echiromani:AgonalisLocated in the heart of Piazza Navona, the Agonalis obelisk enjoys a privileged p
echiromani:AgonalisLocated in the heart of Piazza Navona, the Agonalis obelisk enjoys a privileged place above Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. It has presided over the square—once the site of the Stadium of Domitian, where Saint Agnes was martyred—since 1651.Its origins: it is Egyptian in origin, but commissioned by Domitian for the Temple of Serapis in Rome (of which there were at least three). The hieroglyphic inscriptions, which were completed within Domitian’s own lifetime, celebrate him as “Sun-god, Son of the Sun-god, Supporter of the World, Giver of Life to the World, the Man-god Horus, the Son of the Woman Isis, who is to come to avenge the death of his ancestor, Osiris, the King Living for ever.”The obelisk was later moved to the Circus of Maxentius. After it was discovered, the Earl of Arundel paid a deposit and attempted to ship the four pieces to London in the late 1630s. Pope Urban VIII, however, prohibited its export. -- source link