Rambles in Rome / An Archæological and Historical Guide to the Museums, Galleries, Villas, Churches, and Antiquities of Rome and the Campagna

by S. Russell Forbes

THE OBELISK.

This, from the inscription, was either made for, or the inscription was added to and imitated by, Domitian:—"Sun god. Son of the Sun god. Supporter of the world. Giver of life to the world. The man-god Horus. The son of the woman Isis, who is come to avenge the death of his ancestor Osiris. The king living for ever, Domitianus." From his Alban Villa, where it originally stood, it was transported, in A.D. 311, to the spina of the Circus of Maxentius on the Via Appia, thence to its present site.

On the left is