Carlitos Lunghi Site

                 LATERAN - 

                 The  obelisk  call Lateran, of  32.18   meters,  and  37  meters   with   base
                 and 455 tons, are of red granite was made during the reigns of TUTMOSIS
                 III and TUTMOSIS IV, of this complete it is spoken in the jeroglifics,  and
                 it is the highes and older obelisk still on in Rome, and was the put    obelisk
                 only in Thebes (or Karnak  in  Egyptian)  single  (the  obelisks  were  made
                 generally of a pairs), some think that it finds be even of the obelisk    that is
                 broken in Aswan, and for that reason is found single.
                 It was erected in the year 1490 B.C.
                 Was removed by order of Constantin emperor, in the year 337 to place it in
                 its new capital in Constantinopla, dead before the obelisco left Egypt and its
                 son and successor Constantin II, take it to Rome, where it  was  erected  in
                 the Maximus Circus.
                 In the center of the Circus Maximas  there  was  the called spina or barried,
                 in it there was the obelisk Lateranense and other called in that time, obelisk
                 of August, now know as Flaminian obelisk.
                 The obelisk was officially inaugurated during a short visit by  Constantin  in
                 the sprint of 357, it was the first great monument  to  be  erected  in  Rome
                 after the establishment of  christianity  as  the  official  religion, and  for the
                 Romans it symbolized the victory of the new religion over paganism.
                 Ammianus Marcellinus, in his history of the later Roman  empire, describes
                 the transport of the obelisk Lateranense: "An obelisk  is  a  very  hard stone
                 in  the  shape of a turning-post in the circus; it rises to a great height, gradu-
                 ally tapering to resemble a sunbeam; its  four  sides  converge  to  a  narrow
                 point and are polished by the craftsman's hand....
                 "He tore it from its foundations, but then  let  it  lie  for a long period on the
                 ground while the necessary preparations were being made for its transport.
                 It was brought down the Nile by water and landed  at  Alexandria, where  a
                 ship of  unheard-of  size, requiring  300  rowers, was  built  for it....At  last,
                 however, the obelisk was embarked  and  conveyed  overseas  and  up  the
                 Tiber....The obelisk was  landed  at  Vicus  Alexandri, 5  kilometers  below
                 the city. There it was  placed  on  a  sledge, slowly   dragged   through  the
                 Ostian Gate and the Piscina Publica, and brought  into the Circus Maximus.
                 It only  remained  to  set  it  upright, a  task  which  seemed  almost, if  not
                 totally, impossible. [Dangerously tall masts were erected],  which  gave  the
                 impression of a forest of beams. To these were  attached  long,  stout ropes
                 which formed a network so dense it  hid  the  sky. The mountain of obelisk
                 covered with inscribed figures was tied to the ropes and gradually hauled up
                 through the empty air, where it hung suspended for a long time  still  at  last
                 the efforts of many thousands of men turning  what  looked  like  millstones
                 placed it in position in the middle of the Circus."
                 Nobody knows the date it fall but is related  to the  fire  of Rome by Neron,
                 between years 54-68.
                 In XVI century, Monsignor Michele Mercati directed the attention of  Pope
                 Sixto V to the existence on the obelisk and suggested that  it  be  re-erected,
                 the Pope ordered to look for the monolith,the one that it was found in three
                 pieces, to a depth of 7 meters in the Maximus Circus.
                 In August 3 of  1587 the obelisk  was  erected  in  the  square  of  St. John
                 Laterano, between the North door of the Basilic of St. John  and  the  Late-
                 ranense palace where one  is  at  the  moment, with  an important Christian
                 cross in his top, on a new pedestal with four lions and scenes recounting its
                 history.

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