in 1567, and placed near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.  Caracalla also procured an Egyptian obelisk for his circus, and for the Appian Way.  The largest obelisk (probably erected by Rameses) was placed by Constantius II., in the Circus Maximus at Rome.  In the fifth century, it was thrown down by the barbarians, and lay in pieces upon the ground, until Sixtus V., in 1588, had it raised upon the square, before St. John’s church of the Lateran, thence called the Lateran obelisk.  It is beautifully adorned with sculpture; its weight is 13,000 cwt.; its height, exclusive of the pedestal, 140 feet; with the pedestal, 179 feet.  Several others have been erected by succeeding popes.

REMOVAL OF AN OBELISK BY FONTANA.

The following curious account of the removal of the obelisk in the Circus Vaticanus to the centre of St. Peter’s square, by Domenico Fontana, is extracted from Milizia’s life of that famous architect.  It shows plainly that the Egyptians must have attained great skill and perfection in mechanics and engineering, to have been able to quarry out obelisks at least a third larger, and convey them often several hundred miles, to the places where they erected them.

“Sixtus V. was now desirous of raising in the centre of the square of St. Peter’s the only obelisk which remained standing, but partly interred, near the wall of the Sacristy, where was formerly the Circus of Nero.  Other pontiffs had had the same wish, but the difficulty of the enterprise had prevented the execution.

“This obelisk, or pyramid, is of red granite, called by the ancient Romans, Marmor Thebanum (Theban marble), on account of having been worked near Thebes, in Egypt, whence it was transported to Rome in the time of Caesar.  Of the immense number in Rome, this is the only one remaining entire; it is without hieroglyphics, 84 feet high, 8 feet 6 inches wide at the base, and 5 feet 6 inches at the top.  One cubic foot of this granite weighs about 160 pounds; so that the whole weight of the obelisk must be somewhat less than 759,000 lbs.  Of the manner in which the Egyptians and Romans moved these enormous masses we have no idea, and so many centuries having elapsed since such a thing had been done, this proposition of Sixtus V. was considered so novel, that a general assembly was called of all the mathematicians, engineers, and learned men from various parts of Europe; and, in a congress held by the pope, more than 500 persons presented themselves, bringing with them their inventions; some with drawings, some with models, others with writings or arguments.

“The greater number were for removing it by means of an iron carriage and thirty-two levers.  Others invented a half wheel, on which the obelisk was to be raised by degrees.  Some proposed screws, and others thought of carrying it upon slings.