The Obelisk of Theodosius was originally set up by Tutmoses III of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt towards the end of 1450 BC along with a similar one in front of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. Inscribed on the obelisk is an Egyptian hieroglyph script, still clearly distinguishable. The script reads that it was to his father's honor that Tutmoses erected an obelisk at Karnak and a monument in Mesopotamia. Depictions of the Pharaoh and Amun-Re are also featured on it. Several obelisks were transported from Egypt to Rome. It was Constantine the Great who displaced this one in order to decorate his new capital, yet the delivery took a long time for unknown reasons. It was during the reign of Theodosius I that the obelisk was re-erected in its current place.
The stone obelisk now stands 19.59 metres tall, which is shorter than the original one at only 2/3 the size. The base has been significantely smoothed with an eventual gash up one of the hieroglyphs in the middle. It may be that the monument was broken during handling or deliberately damaged to reduce the weight to a certain degree. The obelisk is placed on a marble pedestal. On two sides of the main part are inscriptions in ancient Greek and Latin. Featuring on all four sides are hieroglyphs. The base of the pedestal was buried during the Ottoman Era due to the rising ground level which was excavated and unearthed up to the bottom level by the British researcher C. T. Newton in April 1857. The pedistal has ever since been located in a square shaped hole circled by iron railings.
The marble pedestal was set up when the obelisk was re-erected at the Hippodrome along with various depictions among which is the re-erection itself. The scenes on the pedestal depict chariot races with the emperor in attendance.