Hotels in Rome: The monolith of red granite,Appian Way,Obelisk,Campus Martius,Temple of Isis

Egyptian Obelisks- Rome

The monolith of red granite, executed in the 1st century A.D. in imitation of the Egyptian ones to celebrate the Emperor Domitian, was perhaps intended for the Temple of Isis in the Campus Martius. In 309 the Emperor Maxentius decided to re-use it in the circus he had built along the Appian Way. After remaining for a long time broken into five pieces inside the circus, it was found again in 1649 and arranged by pope Innocent X Pamphili in its present position, in the centre of the fountain. Immediately afterwards the bronze point was placed on top, decorated on its tip with a dove carrying an olive branch, which belonged to the coat of arms of the Pamphili family:

This way a strong symbolic connotation was given to the complex, because the papal dove dominates and transmits the truth of the Gospel to the four continents, depicted allegorically by the four rivers at the base.

The Danube, the Ganges, the Rio della Plata and the Nile are represented as river gods, easily recognisable by their individual attributes. The Nile, in particular, has its face covered with a veil: not because, as suggested by the malicious, it does not want to see the façade of the church of Sant'Agnese, designed by Borromini,
but to show the mystery that still surrounded the origins of the river's sources.
From piazza Navona we can go towards piazza della Rotonda, which takes its name from the cylindrical shape of the Pantheon (see Itinerary 8). In the centre of the square, which in shape resembles the arcade that probably surrounded the temple in Roman times, there is a fountain with a mixtilinear plan designed by Giacomo della Porta in 1575.

In the centre of the basin Pope Clement XI Albani, in 1711, ordered the erection of the obelisk that can still be seen there. The red granite monolith, 6.43 metres tall, comes from Egypt, where it had been erected by Ramses II in the 13th century B.C. in the city of Heliopolis. Brought to Rome in an unknown time, it was reused in the temple dedicated to Isis and Serapis in Campus Martius. To eat, we can go to Via dei Pastini, where there is an excellent bread and pizza baker. Also on the same street, at no. 122-123, there is the restaurant Er faciolaro (06 6796280), specialised in Roman dishes.

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