Macuteo

The Horus, the Strong Bull, Beloved of Maat, King of Lower and Upper Egypt, Usir-Maat-Ra Setep-n-Ra, son of Ra, Meri-Amun Ramessu, Ra's Son of His Body, who is Chosen for Power, Mighty in His Plans, Son of The King of the Gods of the Two Lands, … [etc. … may He Be Given With Eternal Life in Eternity], built a temple for his divine father Ra in Iwnw (that the Greeks called Heliopolis and now hosts the International Airport of Cairo in Egypt, Africa, and some tenement houses). Here this is one of the pair of the obelisks of this temple, now called Macuteo, broken approximately half, and erected to a fountain pedestal on Piazza della Rotonda, in Rome, Italy, Europe. The other obelisk of the pair, called Matteiano, now stands few miles/kilometres apart, just a bit over the other end of Circus Maximus, in front of Villa Cellimontana, also in Rome. Macuteo stands about 6.33m/10' tall, while Matteiano stands 2.68m/8' short tall… Both obelisks left Ta Meri ("the Beloved Land", e.g. Egypt) in the Roman times, and were found near Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in 1373 (Macuteo) and 1883 (Matteiano). Their inscriptions are still visible—the first line with Ramesses the Great's names are translation of the hieroglyphs visible on the image.

In the background you see the world's largest concrete dome that built without reinforcement during Hadrian's reign perhaps in 126 AD, but dating is somewhat unclear. The inscriptions on the pediment are a bit misleading, stating that the building was erected during Marcus Agrippa's third consulate to commemorate the Battle of Actium (31BC), but that refers to a previous temple that burned down. Agrippa's temple was part of the Baths of Agrippa complex, and Hadrian replaced that ruined temple as it is proven by some less legible and smaller inscriptions in the inner facade of the portico. This is one of the best preserved ancient Roman buildings, mostly because of continuous religious use and maintenance. It is also my most preferred ancient Roman building. But it is not intact. The bronze/lead covering from the dome is in the St. Peter's, as Bernini cast the bronze Papal Baldachin using that stuff. Even if they deny it! It also serves as final resting place for many notable persons, Italian kings, for instance, and a great deviant called Rafaello Sanzio, or simply Raphael.

Prints available on DA without watermarks, logos, etc. 

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Please don't use any unlawful and disrepectful thing, as this image is copyrighted. If you infringe my rights, your obelisks will be stolen and taken very far, too. And believe me, that is rather bad when you have your obelisks too far.

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