Obelisk

There have been obelisks brought to various cities of the world from the old Egypt. The obelisk in Istanbul was first erected in 1547 BC for the sake of the Pharaoh Thutmose III in the city of Annu called Heliopolis by the Greek. Thutmose's victories are written on it in hieroglyph. The stone first attracted the attention of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine and asked the Egyptian to send the stone to him. The obelisk was first erected in Hippodrome with the order of the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius in 390s. On the base, there are embossments of Theodosius I, his sons and wife, Arkadios, Honorius and the Emperor Valentinian II. There are also some scenes from the Hippodrome and depictions displaying the erection of the obelisk.