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Location: Istanbul, Turkey Height: 19.8 meters Weight: unknown Red granite Among all the obelisks removed from Egypt in the early centuries of the Christian era, the one in the Hippodrome (the horse racing stadium) in Constantinople (Byzantium) in modern Istanbul was the last to be taken. It is called "the obelisk of Emperor Theodosius" because he reerected it at the current location in A.D. 390 just before the division of Eastern and Western Roman Empires. The Istanbul Obelisk witnessed the rise and fall of many Empires. Originally, the obelisk stood with its sister obelisk at the Temple of Karnak in Thebes to commemorate one of the military victories of Tuthmosis III (the successful crossing of the Euphrates River in Syria in 15th B.C.). When it was built, it must have been 30 meters high and 800 tons in weight, but about one third of the original obelisk had been broken, when it was reerected in Istanbul. A 32-meter "Constantinus Obelisk" made of stones is located near the Istanbul Obelisk. When it was built is unknown.
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