The Sundial of Augustus

 

The largest sundial in the ancient world was located here in Rome
Emperor Augustus had his first grand “Horologium” transported to the Campus Martius.

 

The obelisk, which came from Egypt and was built by Pharaoh Psammeticus II, was called “the gnomon“:
it’s exactly the part of the sundial that casts its shadow on the plate.

 

The obelisk dedicated to the Egyptian god of the sun “Ra” took on a very special meaning for the emperor:
it was the symbol that represented his victory over Egypt.

 

The red granite monolith thus became Hadrian’s Sundial, 22 meters high (72 feet) which was inscribed with hieroglyphics on all its four faces.

 

The top of the obelisk ended with a sphere representing Rome’s dominion over the whole world.

Its use, however, was short-lived because, as the historian Pliny relates, it was only used for 30 years due to a subsidence of the ground.

 

As a result of the pillage of the Normans in Rome in 1084, the so called “Sack of Rome“, the sundial was destroyed and divided into 5 pieces.

 

These remained buried for centuries until Pope Pius VI decided to use them to build a new obelisk about 34 meters high in another place, about 200 meters further south than the original position of the sundial.

 

It was thus placed in front of Palazzo Montecitorio, taking its current name.

 

Here, as usual, is the final curiosity

In 1998 the square where the obelisk is located was restored and a new sundial was drawn on the pavement, right in front of the entrance of Palazzo Montecitorio but … the shadow of the obelisk points elsewhere

 

Don’t forget… we are Italians, not ancient Romans !