they are in fact later Roman copies
You can see why Mussolini liked this style, it feels kind of fascist. Il Duce in fact had very similar equestrian states at his EUR complex south of Rome, and even put up a modern obelisk with the inscription MUSSOLINI DUX at the Foro Italico sports center in 1932.
You can see why Mussolini liked this style, it feels kind of fascist. Il Duce in fact had very similar equestrian states at his EUR complex south of Rome, and even put up a modern obelisk with the inscription MUSSOLINI DUX at the Foro Italico sports center in 1932.
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