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Pamphilj Obelisk
Monument at Egyptian obelisks of Rome · also called Obelisco Agonale, Agonalis obelisk, Piazza Navona obelisk, Obelisk of Domitian, Four Rivers obelisk, Pamphili obelisk
The obelisk on Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers is Egyptian granite with hieroglyphs written in Rome for the emperor Domitian. Its texts name Domitian, his father Vespasian and his brother Titus, and call the emperor Horus, strong bull, beloved of Maat.
Signs to look for
- Falcon G5ḥr The falcon opens the emperor's Horus name, the same title Egyptian kings wore.
- Bull E1kꜣ The bull follows the falcon in 'strong bull', the first epithet of the Horus name.
- Goddess Maat C10mꜣꜥt Maat, the goddess of order, completes 'beloved of Maat' on the south face.
- Basket with handle V31k The basket with handle (k) spells the Greek and Latin titles in the cartouches, Kaisaros among them.
- Cartouche V10 The cartouches here hold Roman names spelled out letter by letter.
The story of Pamphilj Obelisk
Domitian had the shaft quarried at Aswan, and it reached Rome uninscribed. Its hieroglyphs were cut there, in the Egyptian manner, for a sanctuary that is not known for sure: the temples of Isis and Serapis on the Campus Martius are the usual guess. It is the only building inscribed with Domitian's name to escape the erasing of his memory after his murder.
Maxentius moved it to the circus of his villa on the Via Appia in the early fourth century, and it fell there. Innocent X Pamphilj brought the broken pieces to Piazza Navona, by his family palace, and Bernini set it on the fountain he finished in 1651. The Pamphilj dove stands on top.
The text was first read in Rome by Athanasius Kircher, whose book of 1650 turned it into a hidden philosophy. Kircher also had the gaps between the pieces filled with signs he thought should be there. Champollion read the true text in the nineteenth century and found the three emperors.
What to see and read
Cartouches of the Flavian emperors
Greek titles and Roman names spelled sign by sign: look for Domitian's, and those of Vespasian and Titus, honoured as gods.
Horus, strong bull
On the south face the emperor takes a pharaoh's Horus name: strong bull, beloved of Maat.
Scenes near the top
The emperor stands between two deities, as a pharaoh does on Egyptian monuments.
Bernini's fountain
The four river gods and the Pamphilj dove belong to 1651, the hieroglyphs to the first century AD.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- The shaft stands high above the fountain's rocks: use the zoom and read from the edge of the basin.
- Some signs between the old breaks were filled in during the seventeenth century. Read the cartouches on the original stone first.
- Low light at either end of the day picks out the shallow Roman carving.
Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Is the Piazza Navona obelisk Egyptian?
The granite came from Aswan, but the hieroglyphs were carved in Rome for Domitian in the first century AD. They are real hieroglyphs, written by people who knew the script.
What do the hieroglyphs on the Piazza Navona obelisk say?
They praise Domitian as a pharaoh and name his father Vespasian and his brother Titus. Champollion was the first to read them correctly, long after Kircher's fanciful version.
Also at Egyptian obelisks of Rome
Lateran Obelisk
The Lateran Obelisk in front of San Giovanni in Laterano names two kings. The middle column on each face belongs to Thutmose III, who ordered it for Karnak, and the two columns beside it to his grandson Thutmose IV, who finally raised it.
MonumentFlaminio Obelisk
The obelisk in the middle of Piazza del Popolo carries the names of Seti I and his son Ramesses II. Seti's columns fill three faces, and Ramesses II inscribed the fourth face and added the side columns.
MonumentMontecitorio Obelisk
The obelisk in front of the Italian parliament names Psamtik II, a king of the 26th Dynasty, who reigned 595–589 BC. His columns call him beloved of Atum, lord of Heliopolis, and of Ra-Horakhty.
MonumentPantheon Obelisk
The obelisk on the fountain in front of the Pantheon names Ramesses II. His two cartouches are cut on its tip, and the columns on its shaft tie him to the sun god of Heliopolis.
MonumentMinerva Obelisk
The obelisk on the back of Bernini's marble elephant names Apries, a king of the 26th Dynasty, who set it up at Sais in the Nile Delta around 580 BC. At about five and a half metres, it is the smallest of Rome's ancient obelisks.
MonumentDogali Obelisk
The obelisk in the garden on Viale Luigi Einaudi, near Termini station, carries hieroglyphs of Ramesses II, with his throne name Usermaatre Setepenre. Its texts are for the sun god of Heliopolis, where it first stood.
Read more about Pamphilj Obelisk
- Egyptian obelisks around the world and the names carved on them Egyptian obelisks around the world: Rome, Paris, London, New York, Istanbul. Whose names are carved on each, and how it left Egypt.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.