Granite obelisk, Istanbul (ancient Byzantium, later Constantinople), Turkey.
This Egyptian obelisk of the fifteenth century B.C. pharoah Thothmes III was
transported to Byzantium from Heliopolis by the emperor Theodosius in the fourth
century B.C.
There it was erected along the spina (the long, low wall running down the
middle of a racecourse, usually decorated with monuments) of the Hippodrome of
Severus (the modern Atmeidan).
Later in the fourth century B.C. it was toppled by an earthquake, but Theodosius
had it re-erected on the same site.
Note the absence of significant weathering of the hard granite stone.
© 1992 Craig R. Bina