The Obelisk of Montecitorio was a monument that Augustus brought back from the temple of Heliopolis in Egypt when it was annexed. This obelisk symbolizes his successful conquests in Egypt, with whom Rome had a major conflict in the beginning of his reign. It was also a way for him to celebrate his victory over rival Marc Antony, who was seeing Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, by making the conflict look like a foreign one. As Mark Antony was a Roman himself, explicitly celebrating Augustus’s victory against him would create a sense of awkwardness and hesitation for other Romans. Thus, making the victory against Marc Antony seem like a victory against Egypt was a crafty maneuver on Augustus’s part. The obelisk was used to create a solar meridian by mathematician Facundus Novius. It served as a sundial-like monument that would serve as a calendar. It was one of the first devices that corrected the previously false notion that leap years were only every three years. Lines made of stone were built around it to indicate the time of day and year according to how the shadow of the obelisk fell.
Image taken by Clara Cheng
Sources:
www.romereborn.virginia.edu/ge/MA-023.html