The red granite obelisk was originally erected by Pharaoh Apries of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt,[1] about 580 BC, in his capital Sais.

Nothing came of this specific project, but Bernini revived the idea in the 1660s, when Pope Alexander VII, Fabio Chigi, wished to build a similar monument after another Egyptian obelisk had been discovered in Rome.

[3] A third version in the Vatican Library shows Bernini adapting on the concept he created in the 1630s, although he added in a larger base, changed the direction of the elephant's orientation, and made its face appear more friendly than ferocious.

The Latin inscription at one side of the pedestal reads: "Let any beholder of the carved images of the wisdom of Egypt on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of beasts, realize that it takes a robust mind to carry solid wisdom.

A similar statue of an elephant carrying an obelisk was erected by Vaccarini in 1736 in front of the Palazzo degli Elefanti in Catania on Sicily.