THE OBELISK MARKED THE CENTER OF THE HIPPODROME:
The historic monolith, erected more than 1,500 years ago, is of rose granite, 61 feet high, and came from the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, Egypt, placed there by Thothmes III twenty centuries before the Christian era. Greek and Latin inscriptions say the 199-ton stone was raised on the Hippodrome in 32 days. In the lower right corner of the picture is seen the headless Serpent's Column, an offering of Greek devotion to Apollo after the Battle of Plataea, when the Persian hordes had been forever hurled from Europe. Three serpents, twisted around each other and standing on their tails, compose the column, now but 18 feet 9 inches high. In the background rises Sancta Sophia (Hagia Sophia in Turkey).
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