Obelisk of Theodosius

About Obelisk of Theodosius

The Obelisk of Theodosius is the standout monument on the old Hippodrome of Constantinople, the long public square now known as Sultanahmet Square. The obelisk itself is far older than the city around it. It was carved from pink Aswan granite in Egypt around the 15th century BC on the orders of the pharaoh Thutmose III, and stood at the temple of Karnak in Luxor for well over a thousand years before it ever reached Istanbul. The Roman emperor Theodosius I had it shipped across the Mediterranean and re-erected here in AD 390, which is why it carries his name today. The Egyptian hieroglyphs running up its faces still celebrate the original pharaoh's military victories.

What you see now is only the upper portion of the original shaft, which broke or was cut at some point during transport or installation, so the monument is shorter than it once was. It sits on a Roman marble base carved with relief panels that show Theodosius and his court in the imperial box, watching the chariot races that once filled the Hippodrome. Those carvings are worth a close look, since they're one of the clearest surviving pictures of how the arena actually worked. The obelisk stands in line with two other monuments on the old racetrack: the Serpent Column, brought from Delphi, and the rougher-looking Walled Obelisk further along.

The Obelisk of Theodosius stands outdoors in a public square, so there's no ticket, no gate, and no set opening hours, you can walk up to it any time. It's a short stroll from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, both of which face onto the same square, which makes it easy to fold into a day in the old city rather than a trip of its own. Most people spend ten or fifteen minutes here reading the base panels and comparing the three Hippodrome monuments. A guide helps if you want the history rather than just the view, since there's little on-site signage explaining what you're looking at.