Istanbul’s Oldest Historical Monument

The Obelisk, which was made in ancient Egypt, is the oldest monument in Istanbul. Actually, it’s even older than the city itself.

The stone, which was erected in the name of Pharaoh then ripped off from the temple of Karnak and brought here , is exactly 3500 years old.

The scene which has been depicted on the top of the obelisk is the supreme deity of ancient Egypt Ra and the kneeling down Pharaoh who constructed this stone.

The white part of the stone, which was built to keep the pillar stronger, is almost 1600 years old and the obelisk stands on four bronz pillars over this white part.

One of the unique features of this monument is that it being the world’s oldest obelisk.

The signs on the obelisk are known to be the ancient language of Egypt, Hieroglyph.

The story of the stone was told in Greek on one side and Latin on the other side with some inscriptions and signs.

The bronze globe, which had originally been at the top of the stone, fell on the ground after an earthquake and wasn’t put back to its place.

The obelisk is in one spot of Sultanahmet square which was called Hippodrome in the old days.

Leaving lots of other mysteries such as the story of the Pharaohs and the kings of the Byzantium to our next article for now , we would like to finish this part with an extra information about the obelisks.

They used to write a name in the middle part of the obelisks indicating the person whom it had been erected to. As it’s seen in the picture below, It is written that the stone was built by Pharaoh Thutmosis the third.

We can call this part as some sort of an identitiy of the obelisks.