The Walled Obelisk or Masonry Obelisk ( tr, Örme Dikilitaş) is a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

monument in the form of an

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

in the former

Hippodrome of Constantinople Sultanahmet Square ( tr, Sultanahmet Meydanı) or the Hippodrome of Constantinople ( el, Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs; la, Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus; t ...

, now Sultanahmet Square in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It is situated west of the

Sultan Ahmed Mosque The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque ( tr, Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. A functioning mosque, it also attracts large numbers ...

, at the southern end of the ancient chariot-racing track of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

's central barrier, beside the Obelisk of Theodosius and the Serpentine Column. Its original construction date in

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

is unknown, but it is sometimes named Constantine's Obelisk () after the inscription added by the Roman emperor Constantine VII ''Porphyrogenitus'', who repaired it in the 10th century.

History

The -high The obelisk was most likely a Theodosian construction, built to mirror the Obelisk of Theodosius on the ''spina'' of the Roman

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

; the

Circus Maximus The Circus Maximus (Latin for "largest circus"; Italian: ''Circo Massimo'') is an ancient Roman chariot-racing stadium and mass entertainment venue in Rome, Italy. In the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and l ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

also had two obelisks on its ''spina''. The 10th-century emperor Constantine VII had the monument restored and coated with plates of gilt bronze; a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

inscription in

iambic trimeter The Iambic trimeter is a meter of poetry consisting of three iambic units (each of two feet) per line. In ancient Greek poetry and Latin poetry, an iambic trimeter is a quantitative meter, in which a line consists of three iambic ''metra''. Ea ...

was added at this time. The inscription mentions the repair works carried out by Constantine VII and compares it to the colossus in Rhodes. In addition to this the inscription also mentions the name of his son and successor,

Romanos II Romanos II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Ρωμανός, 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His son Bas ...

. By the 10th and 11th centuries, the obelisk was referred to as the 'tower of

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

' in the medieval

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

, although accounts sometimes confused it with the Obelisk of Theodosius. The late 12th-early 13th-century writer al-Harawi was the source for several Arabic geographers' inclusion of a detail about the monument: the Byzantines put

potsherds This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

and nuts amongst the masonry in order to see them crack when strong winds would cause the stones to shift. At that time, it was decorated with gilded bronze plaques that portrayed the victories of

Basil I Basil I, called the Macedonian ( el, Βασίλειος ὁ Μακεδών, ''Basíleios ō Makedṓn'', 811 – 29 August 886), was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a lowly peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the ...

, the grandfather of Constantine VII. The obelisk's gilded bronze plaques were removed and melted down by the Fourth Crusaders in 1204. Since young Janissaries liked to show their prowess by climbing the obelisk, the masonry suffered further damage to its surface. The Walled Obelisk was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 500 lira banknotes of 1953–1976.Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
. Banknote Museum: 5. Emission Group – Five Hundred Turkish Lira �

. – Retrieved on 20 April 2009.

Inscription

The inscription in iambic trimeters commemorating the Obelisk's restoration by Constantine VII is as follows:

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

{{coord, 41, 00, 19.43, N, 28, 58, 29.44, E, display=title, region:TR_type:landmark Ancient obelisks Hippodrome of Constantinople Obelisks in Istanbul