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107-527: The ' obelisk '—properly termed a stele or, in the local languages, Tigrinya : hawelt ; and church Ge'ez : hawelti —is found along with many other stelae in the city of Axum in modern-day Ethiopia . The stelae were probably carved and erected during the 4th century CE by subjects of the Kingdom of Aksum , an ancient Ethiopian civilization. Erection of stelae in Axum was a very old practice. Their function

214-557: A province of Ethiopia . The Ogaden War of 1977–1978 with Somalia , fought over a disputed border region ( Ogaden ), was notable for the prominent role of Mengistu's Soviet and Cuban allies in securing an Ethiopian victory. The catastrophic famine of 1983–1985 is what brought his government the most international attention. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in May 1991 after the PDRE National Shengo dissolved itself and called for

321-612: A pyramidion ) is the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid. It is also related to the obelisk. Both New York University Egyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott hypothesize that the shapes of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Ra being the Egyptians' greatest deity at that time). The pyramid and obelisk's significance have been previously overlooked, especially

428-603: A transitional government . His departure brought an abrupt end to the Ethiopian Civil War . Mengistu Haile Mariam still lives in Harare , Zimbabwe , despite an Ethiopian court verdict which found him guilty of genocide in absentia . Mengistu's government is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of 500,000 to 2,000,000 Ethiopians, mostly during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia . Mengistu Haile Mariam

535-622: A 1947 UN agreement, Italy agreed to return the stele to Ethiopia, along with the other looted piece, the Monument to the Lion of Judah . While the latter was returned in 1967 following the 1961 visit of emperor Haile Selassie to Italy, little action was taken to return the stele for more than 50 years, partly as a consequence of the considerable technical difficulties related to its transportation. One source also suggests that emperor Haile Sellassie, after hearing of these technical difficulties (and of

642-645: A 9-ton obelisk. Finally in August–September ;1999, after learning from their experiences, they were able to erect one successfully. First Hopkins and Rais Abdel Aleem organized an experiment to tow a block of stone weighing about 25 tons. They prepared a path by embedding wooden rails into the ground and placing a sledge on them bearing a megalith weighing about 25 tons. Initially they used more than 100 people to try to tow it but were unable to budge it. Finally, with well over 130 people pulling at once and an additional dozen using levers to prod

749-633: A coup , and the Minister of Defense, Haile Giyorgis Habte Mariam , was killed; Mengistu returned within 24 hours and nine generals, including the air force commander and the army chief of staff, died as the coup was crushed. By 1990, the Soviet Union had all but ended its support for Mengistu's regime. In May 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) forces advanced on Addis Ababa from all sides, and Mengistu fled

856-503: A guide that enabled them to pull away from the river while they were towing it onto the barge. The barge was successfully launched into the Nile. The final and successful erection event was organized by Rick Brown, Hopkins, Lehner and Gregg Mullen in a Massachusetts quarry. The preparation work was done with modern technology, but experiments have proven that with enough time and people, it could have been done with ancient technology. To begin,

963-546: A historical record. The 3D documentation of parts of the Axum Stelae Field was carried out in 2006. Obelisk An obelisk ( / ˈ ɒ b ə l ɪ s k / ; from Ancient Greek ὀβελίσκος ( obelískos ) , diminutive of ὀβελός ( obelós ) ' spit , nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called tekhenu ,

1070-475: A key and commendable role during our struggle for independence". According to the spokesman, Mengistu assisted Zimbabwean guerrilla fighters during the Rhodesian Bush War by providing training and arms; after the war, he had provided training for Zimbabwean air force pilots. The spokesman said that "not many countries have shown such commitment to us". Following an appeal on 26 May 2008, Mengistu

1177-483: A life sentence in January 2007. In addition to the genocide conviction, the court found him guilty of imprisonment, illegal homicide, and illegal confiscation of property. Michael Clough, a US attorney and longtime observer of Ethiopia, said in a statement: The biggest problem with prosecuting Mengistu for genocide is that his actions did not necessarily target a particular group. They were directed against anybody who

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1284-555: A major supporter against the EPRP, in what would be called the " White Terror ". The EPRP's efforts to discredit and undermine the Derg and its MEISON collaborators escalated in the fall of 1976. It targeted public buildings and other symbols of state authority for bombings and assassinated numerous Abyot Seded and MEISON members, as well as public officials at all levels. The Derg, which countered with its own counter-terrorism campaign, labeled

1391-520: A single stone; most modern obelisks are made of several stones. Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians , and played a vital role in their religion placing them in pairs at the entrance of the temples . The word "obelisk" as used in English today is of Greek rather than Egyptian origin because Herodotus , the Greek traveler, was one of the first classical writers to describe

1498-715: A third time in 1970, this time as a student at the Combined Arms Center in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas. Returning after his training, he was expected to command the ordnance sub-division in Harar , but was prevented by General Haile Baykedagn who cited his previous insubordination. Years later, Mengistu would murder General Haile Baykedagn along with 60 ministers and generals. Mengistu typically endured derogatory comments about his appearance, rooted in his Konso background. His features were far more "negroid" than

1605-435: A turning groove which would prevent it from sliding. They used brake ropes to prevent it from going too far. Such turning grooves had been found on the ancient pedestals. Gravity did most of the work until the final 15° had to be completed by pulling the obelisk forward. They used brake ropes again to make sure it did not fall forward. On 12 September they completed the project. This experiment has been used to explain how

1712-452: A very dangerous young officer. General Haile had actually written a secret report to his superiors to put a close watch on Mengistu and not give him a raise in the military ranks. A few years before his second departure for training to the US he was in conflict with the then Third Division commander General Haile Baykedagn whose policy of strict discipline and order did not sit well with Mengistu. At

1819-465: Is also still widespread in the Islamic world . Modern obelisks have also been used in surveying as boundary markers . In late summer 1999, Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner teamed up with a NOVA crew to erect a 25-ton obelisk. This was the third attempt to erect a 25-ton obelisk; the first two, in 1994 and 1999, ended in failure. There were also two successful attempts to raise a 2-ton obelisk and

1926-658: Is an Ethiopian former politician and former military officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg , the Marxist-Leninist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991. The Derg took power in

2033-609: Is known as the Ethiopian Red Terror , a brutal crackdown on opposition groups and civilians following a failed assassination attempt by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) in September 1976, after it had ignored the Derg's invitation to join the union of socialist parties. The death toll is unknown but is often estimated at between 30,000 and 750,000. Internal rebellion, government repression, and economic mismanagement characterized Mengistu's presidency,

2140-492: Is supposed to be as "markers" for underground burial chambers. The largest of the grave markers were for royal burial chambers and were decorated with multi-story false windows and false doors, while lesser nobility would have smaller, less decorated ones. While there are only a few large ones standing, there are hundreds of smaller ones in various "stelae fields". It is still possible to see primitive, roughly carved stelae near more elaborate "obelisks". The last stele erected in Axum

2247-642: The Battle of Afabet in March 1989, a defeat at the hands of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front , with 15,000 casualties and the loss of a great deal of equipment. This was followed up less than a year later by another crushing defeat at Shire , with over 20,000 men either killed or captured and the loss of even more equipment. On 16 May 1989, while Mengistu was out of the country for a four-day state visit to East Germany , senior military officials attempted

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2354-887: The Boboli obelisk which had decorated the temple of Isis, where it was uncovered in the 16th century. The Medici claimed it for the Villa Medici , but in 1790 they moved it to the Boboli Gardens attached to the Palazzo Pitti in Florence , and left a replica in its place. Not all the Egyptian obelisks in the Roman Empire were set up at Rome: Herod the Great imitated his Roman patrons and set up an obelisk, Caesarea obelisk , made out of Egyptian red granite in

2461-544: The Eritrean secessionists and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as well. By the end of the seventies, Mengistu presided over the second-largest army in all of sub-Saharan Africa , as well as a formidable air force and navy. After coming to power, Mengistu embraced the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism , which was increasingly popular among many nationalists and revolutionaries throughout Africa and much of

2568-598: The Ethiopian Revolution following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1974, marking the end of the Solomonic dynasty which had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century. Mengistu purged rivals for power from the Derg and made himself dictator of Ethiopia, attempting to modernize the feudal economy of Ethiopia through Marxist-Leninist -inspired policies such as nationalization and land redistribution . His bloody consolidation of power in 1977–1978

2675-516: The Greeks used the Greek term obeliskos to describe them, and this word passed into Latin and ultimately English . Though William Thomas used the term correctly in his Historie of Italie of 1549, by the late sixteenth century (after reduced contact with Italy following the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth), Shakespeare failed to distinguish between pyramids and obelisks in his plays and sonnets. Ancient obelisks are monolithic and consist of

2782-617: The Piazza del Popolo , in 1589. An obelisk stands in front of the church of Trinità dei Monti , at the head of the Spanish Steps . Other notable Egyptian obelisks in Rome are found in Piazza della Minerva , sculpted while being carried on the back of an elephant , Piazza Montecitorio , Piazza della Rotonda , the Baths of Diocletian , and Villa Celimontana . Rome lost one of its obelisks,

2889-745: The Third World at the time. In the mid-1970s, under Mengistu's leadership, the Derg regime radicalized and began an aggressive program of changing system of Ethiopia from a mixed feudal-capitalist emergent economy to an Eastern Bloc -style command economy. All rural land was nationalized , stripping the Ethiopian Church, the Imperial family, and the nobility of all their sizable estates and the bulk of their wealth. During this same period, all foreign-owned and locally owned companies were nationalized without compensation in an effort to redistribute

2996-663: The Twelfth Dynasty at Al-Matariyyah in modern Heliopolis . In Egyptian mythology , the obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra , and during the religious reformation of Akhenaten it was said to have been a petrified ray of the Aten , the sundisk. Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters Nu upon which the creator god Atum settled in the creation story of the Heliopolitan creation myth form of Ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone (also known as

3103-453: The hippodrome of his new city Caesarea in northern Judea . This one is about 40 feet (12 m) tall and weighs about 100 metric tons (110 short tons). It was discovered by archaeologists and has been re-erected at its former site. In 357 CE, Emperor Constantius II had two Karnak Temple obelisks removed and transported down the Nile to Alexandria to commemorate his ventennalia ,

3210-588: The kebeles , the neighborhood watch committees which served during Mengistu's reign as the lowest level local government and security surveillance units. Families had to pay the kebeles a tax known as "the wasted bullet" to obtain the bodies of their loved ones. In May 1977, the Swedish general secretary of the Save the Children Fund stated that "1,000 children have been killed, and their bodies are left in

3317-461: The mid-1980s Ethiopian famine , which ultimately took over 500,000 lives. Mengistu made seven visits to the Soviet Union between 1977 and 1984, as well as other visits to his political allies Cuba, East Germany, South Yemen, and Mozambique. From 1983 to 1984 Mengistu served as head of the Organization of African Unity . However, the government's military position gradually weakened. First came

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3424-643: The 11th century BCE. The Romans commissioned obelisks in an ancient Egyptian style. Examples include: The prehistoric Tello Obelisk, found in 1919 at Chavín de Huantar in Peru , is a monolith stele with obelisk-like proportions. It is 2.52 metres tall and was carved in a design of low relief with Chavín symbols, such as bands of teeth and animal heads. Long housed in the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima , it

3531-1200: The 19th and 20th centuries include the Obelisk (1800) in Stockholm , Stone of the Empress (1835) in Helsinki , the Wellington Monument (1861) in Dublin , the Washington Monument (1884) in Washington, D.C. , the Obelisk of Buenos Aires (1936) in Buenos Aires , the Monument to the People's Heroes (1958) in Tiananmen Square , Beijing and the National Monument (1975) in Jakarta . A few, however, continue

3638-823: The 20th year of his reign. Afterward, one was sent to Rome and erected on the spina of the Circus Maximus , and is today known as the Lateran Obelisk. The other one, known as the Obelisk of Theodosius , remained in Alexandria until 390 CE, when Emperor Theodosius I had it transported to Constantinople (now Istanbul ) and put up on the spina of the Hippodrome of Constantinople (now Sultan Ahmet Square). It once stood 95 feet (29 m) tall and weighed 380 metric tons (420 short tons); however, its lower section (which reputedly also once stood in

3745-618: The 23-metre (75 ft) over-250-metric-ton (280-short-ton) Luxor Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France . Obelisks were being shipped out of Egypt as late as the nineteenth century when three of them were sent to London , New York and Paris . Their transportation was covered by various newspapers. Obelisk monuments are also known from the Assyrian civilization, where they were erected as public monuments that commemorated

3852-679: The Basilica's construction, presented the Pope with a little model crane of wood and a heavy little obelisk of lead, which Sixtus himself was able to raise by turning a little winch with his finger. Fontana was given the project. Half-buried in the debris of the ages, it was first excavated as it stood; then it took from 30 April to 17 May 1586 to move it on rollers to the Piazza: it required nearly 1000 men, 140 carthorses, and 47 cranes. The re-erection, scheduled for 14 September,

3959-518: The EPRDF streamed into the capital, precluding the previous leadership's escape. Almost all were promptly arrested and put on trial upon the assumption of power by the EPRDF. Mengistu has claimed that the takeover of his country resulted from the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev , who in his view allowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the termination of its aid to Ethiopia. An assassination attempt against Mengistu occurred on 4 November 1995, while he

4066-417: The EPRP!" and then produced three bottles filled with a red liquid that symbolized the blood of the imperialists and the counterrevolutionaries and smashed them to the ground to show what the revolution would do to its enemies. Thousands of young men and women turned up dead in the streets of the capital and other cities in the following months. They were systematically murdered mainly by the militia attached to

4173-625: The EPRP's tactics the White Terror. Mengistu asserted that all "progressives" were given "freedom of action" in helping root out the revolution's enemies, and his wrath was particularly directed toward the EPRP. Peasants, workers, public officials, and even students thought to be loyal to the Mengistu regime were provided with arms to accomplish this task. In a public speech in April 1977, Mengistu shouted "Death to counterrevolutionaries! Death to

4280-687: The Emperor Caligula in 37 CE, it has stood at its current site and on the wall of the Circus of Nero , flanking St Peter's Basilica. The elder Pliny in his Natural History refers to the obelisk's transportation from Egypt to Rome by order of the Emperor Gaius (Caligula) as an outstanding event. The barge that carried it had a huge mast of fir wood which four men's arms could not encircle. One hundred and twenty bushels of lentils were needed for ballast. Having fulfilled its purpose,

4387-663: The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross , was watched by a large crowd. It was a famous feat of engineering, which made the reputation of Fontana, who detailed it in a book illustrated with copperplate etchings, Della Trasportatione dell'Obelisco Vaticano et delle Fabriche di Nostro Signore Papa Sisto V (1590), which itself set a new standard in communicating technical information and influenced subsequent architectural publications by its meticulous precision. Before being re-erected

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4494-548: The Fourth Division headquarters in Addis Ababa, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion: In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize persons with dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair as "Barias" ( Amharic for slave )... let it be clear to everybody that I shall soon make these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn! Bahru Zewde notes that Mengistu was distinguished by a "special ability to size up situations and persons". Although Bahru notes that some observers "rather charitably" equated this ability with intelligence,

4601-405: The Marxist–Leninist Worker's Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was founded as the country's ruling party, with Mengistu as general secretary. On 10 September 1987, a new Soviet-style constitution was adopted, and the country was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia . Mengistu became president, with sweeping executive and legislative powers. Due to the doctrine of democratic centralism , he

4708-422: The Red Terror as "one of the most systematic uses of mass murder by a state ever witnessed in Africa." During his reign it was not uncommon to see students, suspected government critics, or rebel sympathizers hanging from lampposts each morning. Mengistu himself is alleged to have murdered opponents by garroting or shooting them, saying that he was leading by example. Estimates of the number of deaths for which he

4815-409: The Red Terror period being a battle for dominance between the Derg, the EPRP, and their rival the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON), which had initially aligned itself with the Derg. While this internal conflict was being fought, Ethiopia was threatened by both the Somali invasion and the guerrilla campaign of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front , who demanded independence for Eritrea , then

4922-472: The Roman period over 1,700 years ago and the obelisks were sent to different locations. The largest standing and tallest Egyptian obelisk is the Lateran Obelisk in the square at the west side of the Lateran Basilica in Rome at 105.6 feet (32.2 m) tall and a weight of 455 metric tons (502 short tons). More well known is the iconic 25 metres (82 ft), 331-metric-ton (365-short-ton) Vatican obelisk at Saint Peter's Square . Brought to Rome by

5029-430: The Somali army at Tog Wuchale during the 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War . Prime Minister Aklilu Habte Wold removed the general affectionately known to his men as "the desert lion" from army duties and assigned him as a senator, a job he hated very much as he recounted to his author, but could not refuse without arousing the Emperor's ire. Aman's replacement was General Haile Baikedagn, who found Mengistu an intriguer and

5136-400: The USSR. Moscow said it proved that a backward society could become revolutionary by adopting a Leninist system. It was hailed as a model junior ally that Moscow was eager to support. In the 1980s Ethiopia plunged into greater turmoil and the Soviet system itself was collapsing by 1990. Russian commentators had turned scornful of the Ethiopian regime. In early 1984, under Mengistu's direction,

5243-424: The academic believes this skill is more akin to " street smarts ": "it is rather closer to the mark to see it as inner-city smartness (or what in local parlance would be called aradanat )." Emperor Haile Selassie's government, having lost the confidence of the Ethiopian public following a drought and crop failures in Wollo province, was overthrown in the Ethiopian revolution of 1974. As a result, power came into

5350-455: The achievements of the Assyrian king. The British Museum possesses four Assyrian obelisks: The White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I (named due to its colour), was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853 at Nineveh . The obelisk was erected by either Ashurnasirpal I (1050–1031 BCE) or Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BCE). The obelisk bears an inscription that refers to the king's seizure of goods, people and herds, which he carried back to

5457-416: The ancient tradition of the monolithic obelisk. In Rome , the Via della Conciliazione , cleared in 1936–1950 to link Saint Peter's Basilica to the centre of the capital is lined with obelisks serving as lampposts . In France and other European countries, monuments to the dead, such as headstones and grave markers, were very often given a form of obelisks, but they are of more modest size. The practice

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5564-457: The area (especially King Ezana's Stele). By March 2007 the foundation had been poured for the re-erection of the stele near King Ezana's Stele, structurally consolidated in this occasion. Reassembly began in June 2008, with a team chosen by UNESCO and led by Giorgio Croci, and the monument was re-erected in its original home and unveiled on 4 September 2008. When it was reassembled in Rome in 1937, three steel bars were inserted per section. When

5671-401: The astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset : Zodiacal light and sun pillars respectively. Ancient Nubian kings of the twenty-fifth Dynasty sought to legitimize their rule over Egypt by constructing Egyptianizing monuments in the Middle Nile region. Historical sources mention that king Piye built at least one obelisk. The obelisk was made of local black granite and

5778-402: The average highlander Ethiopian, which Paul Henze believes gave him an inferiority complex . Henze also notes that while receiving military training in the United States, Mengistu experienced racial discrimination which led him to develop a strong anti-American sentiment, but Henze was unable to find any evidence of such incidents. When he took power, and attended the meeting of Derg members at

5885-409: The case of the Great Stele, measuring 33 m), possibly immediately after their erection; earthquakes (Axum is in a seismic zone ); or the military incursions of the Imam Ahmad Gragn during the Ethiopian-Adal War from 1529 to 1543. In the 19th century, of the three major "royal" stelae, only King Ezana's Stele remained erect, shown in the print "The Obelisk at Axum" of Henry Salt (1780–1827) and in

5992-421: The city of Ashur. The reliefs of the Obelisk depict military campaigns, hunting, victory banquets and scenes of tribute bearing. The Rassam Obelisk, named after its discoverer Hormuzd Rassam , was found on the citadel of Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). It was erected by Ashurnasirpal II, though only survives in fragments. The surviving parts of the reliefs depict scenes of tribute bearing to the king from Syria and

6099-419: The compound of the aristocratic family. In Debre Markos, Mengistu attended the Negus Tekle Haimanot School where he was known to be a problematic teenager and not serious with his studies, he was later expelled from high school for misbehavior. Mengistu then joined the army at a very young age. As an ambitious young soldier, he attracted the attention of the Eritrean-born General Aman Andom , who raised him to

6206-410: The country with 50 family and Derg members. He was granted asylum in Zimbabwe as an official guest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe . Although Mugabe has since been removed from power in 2017 , no new extradition requests have been submitted. Mengistu left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership. The regime only survived without him for another week before

6313-513: The country's wealth. All undeveloped urban property and all rental property were also nationalized. Private businesses such as banks and insurance companies, large retail businesses, etc. were also taken over by the government. All this nationalized property was brought under the administration of large bureaucracies set up to administer them. Farmers who had once worked on land owned by absentee landlords were now compelled to join collective farms. All agricultural products were no longer to be offered on

6420-486: The enormous costs necessary to overcome them), decided to grant the stele to the city of Rome, as a gift for the "renewed friendship" between Italy and Ethiopia. This assertion, however, remains controversial and was not recognized by successive authorities. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam , who overthrew the emperor in 1974, asked the Italian government to return the stele to Ethiopia. Another controversial arrangement, according to some sources, seems to be that Italy could keep

6527-459: The execution without trial of 61 ex-officials of the Imperial government on 23 November 1974, and later of numerous other former nobles and officials including the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church , Abuna Theophilos , in 1977. Mengistu himself has acknowledged that the Derg ordered these deaths but refuses to accept personal responsibility. Members of the Derg have contradicted him in interviews given from prison, saying he conspired and

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6634-399: The free market but were to be controlled and distributed by the government. Despite progressive agricultural reforms, under the Derg, agricultural output suffered due to civil war , drought and misguided economic policies . There was also a famine in 1984 , which was the 10th anniversary of the Derg. The Soviets hailed Ethiopia for its supposed similar cultural and historical parallels to

6741-424: The gigantic vessel was no longer wanted. Therefore, filled with stones and cement, it was sunk to form the foundations of the foremost quay of the new harbour at Ostia . Pope Sixtus V was determined to erect the obelisk in front of St Peter's, of which the nave was yet to be built. He had a full-sized wooden mock-up erected within months of his election. Domenico Fontana , the assistant of Giacomo Della Porta in

6848-498: The hands of a committee of low-ranking officers and enlisted soldiers led by Atnafu Abate , which came to be known as the Derg. Mengistu was originally one of the lesser members, officially sent to represent the Third Division because his commander, General Nega Tegnegn, considered him a trouble-maker and wanted to get rid of him. Between July and September 1974 through sheer demagoguery and political intrigues, Mengistu succeeded to outmaneuver all officers who stood in his way and climbed

6955-452: The headquarters of the United Nations 's Food and Agriculture Organization and the Circus Maximus . The obelisk was officially unveiled on October 28, 1937 to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the March on Rome . The operation was coordinated by Ugo Monneret de Villard . A bronze statue of the Lion of Judah , symbol of the Ethiopian monarchy, was taken along with the obelisk and displayed in front of Termini railway station . In

7062-444: The hippodrome) is now lost, reducing the obelisk's size to 65 feet (20 m). The Ancient Romans populated their city with 8 large and 42 small Egyptian obelisks. More have been re-erected elsewhere, and the best-known examples outside Rome are the pair of 21-metre (69 ft) 187-metric-ton (206-short-ton) Cleopatra's Needles in London, England (21 metres or 69 feet), and New York City, US (21 metres or 70 feet), and

7169-433: The interests of Ethiopia above the interests of socialism" and undertaken other "counter-revolutionary" activities. Resistance against the Derg ensued, led primarily by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Mengistu cracked down on the EPRP and other revolutionary student organizations in what would become called the " Red Terror ". The Derg subsequently turned against the socialist student movement MEISON ,

7276-401: The obelisk also possesses a longer inscription that records one of the latest versions of Shalmaneser III's annals, covering the period from his accessional year to his 33rd regnal year. The Broken Obelisk, that was also discovered by Rassam at Nineveh. Only the top of this monolith has been reconstructed in the British Museum. The obelisk is the oldest recorded obelisk from Assyria, dating to

7383-404: The obelisk was exorcised. It is said that Fontana had teams of relay horses to make his getaway if the enterprise failed. When Carlo Maderno came to build the Basilica's nave, he had to put the slightest kink in its axis, to line it precisely with the obelisk. Three more obelisks were erected in Rome under Sixtus V: at Santa Maria Maggiore , in 1587; at the Lateran Basilica, in 1588; and at

7490-405: The obelisk was hit by lightning during a violent thunderstorm over Rome on 27 May 2002, this caused "considerable" damage. In the new reconstruction the three sections are fixed together by a total of eight aramid fiber ( Kevlar ) bars: four between the first and second and four between the second and third sections. This arrangement guarantees structural resistance during earthquakes and avoids

7597-423: The obelisk was lying on a gravel and stone ramp. A pit in the middle was filled with dry sand. Previous experiments showed that wet sand would not flow as well. The ramp was secured by stone walls. Men raised the obelisk by slowly removing the sand while three crews of men pulled on ropes to control its descent into the pit. The back wall was designed to guide the obelisk into its proper place. The obelisk had to catch

7704-504: The obelisks may have been erected in Luxor and other locations. It seems to have been supported by a 3,000 year-old papyrus scroll in which one scribe taunts another to erect a monument for "thy lord". The scroll reads "Empty the space that has been filled with sand beneath the monument of thy Lord." To erect the obelisks at Luxor with this method would have involved using over a million cubic meters of stone, mud brick and sand for both

7811-471: The objects. A number of ancient Egyptian obelisks are known to have survived, plus the " unfinished obelisk " found partly hewn from its quarry at Aswan . These obelisks are now dispersed around the world, and fewer than half of them remain in Egypt. The earliest temple obelisk still in its original position is the 68-foot (20.7 m) 120- metric-ton (130- short-ton ) red granite Obelisk of Senusret I of

7918-616: The photograph taken by Mabel Bent in 1893. Salt travelled back to England with Captain Thomas Fremantle , and the design of the Obelisk of Axum influenced that of the Nelson Monument, Portsdown Hill , near Portsmouth Harbour , for which Fremantle raised the funds. The Italian occupation of Ethiopia ended in 1937 with looting , in which King Ezana 's obelisk of Axum was taken to Italy as war spoil . The monolith

8025-464: The political ladder. Mengistu and Atnafu Abate were the deputy chairmen of Derg from March 1975 to February 1977. Haile Selassie died in 1975. It is rumored that Mengistu smothered the Emperor using a pillowcase, but Mengistu has denied these rumors. Though several groups were involved in the overthrow, the Derg succeeded to power. There is no doubt that the Derg under Mengistu's leadership ordered

8132-588: The publication of his memoirs. In early 2012, a manuscript of the memoir, entitled Tiglatchin ("Our Struggle" in Amharic ), was leaked onto the internet. Some months later the first leaked volume was published in the United States, and in 2016 the second volume followed. This time it was published in Ethiopia. Mengistu accused the remnants of the EPRP of leaking the first volume to sabotage his publication. Mengistu married Wubanchi Bishaw in 1968. They have

8239-529: The ramp and the platform used to lower the obelisk. The largest obelisk successfully erected in ancient times weighed 455 metric tons (502 short tons). A 520-metric-ton (570-short-ton) stele was found in Axum , but researchers believe it was broken while attempting to erect it. Mengistu Haile Mariam leader of Ethiopia Government Mengistu Haile Mariam ( Amharic : መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማርያም , pronunciation: [mənɡɨstu haɪlə marjam] ; born 21 May 1937)

8346-655: The rank of sergeant and assigned him duties as an errand boy in his office. Aman then recommended him to the Holetta Military Academy, one of the two important military academies of Ethiopia. After Mengistu graduated from the Holetta Military Academy in 1957, he received the rank of Second Lieutenant. General Aman then became his mentor, and when the General was assigned to the commander of the Third Division took Mengistu with him to Harar , and later

8453-602: The return of the stele. The dismantled stele remained sitting in a warehouse near Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport , until 19 April 2005 when the middle piece was repatriated by use of an Antonov An-124 , amidst much local celebration. It has been described as the largest and heaviest piece of air freight ever carried. The second piece was returned on 22 April 2005, with the final piece returned on 25 April 2005. The operation cost Italy $ 7.7 million. The stele remained in storage while Ethiopia decided how to reconstruct it without disturbing other ancient treasures still in

8560-480: The sledge forward, they moved it. Over the course of a day, the workers towed it 10–20 feet. Despite problems with broken ropes, they proved the monument could be moved this way. Additional experiments were done in Egypt and other locations to tow megalithic stone with ancient technologies, some of which are listed here . One experiment was to transport a small obelisk on a barge in the Nile River. The barge

8667-524: The stele in exchange for the construction of a hospital in Addis Ababa (Saint Paul's Hospital) and for the cancellation of debts owed by Ethiopia. In any case, after the fall of the Mengistu regime, the new Ethiopian government asked for the return of the stele, finding a positive answer from the then president of the Italian republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro , in April 1997. The first steps in dismantling

8774-566: The streets and are being eaten by wild hyenas . You can see the heaped-up bodies of murdered children, most of them aged eleven to thirteen, lying in the gutter, as you drive out of Addis Ababa." Amnesty International estimates that up to 500,000 people were killed during the Ethiopian Red Terror. Military gains made by the monarchist Ethiopian Democratic Union in Begemder were rolled back when that party split just as it

8881-465: The structure were taken in November 2003, under the supervision of Giorgio Croci, Professor of Structural Problems of Monuments and Historical Buildings at Sapienza University of Rome . The intent was to ship the stele back to Ethiopia in March 2004, but the repatriation project encountered a series of obstacles: The runway at Axum Airport was considered too short for a cargo plane carrying even one of

8988-417: The thirds into which the stele had been cut; the roads and bridges between Addis Ababa and Axum were thought to be not up to the task of road transport; and access through the nearby Eritrean port of Massawa—which was how the stele originally left Africa—was impossible due to the strained state of relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia . The runway at Axum airport was then upgraded specifically to facilitate

9095-608: The time, the ordnance group was offered military technical training support in the US. Despite his disapproval of Mengistu's insubordination and disrespect, the General was obliged to release him and Mengistu went for an 18-month training program at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, United States. He also took some night classes at the University of Maryland , making him fluent in English. He returned for

9202-410: The trial. The attacker was sentenced to ten years in prison, while his accomplice Abraham Goletom Joseph, who had been arrested in a police raid, was sentenced to five years. They said that they had been tortured under Mengistu, and on appeal, their sentences were reduced to two years each due to "mitigatory circumstances". The Ethiopian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Fantahun Haile Michael, said his government

9309-523: The use of steel, so as not to again make the stele a magnet for lightning and to avoid rust . Several other similar stelae/obelisks exist in Ethiopia and Eritrea, such as the Hawulti in Metera . Like the Obelisk of Axum, the other stelae have a rectangular base with a false door carved on one side. The Zamani Project documents cultural heritage sites in 3D based on terrestrial laser-scanning to create

9416-527: The west. The Black Obelisk was discovered by Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1846 on the citadel of Kalhu. The obelisk was erected by Shalmaneser III and the reliefs depict scenes of tribute bearing as well as the depiction of two subdued rulers, Jehu the Israelite, and Sua the Gilzanean, making gestures of submission to the king. The reliefs on the obelisk have accompanying epigraphs, but besides these

9523-522: Was assigned as an ordnance officer in the Third Division. He was subsequently sent to the US for the first time in 1964 to the Savanna Army Depot in Illinois for an Ordnance testing course for six months. Aman was abruptly transferred to Addis Ababa . The imperial regime found him too popular with the soldiers especially after his commendable military exploits in the engagement against

9630-596: Was born on 21 May 1937 in Welayta, Kaffa during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. There are conflicting reports about his origins, which are said to be of a slave family from the south. After the Italians were defeated and expelled from the country in 1941, his parents moved to Debre Markos where father Haile Mariam joined Haile Selassie's fledgling army and received the rank of corporal. Corporal Haile Mariam

9737-504: Was built based on ancient Egyptian designs. It had to be very wide to handle the obelisk, with a 2 to 1 ratio length to width, and it was at least twice as long as the obelisk. The obelisk was about 3.0 metres (10 ft) long and no more than 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons). A barge big enough to transport the largest Egyptian obelisks with this ratio would have had to be close to 61-metre-long (200 ft) and 30-metre-wide (100 ft). The workers used ropes that were wrapped around

9844-480: Was charged by the Ethiopian government led by Meles Zenawi , in absentia , for the killing of nearly 2,000 people. The charge sheet and evidence list for his crimes were 8,000 pages long. The evidence against him included signed execution orders, videos of torture sessions, and personal testimony. The trial began in 1994 and ended in 2006. The court found Mengistu guilty as charged on 12 December 2006, and imposed

9951-527: Was cut into three pieces and transported by truck along the tortuous route between Axum and the port of Massawa , taking five trips over a period of two months. It travelled by the ship, Adwa , arriving in Naples on March 27, 1937. It was then transported to Rome, where it was restored, reassembled and erected on Porta Capena square in front of the Ministry for Italian Africa. This square would later become

10058-539: Was effectively a dictator. He and the other surviving members of the Derg all retired from the military. However, even as civilians, they dominated the Politburo of the WPE. In the late 1980s, some Western critics of Mengistu, including Michael Johns of The Heritage Foundation , charged that Mengistu's economic, military and political policies, along with the Soviet Union's support for Mengistu, were key contributing factors to

10165-675: Was found at Gebel Barkal in 1916 by the Harvard University Museum of Fine Arts expedition to Sudan . There are remains of another small obelisk inscribed with the cartouche of King Aktisanes at the site of Gebel Barkal. Around 30 BCE, Rome seized control of Egypt and looted the various temple complexes; in one case they destroyed walls at the Temple of Karnak to haul them out. There are now more than twice as many obelisks that were seized and shipped out by Rome as remain in Egypt. The majority were dismantled during

10272-643: Was found at the site of Kadakol. It had been cut down to make it into a column, presumably for one of the early Christian churches in the area of Old Dongola . Today the obelisk is exhibited in the National Museum in Khartoum . The obelisk is inscribed with the kings official titulary: Strong-bull, Appearing-in-Dominion (Thebes), King-of-Upper-and-Lower-Egypt, Two-ladies, Ruler-of-Egypt, Son-of-Rê, Pi(ankh)y: what he made as his monument for his father Amen-Rê, lord of [...] . An obelisk of King Senkamanisken

10379-585: Was implemented as Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, and chaired meetings at which the operation was planned. However, the State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa strongly denied that Mengistu was involved in Operation Murambatsvina. In 2018, the former prime minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn published a photo of himself meeting with Mengistu. He withdrew the photo after criticism. Mengistu

10486-607: Was in full agreement with their decisions. Mengistu did not emerge as the leader of the Derg until after the 3 February 1977 shootout, in which Chairman Tafari Benti was killed. The vice-chairman of the Derg, Atnafu Abate, clashed with Mengistu over the issue of how to handle the war in Eritrea and lost, leading to his execution with 40 other officers, clearing the way for Mengistu to assume control. He formally assumed power as head of state, and justified his execution of Abate (on 13 November of that year) by claiming that he had "placed

10593-474: Was not involved in the assassination attempt, and that he heard about the incident from the media. As of 2018 , Mengistu still resided in Zimbabwe, despite the Ethiopian government's desire that he be extradited. He is said to live in luxurious circumstances, and it is claimed that he advised Mugabe on security matters; according to Zimbabwean intelligence sources, he proposed the idea of clearing slums, which

10700-735: Was on the verge of capturing the old capital of Gondar . The army of the Somali Democratic Republic invaded Ethiopia , having overrun the Ogaden region, and was on the verge of capturing Harar and Dire Dawa , when Somalia's erstwhile allies, the Soviets and the Cubans, launched an unprecedented arms and personnel airlift to come to rescue of Ethiopia. The Derg government turned back the Somali invasion and made deep strides against

10807-494: Was opposing his government, and they were generally much more political than based on any ethnic targeting. Some experts believe hundreds of thousands of university students, intellectuals, and politicians (including Emperor Haile Selassie) were killed during Mengistu's rule. Amnesty International estimates that a total of half a million people were killed during the Red Terror of 1977 and 1978. Human Rights Watch describes

10914-492: Was out walking with his wife, Wubanchi Bishaw, near his home in the Gunhill suburb of Harare . While Mengistu was unharmed, his alleged attacker, Solomon Haile Ghebre Michael, an Eritrean, was shot and arrested by Mengistu's bodyguards. He was later tried for this assassination attempt, pleading not guilty in a Zimbabwean court on 8 July 1996. The Eritrean Ambassador to South Africa, Tsegaye Tesfa Tsion, flew to Harare to attend

11021-476: Was probably the so-called King Ezana's Stele , in the 4th century CE. King Ezana (c. 321 – c. 360), influenced by his childhood tutor Frumentius , introduced Christianity to Axum, precluding the pagan practice of erecting burial stelae (it seems that at the feet of each obelisk, together with the grave, there was also a sacrificial altar. Over the course of time, many of these stelae fell over due to several reasons: structural collapse (as, probably, in

11128-664: Was relocated to the Museo Nacional de Chavín , which opened in July ;2008. The obelisk was named for the archeologist Julio C. Tello , who discovered it and was considered the 'father of Peruvian archeology'. He was America's first indigenous archeologist. Egyptian obelisks remain a source of fascination, serving as a reminder of past glories and a symbol of state power. A majority of modern obelisks are built of masonry or concrete , so not monolithic like their Egyptian counterparts, and are often oversized. Examples from

11235-585: Was responsible range from 500,000 to over 2,000,000. 106 Derg officials were accused of genocide during the trials, but only 36 of them were present in the court. Several former members of the Derg have been sentenced to death . After Mengistu's conviction in December 2006, the Zimbabwean government said that he still enjoyed asylum and would not be extradited. A Zimbabwean government spokesman explained this by saying that "Mengistu and his government played

11342-453: Was sentenced to death in absentia by Ethiopia's High Court, overturning his previous sentence of life imprisonment. Twenty-three of his most senior aides also received death sentences that were commuted on 1 June 2011. As of 4 October 2011, 16 former Mengistu officials have been released from prison on parole, due to their old age and good behavior while incarcerated. However, Mengistu's sentence remained unchanged. In 2010, Mengistu announced

11449-538: Was then transferred to the ammunition's production unit of the imperial army in Addis Ababa . Mengistu was raised in the household of Dejazmatch Kebede Tesemma (the former governor of Gojjam), where Mengistu's mother is said to have worked as a domestic servant and his father became Kebede's house guard. Mengistu was raised partially in Ethiopian Empire Army camps around the country and partly within

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