OBELISCUS CAPITOLINUS
the obelisk that stood in front of the church
of Ara Coeli on the Capitol (BC 1888, pls. viii, ix; Heemskerck, i. II, 61;
ii. 12, 16, 72, 92; cf. Hulsen's text) until some time between 1555 and
1561, when it fell. It was given in 1582 by the city authorities to Ciriaco
Mattei, who set it up in the Mattei gardens, where the upper part still
stands on a modern base (
Mitt. 1891, 4, 27, 31, 45 ; Rodocanachi, Capitole
143, and literature cited
1). It was erected by Rameses II at Heliopolis,
and is covered with hieroglyphics (
BC 1896, 270-272=Ob. Eg. 101-103).
It was probably brought to Rome in the first century, and may have been
set up on the Capitoline in connection with the shrine of Isis (see
ISIS
CAPITOLINA), which stood there at that time (
Jord. ii. 183).
