Cruciform hieroglyph on the Lateran Obelisk in Rome
Description
The obelisk was erected in the 15th century BC commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmosis III and founded by his grandson Thutmosis IV. The obelisk stood in front of the Temple of Amon in Thebes. In 330 AD Emperor Constantine the Great Around moved the obelisk across the Nile to Alexandria. He wanted to transfer the obelisk to Constantinople, his new capital of the Roman Empire. This never happened, however, and after the obelisk had been in Alexandria for decades, Emperor Constantius II took him to Rome when he brought his only visit to the old capital in 357 AD. The obelisk was placed on the spina of the Circus Maximus.
