This red granite obelisk stands in Istanbul at the ancient hippodrome of At-Meidan. It was originally set up by Thothmes III on the south side of the Seventh Pylon of the Temple of Amen at Karnak in the 33rd year of his reign to commemorate conquests in Western Asia.
This 50 foot high memorial is no longer intact, and is thought to have broken during its transport out of Egypt. This obelisk was the lower portion of the one which once stood in the Strategium. The upper part, which is now standing, was set up by the order of the Emperor Theodosius in the second half of the IVth century A.D.
Customary with Egyptian pharaonic tradition, each side of the pyramidion shows scenes of the king standing before Amen and making offerings.
The inscriptions on the obelisk read: " Amen, lord of Thebes, President of the Apts (Karnak), great god, giver of life, stability and serenity."
"The beneficent god, lord of Egypt, lord creator of things, King of the South and the North, Men-kheper-Ra, son of Ra, Thothmes, to whom life is given like Ra for ever."
Bibliography
Cleopatra's Needles & Other Egyptian Obelisks, E.A. Wallis Budge,
