Obelisk of Arles
About
Quarried from Egyptian granite and never inscribed, this fifteen-meter obelisk was raised in the 4th century CE as the centerpiece of the spina running down the middle of the Circus of Arles. It toppled and snapped in two after the circus fell out of use in the 6th century, then lay forgotten until rediscovered in 1389. The city finally re-erected it in a main square in 1676, topped with a bronze sun. It did not exist in 117 CE — more than two centuries would pass before Constantine's family had it raised.
What happened here
It was put up to be argued with. Public monuments carry an inscription at eye height naming who paid, what for, and by whose authority, because being read is the whole return on the investment. People meet at them, give directions by them, and shelter under them. Children climb them. The bronze fittings are stolen often enough that they are re-attached with lead. On anniversaries the base is garlanded and the local council makes a short speech nobody listens to. Monuments also date the town for you: a run of them along one street shows which families were rising in which decade, and which ones stopped. When a family falls out of favour, the name is chiselled out and the stone is quietly reused.
Sources
Nearby
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Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →